Pastoral Care

I can remember the day that Pastor Bishop came to visit me at my apartment in 2013. It was right after a huge snowstorm that turned into the coldest week we had ever had in my small town in Indiana. I was sitting in my apartment with my friends, and we were doing what we did best...nothing. I had not been in church for a whole year and was living in complete darkness and depravity. Out of nowhere, there came a knock; all of us looked at one another, knowing that everything in town was closed, including the bar we worked in below our apartment. I went to answer the door, and there stood a slight man bundled up in a giant coat, scarf, and hat. Cheerfully he said hello and walked right in.

Here stood a pastor who really didn't know me that well at the time and that I had really only met on special occasions or the odd Sunday my mother would offer to buy me coffee and breakfast if I went to church with her. I was literally blown away. He sat down at our kitchen table covered in last night's pizza and this morning's beer cans, more about my story in a later post, I think, and acted like he was sitting in a normal home with normal people. He began to help me put away dishes and throw away the trash, all the while joking around and laughing. Not once did he ask questions, never did he sound like he was judging my friends or me, and the whole time the grace of Jesus shone into the lives of four desperate sinners. About three hours later, he started to put his winter garments back on and mentioned that since he was in the area, he was going to go and talk with my father about something and asked if I had any messages he could pass on. All I said was thanks for coming and closed the door.

Later that evening, I called my mother and was angry that she had the pastor come to my apartment. She was silent on the other end of the line and said that it couldn't have been her as she didn't know where my apartment was. She didn't even know Pastor had come over that day as he never mentioned it. It was at that moment that two profound thoughts hit home for me. A pastor's heart is deep, loving, and full of grace, and that there was a glaring lack of care for the man who must have spent hours finding out where I lived, spent that time helping me clean, and then never pressured me to come to church that Sunday.

You see, at times when we speak about Pastoral Care, we think of the ministry that the pastor does to feed into us when we can't come to church when we are sick, when a loved one dies, or when we are experiencing a new chapter in our life. However, we must shift our thinking also to include the ministry of the church to the pastor. What happens when the pastor is sick, broken, or tired? Are we lending the same care to the pastor as we are expecting from the pastor? We must pour into our pastors just as much as they pour out. As churches and church members, we must actively look at how we can allow time, space, and openness for our pastors to express and decompress. Especially now, after pastors have also gone through the same pandemic, we did but with added stress and pressures of supporting the whole church and their families.

As a church member or pastor, we want to create a space to express concern or a need for care. Please reach out to us, and we will work with you and your church to create a wonderful time for your pastor and his family to recharge and rest. We want to pour back into our pastors just as much as they have poured into us. We are working on many things that God has placed on our hearts and are excited to share them with you once we have the fullness of what God wants to do. If you are a church or church member wanting to bless your pastor with care and would like to talk about ways or need help with planning, please let us know, and we would be more than happy to come alongside you and your pastor.

Episode 1 of The Humbled Podcast is out NOW! Listen below!