Elders’ Pastoral Care Groups: A System for Pastoral Oversight

A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original article appears below. James Statham is Pastor of St Andrew’s Church, Duncan, B.C. Rev. Statham welcomes correspondence or phone calls on this concept and is willing to travel to explain things further to a particular Session. St Andrew’s Church is at 531 Herbert Street, Duncan, B.C. V9L 1T2, and the telephone number is (604) 746-7413.

“Equal Rights” is one of the catch phrases of the 1980’s. The elders of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Duncan, B.C. aren’t going to go along with that, however. They have been concerned for some time with trying to make their elders’ districts work, but it hasn’t been a particularly fruitful experience. They began to discover that God doesn’t treat everybody equally in this life, nor did Jesus Christ in his ministry. Jesus, though he came for the whole world, in fact spent all his time in Israel and focused much of his ministry on twelve men, and, amongst those twelve, three of the disciples. As we read the Gospels we discover that Jesus spent most of his time with those who were following him, seeking him, and with those who were obedient to him. The elders of St. Andrew’s, in an attempt to be more faithful to the biblical witness and to encourage more of the fruit of the gospel, have decided to essentially scrap their traditional elders’ districts and embark on an experiment!

THE CONCEPT

The Book of Forms rightly outlines in Sections 109, 109.4, and 110, some of the pastoral oversight responsibilities of the elder. For example:

“The Session shall assign the names of all members and adherents to the Elders, who shall keep a list of the names and addresses of those assigned to them, and shall cultivate a personal relationship with those persons through visiting, counselling, and encouraging them in the Christian life.” (109.4)

Most congregations within the Presbyterian Church in Canada have probably acted upon this directive through a system of elders’ districts, whereby an elder visits in a geographical area, probably quarterly. However, the only common denominator in an elder’s district is geography, and that’s not a particularly spiritual quality. How much better, however, if elders’ pastoral care could be organized along natural relationships and make use of the variety of gifts elders exhibit. Within this system the elder becomes a key facilitator, encouraging the assimilation of members and adherents into the life of the congregation “in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature individual in union with Christ” (Col. 1:28). When St. Andrew’s Session re-organized, wherever an elder was involved in a face-to-face situation, those people became his or her pastoral responsibility. The existing relationships were simply “sanctified”. New pastoral care groups were organized along elder’s gifts and interests, and the elder’s role became one of pastoral oversight, assimilation and personal encouragement into a deeper walk with Christ. Specialized pastoral care groups or responsibilities were organized to meet specialized needs, i.e. “fringe” or hospital visitation. The following chart outlines the eight different pastoral care groups that were organized to try to match the needs of the people, ministries of St. Andrew’s, and the gifts and abilities of the fourteen elders. (These may vary from church to church.)

 
COMMENTS

1. – There are four elders involved in a house church ministry. It is a step beyond a Bible study and is organized specifically around the leadership of an elder. The focus of the group is worship, prayer, and close fellowship. These four groups have an integrated Bible study program and the elders meet regularly with the minister to coordinate the groups, and to train new house church elders, and for prayer.
2. – The Bible study groups are not necessarily led by an elder, but the elder in that group becomes responsible for the pastoral oversight of the families participating.
3. – Two elders are responsible for regular hospital visitation and visitation to shut-ins. The shut-ins list is a short list, but it involves a high level of contact.
4. – Interest Groups are such activities as a Ladies’ Auxiliary, Mission Education Group, sports team, etc.
5. – One elder makes monthly visitations from a list of elderly people.
6. – A Fellowship Group is a quarterly meeting in the elder’s home for fellowship and conversation. It likely will involve a dinner.
7. – There are five elders who feel most comfortable working in the traditional district. They have large districts, and try to establish some contact, particularly with the newer people.
8. – One elder volunteered to work with the fringe and church drop-outs. His visits are as needed.
9. – Two elders have, by choice, dual responsibilities.

The goal of the system is that people move from a low level of involvement in the life of the congregation (district) to, hopefully, a weekly face-to-face encounter for Bible study, prayer, fellowship, etc. The system has a fluidity in it in that people will move from the pastoral care of one elder to another. New people are integrated into the church at their point of contact (Bible Study Group, Interest Group, etc.) or simply put in the pipeline by being placed in a district, hoping that, through the encouragement of an elder and others in the church, they will become more involved, and come to know Christ more personally. The District Elders are bridge-builders and encouragers in the hope that their people will move into a closer nurturing context. Elders who have house churches and Bible study groups are encouraged to “raid” the fellowship groups, districts and fringe people for recruits. The elders’ pastoral care groups are updated yearly, while transitions are reported monthly. A person may move from one elder’s Oversight to another as he or she becomes more involved. The elder functions along natural and existing relationships, takes initiatives to encourage a person to develop new and deeper relationships to Christ and to the congregation. The integration of a person into the Christ-centered body life of the congregation from a low level, initially, to a higher level is the goal of this system of pastoral oversight.

