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Pastoral care - role of everyone in St John's

Pastoral care is integral to the life of the church. It’s what we do for each other as we form relationships and learn to love one another. It’s the attitude of being attentive to each other’s joys and sorrows, difficulties and successes; where we both give and receive help, support, and encouragement from one another.

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Pastoral care may take place in many different situations; either on a one to one basis or within the existing small groups. 

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One to one

One to one pastoral care is based on building relationships, recognising that there are many within our church community who are dealing with issues such as loss, grief, poor health, broken or damaged relationships, past hurts, future fears and feelings such as poor self-worth, guilt and shame. A one to one relationship provides a safe place where people are free to express these things without being judged or condemned. We will encourage and support people in developing their relationship with God as they work through these issues.

 

In Groups

The various small groups in the church e.g., Connect Groups, Sew Blessed, Toddlers,  Men ‘n’ Sheds, provide a supportive and encouraging environment for pastoral care not only on a spiritual level through prayer and learning from scripture but also in very practical ways e.g. cooking meals, babysitting, hospital visiting etc.

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Role of the Pastoral Care Team

The Historical approach to pastoral care in a lot of churches in Scotland is that care was led by the ministers or pastors and supported by elders and a care team. We are now introducing a new approach. We want to ensure everyone gets the care they need and no one faĺls through the cracks. In order to do this we're introducing a triage system where all pastoral care gets facilitated through one pastoral care co-ordinator.

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This is done by encouraging and initiating pastoral care within the church in a variety of ways:

 

• Providing pastoral care to those within our church community.

• Modeling a confidential, non-judgmental, compassionate and prayerful approach to caring for one another.

• Supporting people who are carrying out pastoral care, particularly if they are involved in a stressful situation.

• Committing to pray, both as a team and individually.

• Organising and facilitating appropriate training for those involved in pastoral care.

• Looking out for people requiring support; either to provide that or to ensure that the need is being met by others within the church.

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We welcome being approached for a chat, requests for prayer, visits or practical help.

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Pastoral care – how does it happen?

If there is a need for pastoral care the pastoral care co-ordinator can be contacted either by the person requiring care or their representative.

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Pastoral care team members will respect confidentiality. There may occasionally be times however, when information needs to be shared with an appropriate person and this will take place after discussion with the person seeking support.

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Pastoral Care - how to access?

• If you are part of the St John's Church family
  The Pastoral Care Co-ordinator is Christina Duncan  - please contact her with any pastoral care concerns or requests. Contact details can be found on Churchsuite - or fill in the form below.

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• If you are NOT connected to St John's church
  The team are not able to provide pastoral care to the wider community at the moment. However if you require help please get in touch with The New Well 

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