Congregational Care through the eyes of the Bible

Congregational Care

Introduction

The biblical idea of the shepherd is integrally related to congregational care in the Christian tradition: “The Lord is my shepherd,” states the psalmist (Psalm 23:1); “I am the good shepherd,” Jesus teaches his disciples (John 10:11). Christian leaders assumed the position and identity of shepherds in the early church, tending to the member of their congregations like a shepherd does for his sheep. Similarly, the phrase care clarifies the central idea of congregational ministry: attentive concern for others. Affection, solicitude, companionship, and protection are all aspects of caring for someone. Congregational care still connotes these early concerns in today’s society, albeit in different forms. To put it simply, Congregational care is a religious concern for another. It is one of the most prominent works on religious leadership from an institutional standpoint (McClure, 2012). As a result of its importance in religious leadership, this paper discusses the need for a psychological approach and its effect on congregational care, focusing on the West African Churches in the U.S. The paper also covers the need for congregational leaders/caregivers to seek specialized/professional training in congregation leadership and counseling and the advantages and disadvantages of seeking specialized/professional training in congregational leadership.

The West African Church in the U.S.

The West African Church in the United States, more commonly known as the Black Church, has been a popular name among African Americans to describe the collection of Black Christian congregations in the United States. According to Plunkett (2014), Black Church is made up of seven historically Black denominations: African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, African Methodist Episcopal Church, National Baptist Convention, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, National Baptist Convention of America, U.S.A. Incorporated, Church of God in Christ, Unincorporated, and Progressive National Baptist Convention. Although the polity and dogma of these religions range greatly, they share a strong feeling of familial connectedness, communal solidarity, and social commitment.

Historically, the United States black church has played an important part in developing black capital, social services, and even marital and family stability. The Black Church has been a focal point for prestige, connection, power, direction, and influence since the terrible years of slavery (Robertson, & Avent, 2016). Congregants of the African American Christian community found a haven here to talk about local and national concerns, including race and equality, family unity, and ethical standards (Robertson, & Avent, 2016). Members of the clergy were considered the heartbeat and basis of the social atmosphere and religious overtones of the period in many African American communities.

Clergy members were seen as the first line of defense in The Black Church, especially when meeting their parishioners’ emotional and psychological needs (Chaney et al., 2016). Pastoral Care and Counseling was the name given to the emotional support provided by clergy members to congregations. Since T.B.C.’s foundation and independence, pastoral care and counseling have been an important element of the T.B.C. experience. Pastoral care is described as “any church ministry has as its goal the compassionate, solicitous care of persons in crisis,” as well as “the application of the church’s entire caring resources to persons and families in crisis” (Wimberly, 1979, p.18).

Effective congregational care

Over time, there have been shifts in congregational care concerns and priorities, but there have been recurrent themes: conscientious attention, scripturally grounded diagnosis, and compassionate assistance or intervention. These are still the foundations of congregational care. Every excellent congregational caregiver must know how to pay attention (to watch and listen), diagnose (to be able to interpret the source of suffering theologically and decide what is required), and respond (to offer guidance, support, and accompaniment) (McClure, 2012). At their most basic level, they are relational skills that need an understanding of both theory and method, and effective congregational care necessitates them above all else. Congregational care shares a hermeneutical circle with practical theology in that it connects theory to practice in the development of these abilities (and allows the practice to inform theory).

According to the area of congregational care, good relationships are at the core of successful care, and “relationship is the beginning of theory” (Thornton 2002: 123). Thornton (2002: 123) writes that good congregational care has traditionally prioritized flesh-and-blood relationships before reflecting on the meaning of the encounter, allowing the experience of life to challenge and inform established theological understandings. Consequently, like more traditional texts of Scripture or theology, contemporary congregational care uses life experiences, including religious experience, as its reference text for study. This “theology grounded in human experience” approach has significantly impacted other, more conventional forms of theological reflection, which frequently privilege ideational! or doctrinal approaches to the alienation of human experience. It is a value congregational care shares with practical theology.

