Christian Pastoral Care as Spiritual Formation: A Holistic Model for Congregational Ministry

Abstract

In the twentieth century and into the present one, scholars working in the field of Christian pastoral care have concentrated their efforts in both well-established and emerging areas. Traditionally, thinking about pastoral care has been oriented to the person suffering from an existential, developmental, spiritual, or moral crisis (or a combination of these). With the emergence of the psychotherapeutic psychology of Freud, Jung, Erikson, Kohut, Berne, Perls, and others, a new focus on pastoral psychotherapy emerged. Taking things in a very different direction, a host of pastoral theologians issued a call to not only care for the individual, but also for the socio-political world that is oppressive and exclusionary for many. Still others promoted pastoral care and counseling as a ministry of the Christian Church. Finally, those animated by the ancient tradition of cura animarum accented pastoral care as spiritual formation. It is to these latter two themes that this article is addressed. What is proposed is a practical prompt card approach to spiritual formation in the congregation that is holistic and runs in the first instance over six to eight weeks. The four areas covered are spiritual practices, spiritual character (gifts of the Holy Spirit), moral character, and positive psychology.

In the twentieth century and into the present, scholars working in the field of Christian pastoral care have walked along much-traveled paths, pioneered new ones, or called for a return to the wisdom of the past. Traditionally, thinking about pastoral care has been oriented to persons suffering from an existential, developmental, spiritual, or moral crisis (or a combination of these). Inspired by Freud, Berne, Perls et al., pastoral theologians have also offered a variety of models for pastoral psychotherapy. Sources of mental distress such as anxiety, depression, phobias, perfectionism, and toxic shame are addressed. Psychotherapeutic techniques such as those used in CBT, gestalt therapy, narrative therapy, psychoanalysis and brief therapy are correlated with central biblical and theological principles. In the latter part of the 20th century, a host of pastoral theologians issued a call to not only care for the individual, but also for the society (Gerkin 1986; Poling 1988; Couture 1991; Graham 1992; Selby 1983; Pattison 1994; McClure 2010). Some of the book titles in the area capture the thinking both concisely and nicely: Care of Persons, Care of Worlds (Graham 1992) and Moving beyond Individualism in Pastoral Care and Counseling (McClure 2010). The thinking runs like this. Often, the reason that an individual is in crisis is because of the impact of unjust and oppressive social systems and structures. Individuals suffer under the impacts of these systemic failures. What is required is care for the society as well as care for the individual.

The approach offered here aligns most strongly with two other important and related trends featuring in the 20th and 21st centuries. The first is pastoral care and counseling as a ministry of the Christian church. This perspective was driven, amongst other things, by the perception of a tendency in pastoral theologians—especially strong in the United States—to become so enraptured with psychotherapy that they lost sight of the assets in the Christian heritage (Thurneysen 1962; Browning 1976; Patton 1983; Hunsinger 1995). Those committed to this approach argued for greater attention to the theology, spirituality, and pastoral resources the church has to offer (Browning 1976; Willimon 1979; Campbell 1981; Patton 1983; Oden 1992; Lyall 2001; Ramsey 2012). A special focus within this general approach is pastoral care as spiritual formation (Thurneysen 1962; Stairs 2000; Purves 2004; Hunsinger 2006; Pleizier 2023).

Having briefly set the context, the next step is to outline the proposed model of Christian pastoral care. What is offered here emerged from an invitation from the author to four international colleagues1 to work on thinking through, and ultimately testing, a model of pastoral care and spiritual formation. Their wise input and energetic support resulted in a significantly improved practice framework (Pembroke et al. 2022). With the help of these colleagues, the model was tested in five countries involving fifteen ministry agents (or “pastors”, if you prefer) and forty-five congregants. The methodology that was employed in reviewing the test is as follows. The participating parishioners were invited to be part of a focus group with the stated aim of improving the program. Participating ministry agents were given the same invitation. The focus group leaders were provided with a set of questions (see Appendix A and Appendix B below). The sessions were recorded and transcripts produced. The transcripts were thematically coded by the team leader. The aim was to identify themes in the recommendations for revisions. The coding was first checked by team members and then the team met to review the focus group feedback. Decisions were made at this point concerning which changes to the model would be implemented.

