Blog | Pastoral Care: Things to Consider
Pastoral Care: Things to Consider
Pastoral care is a tough job, primarily because it doesn’t rely on one individual but the whole community system and leadership structure of a church. You’re all working there for the sake of impacting peoples’ lives and helping them through times of need and crisis.
But that’s incredibly difficult when people feel let down. A pastor misses a hospital visit, doesn’t get the memo on tragic news, or a congregation member passes information on to the wrong person expecting it will make it’s way to the right leader and it doesn’t. There are so many potential pitfalls of miscommunication and inaction within pastoral care roles that it can be difficult to know how to appropriately approach the task.
Pastoral Care: Things to Consider
Of course, none of the above is news to you. If you’ve worked in pastoral care in any capacity, you know it’s a constantly moving target. You’re doing your very best to take care of your congregation and love the community, but there’s so many moving parts that it can be difficult to manage it all and know what to prioritize.
If you’re trying to cultivate a healthy church pastoral care culture, here are some things to keep in mind.
Create an Organized Database
I know that probably sounds weird. Having a “database” about your pastoral care duties for your congregation? But here’s why it’s important:
Pastoral care is often the responsibility of multiple leaders within a church. But even with several pastors, it’s incredibly difficult to manage the care needs of so many congregation members. The result is usually redundancy for certain members and neglect to others. Of course, this isn’t intentional, but when there’s no direction on who has been caring for certain members in times of need, multiple pastors may all attempt to help one member while overlooking another entirely.
Come up with an organized method of keeping all pastors in the loop on the care needs of the church. Assign one person (or two at max) to help with the need to avoid redundancy and overlooking others. Pastors/leaders can use the database to add updates so everyone is informed on what’s going on.
Develop a Prayer Team of Non-Pastors
Unless your church happens to be comprised of perfect people with absolutely no health, job, or life-related issues, chances are high there will be way more prayer requests than pastors available. The thing about pastoral care is that while having a pastor directly involved in some care needs means a lot, it’s not necessary for every single prayer request.
Pastoral care can be thought of as leadership care, church care, community care, etc. Find committed people – either in your own staff or volunteers from the congregation – who can be a part of a prayer team. Invite people to come up to the stage after the service is over and have people from your prayer team scattered across the front to hear about what’s going on and how they can be praying for members of your congregation. Encourage them to always get info on how they can stay in touch and be updated on the situation they’re praying over. This makes “pastoral care” more accessible for your congregation, makes people feel more connected, and ultimately offers a way for more people to build genuine relationships with the church.
Congregational Care Courses
Offering congregational care courses or small group studies for people undergoing a life transition or crisis is hugely beneficial. Often, people going through grief by, say, the death of a loved one or a divorce feel completely lost when looking for help. A huge step towards improving your church’s pastoral care is to offer small groups to help with people undergoing these seasons of life.
About the Author
Chris Fleming is a professional musician from Minneapolis, MN who has played with artists such as TAYA, Big Daddy Weave, and Jason Gray. He is actively involved with the worship music scene and has contributed as a drummer, music director, song writer, and producer for various worship artists and churches locally and nationally. Chris is the Motion Designer at Motion Worship, helping to create motion background collections and countdowns for our subscribers.