St. John Church

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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

NOVEMBER 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

Scripture readings in Church

When this Church year ends with our Thanksgiving worship in 2025, we shall move to the One-Year lectionary. Here at St. John, we have been using the Three-Year series of readings from 2003 till today. We were one of several congregations in our synod who were part of a test group looking at readings to be assigned to the One-Year lectionary from 2001 to 2003, in preparations for our hymnal, Lutheran Service Book, which was published in 2007. To find a list of these assigned readings, you may look in the hymnal, on the introductory pages xiv to xxiii. Below is an explanation of the use of Scripture in church as a regular part of worship.

The reason for this change is to hear some new Scriptures over the next few years, and to allow for preaching of some new pericopes (assigned readings). We will print our weekly inserts in-house; that is, we have copies of the one year series that will be similar to the three-year series inserts we have used for decades. The Scriptures of God are always the source of truth for us in the Lutheran Church, so we use it throughout the worship service, in our responses, prayers and lections (readings). Here at St. John, we want our people to mature in faith by continued understanding and use of God’s Word.

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18

“Yes, what we look forward to this coming Sunday morning really does come down to us through millennia. This blog post, adapted from Carl C. Fickenscher II’s book Looking Forward to Sunday Morning: Reflections on the Church Year, outlines the history of the lectionary so you can see how each Sunday service is passed down to you today.

Historical Context of Liturgies

“Dating back to the last centuries before Christ, the Jews in their synagogues used what we call a “lectionary”—that is, a schedule calling for certain readings (“lections” or lessons) from the Bible on certain days. Prior to the writing of the New Testament, readings for each Sabbath came from the Torah, or Law (the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, written by Moses), the Prophets (such as the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel), and the Psalms. When Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth one Sabbath (Lk 4:16–30), He knew that the reading of the Prophets that day would be from Isaiah 61. Thus, He came prepared to preach a sermon on that text.

“The early Christians followed this practice of a lectionary, incorporating, obviously, the New Testament writings, from the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and the Epistles (letters by Paul, like Romans and Galatians, and by other apostles, like 1 and 2 Peter), along with readings from the Old Testament. As a church year gradually developed, the lectionary naturally manifested it—especially during the months of the year that commemorate the great events in the life of Christ: His birth, His death and resurrection, His ascension back to heaven, and His sending of the Holy Spirit. During this half of the church year—Christmas (which also includes the seasons of Advent and Epiphany) and Easter (extending from Lent through Easter to Ascension and Pentecost)—the lectionary readings declare the events and themes of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

The One-Year Lectionary

“By the seventh and eighth centuries, a one-year schedule of readings was fairly firm and widely followed. That included readings for the remaining months of the year, what we call the Time of the Church or the Sundays after Pentecost. Rather than highlight the events in Jesus’ life, these Sundays consider His teachings on issues Christians face as we await His return. Thus, over a one-year period, the chief events and teachings of Christ and His Word would be covered—and then repeated each subsequent year. The Lutheran reformers of the sixteenth century generally kept this lectionary, making some modifications.

“Of course, a lectionary of once-a-week readings cannot cover all the words of Scripture. Another word for a reading or lection, in fact, is pericope (pronounced pe-RIC-o-pee), from a Greek word that means “cutting around.” With time expectations on our worship services, we have to cut things. (Thus, the lectionary is also called a pericopal system.) Of the roughly 31,000 verses in the Bible, our current one-year lectionary selects just over 2,700 verses, or 8.7 percent. (Of the New Testament, the much shorter of the two and with two readings per week, 23.1 percent is incorporated. Just 3.7 percent of the much longer Old Testament is read.)

The Three-Year Lectionary

“So in the early 1960s, one directive from the Roman Catholic Second Vatican Coun¬cil (Vatican II) was to devise a three-year lectionary—three years worth of Bible readings instead of the traditional one. In short order, Protestants and Lutherans developed three-year lectionaries of their own, heavily based on the Vatican II design, but with appropriate editing, not drawing from the Apocrypha read by Roman Catholics. Largely because of the attraction of hearing that much more of the Bible, three-year lectionaries are now used by a very substantial majority of congregations, including in the LCMS. The three-year lectionary this book studies is from Lutheran Service Book (2006), a gentle revision of what appeared in its predecessor hymnal, Lutheran Worship (1982). …

“Each of the three years is designated as either Series A or “Year A” (pp xiv–xv), Series B or “Year B” (pp xvi–xvii), or Series C or “Year C” (pp xviii–xix). (The one-year lectionary is shown on pp xx–xxi, and festivals, which are the same for all three years and both lectionaries, follow on pp xxii–xxiii.) Which year are you in now? Well, for an historical benchmark, it happens that 2017, the five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, was a Year A. That meant that 2018 was a Year B and 2019 was a Year C. (Actually, the church year begins with Advent 1 in late November or early December of the preceding calendar year, so that Year A of the Reformation anniversary in fact began on November 27, 2016, but you get the idea.) Then the cycle repeats: 2020 was A, 2021 was B, and 2022 was C. Which means that 2023, 2026, 2029, 2032, and so on are basically Year A. Likewise, 2024, 2027, 2030, 2033, and all that follow in turn are Year B. And 2025, 2028, 2031, 2034, and so on are Year C. Still not sure? Ask Pastor. He’s the ultimate go-to for all such questions.”