At Pastor Rye's church, Emmanuel Lutheran, five people were commissioned after 50 hours of Stephen Ministries training.  Once trained, such ministers might, for instance, provide support to someone in grief for a year.  They are expected to use Scripture in their care-giving. Pastor Rye felt that the Stephen ministers needed more of a biblical overview to make this integration possible.  He was concerned that "we tend to focus on the individual passages and need to look at the whole piece."

Pastor Rye found that the Tell-Tale Time-Line provides a good overview of the Bible, and "gives the whole story in a very visual way." Two nights each month, Stephen ministers come together to hone their care-giving skills and to ground themselves in Scripture. "The timeline fits the bill for what they feel they need," says Rye. "It is a reminder of what they should have picked up in confirmation, but may have forgotten long ago." Each minister has a timeline, and a wall chart timeline is placed in the church as an additional resource.

Rye has his eye on another resource, The Bible's Big Story, for direct use with those who need Stephen ministers' help. This offers a slightly more detailed walk through the biblical timeline, from creation to Christ's resurrection.

Training tip for adult education teachers

Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas, requires all its adult education teachers to attend a Living Word workshop, regardless of the curriculum used by the teachers. To date seven teachers from Reformation have attended these workshops. Note:  CI offers significant discounts when a church sends multiple attendees to a Living Word workshop.

For more on See Through the Scriptures®, click here.

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