The Stephen Ministry is a system of training and organizing lay persons for a caring ministry in and around their congregations.

A participating church initially sends several lay members and a pastor to an intensive one week "Leaders Training Course," which teaches the essentials of this ministry. These leaders then return and begin the Stephen Ministry. As part of this ministry, the leaders will periodically teach other lay members of the church—in a 50-hour course— the essentials of the ministry. A gradually expanding number of church members thus become involved.

The Stephen Ministry began in 1975. It has 50 professional and support staff persons working from the St. Louis headquarters. There are more than 7000 congregations worldwide enrolled in this ministry. About 500 new congregations enroll each year. There are more than 90 different denominations using the Stephen Series. Since 1978 over 34,000 church leaders have been trained at Leaders' Training Courses and these folks have gone back to their congregations and equipped over a quarter of a million people for caring ministry.

The Stephen Ministry supplements and compliments other existing care giving programs. It helps catch those who are falling between the cracks. It is designed to be a one-on-one, focused, sustained program with the relationship lasting as long as necessary. Visits might be weekly or more often as required. It has been a vital ministry of First Presbyterian Church on Orange since January of 2001.

A caring ministry is not something that happens spontaneously with little effort or planning. Like any other worthwhile endeavor, good planning and training are essential to success. It doesn't just happen. The Stephen Ministry provides the tools, training and organization to make it happen.

Among many works of Christian service, Jesus has placed high priority on tangible deeds of love to those in need. Jesus impressed a new commandment upon his disciples to "love one another as I have loved you." St Paul urges Christians to fulfill this law by "bearing one another's burdens." This is what the Stephen Ministry is all about.