Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Prisoner’s Journey

Three members of Bukal Life Care went to the Prison Fellowship International training in using “The Prisoner’s Journey” (TPJ) materials for prison ministry. The three of us were Bob, Celia, and German. Bob and Celia have been working at the La Trinidad District Jail, while German has been working at the Baguio City Jail. The workshop was at Bibak Bible Church, and the training was excellent. It meshes nicely with another training program several of us have attended called “Celebrate Recovery” (CR). CR is for those with substance abuse problems… inside of our outside of jail. We plan to utilize CR with Drug Surrenderers, and TPJ in our jail work.

We plan to serve as organizers for the training program at La Trinidad District Jail. We are looking forward to an exciting several months as TPJ starts in July, and CR continues into June and July.

Photos from CSBCM Youth Camp Visit

Enneagram and Team Art Activities with Cordilleras Southern Baptist Church Ministries youth at Avong ni Romy Resort in Wangal, La Trinidad.  Thanks to CPE members and friends of Bukal Life Care in joining in facilitating the activities.

May in Photos

  1.  SIT Chaplain Vo and German, with CPE trainees Nathan, Michael, and Joel.  Self-care at Kuya J’s Restaurant.18620822_10209375134476413_2414255324870593968_o
  2. SIT Chaplain JM with his trainees Daniel, Rebecca, Honeylyn, Joy, and Les. Doing Community ministry in Antipolo18671719_10155332717799817_6896514679619702970_o
  3. Celia and Connie doing training and counseling ministry with women inmates at La Trinidad District Jail.                                                                                                                   18342467_10155260714582622_6089340774151200557_n
  4. SIT Doc Paul with his CPE trainees Ruel, Crystal, Paul, and Vengie. With Bob and Celia. Being hosted by Father Ivo at the St. Camellus Novitiate for dinner.18739804_10155311700902622_1458989434943950232_n
  5. Celebrate Recovery training. Training being used for Drug Surrenderer program at Mines View and Lualhati. Training held at GCF-Metro Baguio.18619933_10213487544891156_7321832894402591425_n

Summer Countdown

Here in the Philippines, Summer starts in March and ends in May. We have had a busy summer with work now going on at two hospitals, two jails, and two drug surrenderer ministry sites. But here is a countdown of some stats.:

Six:    JM’s CPE Group  has six trainees.

Five:  Vo’s CPE Group has five trainees

Four:  Doc Paul’s CPE Group has four trainees

Three:  Chaplain Phan’s CPO Group has three trainees

Two:  Our SIT program has two Supervisor’s in Training (Vo and JM)

One:  We have one more, Edgar, who is about to enter the SIT program

 

We expect CPO (Clinical Pastoral Orientation) to start June 19, meeting on Monday afternoons for approximately 15 weeks. Contact us if you have any questions.

Dayot and Dickens Seminar in Pastoral Care

April 24-25, 2017, we had the 2nd annual Dayot and Dickens Seminar. This year, the teme was on Pastoral Care, and we had Dr. Doug Dickens speak of the use of the Beatitudes as a framework for pastoral diagnosis. In this sense, the diagnosis is not for pathology, but for wellness. We had over 220 guests. We at Bukal were thrilled to serve, along with Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary, as hosts for this event. We met many old friends and colleagues, as well as many new.

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.