Student Interviews of Churches that are Using
Peer Ministry
Interview #6 AUG, 2001
St. Peter Lutheran Church, Sheboygan, WI
Interview with Laurie Stoeger
By: Tammie Nyman
Laurie Stoeger is the Educator for Youth and Family Ministry
at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Sheboygan, WI. Tammie Nyman is
a student in the Master of Arts program at Luther Seminary, St.
Paul, MN. The interview was conducted on August 28th, 2001.
Tammie: What type of community is your church in?
Laurie: Urban
Tammie: What is the size of your congregation?
Laurie: About 800.
Tammie: Tell me about your staff size.
Laurie: We have three full-time people on staff. A Pastor, an
Educator for Youth and Family Ministry, and a full time Administrative
Assistant.
Tammie: Approximately have many youth are there per grade level?
Laurie: 12
Tammie: Why is Peer Ministry needed in your church?
Laurie: It's a whole different way of youth relating to other
youth. Pee Ministry is able to go places in their lives that they
are often afraid to share, but that need to be shared in order
to strengthen their faith relationship and help them to be better
people.
Tammie: What excites you most about Peer Ministry?
Laurie: The fact that I see a part of their personalities and
what's really inside of them. The Peer Ministry conversation allows
me to hear about a side of them that I have never seen before.
Tammie: Describe some of the logistics of Peer Ministry at your
church.
Laurie: We started out having it at church on Sunday evenings
for 1-1/2 to two hours. This was fine, but I later moved the study
to my home and found a much better level of openness, community,
and bonding when I had it in there.
Tammie: How do you invite involvement in Peer Ministry?
Laurie: A variety of ways. I publicize it in our church bulletin
and newsletter, send a mailing to all of the churches in our local
cluster of ELCA churches, and send a personal letter to all youth
in grades 9 thru 12. I have found however, that the best response
I get is through a personal verbal invitation either from myself
or from another youth. Also, when the students have finished the
training they lead a worship service, which includes the Order
of the Towel Ceremony (found in the back of the Peer Ministry
training manual). We try to make Peer Ministry and Peer Ministry
training very visible to the congregation, which also increases
involvement.
Tammie: What is happening as a result of Peer Ministry in your
church?
Laurie: That is where I am feeling the biggest gap right now.
All of the youth that we train are Senior High age and they become
very wrapped up in jobs, school, and many leave for college within
a year or so after the training. But we certainly have seen the
Sr. High youth become more active and noticed. Members of the
parish also seem willing to call on them if someone is in need.
I suspect that this training has also brought about some major
changes in how these youth live, witness, and relate to others
in their lives outside the church walls. And this really, in my
opinion, is the ultimate goal of Peer Ministry training.
Tammie: How did you get it to happen?
Laurie: After the training was completed I was much better equipped
to ask youth to "plug-in" in various places because I knew where
their gifts were. It also helped to remind them of the promises
they made at the time of their confirmation.
Tammie: What do you hope happens in the future?
Laurie: I would like to offer the class every year and hope that
attendance increases. The ideal number would be about ten kids
per class. At the beginning of last year's training we had a reunion
of the previous year's class to join us for the first session.
That was fun.
Tammie: What are some of the things Peer Ministers do after they
are trained?
Laurie: Sunday school teacher, Vacation Bible School leader, noticing
and helping peers in school, participating in worship, assistant
minister for worship, and distributing communion.
Tammie: What stories best illustrate Peer Ministry?
Laurie: Too many to tell, but basically we learn and see by their
example that people simply need to love one another.
Tammie: What helpful information would you pass on to a church
wanting to get started?
Laurie: Send a couple of leaders to Peer Ministry training. Once
these adults go thru the training they will be enriched personally
by the training, get excited about it, and have enthusiasm and
energy to carry out the training in their congregation.
