A quick overview of these ministries in 20 congregations

Teleios asked 20 pastors to share information about their personal role in pastoral care for the sick and about their congregations’ health and wellness ministries. Here’s a quick overview of what they said.

Pastoral care for people who are sick

Type of response

• 18 - Care for people with visits and prayers in public worship services
• 10 - Offer anointing services in the congregation
• 9 - Send flowers or gifts to those who are ill

Type of assistance

• 9 - Medical cost assistance funds
• 2 - Regularly provide meals
• 1 - Small groups provide pastoral care to people within their groups
• 1 - Parish nurse ministry

Pastors’ expertise

• 16 - On-the-job training was their primary teacher
• 10 - Received training from workshops or had formal training
• 2 - Participated in Clinical Pastoral Education accreditation

Pastors’ assessment of whether this role was their gift

• 7 - Found this pastoral role was something they had “taken to”
• 6 - Struggle with the role or didn’t feel they were a good match for this ministry
• 7 - No answer

Pastors’ time spent

• 12 - Spend the equivalent of one-half day or less weekly
• 8 - Spend the equivalent of one full day weekly

Assistance for pastor

• 14 - Have assistance in their congregations in helping with pastoral care of sick
• 12 - Work closely with lay ministers or were training lay members to help
• 2 - Deacons have this ministry in their job descriptions
• 1 - Lay members helped with pastoral care of shut-ins, but the pastor is the designated visitor at the hospital
• 6 - Have no assistance

Pastors on the receiving end

• 11 - Received pastoral care as a patient, sometime during their lifetime
• 9 - Never receive this kind of pastoral care

Health and wellness ministries

Churches’ health and wellness ministries

• 10 - Church has some type of health and wellness ministry (including a wellness accountability group or preventive services that include blood pressure checks)
• - Offered these services to the wider community outside of the church
• 1 - Informal “question and answer” time with nurses in the congregation was encouraged

What’s ahead?

• 10 - Churches plan to “do something new” in health ministry in the coming year. Their
  planned activities include:
  • A wellness program
  • Distributing living wills
  • Studying theology of death and dying
  • Including health topics in Christian formation classes
  • Forming a small group around health issues
  • Starting a parish nurse program
• 10 – No changes in 2008

Note: Some pastors said they were using material from Mennonite Church USA and MMA to discuss health issues or to prepare sermons.

In addition, most of the pastors wished for a stronger wellness ministry. Lack of time and resources was cited most often as the reason the church didn’t offer health and wellness programming. Several pastors noted areas they observed as deficient in congregational health ministry including:

The need to encourage check-ups;
Inviting members to ask for pastoral care; and
Providing advocates for patients who regularly need or are in health care facilities.

Profile of interviewed pastors

Years in church ministry

• 8 - More than 20 years
• 6 -10 to 20 years
• 3 - Five to 10 years
• 3 - Under five years

Denominational affiliation

15 - Mennonite Church USA
• 2 - Mennonite Brethren
• 1 - Brethren in Christ
• 1 - Evangelical Friends
• 1 - Mennonite-Presbyterian yoked fellowship