A Code of Conduct for Pastoral Care and Counselling

The fact that most professions these days have codes of ethics is indicative of the importance that is attached to maintaining professional standards, the integrity of behaviour and a proper duty of care towards others. We must do whatever we can to safeguard ourselves and others from breaches of trust, moral lapses and exploitative practices. Codes of ethics on their own will not do this of course, but they do articulate a basic set of expectations and requirements by which people may be held to account.

Pastoral care involves the formation of special relationships characterised by openness and trust. These relationships are developed in a variety of settings and a variety of ways, from informal pastoral care to structured counselling situations.

This Code indicates acceptable ethical behaviour for those offering pastoral care. While its focus is pastoral care, it is also applicable wherever there is a ministry relation between people. By the grace of God we are called to serve, and through the power of the Holy Spirit we are sustained and encouraged to keep within this code.

Code of Ethics as an agreed for  practicing the ministry of pastoral care:

Responsibilities to Those to Whom We Offer Pastoral Care

1) Ministers will deal truthfully with people, encouraging free and open discussion, upholding their best interests, rights and well-being.

2) Ministers will respect the right of people to privacy and confidentiality of information except when there is a clear and imminent danger to those people or others, at which time they will be informed of those limits.

3) Ministers will recognise the dignity and worth of every person and will offer pastoral care without unfair discrimination.

4) Ministers will not abuse their position by taking advantage of people for personal, financial or institutional gain.

5) Ministers will recognise that sexual intimacy in the pastoral situation is unacceptable and will not subject people to sexual exploitation, sexual harassment or sexual abuse.

6) Ministers will recognise that there are limits to their competence and will refer people to others when this proves necessary or desirable. They will not attempt counselling without training.

7) Ministers will recognise that there is a cultural context for pastoral care and will act with awareness and sensitivity.

Responsibilities to the Church

1) Ministers will uphold high standards of practice in ministry and work for the advancement of those standards.

2) Ministers will exercise stewardship in the time given to ministry, guarding against both over commitment and avoidance of responsibility.

Responsibilities to Colleagues and Other Pastoral Workers

1) Ministers will promote co-operation with colleagues, pastoral workers and members of other helping professions, treating them with consideration and respecting professional confidences.

2) Ministers will seek mediation through the courts of the church when conflicts with colleagues or others within the church community arise.

3) Ministers will take action through the proper channels concerning unethical conduct by colleagues or other pastoral workers.

Responsibilities to the Wider Community

1) Ministers will act to prevent and eliminate unfair discrimination in the wider community.

2) Ministers will encourage as part of their pastoral task, participation in the shaping of social policies, advocating the promotion of social justices, improved social conditions and a fair sharing of the community’s resources.

Personal Responsibilities

1) Ministers will use regular approved supervision to maintain accountability and a high standard of pastoral care.

2) Ministers will use regular opportunities for spiritual growth, personal recreation and refreshment.

3) Ministers will seek to extend and enhance their knowledge.

The above Code of Ethics is described as an agreed minimum standard of practice for those who share in the ministry of pastoral care. What sorts of things would you add to raise it above the minimum standard?

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Discipline

Finally beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and it there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.[1]

In John Calvin’s day in Geneva, a group of elders called a Consistory (in effect a session) met weekly and ruled on matters of personal morality, business practice and public ethics. This proved to be the most controversial aspect of Calvin's reforms, but it did lead John Knox to observe that Geneva was the “most godly city ever established on earth.” Discipline “rightly administered” came to be regarded as a mark of the Scottish Church, alongside preaching and celebration of the Lord’s Supper. While the notion of discipline has negative connotations nowadays, it should be remembered that discipline, in a church context, is concerned with the formation of disciples, of people whose lives are ordered by the gospel. Nurture, encouragement and even correction, sensitively and prayerfully exercised in the context of pastoral care, and determined always by love, might be deemed an appropriate means of strengthening faith and forming disciples within the Christian community.

People might find it more helpful these days to talk about accountability rather than discipline. In the absence of any form of accountability there is a very real danger of “spiritual narcissism”, whereby people simply do whatever is right in their own eyes. Forms of accountability might include spiritual supervision, prayer partners and personal mentoring in ministry. Many people have experienced great value in committing themselves to time-honoured personal spiritual disciplines, adapted to fit today’s context and consisting of daily habits of faith, including regulated prayer and Bible study.

What are the means in your church by which people hold each other to account for the faith they profess?

 

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[1] Philippians 4:8-9  

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Faith Formation

You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.[1]

In the section on worship as pastoral care, we identified pastoral work with the task of seeking the fruit of the Word among those who hear it. There is a presumption here that those who hear the Word of God do not receive it passively; rather, they are being formed for discipleship in much the same manner as the very first disciples who followed Jesus and listened to his teaching. What we are talking about here is a lifelong process of spiritual growth and faith formation, or as the Apostle Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”

Faith formation takes many forms. It occurs in worship, not only as we attend to the Word of God, but also as we pray and sing and gather around the Table. Faith formation thus consists of didactic (preaching/teaching/instruction) and doxological (praise/worship/prayer) elements. We are formed in mind and spirit. It is important to hold these two things together. Faith formation that focuses on the didactic and neglects the doxological risks becoming impersonal and theoretical. Conversely, faith formation that focuses on the doxological and neglects the didactic risks being superficial and sentimental.

