COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, THEOLOGY, HUMANITIES, AND

EDUCATION
Institute of Theology and Religious Studies
Course name and Code: HISTORY AND METHODS IN PASTOR NTPT522:
Instructor: Dr. Mandeya
Student name and ID number: Nelly Okongo 170753
Assignment Question: All pastors need to have knowledge on the History and methods of

the study of Pastoral care. Discuss.

Due Date: 28 February 2023

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The history and methods in the study of pastoral care is found in the history of the church, in

another words one needs the history of the church to well understand why the knowledge in

this history is important up to date. However, this paper seek to discuss the assessment that

says all pastors need to have knowledge on the history and methods of the study of pastoral

care. Therefore, in order to well attempt this question this paper will present, a brief history

of the church, what pastoral care is, and then define is history. In the history of pastoral care

the paper will present the methods of pastoral care practiced in the church from the time of

the apostles to this day. The practice of pastoral care over the ages and how it’s informed

nature influenced the need to develop creative ways to respond to the contextual challenges

of the people, under which it will include: a) the Biblical times of the Old Testament; b) the

early church of the New Testament; c) an age of suffering; d) the era of the royal church; e)

Fall of the Roman Empire; f) The middle ages; g) the period of reformation; h) the Age of

enlightenment, and then lastly it shall present the early church with the practice of pastoral

care by Apostol Paul, and then conclusion.

As to start with, the Christian Church originated in Roman Judea in the first century AD/CE,

on the day of Pentecost. The church was founded in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and

on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples as prophesied by Joel chapter

2:28 And as promised by Christ in John 14:26 the spirit came in form of divided tongues of

fire which rested upon the heads of those who were gathered in the upper room and they

began speaking in other tongues, which created speculations among people who so them

speaking in tongues, to end the speculations Peter gave the masses a summary of the Gospel,

and the sermon captivated the hearts of 3000 converts, who became the firsts batch of

believers joining the kingdom of God on earth the church. The disciple continued to preach in

Jerusalem mainly but some began to move around to preach the good news to the gentles.

Those in Jerusalem experienced early persecution from the Jewish high priests. However, this

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did not stop the disciple from preaching the good news, when persecution was stirred some

began moving to Antioch and Damascus, in Antioch was the place where the followers of

Jesus were called Christians. (Academic, 2022)

According to (Baab, 2018, p. 2) the word “pastoral” in “pastoral care” comes from Latin

word “pastoralis” which means “related to herdsmen or shepherds”. Historically, pastoral

care is understood in light of the Scriptures, that Jesus is our good shepherd and the call for

Christian’s leaders to act likewise to those under them. This implies that Christian pastoral

care must include “conscious awareness of God’s presence, empowerment and healing”.

History is defined as the study of change over time, and it covers all aspects of human

society. Political, social, economic, scientific, technological, medical, cultural, intellectual,

religious, and military developments are all part of history. Usually, professional historians

specialize in a particular aspect of history, a specific time period, a certain approach to

history or a specific geographic region. History is also the study of people, actions, decisions,

interactions, and behaviours. (Morphakis, 2020)

(William Clebsch and Charles Jaekle, 1994) In their book titled pastoral care in Historical

perspective, have considered many different ideas and methods of pastoral care practiced in

the church from the time of the apostles to this day. Founded on the stated study they have

defined pastoral care as a helping act that is done by Christian representatives in churches

directed towards the healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling of people in trouble.

Therefore based on this definition then pastoral is a ministry done by people appointed to

some official position in the church. These people can be called elders, pastors, ministers,

ministers, priests, or some other name. (William Clebsch and Charles Jaekle, 1994) However,

some other people in the church can also be involved in the work, even though they do not

hold any official position. The important thing is not so much about the person who does the

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work or even the one who offers the counseling, but the fact that anyone who does it bring

the resources and wisdom of the Christian faith and life to people in need. They seek to help

troubled people by offering them the resources of faith, love, wisdom, authority, and

fellowship which are found in the Christian community of believers. The emphasis is not so

much on the person who gives this help but on the sort of help given. Anyone who brings this

help represents the whole Christian fellowship.

