Pastoral Care Training

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I’ve been putting together some pastoral care training resources. I’ve now completed a set of videos. I’m hoping to develop some further resources, in particularly training notes and possibly some assessment resources. However, in the meantime, I hope the videos on their own will be of help. I’d love your feedback to help me to… Continue reading Pastoral Care Training

World Suicide Prevention Day

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Today is World Suicide Prevention Day.  Did you know that there are about 7000 suicides in the UK every year? This means 19 people are likely to take their lives every day.  Both suicide and the mental health factors leading to it including anxiety and depression sadly remain taboo subjects, the elephant in the room. … Continue reading World Suicide Prevention Day

Developing pastoral care systems

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One of the things that I’ve been thinking quite a bit about recently is how a church develops pastoral care as it grows from being a small church plant, a group of young friends that know each other well to being a medium to large sized established multigenerational and multi-cultural church. You can listen to… Continue reading Developing pastoral care systems

Pastoral Counselling – can we do it? 

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I’ve been sharing some videos on YouTube recently to help you think through approaches to pastoral counselling. However, I’m still aware that for some, there will be a question about whether or not we should be even attempting this kind of thing In fact, there are, I think two risks.  On the one hand, there… Continue reading Pastoral Counselling – can we do it? 

Some reflections on Confidentiality and the church

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Steve Midgely, writing for the Journal of Biblical Counselling notes that churches often operate with a mindset that their confidentiality reflects the medical world’s approach.  He quotes the Hippocratic Oath as saying: “Whatever…I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning… Continue reading Some reflections on Confidentiality and the church

What if your pastor is your therapist and your therapist is your pastor?

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I saw this article the other day arguing that your pastor is not meant to be your therapist and vice versa.  I can sympathise to some extent  with the argument.  On the one side of things, there can be a tendency to treat church like a self help process.  This doesn’t just affect one to… Continue reading What if your pastor is your therapist and your therapist is your pastor?

Ask me in 40 years

I must admit to being rather baffled by an article I’ve just read in Evangelicals Now.  Church historial Michale Haykin describes how he has spent the last 40 years researching and writing about the Particular Baptists of the 1800s.  Her suggests that it has taken him this long to get to properly know his subject… Continue reading Ask me in 40 years

PACE-ing pastoral counselling

Dyadic Development Psychotherapy as an approach to therapy for children and young people  that have been through trauma.  One aspect of this approach uses the anachronym PACE where PACE stands for This approach, whilst not an exact, like for like fit for adult pastoral care may stull help us to think about how we approach… Continue reading PACE-ing pastoral counselling

Thinking strategically about pastoral care and your church plant

Here’s a little prediction for church planters.  As your church grows, pastoral care needs will grow too and not just in number but in complexity.  If you plant with a core team of 20-30 people, you might expect the occasional situation where someone is suffering and you will be called to walk with them through… Continue reading Thinking strategically about pastoral care and your church plant