In broad terms, the approach consists of the pastoral agent supporting and guiding individuals or a small group in reflecting on three domains: spirituality, moral character, and positive psychology. There are three domains, but four areas covered: the spirituality domain incorporates spiritual practices and spiritual character.2 There is a structure to the approach. It is not simply left to the pastoral agent and the individuals to talk about whatever comes to mind. Congregants are issued with four packs of playing size cards (covering the four areas mentioned immediately above). Each card has a practice, trait, or moral virtue on it with a brief definition attached. There are eleven cards in each pack. The eleventh card is a “wild card”; the congregant is invited to choose a topic not covered in the other cards. The pastoral agent and the congregant (or group) decide on a period of time during which they will work together. It could be, for example, six or eight weeks. The aim is not to get through all the cards. The congregant is invited to decide on the topics they identify as most significant for them. Much more detail on the process is provided below.

The structure of the essay is as follows. First, there is a consideration of the concept of whole-person care. Second, there is an overview of Christian scholarly work that supports the central assumptions in the model. Finally, a fuller description of the approach is presented.

1. A Whole-Person Approach

A whole-person approach is central in the model. Three domains considered vital for personal and spiritual flourishing are included—namely, spirituality, moral character, and positive psychology. In an age of specialization, there is a tendency to focus on a particular area of interest and expertise and bracket out other areas. As will be discussed below, Don Browning, as far back as the 1970s, noted that pastoral care theory had for too long paid little or no attention to the moral context (Browning 1976). Similarly, some in the spiritual direction field advocate for concentrating on the God relationship and setting aside moral and other issues. For example, in relation to a case study involving a married woman who has started a relationship with a divorced man, Barry and Connoly (2009) make the following comment: “The issue is not whether the director should or should not remind the directee of her obligations, but what the director’s primary purpose is in any intervention she makes. We believe that her primary purpose is to foster the directee’s relationship with God” (pp. 148–49). It is contended that this tendency to compartmentalize pastoral ministry needs to be resisted. Pastoral care of persons is not well served by concentrating on one area and ignoring others. Humans cannot be carved up into discrete domains. The same applies to their care. The three areas interact with each other; what is required is whole-person care. This claim will be discussed in more detail below. Here, the aim is to simply sketch the broad outlines of this holistic perspective.

In order for a person to progress in the direction of personal and spiritual flourishing, they need to attend to three distinct but interrelated areas: spirituality, moral character, and positive psychology. To be sure, each of these domains has its own distinct focus. When it comes to spirituality, the spotlight is on spiritual practices and nurturing the God relationship. In terms of the moral domain, attention is given to what is right, good, and virtuous. Finally, in positive psychology, the focus is on traits, attitudes, and personal strengths that are conducive to human flourishing and happiness. While it is true that there are distinctives involved, we are not dealing with three separate silos. There is interaction between these aspects of human existence. Conversion to the true self, the self that is hidden with Christ in God, requires attention to both the moral and spiritual selves. Doing what is right and good is an essential part of growing spiritually. The Old Testament is replete with calls to righteous living and being faithful to God’s law, while in the New Testament Jesus teaches a kingdom ethic and Paul constantly exhorts fellow-disciples to die to the old self, renew the mind, and do what is good and acceptable to God (see, for example, Rms 12:1–20). A person suffering from very low self-esteem and no sense of purpose in life often finds it virtually impossible to engage in positive, authentic relationships. Despite their earnest desire to be loving and upbuilding in their interpersonal life, their lack of emotional well-being leaks into their relationships and poisons them. This toxicity also flows into the person’s relationship with God and their prayer life is too often spoiled by negativity.

Of the three domains, positive psychology is the one that stands out as needing fuller description; some readers may have only a general understanding of it. There is also the question of the extent to which the Christian heritage and this new school of psychological thought align. It is to these tasks that we now turn.

Positive psychology arose because Martin Seligman and others saw a need to offer a complement to psychotherapeutic psychology. This form of psychology is focused on the needs of people suffering from maladies such as loss of meaning and purpose, toxic shame, deep anxiety, depression, phobia, and obsessive–compulsive disorder. The positive psychology folk propose an approach that serves the needs of people who do not suffer from these conditions. They consider that they are coping with the stresses and strains of life, but they would like to be feeling and doing better. These persons are not satisfied with simply getting by week-by-week; they would like to be flourishing. Positive psychology seeks to identify the attitudes, emotions, traits, and personal strengths that are required to achieve “authentic happiness” in life.

