Thomas Nelson - Nelsons Church Leaders Manual for Congregational Care

Nelsons
Church Leaders
Manual for
Congregational
Care

Kent Spann and David Wheeler,
General Editors

2010 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Scripture quotations noted KJV are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible.

Scripture quotations noted MSG are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

978-1-4185-4357-0 Hardcover

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 08 07 06 05

Contents

When people say, Im not a pastor! they usually mean that it is not their job, or they feel unqualified. Many of Gods people in the pew feel inadequate or ill equipped to care for others, so they leave it to the paid professionals. The result is the loss of a congregation of people God desires to use to touch others. Paid professionals did not care for the man lying on the road beaten and battered; it was a regular man (Luke 10:3037). Paid professionals did not minister to others in the early church; it was the ordinary member of the congregation (Acts 2:4247).

Thank you for picking up this book. You accept that God called every individual to care for others in the church and the community. You seek to better equip yourself to minister to others.

This book is not for the minister, although the minister can use and learn from it. There are many versions of ministers manuals on the market. This manual addresses the layperson. We provide resources for the person who works alongside the pastor to aid in the care of Gods people. We write for the person thrust into the role of caring for people because of a tragedy or a crisis.

Part 1, Caring Gods Way, lays the spiritual foundation for a ministry of the laity in a congregation. Spiritual leadership is a key component for offering care even though the person may not have an official position of leadership.

Part 2, Caring for Gods People, looks at some of the general skills necessary for caring for those in need. Prayer is the linchpin in caring for people. Mentoring touches lives, while raising up future leaders and helpers. You will also learn how to witness. True healing cannot take place until there is spiritual healing. Finally, we provide some basic counseling skills. Not everyone is a professional counselor, but everyone counsels.

Caring for Hurting People looks at issues you may encounter when ministering to Gods people. Basic tips for ministering to the person hurting follows a brief overview of each problem you may come across. At the end of most chapters is a list of Scriptures provided to help you minister to the hurting individual. The material provides you a beginning point.

The final part, Developing a Ministry of Congregational Care, guides you in how to set up a congregational care ministry in your church. What pastor or staff member would not welcome a host of men and women who come alongside him or her to care for the many and varied needs of a modern-day congregation.

Thanks is not a big enough word to all the people who contributed to this resource book. They have shared from the wealth of their experience and knowledge. May God enlarge their ministries.

So without further ado, lets minister.

Mark Becton
Senior pastor of Grove Avenue Baptist Church in Richmond, VA.

Theology of Congregational Care

Spiritual Leadership

Steve Cahill
Ordained minister for twenty-seven years who served as a prison chaplain for twenty years.

Prison Ministry

Beth Chilcoat
Editor of her husband, Davids, story of terminal illness titled Nobody Tells a Dying Guy to Shut Up: An Account of Gods Faithfulness. She and David were married for thirty-seven years before his passing.

Terminal Illness

Richard Halcombe
Director of missions for Southern Baptist churches in central Ohio.

Developing a Ministry of Congregational Care

Scott Hawkins
Associate dean for the Division of Behavioral Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA.

Counseling

Steve Hopkins
Leader of Bible teaching and leadership for the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio. He pastored for twenty-two years.

Investing for Impact

Mark R. Laaser
President of Faithful and True Ministries in Eden Prairie, MN.

Sexual Addiction

Fred Milacci
Dean of Academic Administration for the graduate school at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA.

Ministering to Your Minister

Suffering

Elton L. Moose
Professional counselor and pastor in Springfield and Dublin, OH, who specializes in helping those with gender identity issues.

Same-Sex Attraction

Sexual Violence

James L. Smith
Professor of substance abuse counseling at Ohio Christian University in Circleville, OH, where he teaches graduate courses and workshops in pastoral care and counseling.

Mental Disorders

Substance Abuse

Cindy Spann
A registered nurse, a pastors wife for twenty-six years, and a proud mother of three sons.

Eating Disorders

Kent Spann
Pastor of the Highland Baptist Church in Grove City, OH, and coeditor of Nelsons Church Leaders Manual for Congregational Care.

Conflict

Divorce

Grief

Hospital

Ministry

Suicide

Kip Wahlquist
Founder of the nonprofit Christian counseling and consulting ministry Transforming Resources in Bloomington, MN.

Prayer Care

David Wheeler
Associate professor of evangelism, Liberty University and Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, VA, and coeditor of Nelsons Church Leaders Manual for Congregational Care.

Becoming the Lay Minister God Wants You to Be

Gods Will

Special Needs

Part One
Caring Gods Way

Theology of
Congregational Care

Mark Becton

At many church conventions or conferences, you are likely to find pastors huddled in a hallway wheezing with laughter. Most of the time, it is because they are telling stories on themselves. I was in one of those huddles when a pastor told this story.

He was in his early twenties, and was proud to be pastor of his first full-time church. The church was close enough for him to commute to seminary, which meant whatever he learned in class that week, his church learned too.