A key aspect of pastoral care will be the encouragement that is given to people to keep growing in the Faith, personally and in community. In 1 Corinthians 3:2 a contrast is drawn between infants in Christ who are fed with milk and spiritually mature people who are ready for solid food. Some people show no desire to move beyond the infant stage; however, allowing people to stagnate in faith is not good pastorally. A stagnant or underdeveloped faith will be less able to cope with challenge and change. Opportunities for growth might include home-groups, Christian education programmes, baptism and confirmation classes, prayer groups, personal mentoring, spiritual supervision, spiritual disciplines, journaling, personal devotions, reflective reading of scripture, pastoral conversations, spiritual retreats, mission and outreach activities, and courses in biblical studies and theology.

Behind this range of opportunities is a wide range of people involved in the task of faith formation. It is not just the task of ministers, paid professionals and volunteer leaders. In recent decades, one of the most neglected contexts for faith formation and pastoral care has been the home. Within Christian history marriage and parenting have been considered vocations. The home is to be a sign of the kingdom, a place where faith is nurtured and disciples are formed.

What this means in practice today will, of course, vary from home to home and will be contingent on a whole range of factors; the main point to note is the significance of the home for faith formation and pastoral care. This has always been a characteristic feature of the Reformed tradition. In his manual on Christian piety, for example, a seventeenth-century Puritan, Lewis Bayly, recommended that families, upon their return home from church each Sunday, discuss the sermon and account for what they have learned, integrating their learning throughout the week with daily readings from a catechism. Moreover, Bayly and other Puritan leaders strongly advised that every family read a full chapter of scripture at the beginning and ending of every day and at noon, thereby enabling the whole Bible to be read in a year.

More recently, some readers will be familiar with the names of Tom and James Torrance, two Scottish ministers and world-renowned theologians who died just a few years ago. James’ son, Alan, taught systematic theology at the Theological Hall in Dunedin in the late 1980s and early 90s. In 2007, An Introduction to Torrance Theology was published. It included a personal statement by Tom’s and James’ brother David about their family background. David wrote: “Our love for the Scriptures and our theological education started from a very early age with our parents’ teaching. ... Our parents had a steadfast faith in God, a love for the Word of God and a firm belief in the power of prayer. Every day we met for family worship which was led by one of our parents. This continued from our earliest days of infancy until one by one we left home. ... As children, our parents expounded to us the Scriptures. They inspired us with a love for the Lord and a love of God’s Word. From our earliest years they encouraged us to read the Bible every day for ourselves and to read it through each year, which we have continued to do. ... They encouraged us to memorise fairly large portions of Scripture, particularly the Psalms, which we have always appreciated. ... Our parents also guided us in our Christian reading, and introduced us to various commentaries like Luther’s Galatians. ... While still at high school we were introduced to Calvin’s Institutes.”

Whilst few families today would achieve this level of Christian guidance and encouragement in the home, we do need to ask what can be done to combat the rising tide of biblical and theological illiteracy in our churches. How might be better encourage and resource parents for the task of faith formation in the home? Do we even regard this as an important thing to do?

One of the difficulties we face in this regard is the individualistic mindset that pervades much of Western culture. According to this mindset, anything that threatens the autonomy of the individual is regarded with suspicion. Many parents want their children to develop their own personal spirituality, and they shy away from anything which they might regard as indoctrination. Spirituality, yes, religion, no; exposure to a range of spiritual experiences, yes, commitment to a particular faith community and a set of practices and beliefs, no.

This helps explain the reluctance of many parents today to have their children baptized. Not wanting to “impose” their beliefs on their children, they adopt a position of “practical agnosticism”: “Let our children decide for themselves when they’re old enough to do so,” they say.

There are two major problems with this reasoning though. Firstly, it presumes that we can raise our children in a belief-neutral environment, which clearly is not possible. Every home functions in accordance with an implied set of beliefs and an underlying worldview, which will include certain assumptions about what it means to be human and what the purpose or meaning of life might be. Secondly, it is contrary to the biblical notion of being part of a covenant community that consists of entire households and families, not just consenting adults. Freedom, understood biblically, is not freedom from commitment and community, but rather freedom in commitment and community.

If you are committed to intentionally ministering to children and families, we encourage you to join the Kids Friendly Network, of which Jill Kayser is the national coach. Kids Friendly offer a wide range of training events and resources for churches, including the following:

1. A “Partnering with Parents” workshop, which will:

       ·      Transform parents’ thinking on faith development and help them embrace their role as spiritual nurturers.

       ·      Equip parents to share and practise their faith with their children

   ·  Encourage churches to be more inclusive of young people and to intentionally disciple them.

2. A “Sharing Faith@Home” workshop designed to inspire parents to share their faith with their children and explore ways of doing that. A “faith@home” flyer reminds parents of the important role they play in faith development and gives practical tips on sharing faith, reading scripture and praying together. It includes recommended books, websites, family devotions and other resources.

3. Family devotion resources that follow the church year, including Advent, Lent, Easter and Christmas.

4. All-age faith-sharing resources for use in church services.

5. A Kids Friendly library consisting of many books and practical resources.

Why is faith formation an important dimension of pastoral care? How can you and your church be more intentional about the task of faith formation?