In his book entitled Authentic Happiness, Martin Seligman identifies the value in this much sought after state of being: “[F]eeling positive emotion is important, not just because it is pleasant in its own right, but because it causes much better commerce with the world. Developing more positive emotion in our lives will build friendship, love, better physical health, and greater achievement” (Seligman [2002] 2011, p. 176).

One can obtain a good sense of positive psychology from reading about the “three pillars” on the website of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania (Seligman’s home institution):

Positive Psychology has three central concerns: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. Understanding positive emotions entails the study of contentment with the past, happiness in the present, and hope for the future. Understanding positive individual traits consists of the study of the strengths and virtues, such as the capacity for love and work, courage, compassion, resilience, creativity, curiosity, integrity, self- knowledge, moderation, self-control, and wisdom. Understanding positive institutions entails the study of the strengths that foster better communities, such as justice, responsibility, civility, parenting, nurturance, work ethic, leadership, teamwork, purpose, and tolerance.

(Seligman n.d.)

In Authentic Happiness, Seligman ([2002] 2011) constructs a view of happiness that incorporates three elements: positive emotion, engagement, and meaning. By the time Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being was published, his thinking had evolved (Seligman 2010). In this work, we find an emphasis on the role of choice, but in addition we see discussion of a more complex concept—namely, well-being. Well-being, in turn, is measured by flourishing. From this time onwards, well-being rather than happiness is set as the primary theme in research in positive psychology. Seligman contends that for human beings to flourish five elements must be in place. He refers to a PERMA model: 1. positive emotion, 2. engagement, 3. positive relationships, 4. meaning, and 5. accomplishment.

(P) Positive Emotion. The guidance offered by the positive psychologists in this domain is informed by studies of subjective well-being and life satisfaction, research on positive affectivity, and positive emotions. Seligman often turns to research on positive emotions in the work of Barbara Fredrickson (Fredrickson 1998, 2001). Positive emotions include joy, interest, contentment, and love. Frederickson contends that positive emotion cannot simply be defined as the absence of negative emotions. The positive form not only feels different to the negative type; it also has different psychological functions. Negative emotions are most often linked to particular actions: fear drives us to run, while anger is often associated with either physical or verbal attack, or both. Positive emotions, on the other hand, are not so commonly associated with specific actions. They lead to broader, more flexible response tendencies.

(E) Engagement. The most famous work in this element is that carried out on flow and creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. His popular book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experiences (Csikszentmihalyi 1990), published before positive psychology emerged as a recognizable school of thought, has made a very important contribution to the movement. The concept of flow is defined as “the process of total involvement with life” (Csikszentmihalyi 1990, p. xi), which is generally accompanied by joy and creativity. Seligman ([2002] 2011) captures the essence of flow nicely: “You go into flow when your highest strengths are deployed to meet the highest challenges that come your way” (p. 37). Csikszentmihalyi, together with others in the positive psychology movement, grounds his concept in Aristotle’s view of happiness (eudaimonia) (Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi 2009). When “in the flow”, a person is living “in the moment” so to speak; they lose all sense of time, and the activity is experienced as intrinsically rewarding.

(R) Positive Relationships. A strong area of research in positive psychology is traits and behaviors that lead to positive relationships. Included here are love, compassion, altruism, and empathy. Peterson (2009) identifies the prime value in play here very succinctly: “Other people matter” (xxiii). Love is identified as a character strength required for caring relationships with others (Peterson and Seligman 2004, p. 304). Love manifests within reciprocated relationships based on reciprocity and takes on the form of romantic love, friendship, and the love between parents and children. A distinction is made between love in intimate relationships and love in altruistic concern for others. The latter orientation is captured by words such as kindness, generosity, care, and compassion (Peterson and Seligman 2004, p. 326).

(M) Meaning. Meaning is defined as “belonging to and serving something that you believe is bigger than the self” (Seligman [2002] 2011, p. 17). Meaning-making, of course, is not new to the world of psychology. Already in the 1940s, Viktor Frankl was developing his thinking on logotherapy (Frankl 1984). According to Frankl, most psychological disorders have their origin in a failure to meet our basic spiritual need for meaning. Positive psychology follows this line of thought, recognizing the need to stimulate a person’s sense of the need to find meaning in their existence.

(A) Accomplishment. This refers to the pursuit of competence, success, and mastery for its own sake. Achievement and mastery are associated only with work and professional life. Included here are sports and hobbies. It is closely linked to goal pursuit. It is important to set realistic goals. When a person finally achieves their telos, there is a sense of pride and fulfillment. Seligman argues that accomplishment is something that people seek even in the absence of other aspects of a fulfilling life, such as positive emotion, engagement, and meaning (Seligman [2002] 2011).

