Pastoral Care

By David Pettett.

The concept of Pastoral Care springs from the understanding of the compassion of Christ. In Matthew 9:36 Jesus had compassion on the crowds because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

It is into this sense of “lostness” that the pastoral carer comes. Typically the place of lostness is a “hard place”, a place that is out of the ordinary for the person who has a sense of loss. It is a physical place such as a hospital, a jail, a nursing home. But it is also not a physical place but a place of mourning, grief, sadness or paradoxically, a place of happiness.

Jesus also expresses compassion when he sees suffering, for example when he heals the sick (Matthew 14:14), or comforts the bereaved (Luke 7:13).

The unique encounter that Jesus brings is one of restoration and reconciliation with God. He does not “cure” disease as a doctor or nurse might bring medical attention, but he heals. (The Greek word of the New Testament for “heal” is the same word for “save”.)

The unique encounter that the Christian Pastoral Carer brings to a person in a hard place is this same restoration and reconciliation. The Pastoral Carer therefore does not mix the roles of medical attention or other allied health roles with that of Pastoral Care. Pastoral Care compliments these other types of caring by adding the dimension of reconciliation with God.

Pastoral Carers need specific training so that these boundaries are clear and so that the Carer remains anchored in his or her own confidence in God while at the same time being able to sit with a person in a hard place that may be a place of great turmoil and anguish. Then, while being anchored with God in Christ and at the same time being with another in their place of turmoil, the Carer can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, help the person in turmoil to discover how Christ Himself is present in their suffering.