The psychological approach in congregational care

Congregational psychology exists at the intersection of theology and psychology. Nonetheless, it aspires to maintain its multidisciplinary nature and avoid being reduced to one of these areas. According to Stollberg (1978, 72), a congregational counselor must be a theologian, anthropological, and methodologist with knowledge of theory and experience with the practice. Nothing is accomplished with a little untrained “charisma.” If one of the three qualities deteriorates, a critical component of congregational competence will be lacking, not a substitute but a requirement for ‘authoritative’ congregational activity (Mt 10:1). Congregational counseling devoid of congregational psychology is analogous to preaching that lacks exegesis and church lessons not founded on religious education.

Because congregational counseling is based on religious service congregational care, theological aspects of congregational counseling emerge first. However, the qualifications described by Stollberg (1978) gained a lot of traction, especially in the congregational counseling movement. The congregational care movement is beyond the focus of this study. Still, it was through this movement that congregational work was brought to light through human sciences such as anthropology, psychiatry, and psychology (A??lkaya-?ahin, 2018). Psychoanalysis, Gestalt therapy, client-centered treatment, communication theories, systemic psychotherapy, body-oriented psychotherapy, and non-directive counseling are examples of psychological approaches that have received widespread acceptance in congregational psychology.

Hiltner (1950a, 6; 1950b, 8) highlights this multidisciplinary approach by acknowledging that mental health practitioners like psychiatrists, social workers, and psychologists can teach congregational care providers about human functioning. Hiltner wants the pastor to benefit from the diversity of professional opinions. The founding of the journal Congregational Psychology reflects this preparedness and eagerness to learn from and involve other professional disciplines (especially psychology) in congregational practice. The journal included contributions from well-known psychologists such as Karl Menninger, Karen Horney, Carl Rogers, and others. “Religion and the minister endowed with the insight and competence of the study of human behavior have a large and distinctive contribution to make to this crucial subject,” Carl Rogers (1950) stated in the first issue’s editorial, explaining “Why Congregational Psychology” (p. 6). The issue raised by Rogers was the rising number of people suffering from mental illnesses.

Congregational counseling has been supported by psychology since its inception. The tagline “Integrating Spirituality & Mental Health” is prominently displayed on the site of the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), www.aacc.net. Religious organizations and their leaders have traditionally provided religious counseling to persons in distress, according to the mission of the AACC (2022). However, religious counseling may not be sufficient or accurate for serious mental problems. Professional health care and therapy are essential in such circumstances for optimal healing and treatment. According to the authors, congregational counseling has progressed from religious counseling to congregational psychotherapy, which incorporates theology and other faith tradition knowledge, spirituality, faith community resources, behavioral sciences, and systemic theory in recent years (AAPC 2012).

Effects of congregational psychological care

Positive psychology explores broad human virtues and strengths, whereas congregational psychology focuses on recovering the potential and foundations of virtues in the counseling process. Brunsdon (2014, p.3) contends that separating congregational psychology from other helping disciplines will limit successful congregational counseling and promotes congregational partnership. However, it is necessary to consider how this collaboration should be accomplished. Crabb (1978) warns of the danger of one discipline undermining the other. Brunsdon (2014, 5) argues for a theological framework because if congregational care’s uniqueness is jeopardized, there’s a risk that the collaboration will produce something other than congregational care. Brunsdon (2014, 5) proposes looking at the underlying philosophy to select a suitable collaboration partner. The essentials of congregational and positive psychology appear to be compatible for reciprocal contribution, as discussed in the earlier section of this essay. Although Brunsdon (2014) appears to be true in preferring collaboration in tactics and research findings over epistemology, congregational work is founded on theology. In contrast, positive psychology is based on human sciences. As a result, a mechanical rather than organic partnership between congregational and positive psychology would yield helpful results for both fields’ counselors.