While positive psychology is offered in the model as a useful resource, it is not appropriated uncritically. There are points at which the Christian heritage and positive psychology clash.

The first point of conflict has to do with the fact that positive psychology works with a fundamentally optimistic view of human nature and human potential (Charry and Kosits 2017). In that sense, it has an affinity with the self-actualization movement and humanistic psychology that preceded it. The essential purpose of positive psychology is to support human happiness and flourishing. The focus is on human strength, creativity, and potential. While Christian scripture endorses the positive side of human experience, it also insists on the reality of and need to address the shadow side. It recognizes that along with the traits of goodness and creativity, humans also manifest frailty, pride, and sinful tendencies. According to the writers of gospels and the epistles, the only hope for humans, given this dark side, is redemption by the grace of God in Christ. In Romans Paul captures the human predicament very succinctly: “For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Rms 7: 14–15). That is why Paul says that humans need a spiritual rebirth under the grace of Christ: the old person must fall away, and the new one must come in its place. The joy, the hope, of the Christian is that they can say “It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2: 19–20). Or again, “you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). According to Jesus and Paul, there is a true self and a false self. The latter is an illusion, a self-contradiction, a self that should not be was never meant to be. It is the self that lives in bondage. The true self is the one that is hidden with Christ in God.

Positive psychology does not recognize this notion of a flawed, weak, and sinful self that is unable to improve itself through will and effort alone, needing to rely on the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and the redemptive force of divine grace. Clearly, it cannot. No secular system of psychology can.

The focus in positive psychology on accomplishment also requires a critical comment. Achieving goals in various domains of life such as education, work, and sport clearly enhances personal well-being. A warm and pleasurable feeling follows from having worked diligently, using your gifts and personal resources with skill, imagination, and focus to attain a desired goal. Christian scripture, however, indicates that there are higher values involved. Service is one of these. The call to servanthood is of course a strong motif in the New Testament. Jesus told the disciples that “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Mk 10:45). In 1 Peter 4:10, it is stated that “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received”. The Christian vocation—and here the focus is on work and ministry, both paid and unpaid, rather than sport or hobbies—is to use one’s gifts for the good of others. Following the biblical principle, service to individuals and the community is the ultimate goal. A feeling of emotional well-being is a by-product of using our gifts in the service of others.

Finally, it needs to be recognized that the Christian and positive psychology conceptions of the path to happiness differ. The PERMA model is grounded in temporal realities. Happiness for the Christian, on the other hand, is a by-product of living faithful to the teaching of Jesus and the values that make life in the Realm he established (Green 2012; Schori 2014; McEwan 2015).

Even this partial theological analysis of the positive psychology approach reveals clear points of conflict. Despite this fact, it is suggested that there are strong points of alignment between positive psychology and Christian theology. Positive psychology sends us back to a biblical gift that some have downplayed or even dismissed—namely happiness. In both the Hebrew Bible and in the gospels, eudaimonic happiness is an important theme (Newsom 2012; Green 2012). Christian identity (as a child of God assured of grace and created in the divine image) forms a foundation for building in positive psychology’s interest in resilience, emotional security, positive emotions, and optimism. There is also a point of connection between positive psychology and Christian virtues such as compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, love, and hope (Charry 2011). Charry and Kosits (2017) are right to refer to an “exchange of gifts” between Christian theology and positive psychology.

Ministry agents can legitimately and gainfully employ some of the insights from positive psychology in their pastoral ministry. When a person is living a generally successful but mostly unhappy life, they are suffering emotionally and possibly physically (medicine also employs a whole-person approach: mind and body interact). Given that pastoral care has the general aim of alleviating suffering, the positive psychology approach is relevant to this ministry.

We have been advancing the argument that, in whole-person pastoral care, the psychological, the spiritual, and the moral are intertwined. The next step is to survey the literature that supports this line of thought.

2. Christian Pastoral Care in Moral and Spiritual Contexts

The proposed model is situated in a large body of existing literature on care for Christian persons set in moral and spiritual frameworks. In what follows, the work of influential thinkers in this area is surveyed.

