pastoral care and counselling note biggest

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PASTORAL CARE
Presented to: Dr. Sakhi Athyal
(A) Introduction:
The Pastor who provides leadership, spiritual guidance and encouragement to a congregation is the most nearly
normative concept of the Christian minister in history. From the time Christ Jesus chose certain disciples and
“appointed them that they should go and bear fruit”. Pastoral care has been a universal practice in the life and
mission of Christian churches. All those who loved him were “to love one another,” to strengthen each other in the
faith, and to minister to those in the world for whom Christ dies (John 15:12-17). While the pastor has a unique
social role and ecclesiastical office, he has no monopoly on the church’s caring concerns.
(B) Etymology: The word ‘Pastor’ is derived from Latin word ‘Shepherd’ or ‘Grazier’.
(C) Definition of Pastoral Care: Pastoral Care is a supportive ministry to people and those close to them who are
experiencing the familiar trials that characterize life in this world, such as illness, surgery, incapacitation, death and
bereavement.
The ministry of the cure of souls, or pastoral care, consists of helping acts, done by representative Christian persons,
directed toward the healing, sustaining, guiding and reconciling of troubled persons whose troubles arise in the
context of ultimate meanings and concerns.
(D) Who is a Pastor? He is an ordinary person who knows Christ Jesus personally and has experienced the call of
God in his life. Let’s examine some of the qualifications that a Pastor should have.
 He should be a person who has earned the respect of his community, i.e. he is above reproach, not having been
laid hold of for disorderliness, indecency and immodesty. Stalker insisted that, “the prime qualification for the
ministry is goodness”.
 He should be a seasoned veteran of he Christian way of life, in order that he may not become puffed up with
conceit and fall into the condemnation of the false accuser.
 He should be the husband of one wife, as two of the Pastoral epistles, namely, 1 Timothy and Titus require.
 He must manage his own household well, as we read in 1 Timothy 3:5 that, “if a man does not know how to
manage his own household, how can he care for God’s church?”
 He must be hospitable. 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:8 indicate hat the person aspiring to the ministry must be a
hospitable person that does not mean that a pastor and his wife do not need privacy. If they are hospitable, they
will have a rich ministry and they will establish an appropriate model for others._
 He must have a firm hold on the Sure Word. In other words, he must have a sense of certainty about the truths
he teaches and the person whom he represents. He must be competent to give his people a sense of certainty
about their life in relationship to God. Two reasons support such a demand upon the pastor: first, people depend
upon their pastor for confidence, security, and certainty amidst suspicion, insecurity and doubt. As Goethe
appealed, “Give me your conviction; I need them. Keep your doubts; I have enough of my own.” Secondly,
every congregation has a legitimate need for authority in its minister. He must be able to speak as one having
authority within his own personal experience with Christ, within the thoroughness of his knowledge of the
record revelation, within the firsthandness of his own understanding of human nature, and within the intimacy
of his own acquaintance with grief and pain. Such an authority meets a group’s needs.
 He must be a good teacher. He needs to be a mature man in Christ Jesus who is no longer “tossed to and fro and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles”
(Eph.4:14). He is to have a firm hold on the sure word that is taught in order that he may give instruction “in the
health-giving doctrine.”
 He must be gentle (1 Tim.3:3; 2 Tim.2:24) – The world is looking for someone who is genuinely kind and
gentle. Such a person may find, at times, that people take unfair advantage of him, but that is their problem, not
his. Before some men enter the pastorate, they need to spend time with God, allowing Him to grind off some of
the coarse, rough edges of their lives and asking Him to make them truly gentle and kind.
 He must be Just and Devout (Titus 1:8) – A Pastor is to be just in the sense that he is to be innocent, holy and
righteous in his character and action. The pastoral servant of God is to be a pious man and one whose piety
stretches to more that outward symbols. His devotion should spring from intense love of God. His attitude of
devotion to God’s will be contagious among his people.

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 He must be a person of Self-controlled – The person who with the help of the Holy Spirit can control himself
certainly will have no problem succeeding in any task that God had in mind for him to do._
(E) Criteria for the Pastoral Task:
Daniel Day Williams said: “The pastoral task, as it comes to every minister and every Christian, is to respond to the
wonder of God’s care for the soul and to share with others such knowledge as he has God’s healing power.”[Daniel
Day Williams, The Minister and the Care of Souls (New York: Harper & Row, 1961), 147.]