Collaboration in this sense would also avoid not only the possibility of weakening one another, as Crabb (1978) cautions, but also any field overstepping its bounds and interfering in issues that are unique to the other. This is true, for example, in Martin Seligman’s book Authentic Happiness, where he engages in theological speculations. Seligman (2002, 257-259) expresses his naturalistic viewpoint by rejecting God’s role as a supernatural creator and advocating for secularism. Congregational counselors must be aware of potential conflicts with positive psychologists’ views on theological concerns because of the suggested positivistic assumption.

Need for professional training on congregation leadership and counseling

Committed followers of Jesus have exhibited their faith throughout redemptive history by loving one another, carrying one another’s burdens, and being honest in love to one another, as Scripture commands. Though the Church has used various tactics and approaches over the years to achieve those features of the Christian community, the current atmosphere in American Christianity produced a context in which biblical counseling emerged as a fruitful attempt toward that objective (Johnson, 2019). The biblical counseling movement arose from a desire to see God’s people restore their shepherding obligations and privileges from the secular psychology discipline. Biblical counseling addressed the source of human disagreement and dysfunction: sin and its manifold ramifications, based on the theological ideas of the sufficiency of Scripture, the priesthood of Christians, and progressive sanctification. The movement expanded in popularity, maturity, and reach in successive generations. It began to handle suffering more appropriately, and biblical counselors’ roles were expanded to allow lay individuals in a congregation to be trained and give care under the supervision of pastoral leadership.

The field of pastoral ministry is vast, encompassing (Duffy, 1992, p.597 – 606); (i) human formation, the natural formation of humans’ material nature; (ii) academic/intellectual formation, the formation of the human person’s intellectual capacity to appreciate and emphasize truth and justice; (iii) moral and spiritual formation, the formation of the human person’s moral and spiritual tenacity to embrace and pursue the good of all and behave accordingly toward all; and (iv) pastoral ministry, forming an individual for pastoral ministry using the five aspects is mostly a psychological issue (Aryeh, 2019). As a result, and based on the need to ensure that all the essential pastoral care elements are adequately developed, it is important that training should be part of congregational care and counseling.

Christian training and pastoral formation, according to Ellen G. White

White believed that Christian education should enrich the mind and educate people to give. It is not enough to instill important teachings in the minds of the youth; they must also learn to pass on what they have learned (White, 1995, p.237-8). Those who seek knowledge to help the poor and dying contribute to God’s greater purpose for humanity. Consecration, a positive attitude, self-sacrifice, reliability, humility, compassion, and duty are traits of a minister by White. Young males should be motivated to enter the ministry, she advises. She claims that the vocation to preach is demonstrated via example and work — how much influence does one person have? However, she points out that the church cannot rely just on human judgment when selecting pastors; trustworthy, experienced individuals should thoroughly scrutinize those seeking to be preachers. Before beginning their employment, pastors should be trained and examined. The biblical approach of ministerial preparation blends classroom learning with personal spiritual development. Those joining the ministry should have read extensively in both science and the Bible; Jesus studied animals, plants, and people so that He could apply what He learned to teach the truth. The parables He used to convey His truth lessons during His ministry demonstrate how receptive His spirit was to the effects of nature and how He collected spiritual knowledge from His daily surroundings.

Supervising ministers should be listened to and respected by young ministers. Young clergy members should take lessons from their mentors’ talents and weaknesses. They should avoid a desire to accomplish work beyond their abilities, as this might lead to failure. This burning desire by both women and men to do something well above their current skills, in her opinion, is simply causing them to fail miserably from the start (White, 1995, p.43-8). Although literature evangelism is a wonderful way to prepare for ministry (it provides opportunity and experience), it should not be deemed a requirement for ministry. Ministers should continue their education throughout their careers, and they should study and grow even as they get older. She points out that some ministers could have accomplished tenfold more if they had chosen to become intellectual giants and that ministers who have stopped being students do not effectively teach the Gospel. Preaching time, study time, and visiting time must all be balanced.

