Stephen Ministry is a national, interdenominational program named for a deacon in the earliest days of the church. It provides training and structure to enable lay pastoral care within congregations. 

At All Souls, Stephen Ministers are members of the parish who are have completed over 50 hours of training in caregiving. The topics include listening, feelings, boundaries, confidentiality, assertiveness, and using Christian resources in caregiving. We are trained to provide support in specialized situations such as divorce, hospitalization, bereavement, and aging.

Stephen Ministers are not counselors; our role is to be present, listen actively, reflect thoughts and feelings, to care. We usually meet with our care receivers once a week for about an hour, for as long as they continue to benefit from the relationship.

Stephen Ministers meet twice a month for peer supervision in which we help each other to be faithful and effective caregivers, and hold each other accountable to perform our ministry for the benefit of our care receivers.

Since 2009, All Souls has commissioned 52 Stephen Ministers who have provided support for over 185 care receivers.