Clebsch and Jaekle (1964) surveyed the history of pastoral care and discovered that four functions have been central—namely, sustaining, guiding, healing, and reconciling. The three areas of spiritual practices, spiritual character, and personal and social ethics align with these functions. Positive psychology is clearly a modern supplement. However, its place in pastoral care is justified. The argument for this position was presented above.

Thurneysen (1962) contends that the question in pastoral care is a spiritual one: are you at peace with God? He goes on to say that “this question is rightly asked and rightly heard only when it coincides with the question: Do you know that all your sins are forgiven you in Jesus Christ?” (Thurneysen 1962, p. 154). Forgiveness of sin is the principal concern of pastoral care, according to Thurneysen.

Pattison (1993) and Hunsinger (2006) follow this general line of thinking on pastoral care. Pattison (1993) defines pastoral care as “that activity … directed towards the elimination and relief of sin and sorrow and the presentation of all people perfect in Christ to God” (p. 13). Hunsinger (2006), noting that Christ’s redeeming act is at the center of Christian faith and hope, suggests that “we might wish to claim the ministry of reconciliation as the fundamental pastoral task …” (p. 156).

Purves (2004) supports the approach of Thurneysen in assigning primacy in the ministry of care to the atoning act of Christ, but he contends that to single out forgiveness of sin is to fail to embrace the full message of the gospel. Forgiveness of sin needs to be seen as the means to the end of restoring a broken relationship with God. It is communion with God that is the true aim and destiny of humankind. Pastoral care should therefore be viewed as a ministry of grace in which people are led into restoration of communion with God (Purves 2004, p. 176).

Peterson (1989) challenged North American pastors to shift from what he called the “shopkeeper” mentality to one oriented to spiritual direction. The shopkeeper pastor is obsessed with what the “consumer” wants and busily sets about meeting the demand. Peterson (1989)—in what I think is a reductionistic approach3—contends that what is required for authentic pastoral ministry is prayer, reading of scripture, and spiritual direction. While not denying the importance of pastoral counseling, he was one of the first to identify spiritual direction as an essential role of the Protestant pastoral agent.

Stairs (2000) and Pleizier (2023) have also proposed a model of pastoral care that incorporates spiritual direction. Their aim is to reclaim the soul care tradition for pastoral agents. They propose a model that acts as a complement to the therapeutic, crisis-focused approach. They add to existing models a concern for wellness and growth.

Shifting focus to another of the three domains in the model, Browning (1976) has made a very significant contribution to the field of pastoral care in identifying its moral dimension. Others have followed his lead (Noyce 1989; Miles 1998). Browning (1976) observes that pastoral care has traditionally been rooted in two concerns. The first is supporting people through various spiritual, existential, and developmental crises. The second is guiding persons in their attempt to live out the normative vision for life as a Christian. Browning (1976) contends that it is the latter aspect of pastoral care that has been lost sight of in recent times. An adequate pastoral model, he asserts, needs to take cognizance of the moral context of care.

O’Keefe (2014) is also interested in the moral dimension of the Christian life, but his focus is on the relationship between spirituality and Christian ethics. His thesis is that the efforts Christians make in the moral and spiritual zones are distinct but inseparable aspects of conversion to the true self. A person’s prayer and worship life is shaped by their moral life and vice versa. Growth in holiness requires attention to both personal spirituality and moral character.

Schmidt (2010, 2012) attends to the linkage between spirituality and emotional well-being. Focusing particularly on recovery from an experience of loss and grief, he notes that spiritual pilgrimage has a valuable role to play. The action of walking with a prayerful and meditative mindset makes an important contribution to the restoration of emotional well-being.

Gubi and the other book contributors (Gubi 2015, 2017) are interested in the relationship between spiritual companioning and counseling. The general aim of the books is to present a psychologically aware approach to spiritual direction, and a spirituality-focused way of going about pastoral counseling. The contributors in the volumes Gubi edited cover issues such as nurturing a positive relationship in spiritual companioning, prayer in counseling, the dialog between counselors and pastoral carers, forgiveness, spiritual abuse, and sexual abuse.

The reader will have observed that the approaches outlined above draw together two of the three domains. Some link the moral life and spirituality, others associate spiritual direction and pastoral counseling, and still others pastoral counseling and moral guidance. This brief survey of work by allies in the quest for a whole-person approach to pastoral care concludes with reference to two contributions with a tri-domain approach.

In his work on the contribution philosophical counseling can make to pastoral care, Louw (2011) views pastoral counseling as supporting people in reframing unhealthy personal schemas. He suggests that a schema has moral, psychological, and spiritual elements.

