LEONARD THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE

Subject : Principles and Practices of Pastoral Care and Counseling

Topic : Resources and Practices of Pastoral Care and Counseling
1. Scripture
2. Prayer, Worship Services, Community Activities
3. Rituals and Sacraments
4. Socio-Cultural and Traditional resources
Assignment
Submitted by : Vipin Masih
Submitted to : Ms. Judy Joute Submitted on: 23/04/2021
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction:
Care is a universal human practice. It involves “attending to” or being “present with” persons who are in need
of care. Such care is part and parcel of our day to day life. Care and counseling are the inevitable part of a
Christian minister. Today pastors are entrusted not only with the duty to administer a church spiritually with
its liturgy and sacraments but also to take it to the people where they find the meaning of living. Life is a gift
and that’s the reason why pastors are charged to be counselors to help their congregation live to their best.
The paper is to help understand the resources and the principles and resources of pastoral care and
counseling, and the practices of Pastoral care and counseling through rituals and sacraments and the socio-
cultural and traditions resources.

Resources and Practices of Pastoral Care and Counseling

Scripture in Pastoral Care and Counseling:

1. Counseling is truly motivated by Scriptures

2. It founded presupposition ally upon the Scriptures
3. Structured by the goals and objectives of the Scriptures
4. Developed systematically in terms of the practices and principles modeled and enjoined in the
scriptures 1

The Christian counselor uses the Scriptures as the goal guide for both counselor and counselee. The Scriptures
are the counselor’s text book for counseling. Jesus Christ needed no other text to become the world’s only
perfect counselor. He used the Scriptures more fully than anyone else either before or since. His counsel was
perfect because it was wholly scriptural in the absolute sense of those words. 2

Scriptural Roots of pastoral care and Counselling

The root of modern Pastoral Care is often traced back to the ancient tradition of “curaanimarum”. The Latin
term cura denotes “to care” or “to heal”. The word anima is the Latin translation of the Hebrew wordnephesh
(breath). Its Greek equivalent is “ psyche” (soul). In the Old Testament, the word nephesh is used to depict

1
Jay E. Adams, The use of Scriptures in Counseling, (Michigan: ISBN), 1978, 4.
2
Ibid. 5
Adam as a living soul owing to God’s breathing into his nostrils (Genesis 2: 7). In the New Testament
understanding, soul represents the essential human being, with emphasis on its transcendent destiny. At the
root of the traditional Pastoral Care lies this biblical understanding of human person. David Lyall, Pastoral
Care is the care for the soul of the man, but man’s soul is not simply his psyche element: rather, it is the totality
of his existence under God. This implies that in the Judeo- Christian faith tradition, the word soul is used to
place person in a context of ultimate meanings. However, in this tradition care was never limited to spiritual
concerns or to problems explicitly defined as religious and moral only. Rather, while addressing the problems
of life persons and community, its main emphasis was the transcendent destiny of human. 3
God of the Bible is a God who creates and compassionately cares for the creation. Biblical theology assumes
a creator God who is always active in His caring for His creation. In the Old Testament, God’s care for the
creation is explained by the Hebrew termHESED meaning loving kindness. Pastoral care, in turn, is the
church’s attempt to make manifest God’s compassionate and loving care for creation. 4

Scripture in Counseling:
The Bible is an important tool in Counseling. It is not only provides a true understanding of people’s basic
needs, but also gives the answer to these needs. So the Bible become a living word, reaching out to people in
their present problem situations- living through the presence and activity of the Holy spirit who brings
illumination and meaning to the written page. As we read, meditate upon, and apply this written word to our
lives today, so God’s presence and activity become real to us. The scripture themselves provide the evidence
of their importance in counseling.

a) They bring light to our human situation (Ps.119.105 )

b) They show us the mind of God, and encourage us to bring our own thoughts into line with His ( Isa.
55. 6-9 ).
c) They show as the way to believe in Jesus Christ, and find new life in Him (John 20: 30-31 )
5
d) They offer us encouragement, comfort, and hope in times of distress and difficulty ( Rom. 15: 4).

Besides the Pastors knowledge, effective use of the Bible depends upon two other factors.

1. The counselors own attitude to the Bible.

a) He/ she must firmly believe that the teachings of the Bible are true and relevant for people’s lives
today.
b) He/ she should be building his/ her own life on these teachings.
c) He/ she should be continually ‘practicing’ – i.e. learning from the Scriptures himself, as well as
using them to help others.

