What is Stephen Ministry?
Stephen Ministry is...
 Stephen Ministry is grounded in Jesus' command to love one another. Through one-on-one caring and confidential relationships, those who are hurting receive the love and care they need to support them in their time of need. They are members of Fountain Hills Christian Center who have gone through 50 hours of training in providing high-quality Christian care to individuals experiencing a crisis or challenge such as divorce, grief, loss of a job, hospitalization, relocation, or loneliness. Stephen Ministers are each assigned a care receiver and meet with that care receiver for about an hour a week. This caring relationship will last for as long as the care receiver needs it.
What is Stephen Ministry For?
Life can get overwhelming at times. Circumstances catch us by surprise, making us feel alone and afraid. Losing a loved one, struggling with health concerns or relationship issues, experiencing unemployment or unexpected career transition – these are just a few of the unsettling events that life throws at us.
Sometimes, what we need more than anything is a friend. We need someone to remind us of what we tend to forget whenever hardship rears its ugly head: God loves us, and God wants us not only to survive, but to thrive.
Anyone going through difficult times who needs someone to care, listen, and share God's love with them on a one-to-one confidential basis.
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A Stephen Ministers Role ...
The Stephen Minister's role with care receivers is to listen, support and pray with and for the care receiver as Jesus might have done.
Stephen Ministers do not provide any hands on care and do not provide counseling to care receivers.
Stephen Ministers receive more than 50 hours of advance training and regular continuing education, equipping them to help hurting people rediscover the reality that our God is a God of healing and wholeness.
A Stephen Minister is ...
√ A child of God who walks beside a person who is hurting.
√ A congregation lay member with gifts for caregiving.
√ A person who has received 50 hours of training in emotional and spiritual care.
√ A caring, Christian friend who listens, cares, prays, supports and encourages.
√ A one-on-one, gender-specific "ministry-of-relationship."
√ Someone who will be there for his or her care receiver, meeting faithfully for about an hour each week… for as long as there's a need.
√ And, with strict confidentiality.
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Who could benefit from Stephen Ministry?
Care receivers are persons in the FHCC community who are experiencing stress in life and the person could benefit from a caring, one-on-one relationship with a Stephen Minister. Life stresses can include: 
- Hospitalization
- Spouse/caregiver for a terminally ill person
- Death of a loved one
- A home bound family member
- Some one with a job crisis
- "Empty-nesters"
- The aging and the elderly
- Dealing with a disability
- Recent relocation
- Divorce / Separation
- Single parenting
- Multiple life challenges that deplete one's energy
God never intended for us to go through these experiences alone. That's why God has brought us together as a congregation - and why we have Stephen Ministry.
"Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."
Galatians 6:2
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How does the referral process work?
- A person – either you, a relative, or a friend – is hurting and in need of Christian love
- A Stephen Ministry leader learns about this need for care from a pastor, a friend, or the person, always with the person’s permission
- A Stephen Ministry leader meets with the person to talk about Stephen Ministry
- With the person’s permission, the Stephen Ministry leader assigns a Stephen Minister to meet with the person on a weekly basis
- The Stephen Minister continues to provide distinctly Christian care for the person with strictest confidence
If you desire a caregiver, please contact:
| Stephen Ministry Leader |
Email |
Mobile: Call or Text |
| Jackie Gambill |
azjaci@msn.com |
[480] 570-1075 |
| Judd Gambill |
azjudd@msn.com |
[602] 318-0007 |
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Stephen Ministry Logo
The logo’s most dominant feature is the cross of Jesus. It reminds us that Christ is at the center of Stephen Ministry and all Stephen Ministry relationships.
The broken person behind the cross symbolizes how we are all broken people, broken by our own sin and imperfections.
The Stephen Series logo tells the story of a care receiver’s journey from brokenness to wholeness through the transforming power of the cross of Jesus. It serves as a simple reminder that it is not the Stephen Minister who restores a person to wholeness. Rather, it is only through the cross of Jesus that a person can be made whole.
The whole person in front of the cross signifies the wholeness we encounter through the transforming power of the cross of Jesus. It is only through a Jesus and his life, death on the cross, and resurrection that we, who are broken people, are made whole.
The circle is a symbol of God’s eternal and never-ending love for us. God’s love surrounds us, holds us, heals us, with the cross of Jesus at the center of that love. For it was Jesus, God’s Son, who allowed himself to be broken on the cross to save us from our sin and give us the opportunity to be restored to wholeness through him.
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