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Busy Week of Pastoral Care Training Coming

The week of April 23rd is very very busy from a Pastoral Care Training Standpoint.

  1.  April 23rd. Our friends at AACPE (Asian Association of Clinical Pastoral Education) are having their Annual convention in Manila. Interesting topics, especially in terms of Drug Addiction and Recovery. (The first image is their advertisement.)
  2. April 24-25. We at Bukal Life are working with PBTS and CPSP-Philippines. PBTS’s annual seminar, the Dayot and Dickens (“DAD”) conference will this time feature, Dr. Doug Dickens, Diplomate of CPSP. The focus is on Pastoral Diagnosis. (The 2nd and 3rd images provide details and schedule.)
  3. April 26-29. APTS in Baguio is hosting the Saline Process training, as well as Training of Trainers. While this does not fit completely under the umbrella of Pastoral Care, it does provide some tools that are used by pastoral care providers in hospital situations.  (The 4th image provides details.)

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New Presentation. “Your Life Story”

Looks at one’s life through the metaphor of story “threads” that are woven together. It draws considerably from Narrative counseling, but can be valuable in the context of Pastoral Care & Counseling.

7 Rules of Pastoral Conversation

Theologian Max Warren (1904-1977) came up with 7 Rules for Interreligious Dialogue (IRD). Each of these are quite valuable. But each of them seem also to provide the basis for an equivalent rule for Pastoral Conversation. So we will list each rule both for IRD and for Pastoral Conversation (PC).

Rule #1:  Acceptance of our Common Humanity

IRD.  Dialogue is not between two ideologies or religions, but between two people… created in the image of God. 

PC.  The client is not a label or a category of person. The client is a human being created in God’s image… fearfully and wonderfully made.

Rule #2:  Divine Omnipresence

IRD.  Entering into a dialogue, one is not entering alone. God is there, and has prepared the situation long before one arrived.  

PC.  Expect that God is present in every pastoral conversation and before every conversation.

Rule #3:  Accepting the best in the other

IRD.  Don’t focus on what is bad about other religions… also freely acknowledge their good points. Be open to admit failings in one’s own faith as well.

PC.  Enter the conversation non-judgmentally. The client is not defined by his or her weaknesses and failures. Acknowledge you have weaknesses as well… as a ‘wounded healer.’

Rule #4:  Identification

IRD.  Attempt to understand them as if you were one of them. Think incarnationally.  Imaginatively “walk in their shoes” to understand what they believe, why they believe it, and why it makes sense to them.

PC.  Try to understand the client’s situation through the eyes of the client. Seek, as much as possible, to understand what he/she is going through.

Rule #5:  Courtesy

IRD.  Dialogue with identifiable respect– identifiable by the other in ones words, demeanor, and actions.

PC.  Respect your client, and demonstrate that respect in word and deed.

Rule #6:  Interpretation

IRD.  Sharing one’s faith to another is not one of proclamation or didactics. Rather it is one of interpretation… contextualization… translation. Attempting to make one’s faith understandable within the symbol structure of the other, NOT one’s own structure.

PC.  Demonstrate God’s love and message for the client in a manner that the client can identify with and respond to. This means focusing on how he/she thinks and feels rather than how you think and feel.

Rule #7.  Expectation

IRD.  God is at work in the dialogue, and one should be expectant that this work will ultimately bear fruit in one way or another… in the other AND in oneself. 

PC.  God ultimately is the great healer. As such, recognize that God is the one who is at work and will continue to work long after the conversation is over.

While it is certain that these are not all the rules associated with pastoral conversation (for example, a good 8th rule is that one should listen more and talk less), these 7 still are a good starting place —both in interreligious dialogue, and pastoral conversation.

April Updates

Busy Summer here in Baguio.  Here are a few things.

Weekly Schedule:

Sundays:   5:30PM Drug Surrenderer Group A

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CPE Supervisor Celia, with Supervisors-in-Training Vo and JM

Tuesdays:  CPE Summer Group 1

1PM Drug Surrenderer Group B

Wednesdays:  CPE Summer Group 2

Thursdays:  CPE Combined Didactic

 

Calendar of Events:

April 8:  Ministry Project at Helping Hands.

April 23:  AACPE Pastoral Care Convention, Manila

April 24-25:  “DAD” Pastoral Conference at PBTS, Baguio City. Led by Dr. Doug Dickens

May 5-6:  PFI Jail Ministry Training Course

June 1:  Ministry Project for CSBCM Youth Camp

Current and Upcoming Activities

Sunday Afternoons:   Drug Surrenderer Care Team A.  Location “A”

Monday Mornings:     Jail Counseling. BJMP

Monday Afternoons:  CPE Group A

Tuesdays:                    Community Service Chaplaincy Training

Tuesday Afternoons:  Drug Surrenderer Care Team A.  Location “B”

Thursdays:                   Community Service Chaplaincy Training

March 4.                        Graduation for CPE Group B

March 20.                      Start of CPE Intensive

April 23-25                    PC Seminar with Dr. Doug Dickens

Drug Surrenderer Program

sunday-ministry

Above is a collage of photos of our Drug Surrender Care Team from Bukal. The above team is our Sunday team of Celia, Les, Huey, and Rica. The person with the blocked out face is one of the those seeking treatment. We don’t really show faces of counselees (without express written consent).

We also have another team the ministers on Tuesdays at another location. This program is still new, and we are still working out some issues… especially coordination between our group, barangay officials, city social welfare, and the those seeking counseling. But we are already getting some good (although early) feedback.

We are using the “Celebrate Recovery” materials as the primary guide, with some additional guidance from Colombo Plan UTS.

Creativity Workshop

David and Cathereina Kinder joined us on Monday, January 30, to lead a Creativity Workshop. It had two parts. Part 1 was Creative Worship, while the other part was Art for pastoral evaluation and healing. We had a great time, and are inspired to use some of the methods in our future ministry work.

Training Seminar, January 30, 2017

Creative Workshop: Let My People Go
Releasing God’s love and freedom through music and art

Join us for a hands-on session on how we can use creative expressions to lead others to experience breakthroughs and walk in greater wholeness. 

When: January 30, Monday, 1-6pm
Where: Bukal Life

Schedulekinder


1-2.30pm: Let Freedom Reign
Various stations are arranged around the room during a worship set for participants to encounter the Lord. Followed by Q&A.
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

2:30pm-3pm: Break

3-6pm: Let Healing Flow
Participants will be led to create a series of art pieces designed to unlock their emotions and draw them deeper into the heart of God.
“From his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.”

About David & Cathereina Kinder
Radically transformed by the love of God years ago, David has given his life to bringing the Gospel to the most overlooked people of the world. As a worship leader, he takes people into the heart of God where they experience freedom and wholeness. Cathereina has spent almost two decades in the advertising industry. Her love for storytelling and creativity has paved the way for her to bring the message of God’s love to over 30 nations.