3
George Varghese, A study book on Counselling, ( Thiruvalla: CSS), 2014, 58-59.
4
Ibid. 59.
5
H. Taylor, Tend my Sheep (Delhi: ISPCK, 1989), 146.
 d) He/ she should be memorizing suitable passages of Scripture, so as to know exactly what he is
offering to others.

2. The way the counselor uses the bible.

Scriptures must be used in a loving way to help the client to think about his problem in relationship to
God. It must bring light in to the situation, not make it darker or more difficult. 6

Each counselor must decide when the best time to introduce Scripture is. Some pastors like to begin
the counseling with a short general Bible reading (and usually with a prayer). They feel this helps the
client to recognize the presence of God in the situation. Others prefer to wait until they have some
understanding of the client's need, and in some situations may decide not use Scripture at all. But as
we have own understanding of the situation. It can then bring light or hope or encouragement, or
challenge that is directly relevant to the person involved. 7

Prayer, Worship services, community activities

1. Prayer

Prayer is especially important in the ministry of counselling because it is man’s chief way to closing to God.

We do not pray In order to attract God’s Attention, nor to persuade Him/ her to change His/ her mind about
our problems. God is already interested in us, and we cannot force His attention just by saying extra prayers.
But there are many ways in which prayer can help both counselor and client.

• Prayer opens up our living situation and enables us to draw on the deep resources of God’s strength
and wisdom.
• Prayer brings us into touch with the mind of God, so that we begin to see the problem in a new clearer
way. It also enables us to draw upon more than our wisdom to meet the problem.
• Prayer helps us to find and experience God's forgiveness and His sustaining love in the midst of our
failures and problems.

How and When to use Prayer?

A Pastor’s use of prayer in counseling depends on his own understanding of the purposes of prayer, and of the
situation in which he is working. As with the Scriptures, some counselors prefer to use prayer at the start of
the counseling. Others prefer to wait until they understand the situation, and then use prayer to bring clarity
and strength into the problem area. Others rarely use prayer during the actual counseling situation: they pray

6
Ibid. 148- 149.
7
Ibid. 149.
alone beforehand, and continue to pray for themselves and for those involved in the situation after the
counseling help has been given. 8

2. Worship service
Worship service is man's response to an awareness of the presence of God. The response may be in praise and
thanksgiving, in utter contrition, or in selfless commitment to the cause of the one worshipped. Worship
always has this two-fold action: an awareness or consciousness of a revelation of God and of God’s presence
and a corresponding response or reaction of the worshipper to such an awareness. Where one of these aspect
is absent, worship has not taken place. Worship service in pastoral care and counseling means more than just
telling people that others have troubles too. It means actually sharing the trouble: helping and supporting those
in need, not just with words of sympathy, but in a practical way. Paul told the Galatians: 'Bear one another's
burdens'- saying that in this way they would 'fulfil the law of Christ' (Gal.6.2). Worship service is not
something the pastor can provide by himself. Here most of all he/she needs to be able to call on a 'helping
team'. Christian fellowship as resource for helping those in need is the responsibility of the whole
congregation- the whole ‘household for the Faith’ as Paul called it (Gal.6.10). This worship is part of the
ministry of every Christian, a ministry of love and active concern in which every member of the Church has
a contribution to make.9

3. Community Activities

Community activities are Christian Education, Sunday school, Confirmation, Doctrines, Music.

a. Christian Education

Christian Education is an integral part of Christian ministry, which is grounded in the divine involvement in
the world primarily it takes place in Christian communities. Christian education is communicating the gospel
especially in the pastoral care and counseling to meet and encourage them in such a way that all of life is
surrender to the lordship of Christ. Christian education is the ministry of instruction carried on by the language
of words and the language of relationship, must be personal, divine human encounter, and is responsible for
the, transmission of the subject manner. 10

b. Sunday School

After the home, another important agency where Christian Education is imparted, and perhaps the one of
which the most has been expected, is the Sunday school. Most churches have a Sunday school for their parish
to impart Christian education to the children. While it is laudable that parents consider the Sunday school or
the Church School as important for providing Christian Education, to consider their responsibility absolved
once the Children are sent to Sunday school is certainly not commendable. The Sunday school can never take
the place of home in its educating function. But, this is an activity provided by nearly every parish for

