Church Pastoral Ministry - Legal Discrimination Poses New Challenges - Essay Example

Church Pastoral Ministry: Legal Discrimination Poses New Challenges Historical Overview The pastoral ministry plays an important role in defining thehuman care goals of the Church and is a compulsory aspect of every Christian community. Pastoral care derives its name from the biblical image of shepherds taking good and complete care of their flocks of sheep. The entire concept of pastoral care is directed towards two goals viz, helping the helpless and bewildered men find the right way in the world and spreading God’s loving care on the lost sheep and bring them to his pastors to experience care and affection. According to John 10:11, the Church represents God’s cared flock of sheep and Jesus is the leading shepherd, but Pastoral ministers are leaders chosen to act like under-shepherds to Jesus to help spread the love (Stitzinger, 1995, 150). The Protocol Declared Universal The Church mainly follows a combination of pastoral epistles found in both the Old and the New testament, and has developed a steady set of practices to define the role and functions of the pastoral ministry in every Church (Murray & Lloyd-Jones, 1990, 34). However, contradictions and concerns have always existed in the mode in which the Pastoral Ministry is able to discharge its duties. Not to forget, the legislations and Church laws which govern, restrict, or direct the actions and stance of the ministry. It is well agreed that the Pastoral ministry is a concept that originated in the eighteenth century, and has successfully come down in time, although its role has been changing over the years. It has five major designations namely, elder, bishop, shepherd, preacher and teacher. Each of these designations define a dutiful role to the person that it is entrusted upon (Stitzinger, 1995, 141). We try to analyze the recent developments, legislations and Church activities with their impact on growth or restriction of pastoral activities in this article. The Concerns of the Common Thinker In the bible, a quick look at pastoral epistles shared by Paul shows that today’s model of laying emphasis on the importance and greatness of the Church from the pastoral services point of view is against the chronological definition provided by him which lays more emphasis on the doctrine that every special task entrusted by God must be carried out in an orderly manner, by following Bible based teaching and care and concern towards the overall well-being of the people receiving the care. (Whittington et al, 2005, 750). The recent Legislation on Sex Discrimination therefore, turns into an obstacle to the pastoral ministry today. It tries to defy the flow of God’s divine love and care onto His lost sheep, those being represented by members of Gay and LGBT communities here, and those who have defied to stay as a perfect Christian by losing their celibacy before marriage. The pastoral ministry is today, deviating away from the primary biblical doctrine of giving care without discrimination and falling under the guidelines of lawmakers of today, who although comprise of the highest Church authorities, still are not to be considered equal to the builders of biblical doctrines. The Religion As We Love It We say this because Christianity would not have grown with such selfless fervor and devotion unless the old leaders were heeded, and trying to modulate their precepts to bring more adaptability to the present world conditions is only going to take away the strength and morale of the Church in the long run. The ethical assumptions that drive such changes may sound justified to the modern day Church authorities, but it still takes a big chunk of mercy , grace and care away from the chapters on pastoral ministry’s role as found in the Old and the New Testaments. Therefore, there is a serious need to revisit and analyze the biblical parameters of effective spiritual leadership to be able to understand how strong the pastoral ministry’s stand can be for or against the new legislation. Let us start with the roles of the individuals present in the pastoral ministry (Murray & Lloyd-Jones, 1990, 450). The Old Testament defines the concept of elders as usually the older men in the Church who are safely entrusted with governmental duties and often take decisions important for the well being of the society in which the Church is placed (Stitzinger, 1995, 142). The New Testament however, equals Elders with bishops and shepherds who were given separate under-elder designations by the Old Testament. This erasing of demarcation blurs the lines of authority, wisdom and understanding within the pastoral ministry. There is no doubt that after the minister is promoted from the level of a preacher, he is considered suitably equivalent to the Elders in the ministry which is why the level of experience and wisdom is being compromised. The structure further suffers from disbalance, since in order to ensure that shepherds and bishops are equivalent to elders in wisdom, age, and experience, the promotion from the level of preacher comes slowly, thereby leaving familiar term contenders to decide things on the top which becomes stereotypical after a certain period of time. Challenges Pertaining to Legal Moves The present legislation on sex discrimination can have a few positive effects in the role of the pastoral ministry. We know that LGBT individuals who are celibates are allowed to adorn priesthood. However, Churches are not clear if such ministers can be allowed to go up the ladder since they have chosen a path of life that is not according to God’s rule for procreation. Gay men can take in adopted children and contribute to the society in a responsible manner, but they will still be considered inferior to those who have adorned celibacy the normal way. In short, the pastoral ministry is not clear as to which extent it should pour God’s divine love and care to such individuals. However, the proposition of allowing the gay men into the Church is definitely appreciable as it allows them to live a life of high devotion and service. Also, segregation of gay men in society and their isolation from the Church, makes them a flock of sheep that needs more of God’s care. The Pastoral Ministry may be restricted in extending its care to such individuals through church legislations, but it is not against any show of kindness or consideration in general society. In fact, the general consensus has it that in spite of the rigidity maintained by the Church, the pastoral ministry must be allowed to guide, care, and protect these sections of society, just