PASTORAL CARE a comparative review

Transcription

1 PASTORAL CARE a comparative review

2 What is pastoral care? What is your view of pastoral care? What buzz words come up when I say pastoral care. Discuss.

3 What is Pastoral Care?

4 Gathering Resources or how librarians research 4

5 Literature Search Uncovered dichotomies in thinking about pastoral care in 4 broad themes 5

6 Themes Pastoral care as counselling Biblical pastoral care as a reaction against a predominantly psychological focus in the seventies onwards The role of the pastor Most common of all: Specific crisis based pastoral care - death and grief, illness, purity and sin issues

7 Process experts and books People Expert 1: Tim Patrick background, trail, infographic Expert 2: Mark Dever - Capitol Hill their book series Expert 3: Scott Manetsch His book and his lecture Books/Resources: Book 1: Calvin s Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, , Manetsch, Book 2: Church Discipline: How the church protects the name of Jesus, Leeman, Book 3: How people change: Tim Lane and Paul David Tripp, 2008.

8 Meet Tim Patrick Meet Tim Patrick

9 PASTORAL CARE AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK TIM PATRICK, BIBLE COLLEGE SA Pastoral care is not an isolatable activity. It cannot be well understood apart from its place within the fuller context of Christian ministry that seeks to establish, grow and maintain healthy church life. Below is a three-fold conception of ministry that may prove useful as part of an overarching framework for thinking about pastoral care. EVANGELISM DISCIPLE MAKING [Mat 28] The people of God have been charged with the task of communicating the gospel of Jesus to those who are not his followers, and of lovingly persuading them to respond in repentance and belief. Much of the work of the church and its people must be focussed on evangelism. FOSTERING CORPORATE LIFE AND WORSHIP DEDICATION TO FELLOWSHIP [Acts 2] Although each individual is called to faith in Jesus, life in Christ is corporate life. Christians are not only saved out of the slavery of sin and its eternal consequences, they are also saved into a worshipping fellowship. Christian ministries should be community-building ministries that prioritise prayer and praise. PASTORAL CARE TENDING THE FLOCK, [1 Pet 5] In a sin-stained, broken and dangerous world, the pastoral care of Jesus followers is a central duty of the church and its people. There are two dimensions to pastoral care. I. Proactive pastoral care. This involves teaching true doctrine from the Bible and fostering holiness. Right thinking and right living are essential to both protect the flock from dangers, and also prepare them to face troubles faithfully when they arise. Given this, we see that activities such as preaching, leading small groups, mentoring and church discipline are all part of pastoral care. II. Reactive pastoral care. This is care for those who are suffering as a result of their own sinfulness, the actions of others, or their circumstances. Therefore, providing practical care for the poor, the sick, the oppressed, the at-risk and those in crisis situations is all part of pastoral care. Important to this ministry schema is the fact that all three areas of ministry necessarily interact with each other. It is not possible to fully pastorally care for a person without considering their evangelistic ministry and their place in the life of the worshipping community. So, for example, proactive pastoral care requires that Christians are set on mission. This is a part of right thinking and right living. Christians who do not have an evangelistic focus will have their best time, attention and energy to matters other than forgiveness, salvation and hope. This is a spiritually dangerous place that pastors should lead their flock away from. Similarly, reactive pastoral care requires a healthy corporate life. Proper care for all believers cannot be provided by church leaders or professionals alone, but will require the whole community of faith with its variated gifts, experiences and resources to participate. 9