Sperry (2002) presents a whole-person model of spiritual direction that embraces the domains of ethics, spirituality, and psychology. His argument is that spiritual direction is not some specialized vocation that zones in on prayer, worship, and the God relationship and brackets out all other inputs and issues. He claims that a holistic approach is the only adequate way of going about this ministry. Clearly, my argument is very similar, except that my attention is on whole-person pastoral care.

3. The Model in Outline

These and other Christian pastoral and spiritual theologians have made a very important contribution to the development of the whole-person method of offering pastoral care presented here. Above, the model was very briefly introduced; here, more detail is provided.

A central assumption associated with the model is that significant progress on the journey to personal and spiritual wholeness cannot be facilitated through an ad hoc approach to pastoral care. Casual, informal pastoral conversations are insufficient if the goal is offering significant support for conversion to the true self, the self that Christ intends his followers to be. Structure and intentionality are required. In smaller congregations, a pastoral agent may choose to meet in the first instance with interested congregants for approximately an hour each week over a six or eight period. In larger congregations, a small group approach would obviously facilitate a wider reach and fits better with the more limited time available to the pastor. The small church pastor may also prefer a small group approach. While limits to time and a desire for the widest possible reach may indicate the group strategy, it is worth noting that the desiderata of openness, honesty, truth-telling and risk-taking are usually less likely to be supported in a group setting. There may be others in the group that discourage trust, albeit unintentionally, and therefore inhibit full and honest disclosure.

Above, it was indicated that the team assembled sought feedback on the trial that was conducted. A common theme aired in our congregant focus groups was “This is very helpful. I want more”. There are forty topics offered on the cards. The congregant is advised to bring one or, at most, two cards each week for shared reflection, prayer, and discussion. Feedback received from participating pastoral agents suggested providing them with the option of also choosing a card. Given that this aligns with the guiding function that has historically been central in pastoral care, we supported this revision. It is clearly only possible to cover a small proportion of the total number of themes in a couple of months. The process, therefore, would ideally be ongoing.

There are ten topics (a trait, a spiritual practice, a moral virtue, a psychological strength) in each pack of cards, together with a “wild card” that allows for choice of topic beyond the ten specified. Each card contains a brief explanation of what is meant by the term used (examples are given below). Clearly, there is nothing magical about the number ten. Some pastors might prefer eight, or slightly less. Others may opt for twelve, or more. Ten, with the option of free choice, seems about right to me. But it is recognized that others may have a different view.

As mentioned above, the model consists of four domains: spiritual practices, spiritual character, moral character, and positive psychology. Under “spiritual practices”, there are activities such as prayer, worship, meditation on Scripture, confession of sin, and Sabbath-keeping. “Spiritual character” refers for the most part to the fruits of the Spirit that Paul identifies in Galatians 5:22–23. The moral character domain takes in a selection of virtues. The cardinal virtues are covered, along with more contemporary ones. In the positive psychology domain, strengths such as love, intellectual curiosity, autonomy, and self-acceptance are included.

The team intentionally opted for allowing a great deal of freedom in how the parishioners focused and directed the conversations. Some chose to ask for more help on improving their level of emotional well-being. For example, “Jack”, an Australian Protestant man who had previously been seeing his pastor “Jane” regularly for help with grief and associated depression, offered this reflection on his experience:

Look, the whole thing was … was … fantastic, you know. I enjoyed it … You get an hour with “Jane”. But I’ve spent a lot of time with Jane in the last 18 months and she’s like my mate … There’s nothing she doesn’t know about me. I was totally honest and she didn’t blink an eyelid … Just another good time for me to be myself and … I just really loved it. Just to spend the hour … Mate, I wouldn’t change anything. 100%. It was great to just dump all the crap, you know. And to think about things you could do better.

Others felt a greater need for help with engaging more fuller in the spiritual disciplines and drawing closer to God. Hannah, a Polish American Roman Catholic, made the following comment in her focus group:

So, just putting the questions and going through the questions [on the prompt cards given to all participants]. It gave me time to reflect and to self-evaluate. What am I really doing? How am I doing this? It made me realize I want to pray more, I wanna meditate more, I wanna get closer to … um … God’s presence. I wanna read the Bible more and look for the message that applies to me … There’s a depth to … ah … ah … the Bible … to the message. The ability to gain perspective on life. To think about what I wanna do with the rest of my life … how I wanna live it.

