Pastoral

The ethos of the congregation centres on a providing a very strong pastoral support for members and parishioners.  The building of relationships and the development of the Congregation as a listening congregation that offers safe, trustworthy and competent support, is the keystone of our pastoral work.

The pastoral care of the Congregation operates at a wide variety of levels.  This ranges from the inherent community good neighbourliness that is a hallmark of the Parish, through the care of the District Elders to our volunteer pastoral staff, our additional paid staff and the ministers.

The care provided by our District Elders is based upon the following expectation…

1.                  regular attendance at worship

2.                  regular attendance at Kirk Session [work pressure accommodated]

3.                  a willingness to attend at least one elders training session a year

4.                  one visit a year to all those in the District who would like a visit [possibly asking people to opt  in to having visits]

5.                  option re delivering newsletters, etc

6.                  a willingness to keep an eye out /  ear open in District

7.                  a willingness to make contact [visit / card / phone] at a time of a significant life event

We are currently asking all District Elders to recommit to the above set of expectations for the next 3 to 4 years.  We see this as a very important thing to do because, although we are ordained as Elders for life, health, employment and family circumstances do change and sometimes Eldership can be an additional pressure and chore rather than a privilege.  Also we like to promote the idea of people working to their talents and the traditional assumption that to be an Elder automatically meant that you had pastoral skills belongs in the past.  Today’s Church seeks to be a broad church and in that context requires Elders who have many different skills and interests

Our volunteer pastoral team is led by two of the Congregation who have committed to offering time for visiting on a weekly basis.  The main focus of these visits is outreach and support to our more elderly members.

The Kirk Session feels that the demands of a modern Church of Scotland ministry are such that it is impossible to expect one person to provide all the pastoral care needed by over 1000 members (plus parish) and they have provided additional resources for the employment of additional pastoral staff.  In recent years this was provided by Christine Rooney and Helen Scott who offered an additional 50 hours a week of care.  However Helen has had to give up her work on health grounds and her work load has been taken on by Linda Stevens

Linda has completed the Certificate in Counselling Skills and is currently studying for the Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling.  Christine has the certificate in Counselling Skills and she works 30 hours a week.

Pastoral Assistant Duties range from a routine visit to say hello to being with a member, who had no family, as they died.  Types of duties include …

1. Bereavement cards and letters and phone calls
2. Bereavement follow up visits
3. Hospital visiting
4. Relative support
5. Listening Visits
6. Routine Visits
7. Crisis related support
8. Roll keeper
9. Arranging theatre trips
10. Community involvement liaison with Webster’s High School

On a personal point Malcolm feels very strongly that Ministers of the Church of Scotland are made increasingly vulnerable by the fact that they do not have any form of systematic training in the area of pastoral care.  He is adamant that Ordination does not magically bestow pastoral skills and for this reason has guided the Congregation along the road of professionally trained and paid pastoral staff.

Linda and Malcolm carry out pastoral duties, with Linda seeing this form of Ministry as a major component of her calling.  Malcolm’s pastoral work tends to be a combination of crisis triggered visits and routine visits to fly the flag.  He is deeply appreciative of the work of the pastoral team and the Congregation’s willingness to accept that a “visit from the Church” does not have to be a visit from the Minister.

The pastoral team [Volunteer Team, Paid Team, Administrator and Ministers] meet weekly to review work in hand and they also communicate frequently by e mail.

It is important to highlight the implicit ethos of care within the Congregation which encourages the building of relationships and this underpins the care of the ministers and their families.  We also provide supervision for our paid staff

The Congregation is aware that both Linda and Malcolm work long hours but they recognise that they do so out of choice.  However they are concerned and are very willing to help and support as the need arises.

The freedom to work as motivated, coupled to the implicit caring that is the hallmark of the Congregation, is greatly appreciated by Malcolm and Linda, as is the regular pastoral supervision that is provided for Christine.

In terms of training we are aware that we need to run pastoral training courses for our elders and, as noted earlier, are currently in discussion in the Session to investigate this.  We want to make training a requirement for District Elders.

Looking to the future the following areas are worthy of attention …