How can one single pastor effectively pray and care for a whole church? Or, how can one ministry leader by himself or herself do the same for those in his or her ministry?
Pray Weekly, Touch Monthly
We elders put together a list of the families in our congregation and divided up that list among ourselves. A list of 10-20 families each would be manageable. An elder would easily be able to pray for each family weekly, and be able to have some level of personal “touch” or conversation monthly. Each one of us would stay connected with those on our list, pray for them and with them.
Assignments were based on our existing relationships, depending on which of us knew certain people well. If the family was not well known, we selected by stage of life or patterns of involvement at church, so that hopefully our paths would cross naturally. And we would keep the lists current.
We worked hard not to make this system burdensome on ourselves, nor seem intrusive to those we loved.
Taking a Team Approach
Shepherding as a team became enjoyable, and turned out to be much more effective than we even imagined. We would devote the beginning portion of our elders meetings for shepherding concerns and prayer. We could quickly go over our lists of family units and bring up items and pray without having to have lengthy discussions because we trusted one another to minister well and take care of matters.
As a pastor, I learned a lot by this team approach. Obviously, it was a great help in carrying the load, but more importantly I learned that others have even greater gifts of shepherding and that there are a variety of ways to serve the needs of a congregation. I gained new perspectives on people, problems, possible solutions and how best to pray for the church.
Together we did a much better job of staying in touch and fulfilling our responsibility to “pay careful attention . . . to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28 ESV)
Many people felt doubly cared for as a result of us taking this assertional informal approach. And as a church grows in size such a team approach can be implemented at each level of ministry with its leader and leadership team, so that everyone feels connected to and cared for by their spiritual leaders.
Pray Weekly, Touch Monthly
We elders put together a list of the families in our congregation and divided up that list among ourselves. A list of 10-20 families each would be manageable. An elder would easily be able to pray for each family weekly, and be able to have some level of personal “touch” or conversation monthly. Each one of us would stay connected with those on our list, pray for them and with them.
Assignments were based on our existing relationships, depending on which of us knew certain people well. If the family was not well known, we selected by stage of life or patterns of involvement at church, so that hopefully our paths would cross naturally. And we would keep the lists current.
We worked hard not to make this system burdensome on ourselves, nor seem intrusive to those we loved.
1 Peter 5:2a ESV “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you.”This was a more casual, even natural, approach to pastoral care. It was not our only system of pastoral care, but an added level that become meaningful to our church, and helped us to lead and care better.
Taking a Team Approach
Shepherding as a team became enjoyable, and turned out to be much more effective than we even imagined. We would devote the beginning portion of our elders meetings for shepherding concerns and prayer. We could quickly go over our lists of family units and bring up items and pray without having to have lengthy discussions because we trusted one another to minister well and take care of matters.
As a pastor, I learned a lot by this team approach. Obviously, it was a great help in carrying the load, but more importantly I learned that others have even greater gifts of shepherding and that there are a variety of ways to serve the needs of a congregation. I gained new perspectives on people, problems, possible solutions and how best to pray for the church.
Together we did a much better job of staying in touch and fulfilling our responsibility to “pay careful attention . . . to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28 ESV)
Many people felt doubly cared for as a result of us taking this assertional informal approach. And as a church grows in size such a team approach can be implemented at each level of ministry with its leader and leadership team, so that everyone feels connected to and cared for by their spiritual leaders.
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