PASTORAL CARE IN THE CHURCH

Every Christian is a part of the wide family of God’s household, the church. (1 Tim.3:15, Eph.2:19), And the fellowship of the church is like a very big extended family system, a family which reaches across tribal, racial, geographical and cultural divisions.
In these days many writers of church history deal chiefly with its doctrinal, political and social aspects- ie. Organization of the church, its relation with the government, its internal disputes about ideas and beliefs etc. Such writers give less importance to the pastoral care in the church. Even though there has been much improvement in the organizational set up of the church, yet pastoral care has to be improved in the church. The following examples of the work of a pastor from different periods in the history of the church will show pastoral care has always been seen as one of the basic tasks of the people of God.

THE EARLY CHURCH AND THE MEDIEVEL CHURCH

After Christ the ministry in the church became complicated with the introduction of Bishops, Priests and Deacons.
Here we are going to see the sort of work which the minister or pastor was expected to perform.
St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the great bishops of the church, said that the pastor must be ready to help the following sorts of people in the following ways.
1. Disturbers are to be rebuked: (Jude 8,10,12,16,19.)
2. The low-spiritual (That is the unhappy or sorrowful) are to be encouraged.
3. The infirm are to be supported.
4. Objectors (those who oppose true teaching) are to be confuted.
5. Those eager to serve Christ, but unskilled, are to be taught properly.
6. Those lazy in the service of the church are to be aroused and awakened.
7. Those who are contentious (waiting to argue all the time) are to be treated with patience
8. The proud are to be shown the path of humble service
9. The oppressed are to be set free
10. The good are to be approved and encouraged
11. The evil are to be dealt firmly but treated with patience and care.
12. All people, whoever and whatever they are, are to be loved.
During the period AD-500 - 1500 the function of pastor was neglected. Very little compassion and concern for the needy was shown.
The reason was the development of the idea that priests were some how different from the rest of God’s people because of the ordination. The pastor was one among the mass, one of the people not suddenly transformed in to a guide, a president, a teacher, an instructor. The same Word makes the priest honorable and separated.
As the centuries passed these ordained priests gained great authority. By 18th century they were responsible only to the Pope and not to any lay people. The difference between clergy and the laity was very strong.

Some differences were:

1. At Lord’s Supper, the clergy stood, but the people kneeled.
2. Clergy received bread and wine but the people (Laity) received the wine only, not bread.
3. Priests were not permitted to marry and the people were regarded as inferior in holiness, because they were of course allowed to marry
Thus the priests were separated from the rest of the people.
They were the rectors or rulers exercising their authority within the church.

THE REFORMATION AND AFTER
With the reformation of the church in the 16th century a new understanding of the ministry developed. Off course, in the reformed church. The differences which separated the clergy and laity, in many parts of the church began to decrease as the ordained leaders began to live more closely with their people.

Martin Luther, the leader of the Reformation in Germany, stressed the doctrine of the universal priesthood of the believers, paved the way to reduce the distinction between clergy and laity (1 Pet.2:9).
Luther said all Christians are ministers: God has placed His church in the midst of the world among countless undertakings and callings.
Christians should not be monks, but live with one another in social fellowship and manifest among men the works and practice of faith. We all are priest, in so far as we are Christians, but whom those we call priests are ministers selected from our midst to act in our name and their priesthood is our ministry.
After the reformation the ordained pastors were called ‘pastor’ but the widely used word was preacher. But from 18th century the title pastor came to be widely used.
Richard Baxter was a puritan minister of the Reformed Church. In 1656 he wrote a book called ‘The Reformed Pastor’ in which he stated the need for a ministry to individual people and family group as follows
1) Non Christians should not be neglected
2) Strong in faith is to be strengthened and encouraged.
3) Weak or lazy or those who turned away from their faith are to be given special attention and should be helped to repent and start again
4) The sick are to be given constant care and the dying visited before the time of death.
5) Law breakers of the church are to be given helpful discipline. But if they do repent from their wrong ways they are to be joyfully restored to the fellowship
Baxter says, “We, pastors have greater works than they do (believers) and great difficulties to overcome, and therefore we have need to be warned and awakened as well as they.”
Baxter suggested that all pastors try to ensure that the work of saving grace is really effective in their own lives. They should not rest on their past experiences of God’s grace, but keep on growing.
They should be careful about their own lives so that their example does not contradict their teaching.
The work of a pastor is a special work, not to be treated lightly. So a very high standard is required of any one wishing to serve as a pastor.
The one who does not delight in holiness, not hate iniquity, not love the unity and purity of the church, who does not oppose arguments and divisions, who takes no pleasure in public worship of God with his people and fellowship of God’s people, this person is not fit to be a pastor of a church.

At Baxter’s time pastors task were, teaching and instructing people in the faith, disciplining church members, visiting people, especially those in need, counseling those with problems and difficulties in their lives.
A minister is not to be just a public speaker, but to be known as a counselor for souls as a physician of bodies.
Another protestant leader and the founder of Methodist Church, John Wesley, who lived in 18th century urged pastors to make regular visits, pay special attention to the needs of children, encourage parents in training children in the faith, organize meeting and fellowship and to test themselves.
Wesley said pastoral care was very demanding work, calling for the best that any man could give. Wesley wrote to a friend
“Oh what it is to have a cure of souls. You and I are called to this to save souls from death and to watch over them, as work men that must give account to God for our work, If our work meant no more than preaching few times in a week, I could play with it and so could you”
Both are important-preaching and caring for people in need.
The words and ideas of leaders like Chrysostom, Augustine, Baxter and Wesley have value long after they were written