4. The Model in More Detail: Use of Prompt Cards and Operation of the Program

The final tasks are to present the forty themes, to present a sample of entries on cards from each of the four domains indicated above, and to outline what a six-week program looks like. In the spiritual practices set, the following ten disciplines are covered: prayer, meditation on scripture, participation in worship, sabbath-keeping, community, hospitality, self-examination and confession, spiritual retreat, simplicity, and ecological spirituality. Under the heading of spiritual character, the following themes are offered: faith, hope, love, patience, kindness, generosity, joy, peace, gentleness, and self-control. Virtues suggested for reflection are humility, fortitude, prudence, justice, compassion, integrity, peaceableness, honesty, solidarity, and ecological stewardship. Finally, in the positive psychology set, the following strengths are included: self-acceptance, capacity for love in relationships, autonomy, skill in everyday living, purpose in life, personal growth, optimism, intellectual curiosity and imagination, conscientiousness, and being in the moment (flow).

Below, informational notes and a sampling from the sets of cards given to the participants at the start of the program are offered.

• Note 1: Each square represents a prompt card; only a sample from each set is provided here.
• Note 2: The cards should be playing-card size.
• Note 3: The card sets should be color-coded to avoid confusion.
• Note 4: There are 11 reflection cards in each set. The last is a “wild card”.

4.1. Sample Cards from Set 1: Spiritual Practices

In this set of cards, you are invited to reflect on your SPIRITUAL PRACTICES	In reflecting on this aspect of my Christian life, do I need to explore it further at the session? SIMPLICITY The Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head. A simple life is letting go of the desire to own and to have things. Simplicity is founded on a spirit of generosity that sets us free.
In reflecting on this aspect of my Christian life, do I need to explore it further at the session? MEDITATIVE READING OF SCRIPTURE Reading the Scriptures with an open and listening posture. Taking our time over a Scripture passage, reading it expectantly and being fully alert to God’s voice.	Feel free to bring something for reflection not covered in this set. Fill in the blank. In reflecting on … do I need to explore it further at the session?

4.2. Sample Cards from Set 2: Spiritual Character

In this set of cards, you are invited to reflect on your SPIRITUAL CHARACTER	In reflecting on this aspect of my Christian life do I need to explore it further at the session? LOVE Giving of myself for the good of others. Living in communion: giving to and receiving from others. Giving up power; embracing others rather than excluding; respecting others rather than dominating.
In reflecting on this aspect of my Christian life, do I need to explore it further at the session? SELF-CONTROL Awareness of personal desires and keeping in check those that need to be kept in check. This is not self-negation, but rather reining in desires that do not align with a Christ-like way of life.	Feel free to bring something for reflection not covered in this set. Fill in the blank. In reflecting on … do I need to explore it further at the session?

4.3. Sample Cards from Set 3: Moral Character

In this set of cards, you are invited to reflect on your MORAL CHARACTER	In reflecting on this aspect of my Christian life, do I need to explore it further at the session? JUSTICE One of love’s forms. A commitment to give to each and to all what is due to them. Doing your fair share in your daily activities and working for a fair share of burdens and benefits in the society.
In reflecting on this aspect of my Christian life, do I need to explore it further at the session? ECOLOGICAL STEWARDSHIP The habitual practice of responsibly using and protecting God’s gift of creation through conservation, political engagement, and sustainable practices.	Feel free to bring something for reflection not covered in this set. Fill in the blank. In reflecting on … do I need to explore it further at the session?

4.4. Sample Cards from Set 4: Positive Psychology

In this set of cards, you are invited to reflect on your PERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY.	In reflecting on this aspect of my personal life, do I need to explore it further at the session? AUTONOMY You appreciate the worth of both independence and interdependence; you listen to others in the Christian community and beyond, but you are not controlled or dominated by them; you do not need to constantly seek others’ approval.
In reflecting on this aspect of my personal life, do I need to explore it further at the session? PURPOSE IN LIFE Knowing who you are in Christ and a good general sense of what you need to be doing with your life; having a clear set of goals; having a reason to get out of bed each day.	Feel free to bring something for reflection not covered in this set. Fill in the blank. In reflecting on … do I need to explore it further at the session?

Finally, let me outline a short-term process.

The first of the six sessions is an orientation to the approach and the process. This is followed by four sessions on the areas of spiritual practices, spiritual character, moral character, and psychological well-being. They can be addressed in any order; it is up to the parishioner to choose. The final session consists of a closing conversation and prayer or ritual.

