Group from Simi Prez learns a new way to minister
By Angela Randazzo Special to the Acorn

CAREGIVERS- Simi Valley Presbyterian sent five representatives to a recent training course in Ontario, Calif., that taught participants the foundations of a Stephen Ministry. Stephen Ministries is a system for training and organizing lay people to provide one-to-one Christian care to the congregation and the community. From left to right are: Cyd Mutal, Pastor Bob Coppock, Mary Pratt, Sue Cover and Martha Siditsky.

Ready to put into practice the care techniques they learned at a July seminar are Simi Valley Presbyterian Church associate pastor Bob Coppock and church members Mary Pratt, Sue Cover, Martha Siditsky and Cyd Mutal.

All local residents, the five attended an intensive seven-day Leader's Training Course in Ontario, Calif., for the church's Stephen Ministry outreach program.

Stephen Ministries is a system for training and organizing lay people to provide one-to-one Christian care to the congregation and the community.

"We want to help people in our community who are going through a difficult time," said Mutal, an English teacher at Simi Valley High School. "If someone in the community is hurting and they need somebody there for them, we're here to help."

At the seminar, the five church members trained to be leaders who will teach other local volunteers how to help people. They learned how to aid those troubled by a variety of issues, including an ongoing divorce, loss of a job or loved one, or poor health.

"We really worked on listening skills at the seminar and how to be with the person," Mutal said. "We also have to be aware if someone needs a referral to a physiologist or psychiatrist."

Simi Valley Presbyterian Church, affectionately known as Simi Prez, has a 700-member congregation. Plans are underway to expand the church's facility, located at 4832 Cochran St., onto the adjacent property for a new worship center, classrooms and office building.

"Our church has been growing, and we've been trying to figure out different ways of meeting the pastoral care needs of both our church and the community," said Jeff Cheadle, the church's pastor. "Raising people within the congregation and enrolling them in the training gave them the tools they need for this ministry."

Rev. Kenneth C. Haugk, a pastor and clinical psychologist, started Stephen Ministries in 1975. It is headquartered in St. Louis.

According to its website, www.stephenministries.org, the nonprofit organization has trained more than 450,000 laypersons as Stephen Ministers.

The training is nondenominational, and more than 370 people- some from as far away as the Philippines and China- attended the July seminar in Ontario.

"It was a fantastic thing to go to the conference. Everybody was there, from Roman Catholic to the typical Presbyterian to Pentecostal and Evangelical," Mutal said. "Everybody was there to learn how to care for people in need."

Anyone who wishes to volunteer for the church's outreach program is welcome even if they're not a church member. Likewise, those needing a helping hand don't have to be church members.

The recruiting for volunteers starts this month. After the course, the new Ministry will start in January. There is no cost to volunteers for the training program.

"The volunteers will get at least 50 hours of training in different aspects of pastoral care giving," Cheadle said. "They will be small groups and supervised and held accountable for what they're doing."

Privacy issues will be discussed along with the listening skills taught to volunteers, because everything a volunteer hears is confidential, Mutal said.

For those seeking help, a Stephen team leader will interview and match the person to a suitable volunteer of the same gender. Phone conversations and face-to-face meetings then occur on a weekly basis.

"We're not supposed to solve their problems; we're supposed to be good listeners and maybe rephrase things to them and get them to explore more of their feelings," Mutal said.

For information, call Simi Valley Presbyterian Church at (805) 526-5475.