8Ibid.
151- 152.
9Ibid.154.
10 Samson Prabhakar, Essays on Christian Education and Liturgy (Bangalore: SATHRI, 2003), 3.
educating its children and youth. It often provides more of Christian instruction that education for children
between the ages of Sand 15. Recognizing the wide age-range of the children, the Sunday school is divided
into smaller groups on the basis of age, and tries to meet their varying spiritual needs. 11
c. Confirmation
Most of the mainline churches have the practice of infant baptism during which rite, god-parents make the
vows of commitment on behalf of the child and the parents promise to bring up the child in the Christian way
of life. In these churches it is customary for the children, when they are about 13 years old, after a period of
instruction, to be taken into full membership of the Church. At the time, the teenager has come to an
understanding of the faith and is prepared to make a personal commitment to Jesus Christ in the presence of
the entire church and be accepted as a full member. After this usually, the candidate participates in the
Eucharist. Among Baptism, the rite of infant baptism is replaced by a naming ceremony when more
importance is attached to the Service of Dedication. An individual makes a public commitment and openly
declares his allegiance to Jesus Christ in the rite of Baptism later. 12

d. Doctrines

Our discussion of the use of the Bible in Counseling has of courser also been a discussion of Christian doctrine
in counseling. The story of Bill and the theological student and several other reports have also dealt with
doctrine. Especially did the interview dealt with at some length in the chapter on dynamic psychological
understanding deal with theological doctrine-at crucial point of understanding the Christian meaning of
suffering.10 The Christian understanding of God, sin, and salvation would be both irrelevant and untrue. On
the other hand, if Christianity is right, then this man's beatitude depends upon a surrender of himself to God
as revealed in Jesus Christ. The main issue at stake in relating pastoral counseling to Christian doctrine is how
to present forthrightly the claims of the gospel and yet be sensitive to individual attitudes and personal needs.
Sometimes it is the pastor who relates human need to God's answer in Christ. At other times, as in the following
example, the counselee brings up the question of his faith. Pastoral counseling includes theological
convictions. These convictions may result in both positive and negative judgments. Superficially, a novice in
counseling may think that he is being client-centered when he expresses no judgment and is consciously aware
of none. But a deeper understanding of himself and reflection on the basis of mature experience will bring his
own judgments to light.13

e. Music

In pastoral care and counseling the music and hymns will play one of the special roles, "the hymn and music
is a rhythmic emotional outburst to express praise, rejoicing in gratitude, faith, and consecration. All worship
services include singing, for, hymns, have emotional appeal and have the power to uplift the spirit. Music

11Vimala Paulus, Introducing Christian Education (Bangalore: The Church of South India Council For Child Care, 1993), 34.

12Ibid. 40.
13Wayne E Oates, An Introduction to pastoral Care and Counselling (USA: Broadman Press, 1959), 236.
gives wings to pastoral care and counseling creates a sense of nearness to invisible splendor. The music &
hymns used in a pastoral care and counseling, provides for the participation for the counselee, and also serve
as ways of experiencing the feelings and emotions of the composer. These being the product of deep religious
experience, help in enhancing a sense of elation and upliftment. 14

Rituals and Sacraments

Christian worship always begins with God. It is a creature-Creator encounter. God is the object of worship
and the worshippers are the subjects. Worship takes place where there is a divine revelation and a human
response to that disclosure of God. 15

Rituals are an indispensable pastoral procedure which renews pastoral authority. Healing, sustaining, guiding,
and reconciling are the four distinct pastoral functions. Throughout the Christian pastoral experience, rituals
have played a substantially important role in the performance of the four major pastoral functions.16

Christian person repeatedly renews and sustains his pastoral authority through his involvement in numerous
ritualistic acts that publicize him as a ceremonial person. The ritually established authority of the pastor’s
public ministries carried over to his private ministry throughout the great tradition. Probably more than
anything else, this ritual establishment, renewal, and exercise of the pastor’s role as a representative Christian
person, bearing the resources, wisdom, and authority of the Christian faith, have set pastoral care apart from
the work of other helping persons.17

No human group, secular or religious, can function or endure without ritual, and the ceremonial feature of
pastoral care touches and evokes something both primitive and pervasive in human life. By ritual a group
becomes conscious of itself and of what it believes.The acts which may have a meaning deeper than words
not only because of their age but also because they symbolize the relation between fundamental religious truth
and the most common acts of life. The rituals of the Church have common significance not only to all
Christians or particular groups, they have particular significance also for individuals whether they know what
that is or not.18

The Sacraments of the Church are not intended to have anything inherent taken away from them by
considering the way in which the pastor may utilize them in connection which counseling. 19 The point is rather
that the acts may have a meaning deeper than words-not only because of their age but also because they
symbolize the relation between fundamental religious truth and the most common acts of life. 20Life in the

14VimalaPaulus Op. Cit.. 49.