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[1] Deuteronomy 11:18-19

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 Care

Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood

Teach us to care and not to care

Teach us to sit still

Even among these rocks,

Our peace in His will

And even among these rocks

Sister, mother

And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,

Suffer me not to be separated

And let my cry come unto Thee.[1]

Christians do not have a monopoly on acts of care and compassion. But such acts do lie at the heart of our calling to follow the One who “went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness” and “when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:35-36) It goes without saying that Christians care and that the communities of faith to which they belong will be communities of care. This is part and parcel of living out the Jesus-commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves. This is what we sign up for when we respond to Christ’s call upon our lives, knowing that such care will at times demand deep and costly commitments.

That said, we might ask: Of what does the Christian duty of care consist? In the section on prayer above we noted that prayer is a learnt activity. Could the same be said of care? This was a question posed by T.S. Eliot who, in his famous “Ash Wednesday” poem, written shortly after his conversion to the Christian faith in 1927, penned this remarkable prayer-line: “Teach us to care and not to care.”

What might this prayer be important for us today?

Firstly, teach us to care. Perhaps the first thing to note here is the distinction between kindness and care. If you have watched the Ellen DeGeneres television talk show you might have noticed that she always signs off her show with the exhortation to “be kind to one another.” But being kind to one another does not carry the same weight as caring for one another. Caring implies a relationship and an ongoing commitment in which lives become inextricably linked. Whereas pity and beneficence tend to be the primary motivators for acts of kindness and charity, it is compassion that sparks our motivation to care. We can be kind to one another yet still live autonomous lives, largely isolated from, and even indifferent towards the suffering that is evident all around us.

When we pray, “Lord, teach us to care,” we are not only voicing our determination to allow compassion to break down the walls of indifference that exist between us; we are also resisting the professionalization of care that has become a feature of our age. Have you noticed that in the case of a public tragedy, for example, one of the first things usually to be reported is that counselling has been offered to the victims and their families? It seems that we can no longer rely on local communities and family networks to provide the requisite networks of care and support. Care has become something that we expect the health sector, not-for-profit organisations (including Christian social service agencies) and specialists to deliver on our behalf. On the one hand, this makes perfectly good sense, as most churches lack the resources and expertise to provide the level of care that is required in many situations; on the other hand, though, it absolves us of the need to become personally involved in the provision of care for our fellow human beings. We show we care by referring people to the right agency or organisation or by sending them on their way with a food parcel or supermarket voucher. Persons made in the image of God are reduced to clients, healthcare consumers, welfare beneficiaries and recipients of charity.

“Lord, teach us to care,” constitutes a plea for this distorted thinking to be corrected and to take responsibility for those aspects of care that are best located within those grassroots communities of care and worship that we call the church.

And so now to the second half of the prayer: “Teach us not to care.” At first glance this appears to be a contradiction, but perhaps at a deeper level it constitutes something of a reality check for us. Such is the scale of need in our world that it can be likened to a huge sponge soaking up every ounce of care we throw at it. Not only is it never satisfied; the more it is fed with care the more it appears to grow, as evidenced by the ever-expanding health care system and the ever-growing list of charities, not-for-profit organisations and community initiatives. Society’s provision of care, well intentioned and practical, can inadvertently encourage self-pity and a sense of entitlement. American author Eugene Peterson puts it this way:

There is a great irony here – that so much of our caring nurtures sin. The only group in our society who show any sign of acknowledging this is parents of young children. Parents know that there is nothing less innocent than childhood. After a few weeks, months at most, of responding unquestioningly to every sign of need, mothers and fathers start getting smart, start filtering the requests, cross-examining the wails. If they don’t, they realise in a few years, and with a sense of dismay, that it might be too late to do anything about it, because as they have been bandaging knees, wiping away tears, buying designer jeans, running interference for break-away emotions, they have at the same time been feeding pride, nourishing greed, fuelling lust and cultivating envy. But outside the circumstances of child-rearing, there does not seem to be much awareness of this deviousness. The moment any one of us says, “Help me!” and discovers how quickly others are in attendance on us, making us the centre and confirming our importance, a vast field for the exercise of sin – that is, getting our own godless and neighbourless way – opens up. It is really quite incredible the amount of illness, unhappiness, trouble, and pain that is actually chosen, because it is such an effective way of being in control, of being important, of exercising God-like prerogatives, of being recognised as significant, without entering the strenuous apprenticeship of becoming truly human, which always requires learning the love of God, practising the love of neighbour.[2]

The prayer, “Lord, teach us not to care,” counters this tendency to indulge those manipulative impulses that sometimes accompany expressions of need. Part of caring is to exercise discernment and to develop models of care that go beyond do-goodism and activism. Perhaps this is what T.S. Eliot had in mind when he followed his plea to be taught to care and not to care with another plea: Teach us to sit still and to find our peace in the Lord’s will. In the midst of all our caring deeds, never let us neglect the task of encouraging one another to be still, to contemplate the deep mysteries of faith and to find our peace in God.

What might be entailed in your church learning to care more fully in the manner of Christ?

Do you see any differences between the duty of care that is laid upon the church and the duty of care that is exercised in society?

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[1] T.S. Eliot, from “Ash Wednesday” (1930)  

[2] Eugene Peterson , Subversive Spirituality, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997, 158-9.  

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Hospitality

So welcome home, I bid you welcome, I bid you welcome Welcome home from the bottom of our hearts Welcome home, see I’ve made a space for you now Welcome home from the bottom of our hearts From the bottom of our hearts.

