Tend My Flock. Kate Litchfield

Defining pastoral care

      Through baptism all God’s people have a gift of ministry from the ascended Christ to be offered for the good of the whole Body of Christ. The heart of all ministry is self-giving love and the priestly ministry of all Christians is to enable one another to be brought into touch with the loving heart of God (Eph. 4).

      Pastoral care is central to the life of the Church and determined by the command to love God with heart and soul and mind and one’s neighbour as oneself. This implies a reciprocal response, as people are enabled both to receive and to give love (Campbell 1985). Christians believe that love lies at the heart of God and that Jesus Christ is the incarnation of that love. So Christians, committed to the belief that God loves us all unconditionally, seek to reflect the love of God for each unique human being (Wright 1982).

      The fundamental aim of pastoral care is the enactment of this love, incorporating the pastoral functions of healing, sustaining, guiding and reconciling witnessed in the priestly ministry of Jesus and in the life of the early Church (Clebsch and Jeakle 1994).

      These aspects of pastoral care may be expressed in a wide variety of activities, involving individuals, groups and communities and undertaken from within the faith community. It is not only about responding to problems but also encompasses the celebration of what is good:

      … it is also about sharing in community, feasting in friendship, exchanging mutual support … Pastoral care may include befriending, promoting self-help activities, giving material aid, creating opportunities for increased learning, campaigning, protesting against unjust events and structures, pastoral education, community development, crisis management and conflict mediation. (Diocesan Advisers in Pastoral Care and Counselling 1995)

      Liturgy is also an expression of pastoral care, enabling worshippers to connect their individual stories with the story of God’s love for his people; every aspect of public worship will contribute to an image of God as one who invites, includes and empowers or who appears to do the reverse. Liturgy shapes the church community and should enable the whole people of God to fulfil a richly varied ministry of pastoral care regardless of education or social background (Green 1987). Administration is also an important aspect of pastoral ministry, communicating respect and care when it is done well.

      The spectrum of pastoral care may range from simple acts of spontaneous kindness to planned interventions, which, while firmly rooted in theological understanding, may also draw on the insights of secular disciplines, such as social work, counselling and community development (Campbell 1985). Although pastoral care is therefore both a corporate and an individual activity, this book will focus primarily on ministry to individuals on their own, or within their family, friendship or community network.

      1.2. Differentiating pastoral care and counselling

      Since the latter half of the twentieth century counselling and psychotherapy as specific disciplines, contained within the wider range of pastoral care activities, have had a profound influence on the care that ministers (particularly those who are ordained) offer to individuals. This influence brings both valuable insights and potential hazards.

      The original meaning of the word ‘counselling’ is rooted in the Christian tradition of pastoral care. Its appropriation to describe a specific therapeutic activity is a late-twentieth-century development which has become widely accepted as counselling has become professionalized. Unfortunately, as pastoral ministry has been increasingly influenced by the developing role of the secular professional counsellor, there has been a tendency to lose the distinction between pastoral care and counselling and to undervalue pastoral care as an activity in its own right (Bridger and Atkinson 1994). It is essential to be aware that, while all ordained ministers are pastoral carers, not all are counsellors in the contemporary secular sense. It is also important to recognize that, although counsellors can enable their clients’ exploration of spiritual issues, this does not make them pastors. They too need to be aware of their limitations and to recognize the skills, knowledge and experience of the ordained minister.

      Christopher Moody, in his book Eccentric Ministry (1992), distinguishes between pastoral care and counselling, exploring how the ordained minister’s role is to create a living contact between the tradition of the faith community and the individual’s experience. Sometimes the minister will do very little, other than to be a presence at times of crisis or loss of meaning in people’s lives, perhaps being a recipient of their anger with God, or enabling those who do not believe to catch a glimpse of the gracious activity of God. While counselling and therapy tend to be individualistic in approach, the ordained minister will see pastoral ministry in the wider context of a relationship with God and with the faith community, and may offer pastoral advice, spiritual counsel, prayer and sacramental ministry. Unlike secular professional counselling, which has clearly defined boundaries of time and place, pastoral care of individuals may occur in many formal and informal settings. The informality of pastoral care is one of its assets in a society where most professional help is formalized and given by appointment. In contrast, pastoral care can seem untidy and ill-defined, but it is probably much closer to the messy reality of people’s lives, where they share their troubles when they can and often do so under the cover of a noisy television, on a car journey, at the pub or when meeting by chance on their way somewhere else. Such spontaneity requires availability and will not happen if the minister’s diary is always packed with formal appointments.

      Pastoral care may be in one-to-one encounter or involve other church and family members and friends. Unlike a counselling relationship, a pastoral care relationship may be initiated by the minister and the minister will be known as a person with other relationships within the faith community. Meetings may be in a person’s home, rather than church premises, and friendship may become a dimension of this caring ministry.

      However, confusion can arise because, with an ever-increasing demand for personal counselling and the lack of affordable counselling services, people may turn to their ordained minister for a form of help which may go well beyond the normal expectations of pastoral care. If the minister engages with areas of experience beyond their competence, the consequences may be damaging for all concerned. Confusion can also occur when terms such as ‘Christian counselling’ and ‘prayer counselling’ are used in the Church. Ministers need to be clear about the difference between these activities and counselling as understood in a secular context. Ministers who are not trained as counsellors should be careful not to confuse their pastoral ministry with that of counselling or psychotherapy.

      1.3. Listening and counselling skills

      Listening well is fundamental to all good pastoral care. Insights from and training in counselling skills can improve communication and make a valuable contribution to pastoral care. Such training can enhance ministers’ ability to listen at depth and increase their self-awareness and capacity to discern accurately. The insights of the person-centred approach to counselling, emphasizing the value of empathy, warmth, acceptance and genuineness in all helping relationships, can enhance a minister’s ability to offer parishioners an environment in which they can feel heard and understood (Rogers 1979).

      1.4. Clergy with counselling training

      Those ordained ministers who have a professional training as counsellor or therapist need to reflect carefully upon issues of ethics and good practice before deciding whether or not to add this dimension, with appropriate boundaries and explanation, to the pastoral care they offer in the parish. While ministers who have counselling training to an accredited standard will draw on this in the pastoral care they offer parishioners, they need always to consider carefully what kind of support is being sought or offered and what is appropriate. They should also clarify this with the parishioner seeking help. Otherwise confusion may arise in the minds of both minister and parishioner as to which role the minister is in. The minister should always be clear whether he or she is working with a parishioner as a counsellor and only do so if there has been explicit agreement to this. Both need to be aware of how authority deriving from the ordained minister’s role may affect the counselling relationship (2.3; 2.9). They also need to discuss the implications of establishing a dual relationship (relating to each other in more than one role) and of how a counselling relationship between them might affect their contact in other contexts (3.5). The minister (whether ordained or lay)