Ministries 

Parent's Night Out

What is Parent’s Night Out?
Parent’s Night Out is an evening a month designated to provide free childcare for parents so they can enjoy an evening free of parenting responsibilities for either recreational activities or specific projects they wish to accomplish without having the children around. A light meal is provided for the children from 6:00-6:30 followed by age-appropriate activities & games, and a brief time of Children's Church. All activities are supervised by adults who care about your child. In a safe loving environment, we promise your child will have a great evening. Click here to see the upcoming dates scheduled.

Who are invited?
We invite members and non-members in the community. We provide care for children from 3 years old through 6th grade students.

What do we hope to accomplish?
The goal is to support parents and children by providing regularly scheduled evening childcare without cost to the family, to build relationships between the community and the church and to foster relationships between children, youth, and adults.

Stephen Ministry - Christ Caring for
people through people.

What is Stephen Ministry?
We have many needs for care in our congregation and community: people experiencing divorce, grief, a terminal illness, loss of a job, relocation, an empty nest, retirement, hospitalization, loneliness, and many other stresses or challenges. Often people with needs suffer silently or do not request or receive the level of care they really need. With all these challenges you can quickly see why it would be impossible for the Pastor to meet every single need of every single person. Stephen Ministry expands the care Bethel can offer by equipping and organizing members to provide Christian care. This gives us a larger group of people with the gifts, skills and calling to bring Christ’s love and care to those who need it. Stephen Ministry is grounded in Jesus’ command to love one another. Through caring and confidential relationships, those who are hurting receive love and support.

How do I find out more about Stephen Ministry?
 We have a team of Stephen Leaders who direct and implement Stephen Ministry in our congregation. The Stephen Leaders are Rev. Carl Nielsen, LaVonne McGee and Sharon Wyche.  If you or someone you knows has a need for a Stephen Minister, please contact any of the Stephen Leaders directly or through the church office. Please do not leave confidential information on the telephone answering machine, email or fax. Simply leave your name, phone number and/or address and the name of the Stephen Leader you wish to speak to.

A message from the Pastor about Stephen Ministry...
I am deeply committed to Stephen Ministry in our congregation. I am one of three Stephen Leaders, the others being LaVonne McGee and Sharon Wyche. I believe that the level of care in our congregation and beyond will increase exponentially as Stephen Ministers add the skills they have learned to their natural God-given gifts of caring for and about people.

The Stephen Ministers have learned, through 50 hours of training and continuing education, to be compassionate, full of faith, skilled, trustworthy, Christ-centered caregivers.
Stephen Ministers do not take the place of the care that I provide as a pastor. I simply cannot provide the length of care that is often needed on an ongoing basis. Stephen Ministers will be there until the person is restored to wholeness.

Stephen Ministers have a commitment to the same level of confidentiality that I have. Therefore, a person may feel secure in sharing with a Stephen Minister. Stephen Ministers have made a commitment to pray for people they are serving.

I am glad Bethel has committed itself to better caring for people in need.                                   
                                     Pastor Carl Nielsen

The Stephen Ministry Logo

The Stephen Ministry logo is intended to convey what Stephen Ministry is all about. The logo consists of a cross and circle together with a broken person and a whole person. The logo's most dominant feature is the cross of Jesus. It reminds us that Christ is at the center of Stephen Ministry and all Stephen Ministry relationships.

The broken person behind the cross symbolizes the brokenness in our lives, a person in need of healing, a person in need of Christ's love and care. The whole person, a person who has received the love and care of Jesus, stands in front of the cross because it is only through the cross of Jesus that we are made whole. The circle symbolizes both the wholeness we receive through Christ and God's unending love for us. God's love surrounds us, holds us, heals us, with the cross of Jesus at the center of that love. The logo is designed to show that the path from brokenness to greater wholeness is through Jesus Christ and the ministry of Christ's people, including the ministry of Stephen Ministers. "Christ caring for People through People"

BETHEL LUTHERAN CHURCH
 624 E. Camino Colegio  Santa Maria, CA 93454 
805-922-6601

ChristCare Small Group Ministry
Christ is central to ChristCare Groups. Group Members meet Jesus himself in their fellow group members, in the Scriptures, in prayer and worship, and through their service. With Jesus at the center of all that the group is and does, group members grow as Jesus’ disciples, increasing in faith, joy and love.

ChristCare Groups are circles of care. ChristCare Group members care for one another with the love of Christ. As a ChristCare Group member, you never have to go through a tough time alone, be it a major crisis or just the bumps and bruises of daily life. Your fellow group members are always there for you.

When ChristCare Groups meet, they do four kinds of activities:
· Community building and care;
· Biblical Equipping;
· Prayer and worship; and
· Missional service.

The Holy Spirit works through these activities to make ChristCare Groups into “Circles of Care with Christ at the Center.” Click here to see the current groups available and their schedules along with their group bible study topic.

Please contact a member of the ChristCare Equipper team for more information.
Pastor Carl Nielsen 805/922-6601
LaVonne McGee 805/922-2047