10 Meet Matt Merker from Capitol Pastoral Assistant Hill 10

11 Capitol Hill - Matt Marker 1) Expositional Preaching: We don't see pastoral care as something separated from preaching. Caring for the flock begins with rightly handling the Word of Truth and applying it to people's hearts. Jesus told Peter to "feed my sheep" in John 21 and Paul instructed Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season in 2 Tim 4. We believe that robust, application-rich sermons create the culture in the church where pastoral care can happen based on the truths of God's Word. See Jonathan Leeman's book Reverberation for how strong preaching influences all aspects of the church's life. 2) Biblical Eldership: As a church we intend to recognize men as elders who meet the qualifications as laid out in 1 Tim 3 and Titus 1. The elders' primary job responsibility is to provide spiritual oversight by teaching the Word and praying for the church. Specifically, our elders keep a running list of members of the church who are in need of special pastoral care. Once a month, the elders talk through these names to make sure that they are being cared for well. SeeElders in the Life of the Church by Phil Newton and Matt Schmcuker for how elders contribute to the health of the body. 3) Fostering a Culture of Discipling: The elders see it as one of their main tasks to "equip the saints for the work of ministry" (Eph 4:12). Therefore our elders are constantly discipling members of the church, not only training them in godliness but also teaching them how to disciple others. We regularly pray that it would be normal in our church for Christians to meet one-on-one to read God's Word and pray together. We instruct incoming members that this is a key part of our church culture. See The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne for the health that comes when members of the church are all essentially "pastoring" each other through discipling. Pastoring then is not only the work of the "professionals," but all Christians are called to care for each other. 4) Biblical Counseling: We also train members specifically in how to counsel people with particularly challenging needs. Paul Tripp's book Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands would be a great summary of the approach we are trying to model. 5) Meaningful Membership: Our members sign a covenant that states they will commit to loving and caring for others in the church. We have found that it is helpful for members to recognize this responsibility. 11

12 Meet Scott Manetsch TED s scholar and Calvin expert 12

13 Scott Manetsch s Lecture on The Pastoral Office Group Work Segue - Pastoral Office and Reformers Handout 13

14 The Shepherd as Biblical Theme Who is the Shepherd? What are they doing? Who are the sheep? Who are the wolves? 1 Sam 17:32 and onwards Ezekiel 34: 1-10, 11-17, 17-24, Matthew 9:35-38 John 21: Peter 5 14

15 Excerpt from Martin Bucer Martin Bucer, Concerning the True Care of Souls (1538; page 48): First, [pastors] lead to Christ and our Lord and into his communion those who are still estranged from him, whether through carnal excess or false worship. Secondly, [pastors] restore those who had once been brought to Christ and into his church but have been drawn away again through the affairs of the flesh or false doctrine. Thirdly, [pastors] assist in the true reformation of those who while remaining in the church of Christ have grievously fallen and sinned. Fourthly, [pastors] reestablish in true Christian strength and health those who, while persevering in the fellowship of Christ and not doing anything grossly wrong, have become somewhat feeble and sick in the Christian life. Fifthly, [pastors] protect from all offense and falling away and continually encourage in all good things those who stay with the flock and in Christ s sheep-pen.

16 Reformed Views of Pastoral Care Ministry of the sacraments Ministry of confession Ministry of catechism Ministry of visitation Ministry of church discipline: ALL Aspects of Pastoral Care

17 Ministry of Church Discipline AKA Pastoral Care (1.) Concern for people and their problems (2.) Concern for heart transformation Consistory s advice in 1548: Sinners must repent, recognize their faults and henceforth walk in newness of life, demonstrating signs of repentance, with the heart touched by the Holy Spirit so as to weep and receive the grace of God. (Registre du Consistoire IV, 44) (3.) Concern for the Poor and Vulnerable (4.) Concern for Christian Understanding (5.) Concern for Conflict Resolution

18 Part 2 :Books Calvin s Company Of Pastors Church Discipline How people change 18

19 Books: Take Home Points From reading these three books, speaking to people and query formulation, I came up with some take home points from the books that I believe would benefit every church for their value of being: Biblical, Scaleable, sustainable and reproducible ( from the Vision 100 Brief I received) 19

20 Calvin s Company of Pastors 1. Definition of the pastoral office as a framework 2. Proactive pastoral care- (Sacraments) Baptism, Lord s Supper, Confession, Catechism/Doctrine training, visitation. Reactive Pastoral care counsel and comfort, church discipline. This book chapter has a great focus on PROACTIVE Pastoral care 20

21 Calvin s Company Discussion Questions 1) How do we do the sacraments? The reformers thought they were important for spiritual health. Is there an opportunity to examine oneself during the Lord s Supper at your church? Is baptism merely an evangelistic event? Is there an opportunity for people to confess their sins in corporate worship? If not, are we encouraging our bible study leaders or mentors to urge their charges to repent and confess their sins to God? 2) Do we value the confessions and their catechesis resources? If our people are not big readers, can we do a series on doctrine? Baxter, Calvin and his contemporaries thought it essential that every family be instructed in catechism and how to use it. They also had Sunday school time with catechesis weekly for all ages of. Songs for Saplings and NCC are modern resources that are very cheap and could be provided to every family in a church, used in the pulpit encouragement or worked it into your corporate worship time. 21

