Chaplaincy Informs Christian Ministry

by David Pettett

I remember the occasion at the National Chaplaincy Conference in Australia when the keynote speaker began, “Chaplaincy informs Christian ministry.” To some cheers and not a little surprised and relieved agreement he continued, “Pastoral care lies at the core of Christian ministry.”

The term Pastoral Care has come to mean many different things. In its modern context it usually refers to bringing a listening ear to a person in crisis and seeks to find spiritual meaning. The idea that pastoral care is an all-of-life-encompassing ministry which focuses on the cure of souls has been allowed to slip from the core of Christian ministry. Pastoral care has been outsourced to the professionals in psychology and counselling.

There is a great deal we can learn from psychology and other human sciences about the nature of humanity and ways to help people who struggle in life. We can incorporate many of those insights into our pastoral practice. But pastoral care is first and foremost a spiritual discipline and remains firmly in the realm of Christian ministry. Pastoral care is the work which focuses on the salvation and sanctification of Christ’s flock. Secular counselling and psychology say very little about forgiveness and even less about sin and about humanity being created in the image of God. These disciplines therefore have very little to say to the most fundamental issues of human flourishing. Having said that, it is sometimes right to refer a member of our congregation to a counsellor but outsourcing pastoral care to a counsellor is a fundamental mistake and a misunderstanding of the nature of Christian ministry.

I have a narrow definition of Christian ministry. It is something the saints do, and its purpose is to build the body of Christ (see Ephesians 4:12ff). I also have a narrow definition of the body of Christ. It is the local congregation. We often hear that “our church” is part of the body of Christ, meaning, our local congregation is a part of the church universal, or it is part of the sum total of all Christians throughout the world. I think, however, the New Testament leads us to understand that the local congregation is the complete body of Christ in that, a local church has within it every aspect of the body of Christ. Each local church is not part of the body but, rather, is the body of Christ. Therefore, when the apostle Paul tells pastor teachers their role is to “equip the saints for the work of ministry … for the building of the body of Christ”, he is telling them that their ministry of pastoral care equips the local congregation to grow in Christ and to be effective in the world.

Because the purpose of what the pastor teacher does is to equip the saints to build the body of Christ, pastoral care goes beyond what some people call mercy ministries. These are usually thought to be things like providing food for the hungry, clothing, housing, counselling etc. Mercy ministries are a very small part of pastoral care which focuses on equipping the saints so that the body of Christ is built into unity and maturity. Pastoral care is much more of a whole person ministry than the limits of providing for a person’s material needs. I am not saying these are wrong things to do. I think they are essential things for Christians to be engaged in. They reflect God’s love and compassion. I would love to see more congregations involved in these types of ministries. But here, I am trying to define my terms in the light of what the New Testament says about Christian ministry and pastoral care. I am trying to do this because I think we have not been rigorous enough in our definitions and pastoral care has been hijacked by secular ideas and definitions. Inevitably these secular ideas lead us away from doing Christian ministry and Christian pastoral care in ways the New Testament tells us we should be doing them.

As the term pastoral care has shifted in meaning in the modern world the understanding of the word spiritual has also changed meaning. Spiritual has come to mean something that gives a person meaning in life. If you have an experience you believe touches your inner being, your soul, in the modern context this is spoken of as a spiritual experience. This definition of spiritual is a far cry from a Christian understanding of the word. Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman at the well that God seeks people who worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). In context, the Spirit Jesus talks about is the Holy Spirit himself. We cannot truly worship God without the movement of the Holy Spirit within us. We cannot say, “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:3) and if we do not have the Spirit we do not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9). Christian pastoral care therefore cannot seriously leave a person in need believing that they have spiritual understanding or growth if they do not have the Holy Spirit. Leaving pastoral care in the hands of a psychologist or counsellor who doesn’t have a clear theological understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is, for the Christian pastor, to abdicate their office and obligation to be the person who has responsibility for the cure of souls.

Our modern world sees pastoral care as something you do for people who are in crisis. Our theological colleges and seminaries do not help. They offer courses in pastoral care where students are asked to:

 Outline a scenario in which a person is seeking pastoral care support in response to:

- Unemployment and work-related stress

- Long term illness e.g., cancer 

- Alcoholism or drug dependence

- Domestic violence or abuse

Some of our theological colleges are teaching that pastoral care is for people who are in a crisis situation in which they need help. People who are sick need pastoral care. People who are having difficulties in a relationship need pastoral care. People with mental illness need pastoral care. People who are dying need pastoral care. However, this is a very truncated view of pastoral care. Christian pastoral care is so much more, so much richer, so much all-of-life-equipping. Christian pastoral care helps a person to know Jesus and to live a full life under His lordship. In the 4^th century Gregory of Nazianzus said pastoral care is, "to provide the soul with wings, to rescue it from the world and give it to God, and to watch over that which is in His image". Pastoral care is about rescuing a person from the world and giving them to God. It is not about helping a person cope with the world. It is about helping a person who is not of this world to live in it with a focus on God.

If it is true, as the keynote speaker at the chaplaincy conference said, that Chaplaincy informs Christian ministry, those involved with leading Christian churches as the pastor teacher are not listening. Our theological colleges and seminaries are not listening. Pastoral care is limited to times of crisis and often given to professionals who don’t have an understanding of the cure of souls. It is time for pastor teachers to bring pastoral care back into their role of equipping the saints for their work of ministry.