Term Paper in Religion: Theology of Pastoral Care

Pastoral care is a ministry aimed at attending to the needs of individuals who are experiencing crises that can either involve their families or just their own social, economic or even academic life. Some of the challenges that people face and at times that force them to seek pastoral care is, divorce, grieve, loneliness and at times difficult family issues.

Pastors in charge of caring for the believers need usually attend to the individuals by encouraging them and offering a listening ear when these people share their grievances and needs. In some extreme cases, encouragement may not be a solution, but the person may need counseling. It is at this point that a pastor may refer the person to see one, but in some cases where the pastor has some background in counseling theories, then he/ she can counsel the person, (Praamsma, 1967).

Pastoral care has its roots in the word of God. The origins of it are mostly found in prayers and the proclamation of the word of God. This is because a pastors sole responsibility is to make sure that the community can hear God and respond to him. The pastors offering pastoral care also offer their help in an ethical manner which is different from counseling. Different from counseling where they try to focus on the theories that explain human behavior and therefore use the same theories to try and help a man overcome the challenges of life, pastoral care is mainly centered on what the word of God says, (Graham, 2006). This difference has ensured that one can distinguish between a counselor and a pastor as at times their roles can be confused.

A pastor needs to reflect and discern his pastoral role by identifying his gifts and callings. For example, he/she needs to identify their calling in a particular ministry setting and what are his/her distinguishing features from the rest of the congregations. The pastor should also be able to know his role while attending to the needs of the members. The pastor should, in the same manner, be able to set limits and boundaries that will be able to protect him from disrespect by the members while at the same time this boundary will serve in helping the members understand his role while attending to their needs, (Mercer, et al., 2014).

Pastoral care is a very important ministry in the body of Christ because people who have been hurt find their healing through the pastors care, (Clinebell, & McKeever, 2011). This comes about as a result of the gospel being preached on the pulpit. Usually, the gospel preaches on how an individual needs to be whole both physically and spiritually. Therefore if only one part is addressed while another part is neglected, then a persons need cannot be met. It is therefore important for the pastors to be sensitive and address the hurtful feelings of members through counseling to produce whole persons.

Pastoral care assists individuals who have various types of needs and need assistance. Although this may come as a challenge to some pastors, where one can identify his/her gifts and strengths that he can possess, then there are higher chances of him being able to produce competent persons in the society as a result of having their cares and concerns addressed.

The student pastoral care can, therefore, be described as the application of theology in situations where people are experiencing sufferings and need care. This care aims at bringing consolation to those who are hopeless and in need of healing, (Praamsma, 1967).

Vocational and pastoral attributes

The spiritual gift test reveals that I have strength in leadership as well as sharing. This is because of the two; I have managed to score highly in both. On the other hand, the gift of mercy, as well as a ministry, has proved to be areas where I need to work on as I have scored rather poorly. The results implore that I have been called to impart unto others what I have through the gift of sharing and to ensure that the Lords work can progress on well as I lead others to the knowledge of Christ and all that pertains to the success of the church organization, (Scazzero, & Bird, 2010).

Although this is the case, I also need to ensure that I can express compassion to those in need i.e. expressing the gift of mercy which is stored in every believer and understand where I am called to serve to be effective in my pastoral care.

The pastoral care profile test proved that I am more theologically centered followed by proclamation centered and then relationship centered. The least characteristics I had were that of health-centered. This approach encourages all believers to take up their responsibilities as the responsibility of a pastor comes into place when a believer can recognize his relationship with others himself and God. This approach reveals the way I can holistically embrace aspects of the church experience, scripture as well as tradition and also being open to the world around me and embracing science.

Care giving practice

Some of the attributes seen in the care giving practice in a church are that people should be willing to volunteer to meet the needs of others despite the misunderstandings and reactions that usually stem up from others. People should continue sharing with others the confidence they have in God in that despite the various trials and temptations people go through; God is still able to keep his promises. Many are the times that in caring for one another, people may simplify complex issues that tend to bring confusion in the understanding of new converts/believers. This in turn usually helps them grow up spiritually. All these practices reveal the care giving practice carried out in church.

In my ministry, in addition to all the care giving practices that are carried out in church, I tend always to want to meet the needs of others by alleviating their sufferings. This I do by giving those in need tangible help or at times money depending on the situation at hand. At times when there is nothing much that I can do towards the need of people, I become burdened with their cares and end up spending long periods of time interceding for their needs.