Much is (rightly) made these days of the significance of hospitality, of making newcomers feel welcome and of providing multiple opportunities for fellowship in our churches. Living as we do in a café culture, many churches are seeking to allow aspects of that culture to transform the way they do church. Rapidly disappearing are the days of providing a packet of biscuits and instant coffee in draughty church halls and drab lounges after worship services. In their place we are seeing church foyers being transformed into warm, light and spacious hospitality hubs where good coffee and food are served both before and after the service, and in many cases during the week too. Some churches are going further by allowing the café concept to inform and change the very shape and content of their worship. Such services tend to be informal and interactive, and they make a lot of use of multimedia – PowerPoint, DVD clips and the like.

Hospitality serves important pastoral purposes of making people feel welcome and providing places of belonging. Interestingly, the root meaning of the Hebrew word for salvation in the Old Testament is “to be roomy” or “to make room for”, or “to create space for”. I was reminded of this a few years ago when I heard Dave Dobbyn’s song, “Welcome Home”, which includes a wonderful line, as he alludes to the settling of immigrants to this country: “See, I’ve made a space for you now.”

An integral part of hospitality from a biblical and theological perspective, then, is about making the stranger feel welcome, making space for those who are not like us. Indeed it even goes so far as to include the notion of being reconciled to those from whom we may have been estranged. The Apostle Paul made this a recurring theme in his correspondence to fledgling Christian communities – e.g., Galatians 3:28. It’s not just that Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slave and free, all have their place – a form of peaceful co-existence as it were – but rather, the very things that divide them, allowing one ethnic group or class of people to dominate another, dissolve, and in their absence a new reconciled and reconciling humanity has been born.

It is this radical, transformative dimension to God’s hospitality, on display every time Christians gather around the Lord’s Table, which sets the church apart from every other organisation. Other community groups may surpass the church in their ability to welcome newcomers and provide fellowship, but every time Christians gather for worship and receive the “holy bread of heaven which gives us life” (John Calvin), they are reminded of a deeper and more profound dimension to hospitality – a dimension that originates in God and overflows from the throne of Grace, overcoming sin, binding people together in a reconciling embrace and serving as a sign of God’s intention for the world.

Understood in this way, exploring ways of becoming more hospitable will involve more than adding a café experience to church attendance. In her remarkable book, Take This Bread, Sara Miles describes the experience of early one morning in San Francisco, for no earthly reason, wandering into a church, receiving communion, and finding herself transformed – embracing a faith she had once scorned. Before long, she turned the bread she ate at communion into tons of groceries, piled at the foot of the church’s communion table to be given away. Within a few years, she and the people she served had started nearly a dozen food pantries in the poorest parts of their city. Her story graphically illustrates the missional potential of Eucharistic hospitality. For those who feel confused or overwhelmed by all the talk around being a missional church, I would say, concentrate first on being a hospitable church. Properly understood, this will not make your church inward looking; rather, it will sharpen you for witness and mission.

What would becoming more hospitable entail for your church?

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Healing 

In this bread there is healing,

in this cup is life forever.

In this moment, by the Spirit,

Christ is with us here.[1] 

One of the great concepts that Judaism has given to the world is that of shalom. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures shalom is used in a variety of ways. It has connotations of peace, wholeness, completion, harmony, prosperity, security, reconciliation and joy. The prophet Ezekiel, in a visionary passage refers to God establishing a “covenant of shalom” and providing “plantations of shalom” (Ezekiel 34:25-29a). Shalom is woven into the movement from chaos to order in the very act of creation, culminating in the peace and joy of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-4a). Shalom is intensely personal, as reflected in the Bible’s most familiar Sabbath blessing, which ends with the words, “The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you shalom” (Numbers 6:26), and in the everyday Jewish greeting, “Shalom aleichem,” which may be translated as “Well-being be upon you" or "May you be well.” 

Interestingly, in John 20:21 the risen Christ uses the greeting “Peace be with you,” a translation of shalom aleichem. And in the Gospels Jesus is portrayed as the One who not only pronounces shalom, but also establishes shalom. In Mark 4:37-39, for example, we are told that Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” This command serves the same purpose as the hovering spirit of God in Genesis 1:2, namely to bring elemental chaos and disorder under God’s liberating and life-giving rule. What Mark wants his readers to recognise in Jesus is the establishment of shalom in a universe that apart from God’s rule is disordered, chaotic and unfulfilling. 

This same dynamic is evident in the so-called healing miracles of Jesus. It is all part and parcel of the inauguration of God’s reign, a sign of the Kingdom, the birth of a new creation in the midst of the old. The miracles are enacted pronouncements of God’s victory over all earthly manifestations of the forces of sin and death. At Jesus’ word sinners are forgiven, the blind can see, lepers are cleansed, and the lame leap for joy. His healing ministry, charged with eschatological hope, anticipates his resurrection. And it is precisely this which sets him apart from all the other itinerant preachers and charismatic healers of his day. 

Why is this important? It is important because without this biblical backdrop we tend to view healing in very individualistic terms and to equate it with physical cure, whereas the biblical notion of shalom compels us to think more broadly and deeply about issues of wellness and illness.[2] Let me give an example. Some years ago I was involved in the pastoral care of a woman who was in the terminal phase of her battle with cancer. I was privileged to witness healing take place, not in terms of a physical cure, but rather in terms of the woman being reconciled with her estranged brother and reaching a point of internal shalom whereby she was able to declare with the Apostle Paul, “We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:7) This had a calming effect on those around her. The distress that her husband and children had been feeling up until this point was eased considerably, and the remaining time that they had together as a family was characterised by a deep sense of gratitude. Amidst the tears there was much laughter. 

