Lay Pastoral Care Giving

At a meeting of the Alexandria Virginia District Council on Ministries a few years ago, discussion focused on the realization that most clergy in the district had no assistance in the area of pastoral care and felt overwhelmed by all their responsibilities. Many clergy had cut back on their visitation with the homebound and, to some degree, with patients in hospitals. While a few churches used various training materials, including the Stephen Ministry material, most churches did not train laity in caring ministries.

Several years earlier, I had been trained by Ronald Sunderland, Ed. D. in his program Equipping Laity for Ministry and had some knowledge of the Stephen Ministry program. The district superintendent encouraged me to put together a program that would assist local clergy in meeting the pastoral care needs of their congregations. I worked on this project for over a year and developed Lay Pastoral Care Giving.

This book provides a step-by-step program whereby laity are selected, trained, commissioned, and supervised by the pastor to assist in providing certain kinds of pastoral care. A difference between Lay Pastoral Care Giving and some other programs is that it is clergy led and driven. The pastor selects the potential caregivers, leads them through the initial weekend training, and then assigns them to visit people in need. The selection of the potential lay pastoral caregivers is an essential component of this process. Clergy are encouraged to identify people who demonstrate caring, compassion, and good listening skills.

In the first training weekend, laypersons are instructed in how to make an appointment and how to use the pastoral tools of prayer, Scripture, and Eucharist. They are trained in listening skills and in various types and levels of communication. In addition, laity are taught how to write a verbatim after each visit has concluded. Prayer for guidance and support; actively listening to the concerns voiced by those visited; and accurately communicating what transpired duringthe visit help the lay pastoral caregiver provide the best possible care to the parishioner.

After the initial training is completed, the program calls for commissioning of the lay pastoral caregivers to their new ministry within the congregation. The commissioning serves two purposes: It recognizes the lay pastoral caregivers who have been called to this special ministry, and it serves to acknowledge that these lay persons are now a part of the pastoral care team for the congregation. They are not a substitute for the pastor, but a support. They work to enhance the pastoral ministry. A sample commissioning service is found in the book.

Additional information is provided in Lay Pastoral Care Giving to help clergy lead monthly discussion meetings with pastoral caregivers. Presented throughout the book are various topics and questions that are designed to increase knowledge and to assist pastoral lay caregivers in becoming more effective in their roles.

As a result of the training, lay pastoral caregivers will feel comfortable in whatever setting the pastor assigns them. The support and feedback of the pastor to the verbatim lay pastoral caregivers submit will provide constant encouragement and advice that will help them improve their skills with every visit. In the end, the lay pastoral caregivers are given training and an opportunity to serve in a capacity that has not previously been open to them in many churches. The parishioners, those being served, now have an opportunity to have their feelings heard and are able to voice their concerns. As a result, the clergy are more aware of what is happening in their congregation and are able to prioritize their visits based on need.

Lay Pastoral Care Giving is available through Upper Room Books.

The Reverend Timothy M. Farabaugh is the chief operating officer of Vinson Hall Retirement Corporation in McLean, Virginia. The corporation is a Continuing Care Retirement Community, providing services to residents in Independent Living apartments, Assisted Living apartments, a Health Care Center and a Memory Support facility. He is also an adjunct instructor at Wesley Theological Seminary in the Equipping Laity for Ministry program.