|
Visit our Website
to learn more about PPCN and our upcoming Gathering
|
PPCN
Officers:
President:
Ken Waddell
Cherokee
Vice:
Julie Johnson
Palo
Duro
Secretary:
Lou Snead
Mission
Treasure:
Alan Baroody
Savannah
Editor:
Steve McCutchan
Salem
Members
At Large:
Carol
Allen, Chicago
Dan
Corll, Pittsburgh
Dave
Garnett, East
TN.
Molly
Garnett, East
TN.
Brenda
Jarvis, Detroit
Joe
Sandifer,Greater Atlanta
Denominational
Advisors:
Marcia Meyers,
Helen
Locklear
Board of Pensions
Barbara Kranendonk,
Ministry Development
Center, FLorida
|
|
Support
PPCN
Join
these Judicatories
Mission
Salem
Savannah
Mid-Kentucky
Central
Florida
Synod
of Atlantic
Greater
Atlanta
Philadelphia
Cherokee
Flint River
Northeast Georgia
Check
the Website for details on how to join.
|
|
Stephen McCutchan
Newsletter Editor
:: |
|
|
Change
of Newsletter Format
With
this issue of our quarterly newsletter, we
are changing the format slightly. Our hope
is that this will make it easier for people
to access. Our continued hope is that you
will forward this newsletter to the churches
and church leaders under your care via email
or print a hardcopy for them. In this way,
you remind them of your continuing concern
for their ministry and establish a
relationship for continuing conversations.
We also hope the ideas in this newsletter
will continue to assist you in the important
work of caring for the pastors, educators,
and other leaders in your churches.
In
each issue, we hope to have suggestions in
three areas of pastoral care. First, we will
suggest things that the judicatory can do in
their work of caring for pastors. Second, we
will make suggestions of what congregations
can do. Finally, we will make suggestions of
what the individual pastors and educators
can do in caring for themselves.
Occasionally, we will also have a more
general article and we will announce
upcoming events and resources that will be
of interest.
|
|
|
9th
Annual National Gathering
October
13-16, 2008
Helping
Presbyteries Care for Clergy:
"Shifting
from Crisis Management to Prevention"
Presenters:
Ernesto Badillo
Barry Jackson
Marcia Myers
Pittsburgh
Theological Seminary
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
|
|
Judicatory
Care
Each
year we provide an annual gathering of
people in the church who have the
responsibility for pastoral care. We hope
all synods, presbyteries, Committees on
Ministry, and others who see this as a
passion will attend.
Put
the date on your calendar. Don't wait!
Bring your attendance to the attention of
whatever committee needs to approve your
participation. Also, ask that committee to
brainstorm with you the areas of concern
you would like addressed, either at the
annual gathering or in this newsletter.
The whole purpose of this effort is to
create a continuing dialogue about
pastoral care. Together we can do a better
job than any of us can do separately.
Featured
participants in this 9th
gathering will be
Marcia
Myers, Director of the Vocation Agency
of the GAC Office of the PC(USA), and Rev.
Ernesto Badillo, Health Education
specialist for the Board of Pensions
will share updated resources for us to
take home to our colleagues.
In addition, we will have workshops around the
following themes:
1.
First called pastors
2.
Models of pastoral care
3.
Healthy ways to intervene in difficult
situations
4.
Creating trust among clergy in divisive times
5.
Combating isolation and loneliness in the
pastorate
|
|
In
a recent advertisement by the Lilly
Endowment, Inc., there was an apt
description of the variety of demands
placed upon a pastor. "At the center
of the congregation is the pastor.
Spiritual guide, scholar, counselor,
preacher, administrator, confidant,
teacher, pastoral visitor, and friend, a
pastor has a privileged position and
performs many roles. In season and out, a
pastor is called upon to lead communities
to the life-giving waters of God."
Not
only do I think that reminds us of the
multiple tasks expected of a pastor, but
it also reminds us of the
"call". A critical component of
all that we do is that mysterious event
that we speak of as a "call." At
some point in our lives, either as a
dramatic moment or a slowly dawning
awareness, we became aware that God was
"calling us into ministry."
As
I have watched the struggles of pastors to
cope with all that is asked of them, I
have come to believe that a central factor
leading to what is referred to as
"burn out" is a loss of
connection with the "call." As
Victor Frankl reminds us in "Man's
Search for Meaning," when we lose
sight of the "why" then almost
any "how" is too big an
obstacle. Calls can evolve and change but
the central fact that we are called by God
to do this work is an important aspect of
retaining the energy to overcome the
barriers and meet the demands.
Every
pastor would do well each year to find a
half-day in which s/he could retreat to a
place of solitude and review their
original sense of call and how God
continues to act in their lives in shaping
their present call. When Jesus would
withdraw from the action and retreat to
the mountains to pray (Mark 6:46), was he
not reconnecting with the spirit of God
that gave him energy for the journey?
|
|
|
Congregational
Care
Congregations
that are fortunate enough to be able to hire
an educator as well as a pastor quickly
discover the valuable contribution that such
a person can make. While our organization is
called The Presbytery Pastoral Care Network,
it is important to recognize that even
though many educators are not ordained, they
are an essential component of pastoral care
in a congregation.
Far too often, in both salary and
recognition, congregations fail to offer
appropriate respect to such educators.
In
our uncertain world, many people come to
congregations precisely because they want
their children to be educated in the
Christian faith. A good preacher can attract
people to a congregation but a good educator
can keep them participating. It is not
uncommon for faithful parents to experience
the pain of their children drifting away
from the church as they become young adults.
There are frequent reports, however, of
adults returning to the faith because of the
lessons that they once learned as children.
While we don't control the decisions of
other adults, it is important to plant the
seeds of faith with a quality education
program while they are young.
As
a congregation, it is important to
occasionally celebrate the work of your
educator and the "teaching" role
of your pastor. Educators often work behind
the scenes and are occasionally affirmed by
those who work with them but it is less
frequent that the whole congregation offers
such affirmation. When was the last time
that your congregation publically recognized
the work of your educator and perhaps gave a
simple gift certificate to a restaurant or a
book store in appreciation of what they do?
|
|
|
