The PASSION Blog

One book I had to read this semester for my studies is Bruce Longenecker’s “The Lost Letters of Pergamum“. It is a fictional book based on research of the time period. As the title suggests it is written in letter format and  records letters between Luke (author of Luke and Acts) and Antipas who is mentioned in Revelation 2:13.

The book is designed to give you an insight into life in the first century AD. It looks at the social, cultural and political themes of the Greco-Roman empire in the course of the letters and gives you a glimpse of what life would have been like for the early Christians.

One thing that really struck me in the book is how generous and committed to the poor and disadvantaged some of the first century Christians were. After each meeting where they read and discussed the Scriptures, they worshiped God and prayed, they then did an inventory of the needs of the group and their social connections.

Once they recorded the needs down they then assigned the task of caring for the needs of others or distributing food or goods. It didn’t matter if the person was a Christian or not, they were committed to helping them with their need and sharing their resources to bring help or relief to the situation.

Now I know this is a fictional book, but a reading of the Book of Acts shows that the early Christians did in fact share their belongings to make sure none of the group was in need (Acts 2:42-47). Other historical readings from Josephus and other writers also confirm this practice.

This has got me thinking. When was the last time after church we all sat down and assessed openly the needs of the group and assigned someone to help or give resources to meet that need? In my 19 years as a Christian and hundreds of meetings, I would have to say never.

I found this sad that in the early stages of Christianity they really understood Jesus’ words to care for the poor and disadvantaged in their midst. And somehow it has been lost for us today. Yes we do make our efforts and there are some generous Christians out there, but nothing like taking an inventory and assigning tasks. It makes you wonder…

There is nothing like the feeling of emailing off your last assignment for a term. Every time I do it I let out a big sigh and sink down in my chair.

While I am loving this opportunity to return to full time studies as a mature age student, there is nothing like knowing that you don’t have to open a book, listen to a lecture or write an assignment for two weeks.

Time to relax for a bit and take it easy

This semester I have been doing a unit called Pastoral Care. It has been really good to take this time to reflect on what pastoral care is and also the role a Pastor plays in the church.

In one of our recent lecturers we looked at some statistics from a recent church life survey. Pastors were confidentially asked a number of questions on stress levels, burnout and life as Pastors. The results are very interesting.

• 1 in 4 was experiencing significant burnout and 1 in 2 said they were in borderline burnout
• 1 in 2 said they would burnout before retirement, often in the first 5-12 years of ministry
• 70% said they had lower self esteem than when they became Pastors
• 38% said they felt overwhelmed by the complexity of daily pastoral demands
• 90% said they worked more than 46 hours per week
• many experienced high levels of loneliness and low levels of intimacy in relationships

I find these figures very disappointing and they raise a number of questions for me. Is it time to rethink the Pastor’s role? Do we expect too much from a Pastor? Do we allow them to take on too much work in too many different areas?

One suggestion that a friend had a while back was instead of paying one person say $50,000 per year to be “The Pastor”, why don’t we pay five people $10,000 to undertake the various roles of a Pastor. One could preach and teach, one could do the counselor type role, one could do home visitation etc. In a sense it would be a pastoral team approach that shares the work load.

Another suggestion that fits in with the above approach is bi-vocational Pastors. The Pastor could work part time outside the church three or four days per week and then work for the church a couple of days. This would give them interaction with their local communities and give them time away from the demands of being a full time Pastor. Of course the workload would have to be shared with others.

Now these are only two suggestions, but ones that might need to be considered if we are going to help Pastors stay in the role long term. The figures above suggest that we are going to lose a lot of Pastors over the coming years and I think we need to think outside the box if we are going retain some of them.

I was doing some background reading for an assignment recently and I had to look at the groups of people that were around in Jesus’ time. It was interesting reading about one of the main groups at the time - the Pharisees.

I found it interesting to read about what was important to them and why. Here are a few things…

• they were a strict religious group of Jews that numbered 6000 at the time of Christ
• they were lay people with many were middle class business owners or merchants
• they devoted themselves to the Law - which included the Law of Moses (first five books of Old Testament) and a number of other teachings that interpreted the law for everyday living (613 in total)
• they paid special attention to being ritually pure and had a number of very strict rules for washing themselves and eating the right foods
• they also had very strict rules on tithing, the Sabbath, divorce, taking oaths and their clothing and strived very hard to make they kept them all
• they distanced themselves from others who did not follow their strict rules especially in regard to ritual purity
• for the Pharisee their religion was not a profession, it was a way of life. They were deeply committed to following all the rules so they could be “right” with God.
• they wanted to be a holy nation and they believed that if Israel could be pure for a time, then the Messiah would come.

It was interesting that they saw Jesus as a threat. This was because He taught that it was not so much as what we did on the outside that made us right with God, but our heart attitudes towards God and others.

We see in Matthew 23 that Jesus reserved some of His harshest criticism for the Pharisees. They got so caught up in keeping the Law that they forgot the things that are more important to God like being just, showing mercy and being faithful (Matthew 23:23-24).

Over the years I have had a number of people come to me when they are going through a difficult time. While I am not a trained counselor, there are certain things that I have found I can do just by being there and listening. It is interesting that how most people who have come to me have just needed one or more of the following three things.

1. Suggestion - Sometimes they just need an outside opinion on an issue or needed to run something by me. Generally all they need is a suggestion of a few options they could take in a situation. Sometimes the things I suggest might not necessarily be overly spiritual, but it helps them in the decision making process and helps them to move forward.

