Finally, pastoral care

Let the countdown (finally) begin,

• OCTOBER - Pastoral Care

• NOVEMBER - Spiritual Gifts

• DECEMBER - Discipleship

First, some history.

My first wife, having first received her theology degree, some years later qualified as an accountant. She was trained as a public finance accountant, a discipline that had other components to the qualification – such as management studies.

She excelled at management and, upon graduation, was instantly headhunted to lead the management department at a local accountancy and finance training college.   

She remarked that management skills were almost second nature to her as a Christian. She’d already operated as a pastor’s wife, both counselling individuals and teaching Kingdom principles. She soon embarked on her first of two postgraduate degrees – a Master's in Organisational Behaviour and later a PhD exploring the inevitability of institutionalisation and whether it could be avoided. Sadly, she died of ovarian cancer before completing her doctorate.

Companies can pay vast sums of money for a management consultant's methodology; for my wife, management theory and organisational structures were akin to the Kingdom of God, expressed through compassion and justice.

Another colleague and ministerial co-worker of mine left his work as an urban church planter, strategic intercessor, and astute Bible practitioner to join the theology faculty of a UK university to pursue a PhD on the themes of the Kingdom of God and their implications for modern living. During his studies, he gave the occasional guest lecture unpacking areas of his research. Upon receiving his doctorate, he was asked to serve as a consultant and guest lecturer at the university. Though not in the theology faculty, he was invited to join the economics and business studies departments. They didn’t particularly want to hear the gospel, but were fascinated and intrigued by the ethics and outworkings of God’s Kingdom as explained by Jesus and modelled by the Early Church.

What has any of this to do with this month’s subject of pastoral care?

Because Christians are often caring, this characteristic leads them to offer sympathy rather than truth, a shoulder to cry on rather than a Cross to embrace, even the philosophies of this world rather than God’s Spirit of wisdom and revelation.  

This month’s handout on Pastoral Care pretty much states the obvious in common-sense bullet points. Though hopefully, in such a limited document, it does suggest discerning the voice of God and presenting to others our Christ-won identity as people of resurrection.

The teachings and example of Jesus, plus the victory of the Cross and His Empty Tomb, mean the world has changed. Life, as we know it, is no longer limited by our flaws and held captive by the enemy’s lies. Though pastoral care still requires heartfelt compassion, just as spiritual gifts need the context of love (1 Corinthians 13) to be valid, pastoral workers must also never lose sight of Christ's restorative and redeeming work. Though our pastoral words seek to bring comfort, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit they can also bring encouragement and strengthening.

Christian care includes caring enough to confront. Presenting truth that sets the captive free. All lasting pastoral care is rooted in helping believers (and not-yet-believers) embrace their new identity ‘in Christ Jesus’.

Remember, and be glad of the fact, pastoral care is not counselling. The latter requires professional credentials; the former – an insatiable zeal for Jesus!

And, finally, let's get pastoring - Finally, Pastoral Care