The attributes seen in the profile are accurate as they can project the needs of the people and how those in ministry can project the needs of the people and how those in ministry can care for and meet the needs of various individuals. Additionally, the same attributes have been able to accurately reveal the care context found in a church set up as well as the community set up.

Ministry between miracle strengths

Out of the scores that I obtained while doing the gifted test, I observed that I was able to score very highly on the leadership gift followed by sharing, then exhortation, prophecy, teaching and finally ministry and mercy which I scored equally.

According to the writer of the book of Romans, special emphasis on chapter 6 verse 8 the author typically says that spiritual gifts tend to differ depending on the grace that is given to an individual by God. Although this is the case, for a ministry to become better than what it is, then an individual needs to work at by the grace of God maintaining a high-level profile of all the gifts as mentioned above, (Mathew, 2002).

Mathew advocates that knowing the ministry in which you were called to serve tends to put one in a better position of fulfilling the will of God as well as making their current ministry better and improving a persons future ministry. This is because a person will be more than willing to volunteer in church activities so that he/she can help meet the practical needs of people as well as providing things for others in need, (Mercer, et al., 2014).

Having scored minimally at the gifts of mercy, then I need to ensure that I express compassion to the believers so that I can be able to retain the new believers. This is because Matthew still advocates that an act of mercy, i.e., expressing compassion on to others will tend to hold a ministry together.

A ministry also needs to have good leadership, i.e., individuals who can lead believers to fulfill Gods purpose over their lives as being able to fulfill God's mandate concerning their ministries, (Scazzero, and Bird, 2010). Matthew continues to emphasize on the need of prophesy in a well-functioning ministry so that people who can be able to predict about the future status of a ministry will assist that ministry in embarking better to the things of God by embarking on Gods projects while avoiding the traps set about by the devil for their downfall. Matthew further makes mention of sharing, i.e., imparting on to others what a minister has as well as teaching the believers a sound doctrine to follow.

Practice of pastoral care strengths

From the test, it can be observed that my pastoral approach is mainly theologically centered. This is because out of the twenty-five questions, the highest score which was 12 was on the theological centered approach. This was followed by proclamation centered which I scored 6, relationship-centered which I scored 5 and finally health-centered approach where I scored 2.

This test reveals some of the strengths that I possess in my pastoral care. For example, I view the pastoral relationship in three dimensions, i.e., where a conversation happens between others, myself and God. Additionally, as a pastoral caregiver, I need to have a theological vision for the ministry which acts as a booster in providing direction to the believers that are under my care.

This type of care has also revealed that I incorporate both scripture and tradition of men, church experience as well as being open to the world and accommodating science which assists me gaining a better understanding towards the people I care for. More to that, the visions that I have for the believers to accomplish are more theological and are shared by other ministries as well making them easier to adapt to.

The other approach that comes out strongly is the proclamation centered approach. This approach reveals that my strength as always ensuring that the gospel is preached faithfully. Thirdly, comes the relationship-centered approach which has helped me relate scientifically as well as theologically when caring for people.

Some of the strengths that I will need to consider in the future while in ministry is on borrowing some aspects of the Health centered approach. This will help me include both clinical and scientific aspects while helping believers get therapeutic help in addition to them hearing the gospel.

Opening the field of practical theology strengths

Practical theologians have strongly emphasized that the ultimate goal of learning the theory of theology and practicing it is to glorify God, edify the church and finally transform the society by making the inhabitants more God-fearing as they embrace the concept of God being their supreme authority.

The same approach tries to explain the type of relationship that occurs between piety and learning in ministry. The main anchor that establishes the motive of practical theology is the gratitude that people have towards the grace of God given to mankind freely by Jesus dying and resurrecting which resulted in the Holy Spirit being sent to mankind as a gift to help him in times of need and also to be a comforter.

The relationship between piety and learning has also made theologians more humanistic by engaging culture as well as faith although biblical revelation is a priority that has been set before the cultures of people.

Practical theology also ensures that practice and context are factors that are well catered for. In my practice, I was able to put into context all my pastoral care cases, and this resulted in my practice being strengthened. E.g., in matters of scripture and the tradition of men, ones church experience and the view of the world as well as the impact of s...