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ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH

(The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod)

Alma, Kansas

A family united by faith in Christ gathering around God's Word and Sacraments.

To reach out in Christ-like concern and Christ-borne love to each other and to those without Christ!

In This Month's

St. John Witness

SEPTEMBER WITNESS

Theology for the Day / Stephen Ministry

Stephen Ministry

What is Stephen Ministry? Congregations equip lay caregivers to provide high-quality, confidential, Christ-centered care to people who are hurting or are experiencing grief, divorce, cancer, job loss, loneliness, disability, relocation, and other life difficulties. Stephen Ministers serve in a one to one relationship of trust, care, and Christ-like concern. If you think you might benefit from having a Stephen Minister, please call Pastor Grimm, or talk with one of these servants of God. - Don Frank, Charlie Gann, Judy Peddicord, Junior Stuewe, Carol White.

If you would be interested in becoming a Stephen Minister, please contact Pastor Grimm.

Below is more information about the Stephen Series & Stephen MInistry.

Why is it called the Stephen Series?

Stephen was one of the ﬁrst laypeople commissioned by the Apostles to provide caring ministry (Acts 6). Series describes the steps a congregation follows to implement the caring ministry system, which is commonly called Stephen Ministry.

How many congregations are using Stephen Ministry?

More than 11,000 congregations are enrolled, with hundreds more enrolling each year. They represent more than 150 denominations and come from all 50 United States, 10 Canadian provinces, and 24 other countries. Many congregations have had Stephen Ministry going strong for 20 or 30 years—or longer.

What size congregations are involved?

Stephen Ministry congregations range from fewer than 100 members to more than 10,000. Churches of any size have opportunities to care for hurting people in the congregation and community.

What are Stephen Ministers?

Stephen Ministers are laypeople who commit to two years of learning, growing, and caring. They receive Christian caregiving training in their congregation and then provide one-to-one Christ-centered care to hurting people. Each Stephen Minister typically has one care receiver at a time and meets with that person once a week.

What types of caregiving situations are Stephen Ministers used in?

Stephen Ministers provide high-quality, one-to-one Christian care to individuals facing a variety of crises or life challenges—people who are experiencing grief, divorce, cancer, ﬁnancial difﬁculties, hospitalization, chronic illness, job loss, disabilities, loneliness, a spiritual crisis, or other life struggles.

In addition to caring for members within the congregation, Stephen Ministers can provide care to nonmembers, reaching out to unchurched people in crisis.

What are Stephen Leaders?

Stephen Leaders are pastors and lay leaders who direct Stephen Ministry in their congregation. They attend a one-week Leader’s Training Course (LTC) where they learn how to effectively lead their congregation’s Stephen Ministry.

What is the meaning of the logo?

The Stephen Series logo symbolizes that we are all broken people and that we are only made whole through the cross of Jesus.

Since 1975 nearly a half million Christian men and women from all walks of life have trained and served as Stephen Ministers in their congregations. Most decide to become Stephen Ministers as a way to help hurting people in their congregation and community—but very quickly discover that God gives them amazing blessings in return.

What do people say about Stephen Ministry?

“My faith has grown, my prayer life has doubled, and I know how to really make a difference in people’s lives. I’d encourage anyone who has the chance to become a Stephen Minister.”

George Lund, Architect

Prairie Village, Kansas

“Being a Stephen Minister has taught me to rely on God instead of always trying to ﬁx things myself. I’ve learned what to say, how to listen, and what to do during a crisis. It’s a great feeling to provide people with the spiritual care and support they need.”

John Eichelberger, Physician

Greenwood, South Carolina

“The assertiveness skills I learned through Stephen Ministry gave me the courage and conﬁdence I needed to be a more effective supervisor in my secular job—and to be more assertive in my personal relationships. Thank you for helping me develop these vital skills.”

Elizabeth McMillion, Rehabilitation Counselor

Madison, Wisconsin

Theology for Today

This excerpts are reprinted from CTCR, March 2026. We will examine this in portions each month.

Preamble

In this report, Proper Administration of the Lord’s Supper: Applying Scripture and the Confessions to Contemporary Issues, the CTCR offers the Synod guidance on three practical issues in our Synod presently: the use of grape juice, pre-packaged elements, and non-wheat hosts. By way of introduction, the report also provides a brief summary of what Lutherans believe, teach, and confess about the Lord’s Supper. It is the hope of the Commission that this may help church workers and congregations deepen their knowledge of this Sacrament, remove potential obstacles to receiving it rightly, and exercise sensitivity to those who commune with them at their tables.