2. Cathartic - Sometimes people who come my way just need to get things off their chest. I have found that most of us when we are going through a rough time just need to download our thoughts to someone. Most of the time their head is full and they just need to empty and in a sense “restart” their computer. Speaking to someone outside the situation can help to do this.

3. Reassurance - Sometimes the people who come to me need to just be reassured that things will be ok. In the midst of a painful time it is often hard to see when it will end and things might return to “normal”. Reassuring people that God is in control and that God is with them helps a great deal. It is also great if you have personally been through the situation and you can share how things have worked out for you.

Regardless of whether you are a trained Pastor or a counselor sometimes people just need someone to be there and listen. One or more of the above things can really make a difference to people in short term crisis and can help them to move forward in faith and in the hope that things will get better.

In my Pastoral Care unit we looked at some examples of good and bad shepherds this week. In Ezekiel 34 it gives us a guide to what good and bad pastoral care is.

Ezekiel was told to prophesy against the shepherds of Israel that are taking care of themselves and not the people. Ezekiel 34:1-5 are the negative examples.

• v3 - You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.
• v4 - You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick or bound up the injured.
• v5 - You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost.
• v5 - You have ruled them harshly and brutally.

All in all this is a pretty bad picture of how they were taking care of the flock. They are selfish and not doing what they were meant to be doing. You can see why God has asked Ezekiel to speak out against them.

In the latter part of the chapter God says that He Himself is going to care for the people. In this He says what He is going to do. Ezekiel 34:15-31 gives us some good examples.

• v16 - I will search for the lost and bring back the strays.
• v16 - I will bind up the injured.
• v16 - I will strengthen the weak.
• v16 - I will shepherd the flock with justice.
• v22 - I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered.

In this simple picture of good and bad shepherds we see what God wants and expects from Pastors and shepherds. He wants them to care for, watch out for and strengthen the flock. And they are to do this with justice and a selfless motivation.

In one of my lectures the other day we looked at the history of Pastoral Care. The lecturer used Clebsch’s and Jaeckle’s book “Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective”. I thought it was interesting that they noted eight “epochs” of time in pastoral care since the early church began.

In these eight epochs they noted that there were themes that seemed to be the focus of pastoral care during these time periods. In these periods four words kept on coming to the surface. They were sustaining, reconciling, guiding and healing.

When we look at these words and their general meanings it gives us a good place to start when looking at how we should approach pastoral care today.

1. Sustaining - support, uphold, nourish, maintain, comfort, ecourage.

2. Reconciling - restore, re-unite, patch up, make friends again, conciliate.

3. Guiding - counsel, advise, help, direct the course, point the way, inform.

4. Healing - cure, make well, make whole, sooth, restore good relationships, mend, alleviate.

I found this a useful lecture as I believe is important to learn from history and apply any lessons to the current situation we may face.

I also think it is useful to have four words to reflect upon when approaching the important task of pastoral care and caring for those around us.

I got some results back yesterday for my first semester of Bible College. I got two high distinctions and two distinctions and I am still waiting on one subject result to come through. I think it should be another distinction too from assignment results.

To be honest, it is not easy being a mature age student and returning back after years without “formal” study. It is very satisfying though when all your hard work pays off and the results come in. It was especially good because one of my high distinctions was in a leadership unit that I had identified previously that I needed work in. I was very happy with that!

PS. With being a huge sports fan it is going to take a lot of discipline over the next few weeks to be an external student with the Olympics on. Hopefully those good grades won’t drop

I did my first lecture in Pastoral Care the other day. It was an interesting exercise to find a definition that really covered it. Instead of coming up with a succinct statement that encompassed it, the lecturer gave a number of definitions that painted a picture to try and give us an understanding of Pastoral Care is.

In the lecture I also found a couple of interesting things that really jumped out at me.

1. Pastoral Care is the cure and care of souls - I like that as a definition as it touches on helping people get “well” again from the storms and pains of life. It also touches on a maintenance and equipping side that helps people be better prepared for the future and helps them to be all they are in Christ. I think I will keep this definition in mind as I go about the things I do.

2. Pastoral Care changes depending on the context - The care and cure of souls varies depending on the setting. Working with patients in a cancer hospice or as a hospital chaplain is dramatically different to working as a high school chaplain or a Pastor in church. While there are some common things in both places, you would have to adjust the way they are delivered and the depth of care you can give.

It is also interesting to note that in the last week, God has brought three people across my path that have needed Pastoral Care and encouragement. It seems God is building into me with the academic side and the practical side at the same time.

My books, lectures and assignments for this semester at Tabor arrived yesterday. It was a mixture of emotions. On one hand I was excited and looking forward to the learning, then part of me wondered how many assignments I would have to do!

After looking through all the paper work I found there was a lot of work to do, but most of it looked pretty interesting. Straight away my brain started to kick into gear and I started planning out some of my assignments. That might seem strange to most people, but I am one of those strange organised people who likes to start things early.

At first glance a couple of assignments seemed quite interesting. One was reviewing a churches pastoral care program and then writing a report on how it operated and suggestions to make changes or improvements. Another was to look at a current ethical issue and show all sides of the debate and make conclusions from a Biblical perspective. Both got my brain ticking.

It will be interesting to see what happens after this semester. I am not 100% sure yet if I will continue on with more studies next year. Most of the time I think I will, but I guess it depends on what God has in store. If He opens up a position for me I might continue with my studies part time. If not the books are looking pretty good at this stage.

As with all things written on this blog, time will tell.