Here is another story that invites us to rethink our notions of wellness and healing from a Kingdom perspective. The late Henri Nouwen once described attending an Easter vigil in a community of severely handicapped people. The cry of “The Lord is risen!”, Nouwen said, was shouted in a multitude of languages, accompanied by bells, alleluias, smiles laughter and a deep sense of hope. Nouwen wrote: 

While all this joy filled the chapel, I saw that Nathan stood up with Philippe in his arms and left the church. Philippe’s body is severely distorted. He cannot speak, walk, dress, or feed himself and needs help every second of his waking hours. . . .When I saw Philippe in Nathan’s arms I suddenly realised what we were proclaiming on this Easter vigil. Philippe’s body is a body destined to a new life, a resurrected life. In his new body he will carry the signs of his suffering, just as Jesus carried the wounds of the crucifixion into his glory. And yet he will no longer be suffering, but will join the saints around the altar of the lamb. . . .What a faith! What a hope! What a love! The body (even a deformed body) is not a prison to escape from, but a temple in which God already dwells, and in which God’s glory will be fully manifested on the day of the resurrection.[3] 

If we are able, together with Paul, to say that our life is somehow hidden in God with Christ, who is our redeemer and intercessor, and that when Christ who is our life is revealed then we also will be revealed with him in glory (Colossians 3:3-4), then we have a basis for looking forward to the day when, in Christ, the old creation will have given way to the new, and the glory of God, glimpsed now only in part, will be fully revealed. Armed with this hope, we might, in the words of Paul, feel afflicted in every way in this life, but we are not crushed, we might be perplexed, but we will not be driven to despair, we might be struck down, but we will not be destroyed. For, by faith, we are always carrying in our bodies the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus might also be made visible in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:8-10). 

In this context, what role does prayer play? John McLeod Campbell, a nineteenth-century Scottish theologian, defined prayer as “the utterance of participation in the life of Christ,” through which we are directed by the Spirit to seek the mind of the One who continually prays for the world he has redeemed in suffering love, and join our prayers to his. Prayer anticipates a future in which Christ will be all and in all. 

Roman Catholic theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar, suggests that this means “we do not build the kingdom of God on earth by our own efforts (however assisted by grace); the most we can do, through genuine prayer, is to make as much room as possible, in ourselves and in the world, for the kingdom of God, so that its energies can go to work.”[4] Thus understood, the time between the first and second coming of Christ is not a time for passivity but for prayer. Or, as Christopher Cocksworth puts it: “It is the time for intercession in which God’s people pray for the coming of God’s will. And as they pray they discover that their groaning and the groaning of the rest of creation is none less than the groaning of the eschatological Spirit who yearns for manifestation of the new creation and so ‘intercedes with sighs too deep for words.’”[5] 

The reality of praying between the times – of the first and second coming of Christ, and the old creation and the new – means that prayer should not be reduced to a cause-and-effect formula. People who are ill should not have placed upon them the added burden of feeling that if only they had more faith then their prayers for a physical cure would be answered. Both the process of healing and the act of prayer are more complex than that, as is their relationship to one another.

One of my former mentors in ministry, the late Bill Temple, testified to a time when he suffered a major heart attack and was admitted to hospital. The prognosis was grim and Bill, feeling that death may not be far away, found himself plunged into despair. That evening a colleague in ministry visited him, anointed him with oil, and prayed for him. Immediately, Bill felt his body supported and bathed in God’s love. It was a turning point. Not that there was any kind of miraculous cure on a physical level – Bill still had a long period of recuperation in hospital, and he knew that no amount of prayer would stave off future heart attacks if he didn’t heed medical advice and attend to matters of diet, exercise and stress. But on a psychological and spiritual level, things had changed dramatically. Bill’s testimony taught me two important things about healing: (1) That spiritual disciplines (including prayer) should be regarded as a supplement to conventional medicine (also a gift from God), not as substitutes for it; and (2) That ritual and symbol can be important elements of a healing process.

The practice of anointing the sick with oil dates back to biblical times. There are two references to the practice in the New Testament. Firstly Mark, in his account of the twelve disciples being sent out in pairs to Galilean villages, says that they “anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” (Mark 6:13) Then James, in his epistle, writes: “Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.” (James 5:14)

What is the significance of oil? It is a biblical sign of God’s redemptive work. Its use reminds us that all healing falls under the orbit of God’s salvific work, and that God is the ultimate agent of healing. Indeed, one of the Hebrew names for God is Jehovah-rapha, which means, “The Lord who heals.”

