Pastoral Care Input Session Summary

A good group of folks gathered on Tuesday, April 25, to review Pastoral Care Ministries at Trinity/Pointe of Grace. 

The group reviewed the Trinity/Pointe of Grace identity statement: We manifest God's dream as a community that makes space for people to recognize what God is doing to meet the deep needs of the world and discover and assume their unique roles in partnership with God; and the purpose of Pastoral Care Ministry:  The purpose of the Pastoral Care Team is to identify, invite and offer educational experiences, emotional and spiritual support to caregivers within our faith community so that we all recognize and share the presence and power of God's love in our relationships. 

Based on shared accounts of positive experiences of Pastoral Care ministry, the group uncovered a number of factors that contribute to the current level of ministry sucess.  Some of these include:

• Everyone empowered to minister, not just clergy
• A large cohort of people trained in listening and in following through on needs
• A computer tracking system so that no one "falls through the cracks"
• Formal and informal referral process identifying and screening needs and making connections to resources
• Building relationships leads to discovery of places where people can serve
• A culture of acceptance and non-judgment nurtured at all levels

A number of improvements possible improvements to enhance Pastoral Care Ministry were identifed.  Some of the priority improvements included:

• Expanding on quality training offered to Pastoral Care and Stephen Ministers and offering more specialized trainings
• Paying attention to the concerns of older members of the community
• Remembering that all are ministers
• Share stories of people who have benefitted from care of Pastoral Care Ministers and Stephen Ministers

Participants spent some time imagining new possibilities might take Pastoral Care Ministries to a new level of effectiveness.  Ideas that seemed most popular were

• Offer some level of training in listening and caring skills to many more members of our community
• Build a Community Center to house additional ministries to Neighbors in Need, Cold Weather Shelter, Counseling Services, Seniors Services
• Have professionals (doctors, lawyers, counselors) available for consultation
• More people viewing themselves as ministers
• Youth-related counseling ande mentoring services
• Full range of Senior Ministries

Some of the insights gleaned from the session were

• When we break large challenges down into small steps, they seem more doable
• Hiring another pastor may not "solve" everything
• Some in the community prefer the ordained ministers to offer pastoral care and others hold that all are ministers
• These kinds of conversations can be encouraging
• Pastoral care is being offered in many places beyond our congregation.

All of the information gathered at this session will be included in the action planning process for future pastoral care ministries.

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