Introduction
Pastoral care is an instrumental element within the world of Christianity. The adoption of pastoral care has largely been associated with great charismatic ministries across the globe. For instance, the origin of the pastoral church has been traced to the eastern churches of Europe and the western church. Pastoral care mainly focused on enhancing and radical improvement of the individuals who were perceived to be hurt, in trouble, and alienated. Additionally, pastoral care focused on providing support to the individuals who were perceived to have troubles from within. Modern-day Christianity has perceived pastoral care by utilizing deeper insights that involve psychology and psychiatry to initiate counselling and therapy to address the current anxieties. Arguably, pastoral care has aimed at responding to totality that is associated with individuals’ needs within any age bracket in accordance with Christ’s words. Christianity suggests mindful acts of individuals to give food to the hungry, welcome the strangers, and visit those in jail and take care of the sick.
Pastoral care extends beyond the previously dominant psychotherapeutic paradigm, whose major focus was on the work of counsellors to improve individuals’ mental and emotional challenges to a dynamic and interactive process. Similarly, the perceived ideological shift has instituted the emergence of dynamic care, whose aim has mainly been associated with balancing culture, faith, and individual wellbeing. Additionally, the balance has incorporated vital values within the community and promoted desirable actions that have contributed to improving human wellbeing.
Gerkin actively participated in pastoral care and his emphasis was mainly on the protestant liberal pastoral theology, which aimed to fill the gap within society. Further, he argued that an instrumental element of pastoral care adopts the narrative-hermeneutical paradigm, which is considered a vital trend today. Additionally, his introduction to pastoral care marked the epitome of a central metaphor of life within the Christian society. The resultant impact was a relatively wide-reaching focus that incorporated several elements of the society which were not limited to individual and family needs. Furthermore, Gerkin’s analysis of pastoral care focused on crucial and highly sensitive elements such as cultural traditions in the community. His observation was mainly made in various key contexts, including family, individual, community, and culture. Therefore, Gerkin’s analysis of pastoral care in the 21st century was highly interactive and far-reaching. Several attributes have been associated with pastoral care within the 21st century. Most of the elements have a desirable impact on the community improvement of the individual welfare, while others have a negative influence. As a result, the paper will focus on studying critical aspects of pastoral care in the 21st century to improve human perceptions of pastoral care effectively.
Foundation of Pastoral Care
Care is an instrumental aspect; its emergence has been attributed to Socrates’ apology when he first appealed to the younger generations of individuals to develop care for their hearts other than material things. The emergence of pastoral care has been traced back to the bible, Greek philosophy, and Roman traditions. Despite the inexistence of pastoral care from both the old and New Testament biblically, several elements have supported the phenomenal presence of care within the sacred text. Biblically, pastoral care implied the shepherding ability, which was mainly performed with the intention of safeguarding sheep. However, Christians metaphorically adopted pastoral care to replicate the act of care and social responsibilities. Furthermore, it was used to imply the spiritual guidance and care directed to the congregation, particularly in counseling and positively directing.
The Post-Apostolic Period (The Early Church)
The origin of the early church highly played a vital role in administering pastoral care. For instance, it adopted the act as a mechanism of administering service to the community for communal gains. Moreover, pastoral comes from the word pastor, which means shepherd in Latin. Traditionally, the custodian of Christianity was tasked with protecting the descendants and God’s sheep. Pastoral care transformed significantly during the middle age; it was regarded as cure animarum, which implies the clerical office’s technical activities. It entailed a set of rules which directed important practices such as sermons and anticipations. Admonitions were highly considered effective and largely controlled by the rules stipulated. The middle-age period transformed pastoral care into a significant portion.
The Early Church Period
Similarly, the role of the early church was instrumental in spiralling the recognition of pastoral care; in this, it forced the clergy to administer the pastoral role. Arguably, the entitlement of the clergy and bishops to pastoral functions highly affected the role of religion in human relations improvement. Christianity was adopted as a stronghold from which various humanitarian practices as functions of pastoral roles were administered. The key focus of the care was mainly directed to the highly marginalized individuals, widows, and orphans. During the early church period, widows were mostly regarded as highly impoverished individuals who were anticipated to coordinate closely with the care providers. The fundamental role of the caregivers was to track individuals in need, especially those in dire situations, and provide them with the necessary support.
The post-apostolic period highly regarded the pastoral act as an honor towards serving the almighty God, who was deemed to be the life-giver. As a result, the community embraced a pastoral role while encouraging the highly marginalized individuals to seek support. According to the presbyters, the post-apostolic period was regarded as the time when God conferred to the bishop the power and ability to be followed by respective ministers and lead the congregants. The followers were highly encouraged to go after the recognized bishops and be led subsequently. At this time, individuals leading the pastoral ministries became branded as pastors.