If oil is a powerful symbol of redemption and healing, so too, in the Christian tradition, is Eucharistic bread. There is a Graham Kendrick song called “Here is bread”, which in the opening line of the refrain claims that “in this bread there is healing.” This is a compelling affirmation. It is not that the bread contains some kind of magical healing agent (any more than oil for anointing), but rather in the act of eating together the symbols of Jesus’ body, given and broken for the life and shalom of the world there is a sense in which the ancient declaration of Isaiah, spoken in reference to the Suffering Servant, becomes a present reality: “By his bruises we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

Insofar as Holy Communion embodies and conveys this eschatological promise and is grounded in the ministry of the crucified and risen Lord, by whose wounds we are healed, it is a powerful symbol of, and vehicle for healing in a broken and hurting world. There is much to be gained from exploring the issue of healing from a Eucharistic perspective. Through ritual and symbol it suggests that health or well-being is more than the absence of illness and a feeling of inner peace and contentment. It is about being fully human, understood in terms of sharing in the life of the one whom we confess as the true Human Being, the Second Adam (cf. Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:45-49), and in, through and with him, giving glory to, and sharing in the life and mission of the Triune God.

Given all that has been said above, what advice would I give to those who feel called to participate in a ministry of healing?

1. Allow the biblical concept of shalom, in all its dimensions, to shape your understanding of wellness and healing.

2. Draw a distinction between healing and cure. The former may include the latter, but it is also far broader and allows for a wider range of outcomes. Communicate this clearly to those who ask for healing (but often want a miraculous cure).

3. Regard faith and prayer as being complementary to medicine and science and the body’s innate healing properties, not as substitutes. Do not underestimate the power of prayer, but also do not over-spiritualise the healing process.

4. Resist the temptation to adopt a problem-solving approach to healing. Cultivate instead skills of listening and discernment: What is the Spirit saying? Where are the signs of the Kingdom in this situation? Where are the possibilities for shalom? For what should I/we be praying?

5. Do not underestimate the power of ritual and symbol to communicate deep mysteries of faith, to put people in touch with the affective and intuitive aspects of their psyche, and to cultivate an appreciation for silence and contemplation.

6. Allow the Scriptures to shape and inform your prayers for healing; don’t simply bombard God with requests and petitions. Give voice to lament as appropriate, provide opportunity for thanksgiving, learn to wait on God in silence, and ground everything in the promises of Scripture and the intercessions of Christ and the Spirit. 

What has been your own experience of healing in a Christian context? What lessons have you learnt and what insights have you gained?

If you were to offer your own advice on the subject, what would you add or change in relation to the above list?

 

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[1] Song by Graham Kendrick  

[2] In his book, Living Toward a Vision: Biblical Reflections on Shalom, Walter Brueggemann identifies three major dimensions of shalom: a vision of harmony that encompasses all creation, a human community in which the oppressed and disenfranchised have dignity and power, and personal well-being. These three aspects – creation, community and personhood – are inter-connected, which means the personal well-being that we seek cannot be isolated from commitments toward the well-being of creation and human community. These commitments constitute a direct challenge to the individualistic and reductionist secular worldview which tends to underestimate the extent to which people are not so much self-contained individuals as persons-in-relationship, not only with one another but with creation itself. In this context, sickness, like its counterpart shalom, is multi-dimensional. As Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, creation is in bondage to decay and is groaning in labour pains as it awaits the full revelation of God’s glory (Romans 8:18-25).  

[3] Henri Nouwen, Show me the way: Readings for each day of Lent (New York: Crossroads, 1994), 138-9.  

[4] Hans Urs von Balthasar, Prayer, trans. G. Harrison (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), 105.  

[5] Christopher Cocksworth, Holy, Holy, Holy: Worshipping the Trinitarian God (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1997), 35-6.

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Maintaining Personal Health And Wellbeing

Pastoral care ministries can be very demanding – physically, emotionally and spiritually. The weight of human need constantly bears down on us, and there is nearly always more that we feel could or should be done to alleviate that need.

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest that low morale, fatigue and burnout are all too frequent experiences for people in key ministry and pastoral positions. There are many contributing factors. Some are internal; some are external.

Internal factors can include:

i. Personality type: People who are competitive, driven, ambitious, task and achievement-oriented and recognition-dependent can also have fragile temperaments and can be less able to cope with criticism, stress and failure.

ii. Lack of self-care: This can include poor hygiene and diet and a lack of exercise, not having any interests and friendships outside of work, not spending sufficient time with spouse and family, not building some form of Sabbath rest into weekly routines, and not being able to relax without feeling guilty.

iii. Personal insecurities: Beneath the outgoing and cheerful demeanour of a leader can be a wounded soul plagued by lack of confidence, loneliness and unresolved feelings of hurt and anger (sometimes associated with past relationships, including one’s parents).

iv. Spiritual barrenness: Behind the public persona of some religious leaders there can be a spiritual emptiness and a private life riddled with contradictions and inconsistencies. There is no shortage of Christian leaders being exposed in the courts and through the media as having feet of clay.

v. Vocational crisis: For some ministers and leaders this takes the form of uncertainty and confusion about their role and calling in the midst of rapid societal and organisational change and institutional decline. A real but generally unspoken expectation that they will be agents of church growth rather than ministers of the Gospel can be a heavy burden to bear. For others it takes the form of disillusionment with the church as an institution that is too often rocked by scandal, internally divided, and can often be a bad (and even exploitative) employer.

vi. Life transitions: Movements from one stage of life to another can be unexpectedly stressful. We often focus on the so-called “mid-life crisis” but other transition times can be equally challenging. During such transitions we may have to cope with physical and emotional changes, as well as changes to some of our closest relationships (including with parents, spouses and offspring). These changes can trigger spiritual crises, wherein forms of spirituality and patterns of piety which served us well in younger days no longer sustain and nourish us.