The parishioner is invited to work with the sets of prompts for reflection outlined above. As indicated above, each set has a blank card. This symbolizes an invitation for the parishioner to bring an issue or issues not covered in the prompts.

The first session has a number of aims. The first is to give an opportunity for a conversation about expectations, hopes, and concerns. The pastor invites the parishioner to reflect on questions such as these: What would you like to see come out of this process and our conversations? What are you hoping for? What is it about what we are about to embark on that excites you? Are there things about it that you feel a bit anxious or uncertain about?

The first session is also the time, obviously, to talk about how the process will unfold over the next five sessions. This is laid out just below.

Finally, at the first session, the pastor invites the parishioner to select a set of cards to work with at the next session (it can be any one of the four).

The process is as follows. After the first session, the parishioner reflects on the set of prompts (covering, for example, spiritual character, or emotional well-being, etc.) that they have chosen. They then bring 1 or 2 of these cards to the second session. These cards form the basis for the conversation.

At the close of the session, the pastor invites the parishioner to consider journaling as a way of reflecting further on what was talked about. This is an invitation only; the parishioner needs to feel free not to take it up. If s/he does opt for journaling, the pastor provides the minimal guidance set out below:

In reflecting on the session just past,

What do you notice? What feelings and thoughts arise for you as you reflect on the conversation?

What are you wondering about? What are you feeling curious about?

Is there a “light bulb” moment for you? Is there an insight that seems especially important right now?

If the parishioner wants to reflect on what came to them in the journaling process at the start of the next session, that is fine, but it is not expected. That is, there is no need to offer an invitation for this.

At the conclusion of the second session, you invite the parishioner to select their second set of prompt cards to take away. They bring one or two cards to the third session to form the basis of that conversation. And so the process goes on.

The sixth session is a wrap-up. It is a time for both reflecting back and reflecting forward. The pastor might ask questions such as the following: What was most significant for you along this journey? What did you learn? What are the issues that will stay with you? Where to from here?

The final session is an opportunity to reflect on the whole-of-person dimension in the process. Though each session has a particular focus, humans are whole beings; we cannot be carved up into four sections. Emotional well-being, spiritual and moral character, and our spiritual practices are all inextricably linked. To promote integrative reflection, the pastor may ask questions such as the following: What connections have you noticed between the conversations in the four sessions? After our times together and your own reflection, how are you seeing your emotional life, your spiritual life, and your moral life as linked?

5. Conclusions

I have offered a practical, congregation-based approach to Christian pastoral care as spiritual formation. The approach aligns with two important and related trends featured in Christian pastoral theology in the 20th and 21st centuries. The first is pastoral care and counseling as a ministry of the church. Those committed to this approach argue for greater attention to the theology, spirituality, and pastoral resources the church has to offer. A novelty within this general approach is pastoral care as spiritual formation. In construing pastoral care as having a particular concern for spiritual formation, there is alignment with the thinking of leading pastoral theologians such as Eduard Thurneysen, Stephen Pattison, Deborah Hunsinger, Andrew Purves, Jean Stairs, and Theo Pleizier.

What has been proposed is a practical prompt card approach to spiritual formation in the parish that is holistic and runs initially for at least six to eight weeks. The four areas covered in the model are spiritual practices, spiritual character (fruits of the Holy Spirit), moral character, and positive psychology. Inclusion of the last-named domain is likely to be controversial for some. With this in mind, we discussed the areas in which positive psychology aligns with the Christian heritage and areas in which there is dissonance. We found the metaphor of “an exchange of gifts” useful in this context.

An important feature of the approach is allowing parishioners the freedom to choose the direction in which the pastoral conversations will go. They choose the prompt cards to bring to their minister. They are asked to prayerfully reflect each week on what they need to bring to the pastoral conversation. It is what is on the card they carry with them that determines the topic for the session. It was noted that each set of cards also has a blank card. This allows for the option of choosing a topic not nominated in the set of ten themes.

As we have seen, some in the trial program opted for a greater focus on emotional well-being. Others came seeking help mainly with achieving greater intentionality and focus in using the spiritual disciplines. Their stated aim was growing closer to Christ and living the Christian life more faithfully and fully.

Ideally, the process does not stop at the six- or eight-week mark. The participants will elect to continue with the process over time through group work or, if ministry resources allow, through one-on-one ministry.