Pastoral care is a difficult topic to undertake. For many of us, the first thing that comes to mind when we hear “pastoral care” is quite the opposite: abuse, secrecy, pain. Chances are high that you or someone you know have experienced a pastor abusing their power in some form or fashion. You may have serious baggage when it comes to pastoral care, but we will break down the reality of what true pastoral care looks like. In this article we will be exploring how pastoral care is defined and described in scripture and why it is important.
The English word “pastor” is a direct transliteration of the Latin word pastor, which means “shepherd” or “herdsman”. When considering what a pastor ought to be like and what pastoral care means, we need not look much further than the word shepherd. We will explore the usage of the word shepherd in the old and new testament and consider instances where leaders of people are called shepherds. The relationship between God and his people, between pastors and their congregation is defined and worked out in scripture through the image of a shepherd tending to his flock.
WHAT IS PASTORAL CARE IN THE CHURCH?
So, what is pastoral care in the church? Well, pastoral care is modeled after the way that God cares for his people. Pastors are called to the weighty calling of loving and caring for people the way God does. So in order to understand how pastors are called to shepherd their flock, we can look to how God has already shepherded his flock. All throughout scripture, God is referred to as a shepherd and his people are referred to as the sheep of his flock. To us moderns, this image is mostly lost but the people of Israel were a nomadic tribe of herdsmen, so the use of this metaphor was very poignant to them. Scripture constantly, almost insultingly, describes God’s people as sheep. This is not high praise for us humans because sheep are incredibly dumb.
Scripture does not use this image to insult us, but rather to emphasize our total helplessness apart from God. Sheep have no sense of direction, they often fight with one another, they constantly wander off and get lost, if they fall over, they literally cannot get back up, they will die unless someone comes to set them upright. They need constant tending and annual shearing because their coat can become so heavy and dirty that they die of infection or suffocation. They will graze a pasture into oblivion and destroy a landscape and they are extremely easy prey for any hungry predator. Hopefully you get the image, sheep are completely helpless and the role of a shepherd is no small task. The shepherd is constantly setting their sheep upright, leading them to new pastures to avoid overgrazing, fighting off predators, breaking up conflict between sheep, shearing them and removing parasites from their body. It also takes expertise, knowing when to rotate the sheep between pastures to keep the ground healthy and alive. Shepherding is a very hard job, especially given that most traditional flocks are somewhere between 100 and 300 sheep large. The job is ceaseless but it is characterized primarily by love. The shepherd does not do his task begrudgingly but lovingly. The sheep are his livelihood and he loves and cares for them.
GOD IS THE PERFECT SHEPHERD
Of course, no human shepherd is perfect and sheep are often lost or preyed upon. They often die of infection from poor drinking water and hygiene. They often go hungry from overgrazing and destroying landscapes. But king David from the old testament describes God as “The Good Shepherd”. He says that God is such a good shepherd that he always has what he needs, God always gives rest and sustenance when he needs it, God always leads him toward green pastures and refreshing streams, even if the paths to get there are frightening or exhausting. David says that God is the perfect shepherd, nothing happens without him knowing and he cares for his flock perfectly. When a sheep runs off, God knows and goes to retrieve it. When a sheep is weighed down by its coat, God knows and comes to shear it off, when a sheep falls over and is unable to get up, God knows it and comes to set it upright. God always knows the state of his flock and runs to care for them. Sometimes what is good for the flock is painful: The shearing process hurts the sheep, sometimes a shepherd must carry the sheep back to the flock, against its will, where it will be safe, sometimes the shepherd must lead the sheep through steep and dangerous routes to get to the good pastureland.
The metaphor of God as a shepherd of his flock has resonated for a long time because of the depth of its richness and its emphasis on our inability and the complexity of God’s shepherding. Oftentimes what seems to be a bad situation is a calculated decision from God, leading his flock through darkness into light. David’s poetic exposition on God as his shepherd in Psalm 23 is not a testament to how perfect and painless his life is; David led a very difficult life and was nearly murdered on several occasions. His poem, rather, is a testament to the fact that he trusts God’s shepherding, he trusts that even when it looks dark to him, God knows what he is doing. This is what it means to have faith in the goodness of God and this sort of unshakable trust in the kindness of God, in spite of dire circumstances, is what characterizes the heroes of scripture.
WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES OF PASTORAL CARE?