 

External factors can include:

i. A stressful or negative work environment, including ill-defined or unrealistic expectations, an unacceptably high workload, and a lack of training, support and collegiality.

ii. A lack of job security. As many churches continue to decline, their annual budgets come under increasing pressure, and the funding for many paid ministry and leadership positions is under threat. In some cases, full-time positions are reduced to part-time positions, but with no corresponding reduction in expectations around workload and results.

iii. Stress-inducing events and circumstances, including the breakdown of relationships, the death of a loved one, financial problems, sudden and dramatic lifestyle change, significant health problems, sexual dysfunction or frustration, and social isolation.

iv. A prevailing (western) culture and global economic system that makes living an authentic Christian life incredibly difficult. Leaders often feel more acutely than others the tension between cultural conformity and the radical call to discipleship because of the expectation that they will successfully model the life of discipleship.

Of course, not all stress is bad. Good stress, properly channelled, releases adrenaline and can motivate and enable us to reach optimum levels of performance. But unrelieved and compounded stress can lead to depression, with accompanying physical symptoms. It is tempting, under such circumstances, to relieve this sort of stress through the use of chemicals, whether in the form of tranquillisers, pain relievers or alcohol. However, while these might mask the symptoms in the short-term, they usually prevent us making the necessary changes to deal with the stress properly.

A significant step on the path to wellness is to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy forms and levels of stress, and to find appropriate ways of addressing the latter. Rigorous self-assessment, prayer, regular supervision, a doctor’s visit, and in some cases specialised counselling, can each play a part in this regard. Other positive steps one can take to understand, manage and ease stress can include the following:

i. Drawing sustenance from your relationship with Christ. At the beginning of this handbook we talked about the importance of abiding in Christ – personally and in communion with others. The more you have developed a spiritually balanced life and nurtured your relationship with Christ the better placed you will be to cope with stress and difficulty.

ii. Listening to your body. While such things as constant headaches, chest pains, sleeplessness, irritability, uncharacteristic outbursts of anger, skin rashes and bowel problems can be symptomatic of all sorts of ailments, including organic disease, they can also be symptoms of stress. They can be likened to messages that our body is trying to send us. We need to learn to ask not only “What is wrong with me?” but also “Why do I have this symptom at this time? What is my body telling me?”

iii. Undergoing a personality assessment like Myers Briggs or Enneagram can help you understand more about your personality type and the impact it has on the ways you think, act and react. Armed with this information, you are better placed to develop a leadership style that suits your personality and develop stronger coping mechanisms. Understanding different personality types can also help you work out what makes other people tick and how to work constructively with colleagues who are of different personality types to your own.

iv. Finding strength and solace in the scriptures. Psalms of lament, for example, not only give voice to the despair, loneliness and hurt that many leaders feel from time to time; they also serve as a vehicle for processing these raw emotions and reminding the stressed leader of God’s prior faithfulness and steadfast love. They give us words to pray when our own words fail us. Then in the stories of Saul and David and the like, we read of flawed characters who, like leaders of every generation, are often burdened by failure and plagued by doubt, yet whose lives have been claimed by God for a purpose and become powerful witnesses to God’s grace and power. These sorts of stories become for us sources of encouragement and hope.

v. Doing an inventory of your strengths, gifts and competencies and comparing these with the requirements of your ministry/leadership position or job. Do they constitute a good match? How significant are the differences? Can they be addressed through normal processes of

personal and professional development or are they indicative of a fundamental mismatch? With the right support and encouragement can you grow into your role, or are you like a square peg in a round hole? Should you be thinking about a growth or an exit strategy?

vi. Implementing a proper regime of self-care, including healthy eating patterns, regular exercise, plenty of sleep, spiritual disciplines, Sabbath rest, and taking up a sport, craft, hobby or community involvement can dramatically improve your mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing.

vii. Identifying root causes of workplace stress (not just reacting to surface symptoms), keeping things in perspective, handing things over to God in prayer, learning how to manage conflict, following the right process(es) for raising concerns, and addressing issues without personalising them (or demonising particular persons).

viii. Confiding in someone. Professional supervision can prove very helpful and should be a given for anyone in a significant ministry or leadership position. It can also be helpful to talk things through with a close friend or confidante. But be careful who you choose. Do not choose someone who may have a conflict of interest or who may not be particularly good at keeping confidences. Search your own heart. Always be mindful of the Apostle James’ warning about the immense damage that can be caused by a loose or bitter tongue (James 3:1-12). Do not use the need to confide as a means of winning people over to your point of view.

There are lots of excellent resources on the above and related issues. Lynne Baab has written some really helpful books, including the following:

Beating Burnout in Congregations (Alban Institute, 2003) looks at causes of burnout among congregational volunteers, with ideas for prevention and healing.

Personality Type in Congregations (Alban Institute, 1998) gives an overview of ways the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator can be used in congregations.

Fasting (IVP, 2006) is a practical book with stories of people who fast both from food and from other things, such as media, shopping, and technology.

Sabbath Keeping(IVP, 2005) is an introduction to ways to keep the Sabbath with stories from many people who observe the Sabbath.

Sabbath: The Gift of Rest (IVP, 2007) explores eight biblical passages with their theological and practical themes that undergird the practice of Sabbath keeping. The studies in this guide cover what Sabbath is and how to practice it. The guide may be used for individual or group study.

A Renewed Spirituality(IVP, 2002) discusses patterns of midlife spirituality, along with six spiritual paths that people at midlife find helpful. 