15
EzamoMurry, An Introduction to Pastoral Care and Counseling (Delhi: ISPCK, 2013), 48.
16
William A. Clebsch and Charles R. Jaekle, op. cit., 68-69.
17
William A. Clebsch and Charles R. Jaekle, … 70.
18
Thomas K. Mathew, “Relgious Resources in Pastoral Care and Counseling”, in Pastoral Care and Counseling,
complied by Zubeno Kithan (Kolkata: SCEPTRE, 2013) 81.
19
Thomas K. Mathew, op. cit., 81.
20
Seward Hiltner, Pastoral Counseling (Nashville: Abingdon, 1981), 223.
Church means the sacramental life; the common and binding factor within all of our categories, classifications,
and divisions.21

Socio-Cultural and Traditional Resources

It is possible to identify two extreme theoretical on human development. From one point of view, human
development and the origin and perpetuation of psychological problems are seen as a function of the
interaction between individuals and their environment. The opposing theoretical position is that the origin
and/or resolution of psychological problems is located primarily within the individual. 22

Prayer: Pastoral counseling, when properly understood and practiced, is in and of itself a total experience of
prayer. Prayer is the native hue and resolution of the man of God who dedicated hours of time to one person,
who listens to that person with fullness of attention and abandon, and who searches with that person for an
over-all meaning and purpose for his (her) life under God. 23 The root issue must be resolved if a person is
going to find resolution and experience freedom in Christ. Counselees are usually aware of a root issue, but
they do not see its connection with what they are struggling with. Many are too embarrassed to share secret
sins. God certainly knows everything about us, and that is why we need Him to direct us to the source of the
problem. The counselee is often surprised that the symptoms disappear or start to dissipate when these root
issues are resolved with God. Although the road map is the same for every person, everyone will process them
differently as they pray and ask God to guide them. 24

Christian Doctrine: Psychological understanding deals with theological doctrine- at the crucial point of
understanding the Christian meaning of suffering. The main issue at stake in relating pastoral counseling to
Christian doctrine is how to present forthrightly the claims of the gospel and yet be sensitive to individual
attitudes and personal needs. Pastoral counseling includes theological convictions. These convictions may
result in both positive and negative judgments. Superficially, a novice in counseling may think that he (she)
is being client-centered when he expresses no judgment and is consciously aware of none. But a deeper
understanding of himself (herself) and reflection on the basis of mature experience will bring out his (her)
own judgments to light. 25 The relationship of counseling to theology may be described as a dialogue. The
pastor begins with theological presuppositions. He (she) then gathers the personal data of his (her) own
interviews with people and the clinical research of others. These supply him (her) with new material for
theological questions and answers. 26

Bible: The “Communication” of the “gospel”- both of these terms are in need of careful definition- includes
at least three things: the setting forth of Christian experience in comprehensible ways; the creating of a tension

21
Martin Thornton, Spiritual Direction: A Practical Introduction (London: SPCK, 1984), 77.
22
Colin Feltham and Ian Horton, “Socio-cultural Perspective”, in Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy, edited by
Colin Feltham and Ian Horton (London: Safe Publications, 2000), 24.
23
Wayne E. Oates, “Pastoral Counseling and the Experience of Prayer”, in An Introduction to Pastoral Counseling,
edited by Wyane E. Oates (Nashville: Broadman Press,1959), 211.
24
Neil T. Anderson, Discipleship Counseling (California: Regal Books, 2003), 148.
25
Samuel Southard, “Pastoral Counseling and Christian Doctrine”, in An Introduction to Pastoral Counseling, edited by
Wyane E. Oates (Nashville: Broadman Press,1959), 236-237.
26
Ibid., 239.
between the hearer of the gospel and the ideal which it sets up; and the response of the hearer in terms of an
embracing movement toward the ideal, i.e., the initiation of a process in which the hearer translates the
Christian idea into his own personal idiom, giving it expression in terms of his own life situation. 27

Religious Literature: There are many types of religious literature: scholarly, popular, and in-between books;
journals of news, comment, special interest, scholarship, and devotion; pamphlets of all lengths on nearly all
subjects, addressed to many kinds of readers; folders for promotions or simplified education. There are
materials to be read for the impact on the reader; others to be studied and discussed in a group.28

Reflection and Conclusion:

Church is not a building but rather a meeting point of God and Human. Human mind has always been in search
of solution to every problem he/she is facing, and God has been providing the strength to them to find their
answers through Pastors. The paper helps to understand how the rituals and sacraments can pave way for a
troubled mind to find its way. The paper focuses on how the sacraments and various resources can help the
pastor in their pastoral ministry of caring and counseling to the members of the Church.

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27
James Lyn Elder, “Pastoral Counseling and the Communication of the Gospel,” in An Introduction to Pastoral
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28
Seward Hiltner, op. cit., 210.
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