The Commission has chosen to publish this document through Concordia Publishing House and have copies sent to all active LCMS pastors. We encourage pastors to study this document and share its findings with their flocks, as we together seek to heed Christ’s words, express the unity we share at that table, and proclaim the atoning death of Christ for the sins of the world. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). Yours in Christ,

Rev. Dr. Joel Lehenbauer, Executive Director

THEOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The Gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). As people hear and believe the Gospel’s promises they are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13). We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Holding to Christ in faith, we also hold to His promises. His promises are spoken that we may believe them and so receive what they promise: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Faith is thus confident hope. It is assurance that what God promises is ours, even when we do not see it (Heb. 11:1). Among the precious expressions of the Gospel is the Sacrament of the Altar, where Christ explicitly promises that the bread of the Sacrament is His body and the cup of wine is His blood—and that this body was given for us and this blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. This is not “interpretation” but a simple acknowledgment of God’s Word: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them saying, “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

This wonderful promise of the sacramental union and forgiveness in the Lord’s Supper also has a sobering corollary: “We hold that the bread and wine in the Supper are Christ’s true body and blood. These are given and received not only by the godly but also by wicked Christians” (SA III VI 1)3.

Given these words, the Small Catechism simply and boldly restates them, confessing that the Sacrament of the Altar “is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted by Christ Himself” (SC VI 2). The Formula adds the assurance that the words of Jesus are “simple, plain, clear, firm, and beyond doubt” (FC SD VII 48). Thus Lutherans make a confident confession, grounded in Christ’s trustworthy promises. There is no doubt or quibbling or any attempt to rationalize how such a gift could be given. Faith does not demand an explanation; it receives and rejoices as it trusts in Christ’s promises.

3 Therefore Lutherans do not administer the Sacrament without restriction to any and everyone. “Everyone who desires to be a Christian and go to this Sacrament should know them [the words of Christ]. For it is not our intention to let people come to the Sacrament and administer it to them if they do not know what they seek or why they come” (LC V 2). That the “unworthy” receive Christ’s body and blood is taught in 1 Cor. 11:27–32. 9

Rather, Lutheran Christians firmly confess that the “true” body and blood—that is, the real, actual body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ— are what Christ gives Christians to eat and to drink. Any talk of Jesus’ words as symbolic or mere figures of speech is ruled out. Thus the Formula of Concord echoes the Apology (X 54) to say, “We believe that in the Lord’s Supper Christ’s body and blood are truly and substantially present and are truly administered with those things that are seen (bread and wine) to those who receive the Sacrament” (FC SD VII 11; emphasis added). All this is true, of course, not only of the Last Supper, but every Lord’s Supper that follows Christ’s intent. Paul’s repetition of Christ’s words in 1 Corinthians proves that they are rightly understood to apply not only to the bread and wine Christ distributed on the night of His betrayal, but are also true for the communion administration of the church in every age (see 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, especially 1 Cor. 10:16 and 1 Cor. 11:23–24; see also FC SD VII 54–55).

The “word, institution, and ordination” of Christ creates the sacramental union (FC SD VII 73–75).4 And His “Do this” means the validity of the Sacrament also includes more than a mere recitation of Christ’s word over bread and wine. “This embraces the entire action or administration in this Sacrament. In an assembly of Christians bread and wine are taken, consecrated, distributed, received, eaten, drunk, and the Lord’s death is shown forth at the same time. St. Paul also places before our eyes this entire action of the breaking of bread or of distribution and reception (1 Corinthians 10:16)” (FC SD VII 84). This is summarized in the ancient rule that “nothing has the nature of a Sacrament apart from the use [usus] instituted by Christ or apart from the action [actio] divinely instituted” (FC SD VII 85).

“The use or action here does not mean chiefly faith. Nor does it mean the oral participation alone. It means the entire external, visible action of the Lord’s Supper instituted by Christ: the consecration, or words of institution, the distribution and reception, or oral partaking of the consecrated bread and wine, of Christ’s body and blood” (FC SD VII 86). Given the emphatic certainty of the Gospel in the words of Jesus when He instituted His Holy Supper, we should be concerned if any church practice fails to follow His institution or if it introduces doubt or uncertainty about the Supper. Instead, the church rightly seeks to follow our Lord’s own institution in Holy Communion. Just as our Lord took bread and wine, declaring it His body and blood and promising that “in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words” (SC VI 6), so we also echo His very words over bread and wine, distributing them in confident faith because He has declared that He wants to distribute His very body and blood in this way. The clear words of Christ answer essential questions: “For Christ gives this command at the table and at supper. There is certainly no doubt that He speaks of real, natural bread and of natural wine. Also, He speaks of oral eating and drinking” (FC SD VII 48). Everything important is there in the Words of Institution. Because they are simple and clear and make unambiguous promises, our practice should avoid anything that takes the plain, powerful words of Jesus and produces questions or uncertainty, or leads to unhelpful, confusing, or illegitimate practices.

That we seek to avoid ambiguity about the Sacrament, however, does not mean that every specific thing described in the Last Supper or in Paul’s advice to Corinth must be followed in some kind of rigid mimicry. When Jesus said, “Do this,” He focused on eating the bread that He promises is His very body and drinking the cup that He assures us is His very blood. Our Lord’s emphasis is not on such things as the Passover setting or the physical action of breaking a loaf or other such matters. He tells us simply to eat and drink the bread and cup that are His body and blood—and thereby assures us that our sins are forgiven.

4 The Latin text reads, “verbo, institutioni atque ordinationi,” and the German, “Wort, Einsetzung und Ordnung.” See Concordia Triglotta, 999. 10 Proper Administration of the Lord’s Supper