Books and articles by well known American author, Eugene Peterson, are always worth reading. On the subject of retaining one’s vocational integrity in the midst of hostile cultural forces and institutional pressures, the following book is highly recommended: Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity (Eerdmans, 1987).

Have you ever suffered personally from ministry-related stress, poor health and a lack of wellbeing? What were the symptoms? How did you deal with it? What have you learned?

 

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Ministering To Those Who Pose A Risk To Church And Community

Just how inclusive and welcoming should a church be? How should it relate to a paedophile in its midst, or a rapist or a drug dealer or an abusive husband or a fraudster? On the one hand, if we accept the many biblical examples of grace, repentance and personal transformation, including that of Saul in Acts 9, then do we have grounds to exclude anybody outright? Moreover, doesn’t the Bible say that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? Are any of us truly in a position, then, to cast the first stone?

On the other hand, stories abound of financial and sexual predators using their position in the church to win trust, to take advantage of the vulnerable and to perpetuate their immoral and sometimes criminal behaviour. What are we to do? What is our pastoral responsibility?

The first thing that needs to be said is that prevention is always better than cure. Every church should have in place a set of safety protocols. These will include such things as: (1) Doing police checks on anybody that is being considered for a position that carries pastoral and leadership responsibilities, paid or unpaid, including elders, Sunday School and youth group leaders and pastoral visitors; (2) Holding training sessions on pastoral ethics; (3) Having clear safety policies that define conditions for counselling and home visits (e.g., women being counselled and visited by women; having a designated counselling area that is suitably private yet in view of a general office area; etc); (4) Having clear safety policies in relation to children and youth activities and events, including weekend camps, sleepovers and holiday programmes (e.g., not allowing adults/leaders to sleep in the same room or to share the same shower and toilet blocks as children and youth); (5) Not appointing anybody with a criminal record to a position where they might be tempted to reoffend (e.g., a convicted fraudster should not be appointed to the position of church treasurer); (6) Setting up appropriate forms of monitoring/supervision for anybody who is deemed to be a risk to themselves and/or to others.

In one church I was in, in the course of visiting a newcomer to the church I was informed (by the newcomer and his wife) that he had a history of sexual offending for which he had done time in prison. It was to the man’s credit that he brought this to my attention. We were able to talk about the nature of his offending, the counselling programme that he had undergone in relation to it, and the strategies that he had in place to minimise future risk to the community. He gave me the names of people I could contact to verify his story. I told him that, with his permission, I would like to inform the church’s elders about the situation, to seek professional advice, and to develop a strategy for keeping both him and other members of our congregation safe. Even though there appeared to be no recent history of sexual offending, given that this previous offending had involved young people, we deemed it necessary to notify youth and Sunday School leaders and kindergarten staff. Although the man was welcome to attend worship and enjoy the fellowship of the church, there would be certain conditions attached to this, including no direct personal contact with our children and youth or the kindergarten. He could also expect an elder to be rostered on duty each Sunday at church to discreetly monitor his movements.

We were fortunate in this case that the man was so obliging and that a strategy was able to be put in place with his consent and cooperation. Other cases I know of have not ended so well. Many people who pose a risk to others are sly and manipulative, some have mental health problems, and in some cases they are pathological liars. Some can sound utterly contrite and make all kinds of promises that subsequently prove worthless. Others can weave the most plausible of stories to justify their actions. Many are adept at playing on the sympathies of ministers and others who exercise a ministry of care and compassion. It is easy under these circumstances to become cynical and to fail to distinguish between a con and genuine need.

Most ministers will be familiar with the experience of having persons come to their church or manse with a hard luck story of one sort or another. Sometimes these folk can be quite menacing, particularly if help is refused them. I recall one man asking for some petrol money so that he could drive up north to attend his father’s funeral. I accompanied him to a local gas station and filled up his tank. About a year later he was back, but he clearly couldn’t remember our previous encounter, because he was peddling the same story about having to attend his father’s funeral. When I pointed this out to him, he became verbally abusive.

It is good for churches to have procedures in place to cover such situations. I have found the following to be helpful:

1. As a general rule, do not give out cash. Have a small supply of supermarket and petrol vouchers on hand.

2. Keep on hand a list of welfare providers, food banks, social service agencies, community ministries, help-lines, counselling services and charities to which people can be referred. Phone them while the person is with you, so that they know to expect them. Only give out vouchers if church court or, in cases of alleged illegal activity, by the police. Once you have information about a particular situation or an allegation has been made against somebody, you must act. This can be difficult if the person concerned is an esteemed elder, minister or leader in the church, but should it come to light later that you knew something was amiss and did not act then you will be culpable. If the person being accused of a misdemeanour holds a position of responsibility in the church, then they should be relieved of their duties immediately while an investigation is carried out. Thought must also be given to the wellbeing and, possibly, safety of the alleged victim and/or accuser. Often attempts will be made to discredit and/or pressure the accuser into keeping silent lest they bring the church into disrepute or sully the good name of the accused. If in any doubt about the right process to follow when an accusation is made or rumours begin to circulate about inappropriate or illegal activity, seek advice. The Assembly Office is only too willing to help in this regard.

Have you observed or experienced a situation of ministering to somebody who might pose a threat to the church or to the wider community? How was the situation handled? What lessons can be learned from it?

 

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