Pastoral Care

Our topic today is pastoral care. Most of us in our class have studied here in Theological School of Finland two courses on Christian counseling now. I don't want to repeat what Ilmo Mantere has taught us. Instead I want to share some of my own thoughts which I hope will add some insight to Ilmo's teaching about the topic.

Firstly what is pastoral care? I would like to define the term very broadly. Pastoral care is not just talking with individuals and families. Pastoral care is present everywhere in the Christian church. Our sermons, our public and private prayers and our communities' activities should all be pastoral. Pastoral care is not some isolated and professional realm. I believe it is Christianity applied, Christianity in practice. Our whole mission is to bring Christ's gospel and Holy Spirit's healing presence to the lives of our people.

Secondly I would like to say something about the relationship between psychology and Christian faith. I think there are two ways to misunderstand the issue. The first is that we underestimate psychology. Psychology can be a very good ally to a Christian counselor. We Christians are first and foremost humans. Psychology is about understanding individuals. We can surely benefit from it. The second mistake is that we overestimate psychology. What do I mean by that? Well, I think that psychology is not enough. There are lots of psychological theories that are used uncritically by Christian counselors. Is it crucial that we take our Bible and our Christian tradition seriously. Pastoral care must be connected deeply to Christian faith. Psychology must be integrated to theology.

The third point that I want to make is that we should know something about mental problems. All of us won't be professionals in this field all though God may have called some of us to be therapists. But we all should have some basic knowledge about mental deceases. When we face people with mental problems, we should not try to heal them only through prayer and confession of sins. They may need professional therapy and medicines. There is way too much tinkering in our churches. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't be part of the lives of those who are mentally sick. We just have to know our limits. We can pray with and pray for those neighbors. We can declare Christ's gospel and God's grace to them. We can listen their sorrows and comfort them.

Lastly we humans are holistic. Professional therapy and medicines can give us help, but we need also fellowship of the saints and God's word. I believe that we can work together with Finnish health care for the best of our people. Some health care professionals may not understand religious questions very well, some of them may even be at least a bit suspicious. But luckily there are many psychiatrists, therapists and other health care professionals, who understand that religion plays an important role in the lives of their patients and that religion can even help people in their troubles.

Thank you for listening this small presentation. Now it's time to discuss together about the topic.