According to White, cities, prisons, and the poor are all “specific outreaches,” according to White. Because ministering to the afflicted is what Jesus did, churches are to convey hope to the despairing. The church has a responsibility to take care of the impoverished, the lame, the halt, and the blind. Christ responds to the afflicted’s pleas by sending His disciples - He does not perform a miracle by bringing manna from heaven or sending ravens to bring them food; rather, He performs a miracle on human hearts, expelling selfishness from the soul by opening the fountain of compassion. The church must enable the sick to look after themselves and be self-sufficient (White, 1995, p.139-142).

Justification for pastoral training concerning congregational care

Pastoral care is both an art and a nature (human persona/character) inspired by unconditional love for God, oneself, and others (Alpers, 1982, p. 437–460). Pastoral formation is part of the “nature” of pastoral ministry since its goal is transformational, not just the distribution of structured material to feed the mind, but the knowledge that will nourish the mind and influence human nature. When pastors are confronted with unforeseen events, the lack of it or insufficiency leads to a distorted pastoral image and double standards in ministering (Mayhue 1995, p.3–18). Pastoral ministry is a lifelong commitment that encompasses all elements of human life. The pastoral ministry is responsible for the daily administration of the church and its functions. It calls for a higher-level emphasis on the pastoral formation component of pastoral training by allowing prospective trainees to apprentice with a practicing pastor for at least two years before entering a seminary or Bible school. At this time, the candidate would have a clear understanding of and experience with pastoral formation.

As a result, engaging in active pastoral activity should be limited to a personal conviction of being called and training for pastoral work. Furthermore, admittance to the seminary/Bible School should be based not only on the candidate’s belief that God has called them but also on evidence of pastoral formation by the mentor as evidenced by a psychological assessment. “This necessitates that the future minister is fully equipped to be a mature leader. It implies that he worked on all elements of his/her person, including the physical, emotional, and spiritual” (Duffy 1992, p.599). The apprenticeship curriculum should incorporate personal integrity development, (ii) communal life, dedication, and teamwork, and (iii) environmental stewardship (Draper 1990, p.448–452). It is informed by current societal challenges and is taught through experiential learning and hands-on practice. During seminary/Bible School training, this training will continue.

Advantages of professional training in congregational leadership

There are five key benefits when there is a purposeful strategy to empower existing leaders and train new leaders to deliver more congregational care.

First, it improves the quality of church preaching. Pastors have often stated that learning to counsel oneself and educating pastors to counsel considerably improves their preaching. Preaching is often a spectator sport in many churches, with fans who favor or disapprove of the delivery and substance (Allchin, 2021). Counseling assists priests in better understanding what people heard, how they used it, and what subsequent content might better address the pressing problems that keep people awake at night. It applies seminary theory to the Bible as a practical tool for the congregation to believe God and His word.

Second, it raises the standard of shepherding. Most churches lack an effective plan for caring for the suffering, and most pastors are ill-equipped to do so. While training leaders on running Sunday School, Small Groups, or V.B.S. programs is a wonderful start, priests may face challenges providing more personal care. The more shepherds who are ready and prepared to provide support and hope in times of difficulty, the more cared for the congregation will feel.

Third, it enhances the church’s women’s ministry. Many church leaders debate how to utilize women’s gifts in their congregations best. Women are anxious to be trained to make an impact and adequately fulfill the Great Commission, which was given to everyone in the church, even in churches where women are not allowed to pursue the pastorate due to religious views (Allchin, 2021). It improves congregational care of the women’s/ministry females in the church body and develops women’s leadership and spiritual gifts by teaching women.

Fourth, it increases the church’s outreach. When churches begin to seriously prepare their leaders in biblical counseling, one of the key benefits is how they implement the “Good Samaritan” principle. Rather than waiting for the hurting to come to church for aid, they seek out possibilities in their communities and get involved in church life.

Lastly, it expands the range of care options available to the church. Clergy members who have been trained in counseling are well-positioned to walk alongside folks in troubled relationships, despair, or harmful choices. Pastoral counseling may not be the greatest option in every situation, but it is an excellent alternative in many situations since it is flexible, long-term, cheap, and compassionate (Allchin, 2021).