as much as it is required to do the same for every other follower of Christianity. Ultimately, there has to be a positive outlook to help get the love flowing out to all Christians alike (Waterhouse, 1939, 120). Therefore, challenging the Legislation by the Church Elders seems to be the most appropriate way of not letting any section of society go unnoticed or uncared for. In the present day scenario, it is seen that Bishops preside over meetings of Elders, which in itself is a complete turnaround in terms of decision making power and experience based hierarchy. In a way, this adaptation is pretty good to have contemporary people judge and apply the experience and wisdom of elders, although it may lead to lack of satisfaction amongst the elders from time to time. A Probable Solution To Turn All Negativity Right A unique way to get this movement in shape with general awareness and agreement would be through the guidance of preachers and teachers. The role of preachers according to the Old Testament is to publicly proclaim the gospel of Christianity and ensure that the flock of sheep is introduced to the highest principles of love, care and sacrifice practiced by the Church (Til, 1955, 143). The preacher must be extremely unbiased in his presentation of biblical sermons and testaments to the world. His role is to inform and enlighten, through series of engaging speeches at the masses. The role of the teacher, according to the Old Testament is to instruct and correct the masses as they go about deciphering the Scriptures and trying to put the principles in practice in daily life. The teacher has a stronger role to play as his job involves not just helping the people understand the scriptures but also to study and correct their practices, which is a challenging task in today’s fast world. Followers of Christianity do not realize that this teaching is done in accordance to the biblical concepts of care and principle in daily life. The New Definitions of Pastoral Roles We all know that Heb. 13:7 and First Tim. 5:17 have ensured that the roles of preachers and teachers are intertwined and they are not considered hugely different from each other in terms of functions and availability. However, modern day Church authorities agree that preaching, teaching, counseling (Adams, 1970, 45) and even shepherding has become synonymous duties with multiple roles played by same officials in the clergy, depending upon whether the Elders found them eligible to take up the individual posts. Thus, spiritual leadership in Churches has a different definition today which is more akin to be called flexible and easily available for comments and counseling, which was impossible in the nineteenth century (Howe, 1981, 1162). This, however, is a great factor in the lives of common people today who can hope to be exposed to the knowledge of church leaders every time they visit or fix an appointment with them. This positivity ushers in peace and confidence in life for the people seeking counseling and blessings. However, we must not forget that those who are adversely affected by the Legislation on Sex Discrimination passed by the government recently are equally eligible for such sessions with the Church clergy and leaders (Graham, 2006, 852). In fact, the Church needs to realize that these people need more exposure to preachers, teachers, and counselors, since they are left cornered and more insecure in the society owing to the legislation. The Role Of The Church…Ideally. Thus, the Church plays an important role in determining that the new legislation on sex discrimination does not affect the spiritual well being of the people in the society. With an emphasis in bringing about retribution to the outcastes, the pastoral ministry must open up to hearing the woes and worries of the left-outs and considers them for priesthood opportunities if they are found eligible (Adams, 1982, 114). The entire process needs o be undertaken without any bias. This would be the only way that the Church will be able to ensure that the law does not create an obstacle in the core duty of the pastoral ministry, which is to spread God’s care and divine love to the all people in society in a similar fashion. The law creates a bias and discriminates between people, the Church should know how to make them feel equal by not just challenging the law, but also preaching (Adam, 1995, 26) equality to its subjects and teaching important principles from the Scriptures that ultimately cause the lost sheep to come back to God’s pastures. In Conclusion.. The biblical precepts of spiritual leadership might have been modified in recent times to suit the requirements of the modern day society and the Church, but the original doctrine of service to society and care to all its members must not be compromised upon. Therefore, through the act of preaching and teaching, the Church must endeavor to create a society that is totally devoid of discrimination. Nothing hurts the common man more than discrimination coming from the highest authorities of law and respectful religion in society. Every time such discrimination has been encouraged, it has led to doom in society, which erupts from the growing frustration and in-built anger that seethes unaccounted within the people. Therefore, the original role of pastoral care must not pay heed to the discrimination and instead treat everyone equally. The legislation does create an obstacle, but it is up to the Church to change this obstacle into a blessing and give common people more scope to trust the Bible. References Adam, P. (1995). Preaching and Pastoral Ministry. The Angli­can Evangelical Crisis (ed.), Melvin Tinker, Ross-shire: Christian Focus Publications. Adams, J. E. (1970) Competent to Counsel, Grand Rapids: Baker Adams, J.E. (1982) Preaching with Purpose. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Graham, E. (2006) Pastoral theory in an age of uncertainty. HTS. 62(3), pp. 845-865 Howe, L.T. (1981) Where Are We Going in Pastoral Care? Christian Century. November 11, 1981, pp. 1160-1163 Murray, I.H., & Lloyd-Jones, D.M. (1990). The Fight of Faith, 1939-1981. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth. Stitzinger, J.F. (1995) Pastoral Ministry In History, TMSJ 6/2. Til, C.V. (1955) The Defense of the Faith, Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed. Waterhouse, E S. (1939). Psychology and pastoral work. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Whittington, J.L., Pitts, T.M., Kageler, W.V., & Goodwin, V.L. (2005) Legacy leadership: The leadership wisdom of the Apostle Paul. The Leadership Quarterly, 16(5), pp. 749-770. Read More