Motivation – From the early church period to the present the reconciling and sustaining love of God has motivated
spiritual service in Christ’s stead (John 15:17; 2 Cor.5:14, 19). The Apostle John declared: “We know that we have
passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love remains in death… Pastor becomes
an instrument of God’s grace and peace for a specific time and need. Christian love is the primary generating
environment of true pastoral labor. Pastoral care arises both out of the push of the pastoral calling and the pull of
human need. The shepherd’s heart – Christian response to humanity’s hurt – is a gift in some people. As Christ Jesus
reminded Simon Peter, such a ministry can be sustained only by mature love (John 21:15-17).
Theological Responsibility – Preachers are to understand both hermeneutics and the psychology of audience
participation in worship. Pastors are theologians when they reflect upon God’s ways with man and upon the life of
man before God._
Methodology – A Theology of pastoral care both fashions and is fashioned by an acceptable methodological
orientation. Without a comprehensive method of work the pastor struggles through his days ill-equipped, often
crushed by the demands of his office._
(F) Biblical Motifs of Ministry:
It is observed that biblical motifs are far removed from what modern people can understand. One has noted, for
example, that the shepherd and sheep imagery in scripture fails to convey the reality of the contemporary pastor-
parishioner relationship. “Some want to revive the concept of the pastor as the shepherd of his flock,” says Hans
Hofmann. “It is hard to believe that modern people either want to or ought to follow their normally poorly educated
minister without reservation.” (Hofmann, The Family of God, 11). One who serves (redemptive activity) in the work
of the Great Shepherd (representative role) participates in the family of God as a brother-man to persons and as a
son to the heavenly Father (the pastoral relationship).
The Servant Motif – Priests, prophets and kings were viewed in the OT primarily as instruments or servants of God.
Christ Jesus frequently referred Himself as servant. The pastor serves as a consultant to his congregation, as an
example to the inept, as a coach instructing those whose zeal outruns their skill, and as a participant-observer in the
life and ministry of the congregation.
The Motif of Shepherd – When we recover the biblical perspective, we discover that the most familiar figure of
Palestine was the shepherd. And sheep were esteemed, not despised, in that ancient economy. They provided a
livelihood, wool for clothing, and were the shepherd’s friends through a long days and nights on the Judean hills.
The Eastern shepherd was characterized by his skill in guiding and protecting his flock. His life was very hard. He
was concerned for all the sheep and had an eye for the green meadow, the quiet water pool, and the cool resting
place. His strength was tested in fighting marauding beasts, which attempted to plunder the flock. He was noted for
tenderness in caring for new lambs and for restoring the lost and strayed. A true shepherd never forsook the flock.
Central to the shepherd motif in scripture is the idea of sacrificial service (Heb. 13:20-21). The NT shepherd-sheep
relationship is that of one leading and nurturing those given to his care, of one guiding with righteous discipline,
guarding with loving concern, sharing the life of his comrades, even sacrificing his life if need be for his people._
The Motif of Sonship – The family relationship was very strong in the faith and life of ancient Israel and was carried
over into Christianity. The pastor serves redemptively as a shepherdly representative of God and is related as a
brother-man to person in his ministry of pastoral care.
(G) Functions of Pastoral Care: William A Clebsch and Charles R. Jaekle describe four basic functions of the
Pastor, as follows -

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(1) Healing – This is a function in which Pastor helps a debilitated person to be restored to a condition of
wholeness, on the assumption that this restoration achieves also a new level of spiritual insight and welfare.
This is both a restoration to a state of wholeness and a deepening of spiritual awareness.
(2) Sustaining – This function consists of helping a hurting person to endure and to transcend a circumstance in
which restoration to his former condition or the normalcy. Perhaps the commonest form of sustaining is found in the
pastoral ministry to bereaved persons, whose loss is indeed unredeemable but whose experience opens up the
significant spiritual implications of death as confronting the bereaved and as having confronted the deceased.
Sustaining, in cases where healing is improbable, grants endurance and access to the redemptive life of suffering.
(3) Guiding – The Pastoral guiding consists of assisting perplexed persona to make confident choices between
alternative course of thought and action, when such choices are viewed as affecting the present and future state of
the soul. This helps perplexed persons make confident decisions.
(4) Reconciling – This function seeks to re-establish broken relationships between man and fellow man and between
man and God. In other words, reconciling enables persons to gain deeper relationship with God and neighbour.
(H) Other functions in order to make the above cited basic functions meaningful and effective:
Preaching, teaching and healing – the comprehensive ministry of Christ Jesus – emerge incarnate in the person and
work of Pastor today. Whatever his function, the modern minister is to embody a compassionate spirit and
professional competence as he labours in Christ’s stead.
Biblically and practically, pastoral care is the mutual concern of Christians for each other and for those in the world
for whom Christ died. Protestant pastoral care views the church itself as minister and the pastor as a servant of the
servants. His role as leader, teacher, and example is fulfilled within the church’s shepherding ministry.
