Pastoral Theology for the Pandemic

I’ve talked with a few pastors about how they’re coping with the lockdown. For some they’ve had a crisis of faith, finding it hard to even believe in Christ, because of the pressure. Others experience the pain of physical separation from their members, and wonder how to do evangelism when you can’t talk to people. 

Some found it difficult to adapt to the new technology we are now using in ministry – but a friend in Peru reports that some pastors in the Amazon jungle don’t possess any means of maintaining contact with their people, and have responded by retreating, overwhelmed, into their own homes. Some pastors feel guilty they’re not doing more, perhaps not doing what they see other leaders doing on the internet. There is the fear that their sheep will scatter, if the shepherd isn’t on hand (Mt. 26.31).

Ed Stetzer has written a blog about how to be a shepherd when you can’t see the sheep. I learned a long time ago, how to do pastoral care by text. I was so busy then that I wasn’t getting round to actually seeing people. But I realised many of them actually feel pastored when they get a (meaningful) text. I had thought this was an inferior form of care; but for many it was a significant contact, because that was how they were living their lives anyway. It’s the same now.

Stetzer challenges those who try to do it all themselves, and advocates this as a chance to "decentralise" ministry. This situation forces us to do something we should be doing anyway, releasing people's gifts. My own approach is an example of Pastoral Theology. When I taught at Spurgeon’s College, I always felt that I wasn’t teaching ‘real theology’ (Biblical Studies, Doctrine). But Pastoral Theology is not a ‘pure’ discipline. It is a blend, the meeting point, of theory and practice; a vocational approach, like an NVQ in plumbing: enabling you to apply the theory, reflect on the practice, do the job.

So, here’s how we do it at KCBC, not that we’re perfect. It involves different levels of activation, mobilising the people of God to do the work of God.

1.       Small groups – taking risks even with new untried leaders.

2.       Pastoral care teams – not everyone will go to a group, so the church is divided into six teams, with a leader making phone calls and sending texts to check on people. I don’t want anyone complaining at the end of all this, that no one from KCBC ever contacted them!

3.       Myself going through our names list systematically, calling and texting people.

4.       Spontaneous people arise, and do the work of caring (calling, cooking, visiting – while maintaining social distance!); the Spirit at work.

5.       Maintaining local connections, offering support to community leaders, and calling individuals from the local old people’s centre.

Still, I worry. Could individuals fall through the cracks, get lost or depressed? And might the church lose its group-identity, its sense of belonging, its ‘bodiness’?