Considerably, the pastors were tasked with leading their flock that implicated the congregants. The pastors were considered the shepherds whom Jesus credited with the responsibilities of catering to the flock. Jesus was considered the supreme shepherd who encouraged the shepherds to embrace and spread love among the flock. Additionally, God played an instrumental role in advocating for continued love and condemning sin. Therefore, in the post-apostolic period, love was considered central to pastoral action and ministry. Individuals were highly encouraged to express love, and pastors were anticipated to handle their members with care and love as assign of adherence to Godly desires.
The Post-Constantine Period
During 312CE, the conversation of Emperor Constantine occurred; it was mainly about society with his mother’s desires. As a result of the conversation, the Christian faith was embraced and toward respectively. Furthermore, the Christian church was adopted to become a significant and official faith for the Constantine Empire. Despite the inefficiency associated with Christianity, its use and adoption were generalized for the state benefits. Nevertheless, the Christian faith had in it embedded the pastoral care. Under Constraint Empire, pastoral care received a set of backlash, particularly after a series of members faced persecution. However, the demand for pastoral care subsequently increased due to the occurring societal changes, such as increased cases of homeless people and orphans. Their subsequent lack of a place to belong was also another factor.
Constantine’s era occurred during the medieval period; pastoral care writings were implicated in detail and a self-conscious manner during his reign. Among other things, this stage provided a series of skills requirements to be a caregiver. Additionally, the writings well-articulated the prerequisite strand which every caregiver administering the pastoral services was to have. During this period, definitive roles of pastoral care were added to the previous ones. For instance, other than guiding the ‘flock of sheep, ‘ care providers were also tasked with carrying the burden of the people under their care. Such roles played a vital role in shaping the capabilities and actual perception of the shepherds. For instance, during this period, individuals embraced the ideology that postulated the vested power of shepherding, which depicted the holiness that God has placed among shepherds to execute his work dutifully. The pastoral caregivers adopted holiness and learned to live with it while administering their key responsibilities. Such activity played a significant role in driving an individual’s intentions to join Christianity. Therefore, in conformity with God’s intent pastoral providers enabled larger congregants to change into Christianity during Constantine’s reign.
The Middle Ages
This was also known as the early medieval age; under this period, the great pope Gregory the Great existed. This period was mainly characterized and considered as the period between (540-604CE). Pope Gregory was highly celebrated during their middle age for his powerful leadership mechanism and ecclesiastical reorganizations. His leadership role played a significant position in solidifying the Christian church, which later supported European society for several other years that ensued. His period was identified as the time for superstition, obscurantism, and credulity.
Pope Gregory’s actions highly facilitated the spreading of pastoral ministry across Europe. However, his actions led to the considerable spreading of decay attributed to the ministries as a result of abuse that were manifested within the ministry. Arguably, during his reign, he equipped the clergy with the subsequent and most effective role of pastoral care rule. During the middle age, pastoral care was considered fundamental and evident in the heart of the clergy. The pastoral practitioners were required to be conscientious in all their duties of taking care of God’s people at all times.
Additionally, the middle age period was considered instrumental for pastoral development as it marked the addition of one major task to the pastoral role. To take care of the flock and look for the ‘green pastures for the flock’ (Holifield, 1938), significant growth occurred in pastoral care during this period. For instance, several other obligations were added to the caregivers. Nevertheless, the caregivers become fully aware of their roles and the rapid changes which were occurring in their roles. Metaphorically, the role of looking for greener pastures was replicated as the caregiver’s actions to effectively take care of their congregant’s needs fully. Pope Gregory made a remarkable impact which was further continued by his successors resulting in the shaping of Europe and the globe at large.
Moreover, this period increased pastoral responsibility significantly. For instance, in protecting the ‘flock,’ it was stipulated that it was rightful for the pastor to ensure that his congregants were immune from any harm even. It was argued that the shepherd should be willing to endure suffering at the expense of his ‘flock.’ Such actions resulted in the need for self-awareness which was adequately related to the biblical point of view that motivated the pastoral care to practice their responsibilities with love and care.
The Reformation Age
The reformation age was quite instrumental as part of the foundation of pastoral care. This period was mainly characterized by an effective understanding of the true gospel as a major driver toward the salvation of souls. Furthermore, this stage was mainly associated with Martin Luther. He was considered a German theologian that was part of the able personnel that played a role that led to his legacy between the 15th-17th centuries. The revolutionized movement encountered heavy obstacles during the third ministerial roles during this period. For instance, the leaders were considered pastors in pain; their obligation spread worldwide. They lived and exercised forgiveness, which ignited third hope, giving them the strength to endure hardships associated with the world with the hope of resurrection and eternal life.
