Resources e-letter 23:5 - October 2023

NEW: Organising pastoral care

This is not an article on how to do pastoral care but on the more neglected topic of how to structure it within a church or group of churches. It assumes a culture of such care being everyone’s responsibility, not just the Minister’s. But once everyone is involved there needs to be some form of shape so it takes place effectively.

There are five parts:

1. Overview
   An explanation  of all-member culture, a definition of such care, some scriptural backgrounds and the importance of safeguarding.
2. Taking care in practice
   The broad scope of the topic with a wide list of examples, four forms of care, and a listing of those who need care and those responsible for providing it.
3. Small groups in a care structure
   The importance of the church’s existing groups in enabling all-member care.
4. Other means of offering care
   A range of ways in which care can be provided both for church members and as part of outreach.
5. Possible team structures
   Models to choose from including the setting up of a Pastoral Care Team and the appointment of a Care Lead. Sample person profiles and role definitions for team members and leaders are provided, plus notes on some structural issues that arise.

Article A56, Organising pastoral care, is now available without charge on the Articles index page of this website.
    

A reminder of the resources on the website

There are three types of operational resources in the Resources section of the website, all designed for church use and many also for Christian mission agencies.
  

There are 56 Articles
These take an in-depth look at an operational topic and run from about 5,000 to 10,000 words. Each is categorised as Leadership, Management, Structures, Planning, Communication or Administration and some come under two of these headings.
     

There are 148 Training Notes
These are shorter, with a limit of 2,000 words, and so a five-minute read. They fall under the same six categories as the Articles but take an overview of their topic or, more often, tackle a restricted area of an operational issue.
  

There are 9 Health-checks
These cover three specific issues with detailed explanations and assessment tools. The three test the health of a church, the effectiveness of a Christian mission agency, and the gifts of administration for any individual.
    

Each one of these is edited every two years to improve them in both content and format, update terminology and check web links. They are presented as pdfs which may be read online, saved for later use or printed out, with only minor copyright restrictions. There is no charge.

These are listed on the website in four different ways to aid access. First, they are listed in their three types of Articles, Training Notes and Health-checks. Secondly, they are shown by title alphabetically. Thirdly they are all listed under the six categories shown above. Finally, and perhaps most usefully, there is a detailed topics index.
  

You can download a leaflet listing all 213 items from this link here.

   
Please ensure all these materials are widely promoted in your church. Thank you for your interest in my website.