As I was saying… there are a lot of pastoral care myths out there.  Here’s 2 more:

Myth 3: Pastoral Care is about ‘meeting people’s needs’.

This is a very popular myth, especially among people who have needs. The idea of having a pastor, who will provide pastoral care, which will meet my needs is very appealing.

This is particularly the case with perceived emotional needs. If I’m feeling hurt or lonely or angry and so on it’s an attractive idea that someone might come and talk with me and make me feel better.

This myth can also be popular among pastors or leaders who like to feel needed. Meeting people’s needs can be a gratifying emotional experience. You can feel special or needed and so on so this myth gains traction among pastors too.

Myth 4: Pastoral Care is different to Bible teaching.

This myth separates the two things. Bible teaching is something we do in the sermon or Bible study. Pastoral care is the talking and relating that happens elsewhere. During pastoral care the Bible goes back on the shelf and we focus on listening, sharing and talking.

This myth is reinforced when we give titles and job descriptions to pastors that make one out to be the teaching pastor and one out to be the pastoral care guy.

Next week, we’ll see what the Bible says about pastoral care and do a bit of mythbusting.

photo credit: Markusram

I love the TV show Mythbusters.  Apart from the juvenile thrill of watching guys put aerosol cans in campfires etc, I love the whole premise of finding myths and testing them.  I reckon one area where myths abound is ‘pastoral care’.  Sure, I can’t produce any explosions but I am keen to identify some common pastoral care myths.  In following posts I hope to bust a few of them with what the Bible really teaches about pastoral care.

Myth 1: Pastoral care is only for people who are struggling.

This myth assumes that ‘pastoral care’ (whatever that might be) is only for those people at church who are struggling with sin, suffering or something else.  Those who are doing OK can probably get by without it.  They’re like healthy people who don’t need a doctor.

Myth 2: Pastoral care is about counseling.

I found this on Wikipedia:  ‘Pastoral care is the ministry of care and counseling provided by pastors, chaplains and other religious leaders to members of their church…’

This is a common myth, and it’s reinforced in our minds by the language of ‘pastoral counseling’ and ‘pastoral ministry’.  It makes out pastoral care to be about doing lots of sitting, listening, problem solving - possibly with some technique or method over a long period of time.

That’s it for now, two more myths next time.  But I ask you to think about what harm can a myth do if it’s not tested by Scripture?