Martin Luther’s time was definitive, and the pastoral providers had an underdoing of the church ministry as the world. Pastors were upgraded to be the teachers and the spreaders of the gospel to their followers, and the pastoral care mainly encompassed encouragement directed to the believers. During this time, administration of care involved encouraging individuals to believe and trust in God using tools such as visitation of the sick, preaching, and praying for the individuals that needed prayers. Furthermore, this period was highly associated with a series of reformations. Most notably, the pastoral ministry was essential to the levity. As a result, the period advocated for increased spiritual maturity among the pastoral careers to enhance their cognitive ability and lead their followers desirably.
The Evangelical Revival
This period was quite instrumental in the evangelism and development of recent day churches; it was identified as the period between (and 1703-1791CE). During this period, John Lewis, an English minister and evangelist conducted a massive revival movement in the Church of England. The church was known as Methodism; the practical theologian was highly aware of the benefits of theology to the ministry. He actively played a vital role in pastoring his follower’s actions, which successfully modelled preachers within his ministry. In his ministries, he encouraged the making of written confessions, particularly on the piece of a paper.
Further, he created the positive notion which advocated the essence of understanding amongst good pastors. He argued that pastors required high understanding capabilities to be able to adopt effective use of spiritual tools to pastor their followers. John Lewis period was also associated with the transfer of pastoral care to other respective mainline churches. Similarly, the period was associated with enhanced pastoral work, which resulted in desirable spirituality and development.
The 20th Century and Beyond
This period played an instrumental in the foundation of pastoral care. It was mainly associated with numerous church related activities that promoted the occurrence and practices of care. For instance, 20th century was definitive in pastoral care transformation as it marked the adoption into ministerial activities particularly on the presbyterian Minister’s. According to Gerkin (1997), the key definition of pastoral care emerged from the 20th century towards the 21st century. During the 20th century, pastoral care was mainly addressed by a Presbyterian minister called Hiltner; his ordination occurred in 1935 (Holifield, 1983), after which he continuously promoted pastoral work. Aadditionally, numerous approaches have been adopted by pastoral care practitioners in the course of their theological actions. Arguably, Gerkin argued that pastoral care emerged from Africa between 20th and 21st centuries. During this period, pastoral care should be highly skilled individuals with increased competency in interpretation. They are tasked with replicating the bible to Christians with an apt understanding of effective ways to handle individuals’ concerns while giving them the most desirable options to solve their respective challenges. This period advocates ministers to be extremely caring; hence the existence of the church should be for the sake of others.
Conclusion
As suggested, the history and foundation of pastoralism articulate that developments and transitions have undergone a continuous and rampant process. For instance, the historical observations have linked the biblical perspective of pastoral care and the modern-day ideology. The two have a direct link as they both aim to provide care and protection to the desired parties. As study by (Holifield, 1983) indicated that pastoral care was subject associated with providing care to the highly marginalized individual within the society. The pastoral role was majorly formulated with a desire and drive to attain salvation to individuals who were spiritually poor within the society. As a result, it was a function majorly practiced by the Christian ministers to usher new life and transformation in personality’s actions righteously with the hope of eternal life. Therefore, pastoral care was salvation motivation in which minsters aimed to promote the word of God which was self-directive towards rightful deeds to own and others. Additionally, it advocated for merciful actions which mainstreamed love among others within the society.
Objectively, the paper has been instrumental in the realization of its goals. More so, considerable understanding of pastoral care has directly indicated the desire to promote the will of God vested upon his pastors. This paper has been complete as it provided adequate information regarding the likely actions encountered by pastoral practitioners. The efficacy of such actions lies in the ability to shape individuals’ perceptions and enhance their degree of involvement in ministerial roles. However, the paper significantly revealed uncertainties directly associated with individuals under the ministerial roles. Although the negativities were highly discriminative, a desire to further continues the pastoral role was considered highly effective towards the final hope of external life after the resurrection.
The introduction provided a detailed understanding of major attributes from renowned researchers such as Gerkin, who advocated for critical aspects of pastoral care. Additionally, the paper has provided vast information regarding the foundation of pastoral care. Arguably, the chronological approach adopted starting from the early church towards the modern-day world is instrumental and incompleteness. Valuable information from both sections has supported the rapid development resulting from pastoral care. Most notably, the emergence of the Christian church indicates the effects of pastoral care. As a result, there is an increased desire to improve the nature of pastoral care, considering the benefits attributed. This paper aims to analyze various aspects associated with pastoral care to improve human perceptions of the same. Therefore, effective illustrations, observations, and findings revealed in the paper have fully justified the importance associated with pastoral care. As a result, further insights should be conducted into the elements associated with pastoral care to the completeness and further improvement of the ministerial roles that the latter attributes in the community.
References
Gerkin, C., V. (1997). An Introduction to Pastoral Care (1st ed.). Abingdon Press.
Holifield, B. E. (1983). A History of Pastoral Care in America: From Salvation to Self-Realization. Abington Press.