22 Church Discipline - Leeman Take Home Points What does Church Discipline have to do with pastoral care? Reactive Pastoral Care Extreme ( pointy) end of pastoral care Neglected area of pastoral care in some churches and church cultures

23 Church Discipline Discussion Questions 1) What methods/systems/policies does your church have for correcting its members? 2) If we see something non-kosher, who deals with it? Are there people in unrepentant sin in your congregation? Who meets with them? How do they confront/manage the behaviour? 4) How does corporate worship (song, prayer, preaching, teaching and service leading/liturgy) establish the framework for the Christian life and provide a context for Christians? ( i.e confession, challenge, comfort) 5) Does sin go overlooked and unchallenged? Or does discipline come out of the blue without a bible framework or warning? Do people know what a normal Christian life ought to look like? Has there been pulpit teaching on church discipline or bible studies? 6) What accountability systems do you have in place? 23

24 Church Discipline Both formative and Corrective ( not just throwing out heretics) Crisis point pastoral care happens in the counselling/pastors office (corrective) Preventative measures such as mentoring, worship, membership commitment provide a foundation for reactive discipline (formative)

25 How People Change How People Change presents a biblical counselling focus for expositional preaching, bible study and one-anothering Fantastic range of resources for many different specific pastoral problems for the use of leaders and pro-active members Great solution to clinical psychology replacing biblical counselling and the antipsychology backlash 25

26 How People Change Discussion Questions 1) Does your church have a counselling/comfort and wisdom framework in place? 2) Do people know they can approach the pastor/pastoral care team/elders for counsel? 3) Do you have a way of knowing/assessing when people need to be referred for professional counselling? 4) Are elders/leaders/teachers trained in emergency pastoral care situations? 5) Is there an anti-emotional or anti-counselling vibe in your church? 6) Do you know people in your church who are hurting or suffering from mental illness and yet do not know who to turn to? 7)Do you have people in your congregation who are struggling emotionally, psychologically or ideologically with scripture, their own behaviour, or the behaviour of others or with ministries in your church? 26

27 Anton Boisen on Clinical Pastoral Care I think there can be little question that such men as Saul of Tarsus [St. Paul] and George Fox [the founder of Quakerism] would fare badly before a present day psychiatric staff. But with them the abnormality was a source of power and strength. I am therefore hoping for the day when cases of mental trouble that are not primarily organic in origin will be recognized as spiritual problems and the church will develop physicians of soul of a type whose work will be based upon sound and systematic study of spiritual pathology

28 Pastoral Care as an integrated whole Proactive Pastoral Care = Healthy Christian + Good teaching + Fellowship + Discipleship (mentoring)+ Doctrinal training + Pastoral counselling + Reactive Pastoral Care = Problem based teaching/counselling/groups Referral to reliable counsellors Range of recommended resources/experts Appropriate church discipline framework Proactive PC + Reactive PC = Biblical Church PC Framework

29 Pastoral Care Infographic Worship Sacraments Mission Evangelism Outreach Catechesis Confessions Creeds Expository Preaching Shephearding Prayer and Pastoral Care Leadership Petition Mentoring Church Discipline Correction Fellowship Comfort Counsel One anothering Confession Care 29

30 Proactive and Reactive Assessment Tool How can you assess your own church s need for proactive and reactive pastoral care systems? 30

31 Recommended Resources New city Catechism and Songs for Saplings Apps and CD s for families, sunday schools, quiet times, one-anothering and corporate worship

32 Quick Intro to New City Catechism 32

33 Quick Tour of Songs for Saplings Style Playlist 33

34 How People Change and the PDT franchise Bible studies, leaders guides, books DVD s etc

35 People Resources Paul Hueston 35

36 Paul Hueston is a Chaplain RHH working with Tas Anglicans Excellent resource for pastoral care as evangelism and in crisis situations. Great library which he is adding to regularly Regular training courses in pastoral care offered Just a nice, approachable, humble guy with a great foundation in chaplaincy Put him on speed dial 36

37 Balance of the Pastoral Office Pastoral preaching from the pulpit Worship confessions and other liturgy that seek to pastorally care for our congregations souls Training congregations to love one another and be skilled and embrace their call to love in different ways including in encouragement and counsel, corrective and formative Bible study fellowship and prayer Discipleship confession, prayer, training in doctrine