The Christian community offers pastoral care to its members in their personal and communal life. The church may provide different levels of this mutual ministry of care.  At Southern Heights, the Deacons share this responsibility with the Pastor and a specially trained group of Christian Caregivers.  The worship of God in the Christian community is the foundation and context for the ministry of pastoral care as well as for the ministry of nurture in the faith.

Care by All Christians.  All Christians are called to care for one another in daily living, sharing joys and sorrows, supporting in times of stress and need, offering mutual forgiveness and reconciliation. This care is primarily offered as the community of faith worships together. It is also provided as people interact in community and as they come together in groups for nurture or to carry on ministries of the church. Elders, deacons, and pastors are called to special responsibility for this common pastoral care.

The church offers pastoral care to people in the special needs and crises of their lives. When people are ill, Christians respond with prayer, visits, and other acts which express love and support for those who are sick and for their households, their families, and their friends. When illness is critical or is prolonged, those offering pastoral care will give special attention to the needs and stresses experienced by everyone involved. Terminal illness calls for particular care which mediates trust in God, support in suffering, comfort for distress, and hope in the face of death.

Care at Death.  When death comes, the church in its pastoral care immediately offers the ministry of presence, of shared loss and pain, of faith and hope in the power of the resurrection, and of ordinary acts of care and love. The church continues special pastoral care during the time of grieving and adjusting.

Care in Loss.  Other occasions of loss in life call for pastoral care which provides opportunities to grieve and offers practical help and support in the process of renewal and adjustment.  These situation include

a.     the loss of power,

b.     the fading away of a once-important relationship,

c.     the departure of children from the home,

d.     the loss of meaningful employment, means of livelihood, or financial security,

e.      the ending of a marriage in separation or divorce.

Care in Broken Relationships.  The church provides pastoral care which calls people to healing and seeks to support those caught up in the hurts, hostilities, and conflicts of daily living which lead to broken relationships in families and households, in the school and the workplace, in neighborhoods and communities, and in the church.

Care in Sin and Forgiveness.  The call to healing in pastoral care involves the recognition in each one’s life of the reality of sin, which is the source of all human brokenness. The believing community announces the good news of God whose love gives people grace

a.     to confess their sin and complicity in brokenness,

b.     to repent, expressing sorrow and intention to change,

c.     to accept God’s forgiveness and extend that forgiveness to another,

d.     to forgive the other and accept the other’s forgiveness,

e.     to work toward reconciliation in brokenness,

f.      to trust the power of God to bring healing and peace.

Receiving confession and declaring God’s forgiveness, calling for repentance and supporting in the struggle toward new life, encouraging people to forgive and receive forgiveness, and mediating reconciliation are appropriate acts of pastoral care.

Care in the Transitions of Life.  The church recognizes transitions which bring joy and sorrow in human life.  The ministries of pastoral care support people in recognizing, accepting, and celebrating these and other such times of adjustment, assisting them in working toward a new role in life and affirming their identity through transition:

(1)   children are born, grow up, become independent, find their aging parents becoming dependent upon them;

(2)   people begin work, change jobs, retire;

(3)   households are established, move to new locations, gain and lose members;

(4)    people are empowered, restored, make new commitments.

Resources of Worship for Pastoral Care.  The community of faith engages in the ministries of mutual care in its worship, and its members draw upon the resources of worship in giving pastoral care.

(1)   Scripture is central as a resource for support, comfort, and guidance. The proclamation of the Word in sermon and song may lead to recognizing need and may provide care.

(2)   Prayerssilent, spoken, and sung, give thanks, intercede, make supplication, and acknowledge God’s presence and power. Prayer enacted by the laying on of hands and anointing calls upon God to heal, empower, and sustain.

(3)   Offering the Sacraments in hospital or household celebrates the presence of Christ, and extends the community of faith beyond the sanctuary.

(4)    The Lord’s Prayer, psalms, doxologies, benedictions, and other familiar portions of a congregation’s worship may extend the support and care of the community of faith to those whose special needs or circumstances have placed them in isolation and remind them of their place in that community.

(5)    Times of remembrance, concerns of the people, prayers of intercession, and other such occasions in corporate worship will bring into the worship of the community of faith those who are absent.