Jesus himself, in the new testament, claims to be this good shepherd. In John 10:11-12, Jesus says
“I am the good shepherd. The shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it”
Jesus is playing, here, on the theme of shepherding that would be very familiar to his ancient near-eastern audience. He says that the good shepherd, the one who loves his sheep, will lay down his life in his attempt to protect his sheep from danger. This is no exaggeration, the flock is the livelihood of the shepherd and their death would essentially mean the death of the shepherd. This is the kind of love that the good shepherd has for his flock. His life becomes bound up in theirs.
Jesus didn't just say this, he lived it. He claimed to be this good shepherd and then proved it by laying down his life to save his flock. He died on the cross for the sake of the ones he loved. See, we like sheep, have gone astray. We have all wandered off, away from the safety of the flock of God. We were all designed to live in the presence and care of God. We were designed to be his beloved, his children who find all their needs met perfectly in him. But because we don't trust God, we have all wandered off from his care. When he leads us through dark forests or up steep mountains, our first instinct is not to trust that he will protect us and lead us to green pastures, but rather to distrust him and run from him. We all believe that we know better than God and we all seek our own way over and above his leadership. This rebellion is no small matter, it has landed us all in dire straits. We aren't just lost and in danger, in need of being found, we have died. We have all died in the wilderness away from God’s care.
But Jesus, being the perfect shepherd, came after us. He pursued us, not just into the wilderness, but into our deaths. He died on the cross so that he could enter into our spiritual death with us and because Jesus is the all powerful source of life, death recoiled at his touch and he was raised again from the dead, holding in his hand the souls of all who would trust in him. He has ascended into heaven where, in union with him, all of his sheep are secure. He didn't just save us from death, he destroyed death for all time. He entered our world, our death, and led a host of captives to freedom through his resurrection. Jesus is the good shepherd. He is the one that perfectly cares for our souls and he invites anyone and everyone to enter his care. There is no one too far off, no one is too lost, no one is too dead. He has found us all and invites us back into his perfect care. You do not have to follow, he will not force you against his will, for that is not loving. But he longs for you and has made the way. There is nothing that can keep you from everlasting life except yourself.
WHAT ARE PASTORAL RESPONSIBILITIES?
So we see how God has gone before us as the good shepherd, the pastor of our souls. But God has also called certain individuals to be shepherds of his people on his behalf. The weighty calling on every pastor is to care for people the way that God cares for people, to invite people into the salvation that Jesus has earned for everyone and to point people to him. The pastor’s job is not to save people, but to point people to the one who can save them. The pastor’s job is not to heal people, but to point people to the one who can heal them. In order to represent God’s care and authority to the flock, a pastor must first and foremost be one who loves Jesus and knows him well. Jesus is the standard. This means that you get to evaluate the pastors you encounter and have known. Do they live up to the calling of christ? If they're a human then the answer is probably not, but do they long to be like the good shepherd? Do they admit their faults and seek reconciliation when they fail?
Paul, in his letter to titus offers us a standard by which we ought to assess pastors:
“A pastor must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”
This calling is weighty. Paul is saying that pastors must be above reproach, not perfect, but obedient to the law of repentance. No one is perfect except Jesus, but pastors are especially called to resemble him, leading like he did, loving like he did, caring like he did. But since pastors are merely humans, they will fail and must repent.
If you want to know what pastoral care ought to look like, look at the life and ministry of Jesus. If you want to know if your pastor is doing this well, look, not for perfection, but for signs of obedience to Jesus’s command to turn away from wrongdoing (repent) and love goodness (believe). Jesus does not command people to be perfect, for it is part of our humanity to err, he commands people to repent, to turn away from their sin and trust in him to make them righteous. Your pastor is a human and will fail. In fact, it is certain that they will sin and fall short of their calling, but if they hide it or refuse to apologize for it, they are being disobedient to the calling of Christ.
WHY IS PASTORAL CARE IMPORTANT?
Church is hard, and good leadership is hard to come by, but pastoral care is incredibly important. Jesus did not come to us in the form of a spirit only, he came to us as a human who people touched and loved and laughed with. Jesus’s ministry was relational and incarnational (meaning, in the flesh). Your pastor is called to be the representation of Jesus to his flock. You don't just need the bible and prayer, you need human relationships, you need people who can physically love and care for you the way that Christ does. When God created Adam he said “it is not good that man should be alone”. Even though God was there with Adam, it was not good until he created another human, Eve. Then, when the humans were in relationship with God AND each other, God said “This is very good”. You weren't made for a disembodied spirituality, but a flesh and blood relationship with God and people. It is the job of a pastor to embody and cultivate these relationships.