Pastors are called to be shepherd of the flock. In a modern Christendom, there is a need for conducting “member
Care” or “Pastor Care” seminars and courses. A shepherd leader is a person of compassion and care, and an
adventurer in faith._
To be a pastor is to risk one’s self to mystery, the mystery of God’s grace and man’s conflicted nature–made in the
image of God yet a sinner.
To be a pastor is to forsake the security of a comfortable identity and be “all things to all men that some may be
saved” (1 Cor.9: 22).
(I) Two important Characteristics that distinguish the work of the Pastor:
Pastor acts as the Representative of the Church, the Community made whole by God, which authorizes the pastor to
convey in its behalf its redemptive experience to persons in trouble. Like that of the other offices of ministry, the
work of the pastor is fundamentally a corporate undertaking, rooted in the message and mission of the Church and
seeking shalom of he community which those in the pastoral situation share.
The pastor acts theologically to uncover the particular meaning in the crisis at hand.
(J) Challenges:
 To focus on Christian education to tend the young adult life course
 To guide adolescents towards a lasting faith following High school graduation.
(K) Implications for Christian education: Helping students
 Connect meaning to experience – college students are looking to participate experientially in acts of justice – to
stand up for the poor and the oppressed and so on.
 Develop an integrated life – whole personality
 Demonstrate the power of the gospel and the power of God
 Stand as a witness to the world – ‘spirit-guided evangelism and social witness’.
The role of the pastor in times of death and bereavement by quoting Paul’s words to the Christians at Corinth, To
comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God .2Cor: 1;
4,9.

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(L) Conclusion:
The chief responsibility of the pastor who tends his sheep is to feed them. To feed God’s flock is a metaphorical
expression for teaching the church. So the pastor is essentially teacher, who devotes himself to a ministry of
preaching and teaching._ The role of the good shepherd is four fold. Feeding, guiding, guarding and healing. He is
to bind up the wounds of those injured in every aspect. All these 4 activities are aspect of the ministry of the world._
We may note the important aspects of pasturing: Leading and Guiding; Healing and Restoring; Nurturing and
Sustaining to make the fold worthy in the sight of the head of the Church (Lord Christ Jesus).
Sources Referred:
Anderson, Robert C. The Effective Pastor. Chicago: Moody Press, 1985.
Brister, C. W. Pastoral Care in the Church. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1964.
Clebsch, William A and Jaekle, Charles R. Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.,
1964.
Hiltner, Seward. Preface to Pastoral Theology. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1958.
Hunter, Rodney J. Gen. Ed., Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling. Bangalore: Theological Publications in
India,
2007.
Hulme, William E. Pastoral Care and Counselling. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1986.
Hunter, Evan. “Converted to the Kingdom: Social Action Among College Students Today” in Christian Education
Journal
5/1 (2008).
Klink, Thomas W. Depth Perspectives in Pastor Work. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965.
Manokaran, J. N. Christ and Mission Leaders. Chennai: Mission Educational Books, 2007.
Oates, Wayne E. The Christian Pastor. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1950.
Stott, John. Between two Worlds. (n.a.)
C. W. Brister, Pastoral Care in the Church (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1964), 3.
Ibid., 4.
Rodney J. Hunter, Gen. Ed., Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling (Bangalore: Theological Publications in
India, 2007), 827.
William E. Hulme, Pastoral Care and Counselling (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1986), 9.
Healing, sustaining and guiding have been discussed by Seward Hiltner, Preface to Pastoral Theology (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1958), 89-172.
Wayne E. Oates, The Christian Pastor (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1950), 43-49.
Robert C. Anderson, The Effective Pastor (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 42.
Wayne E. Oates, op.cit., 56-57.
Robert C. Anderson, op.cit., 12 & 19.
C. W. Brister, Op.Cit., 5-7.
Ibid., 7-8.
Ibid., 10.
C. W. Brister, Ibid., 16-19.
Ibid., 19-21.
Ibid., 19-23.
William A Clebsch and Charles R. Jaekle, Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.,
1964), 8-9.
C. W. Brister, Pastoral Care in the Church (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1977), xvii.
C. W. Brister, Ibid., xxiii.
J. N. Manokaran, Christ and Mission Leaders (Chennai: Mission Educational Books, 2007), 57-60.
Thomas W. Klink, Depth Perspectives in Pastor Work (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965), 17.
Rodney J. Hunter, Op.Cit., 827.
Evan Hunter, “Converted to the Kingdom: Social Action Among College Students Today” in Christian Education
Journal 5/1 (2008): 94-97.
John Stott, Between two Worlds, 118-119
Ibid., 120.