Pastoral Care Ministries

(Rev. Francis Doddamani)

Technology has brought a huge change to our world in the new millennium. Modern comforts have raised the standard of living to a high level. Even pastoral ministry appears to have been hugely affected by this new outlook. A church equipped with the most modern amenities, which caters to the fine and refined senses of a person is more sought for, a church where there is a clearer demonstration of faithfulness to the word and service to god. This attitude results in drawing faulty conclusions about the greatness of ministry, by measuring the abundance of external things, such as the kind of car the pastor drives, the size of his church and how often he flies around. Of course there is nothing wrong in having those things. However, such external things can keep a pastor from knowing the heart beat of pastoral ministry.

The biblical perspective of pastoral ministry demands an indepth scrutiny, and study of our own pastoral calling and skills we acquire to fulfill this role.

Pastoral Ministry: Building the church- Pastoral ministry is understood as directed to build, heal, nurture and lead the congregation towards Christian maturity. For Larry Crabb, pastoral care and ministry must aim at “leading believers towards Christian maturity.” Every member in the community needs love, care and cooperation. New believers who join the church need extra care, because they have embraced a new faith and thereby a new community that represents that faith.

Parenting is a significant role directed to those who need care in the church. Paul gives the imagery of a parent in his writing. The parental imagery of Paul exhibits his own willingness to assume a parental role. He compares himself to a mother who experiences a sharp sense of travail to bring a child into its true form. A mother experiences severe birth pangs to deliver a fully formed child (Gal. 4:19). This experience then leads to a close bond between the birth child and the birthmother. This is a bond of commitment and close relationship.

Paul also compares himself to a nursing mother for the believers of his time (1 Thess. 2:7-8). Paul exhibits his responsibility in caring, nurturing and maturing in Christian faith. Paul expresses his responsibility in perfecting the believers of the Thessalonian church. He not only loved them but he shared his very life and heartbeat with them. It was possible for Paul because he loved the church so dearly. He showed a deep yeaning for the church. The nursing mother is literally one who not only feeds the child but also raises the child. The model of the pastoral ministry has a vital role in nurturing, building and maturing the congregation.

In the Old Testament, Moses goes to Yahweh and argues saying, “Did I conceive these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers? Where can I get meat for all these people?” Moses, a hero of faith utters these words knowing very well that a man will never have the privilege of conceiving and delivering a baby. Moses speaks out realizing the responsibility of a parent, as feeding, nurturing, and finding a dwelling place for children. The pastoral is not only one who delivers but also assumes the role of a “nursing mother” who nurses her child in her arms.

Unfortunately, today the pastoral role appears to have shifted from that of a parent to that of a police. A police is least interested in maintaining relationships but expect the public to obey rules. A similar attitude from the Pastor may stop people from attending the church but also cause them to stay away from the pastor. In other words the parent becomes a stumbling block for the maturity and growth of the church at large. The ultimate goal of the pastor, then, is to make the people dependent on God, living lives of integrity, deferential fear of the Pastor.

Pastoral ministry in the modern church demands a Pastor who builds the congregation like a nursing gives herself to ensure the growth of her baby into full maturity. The challenge of the Bible colleges of our time is to cultivate among our ‘budding’ Pastors such a yearning love for the church, training them to lead the Church towards perfection in the field of nurturing love.

Influencing the world: The church should become a home not only for believers but also for seekers. There are hundreds of people from different walks of life who have accepted Jesus but still remain outside the local church. The duty of a Pastor demands that he will work hard not only to shepherd the sheep, the church, but also gather the sheep who are outside the fold into the fold. Hence, the shepherding ministry has a vital role in the modern world today.
Famous Psychologists say that the people of this century are facing a crisis more than any other before, such as insecurity, depression, loneliness, rejection and the fear of the future. It indicates the basic need of people at large, as the need to be loved and cared for. Until these crises are met with, they operate with a deficit. The need is so big and calls for larger resources. Hence, it is primarily the church or the pastoral ministry that should meet the need of the hour. The Church needs to be equipped in finding solutions for the crises in the community. The Pastor is called to help people to help themselves, that they in turn may help others.

In observing the young people in our world today, the stress, uncertainty, competition and fear of the future on their lives are unmistakable. To overcome these crises young people fall prey to alcohol, the cinema transcendental meditation and other modern ways of escaping reality. It points to the burning desire of the people to get rid of their pains. If the shepherds put into ‘praxis’ the word of God, in caring and healing their pains, the church in turn can make a tremendous influence on the community as those who are healed and made whole. The call to pastoral ministry therefore envisages a wider ministry to the world at large; it is a ministry that first heals and builds the church, in other words it equips the church to transform the world.