ASSUMPTIONS

1. That the Session believes Sunday worship is not sufficient, alone, for Christian growth; that a face-to-face spiritually focused group is vital for Christian growth to maturity.
2. That the main purpose of the elder is to be a pastor and a shepherd to God’s people, not an executive in a monthly meeting.
3. That the elders understand their role is not to be “someone’s elder” but to be an elder in the church. This system is more of a team approach to the eldership.
4. That the Session is prepared to turn over an increasing amount of Session meetings away from church business to pastoral concerns. A significant amount of the Session meeting will be taken up in discussing each Pastoral Care Group, talking about people and their spiritual needs, and praying for them. It means that much of the running and programs of the church must be turned over to Session Committees or to a Church Growth Committee. This involves trust. The elders are then freed to be undershepherds. They are freed to talk, to pray about relationships, spiritual maturity needs of the people, and to seek the fruit of the Gospel in the lives of the congregation.
5. That the present elders are not a “Senate”, but are already involved in the life and leadership of the congregation. As new elders are elected, they are elected largely on the basis of the pastoral gifts they bring. Any Session can begin to be refocussed with the addition of specifically gifted new elders. Present elders can remain, if they so wish, with their current districts.
6. That as elders bring differing gifts to Session, an elder should be free to develop a form of pastoral oversight according to his or her ability. It may be one of direct leadership or quiet pastoral oversight from the “back row” of a group meeting.

STRENGTHS OF THIS APPROACH

1. It is adaptable to the organizational structure and existing programs of each church and to the gifts of present elders. Once the categories of Pastoral Care Groups are defined in the congregation, the elders have opportunity to volunteer for the form they wish their pastoral oversight to take. As elders are not equal in their ability to perform pastoral functions and give leadership to the church, this system recognizes their diversity and makes it a strength instead of a weakness. Also, because the elders had a choice in deciding their form of pastoral oversight, they will likely have a greater diligence in it. They will be doing what they enjoy, rather than being asked to conform to a system of geographical districts.
2. It allows the elders to receive specialized training from the teaching elder, so that they can be good in their chosen area of pastoral oversight. Training might take the form of working with church drop-outs, visitation in hospitals, and Bible study leadership, for example. This system recognizes the diversity of ways that people are assimilated into a church and into faith in Christ, and the diversity of trained pastoral care that is needed. People are helped towards the Lord in different ways by a trained eldership.
3. This system recognizes that natural relationships among the congregation are the best avenues to further maturity in Christ. The elder becomes one who seeks to strengthen these relationships and, in district oversight, to develop new relationships. The common denominator in a traditional district is unnatural. It is only geographical – more suited to a postman than to the pastoral oversight of an elder.
4. In most cases it will not place an additional time burden on an elder as he or she may already be involved in that face-to-face group. A traditional district is always an addition to elder’s present involvement in the congregation.
5. It may no longer be necessary to educate and re-educate the congregation as to the role of the elder. Except for any district elders, the elder’s role is a natural one. Many of the congregation will be in a very natural relationship to an elder as a person.
6. It is illustrative of the biblical example that Jesus did not attempt to treat everyone equally. All had equal opportunity to come to him and to hear the Word and to grow in him, saint and sinner alike, but Jesus spent most of his time with those who got involved with him personally, who followed him. Even among the disciples he did not treat them equally as he had three he spent more time with than the others. When the Session sets aside the goal of trying to minister equally to all the parishioners, they are freed to develop vital faith-building relationships with those whom the Holy Spirit is working and sending. The whole congregation is invited, in other words, to come to Christ, but the Session focuses on those who actually come and get involved in faith-building relationships within the body. This system  is designed to encourage people out of shallow relationships with Christ and his church to a deeper involvement. Elders’ Pastoral Care Groups facilitate this.

Question: “Can a family have two elders?”
Answer: Yes, there will be overlapping roles of Elders, though only one would be “official”. As an individual or family becomes more integrated into the life of the congregation, there will be a widening circle of relationships for that family. An active family could probably count, thankfully, several elders as close friends!

Question: “Is there a permanent relationship between the elder and the member or adherent?”
Answer: It is hoped that the initial friendships will continue, even though a person may officially move to the pastoral oversight of another elder.

Question: “Has this been tried before?”
Answer: That’s not a good question to ask! If this system seems helpful, pray about it, discuss it in Session, adapt it, and make it work.