The history of pastoral care is a story of the Christian church in action. But if any sense is to

be made of the centuries of Christian work and effort, not only the particularities of making

the message of the Gospel a reality on earth, but also the ideas which have shaped the

attempt, by century, must be examined. This is the history of 200 years of thought and

practice in Christian pastoral ministry.

The practice of pastoral care over the ages has been informed and influenced by the need to

develop creative ways (interventions) to respond to the contextual challenges of the people.

In describing the historical development of pastoral care and responses, the period

highlighted and responses include: a) the Biblical times of the Old Testament where care and

moral orientation were done through wisdom teachings; b) the early church of the New

Testament where there was the establishment of the light of parousia; c) an age of suffering

where discipline and reconciliation were central; d) the era of the royal church where there

was official pastoral care; e) Fall of the Roman Empire where there was an authoritative role

of the priest, and care was logical and prescriptive and ignored the needs of the needs off

parishioners; f) The middle ages where there was a certain degree of exaggeration of the

sacraments; g) the period of reformation where a personal relationship with God through a

pastoral encounter and guided by community of faith was the meaning Enlightenment where

a personal relationship with God through a pastoral encounter and guided by a community of

faith was the main goal ; h) the Age of enlightenment where secularism and modernity of life

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without God in the human mind and methods of seeking truth and free will were popular; and

the i) at the beginning of the 20th century until the present period when there is call to turn to

theology of the reformation and the Bible together with other prominent movements such as

Anton Boisen and Clinical pastoral Education (CPE), emphasizing on the cooperation

between psychology and pastoral care, the administration of Freud and Carl Rogers as well as

the impetus for the academic study of pastoral care as a special developed area of study.

In the early church, the idea of the chosen race, God’s own people, a holy nation, and royal

priesthood was such a great one. So, treaties were written to them without any proper

distinction in roles. The laities were given a voice in the administration of the church, as they

took part in the administration of the presbyters and bishops. They also spoke during synods,

the Christian community was such united following Paul’s exhortation that there was neither

Greek nor Jew, slave or free, male nor female, and so on. They were all one in Christ, a

dualistic concept of the church membership was introduced in the early middle ages in

theology and ecclesiastical structures. During the high and late middle ages, conflicts

between kings and popes entered the church. Thereby intensifying distinctions between the

spiritual and secular, the consecrated and the unconsecrated. However, the role of the laity

remained blurred, it was Pope John 2 who prophetically declared that the third millennium

would be for the laity, hence an admission that they never had an active role before

(Nedungatt, 2000, pg 67). (Anandarayar, 2017)

I argue that pastors today should take need not to lose sight of the essential contributions of

historical methods and knowledge because the knowledge of the past is the ground in which

pastoral care of today is built upon. For instance, the fathers of the church were able to utilize

the languages of their culture to formulate doctrines such as that of trinity, Christology, or

Soteriology. Having a look at the content of pastoral care in the early church was mainly

shaped by two assumptions. Firstly, pastoral care was strongly focused on the needs of the

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community, rather simply those individuals, separate from the community. Secondly, pastoral

caregivers assumed that human beings were made in the image of God. Therefore, only as

they lived out the image of God could they be whole and healthy people who foster faith,

hope and love.

The apostle Paul reflects very deep pastoral concern in his letters in the Bible. He instructs

and rebukes, but his writings are filled with love and compassion. Paul expected his fellow

brothers and sisters to share in every aspect of pastoral care to build up and encourage each

other for example in 1 Thessalonian 5:11-18; 1Corrinthians 12:25-26; Roman 12:15;

Colossians 3:16. Paul guided the churches in disputes and answers questions about marriage

1Corrinthians 7:1-5, he worked tirelessly he sought to let love prevail (1Corrinthians 13), he

reminded believers of his own frailty while requesting their prayers (2Corrinthians 12:9-10.

He also encouraged them to optimize their gifts for the welfare of the broader community

(1Corrinthians 12). This is more the opposite of what pastors practice today, they are more

focused in the pulpit ministry and they are the only ones called and load too much work upon

themselves more than what they can carry then end up burning out because the work is

beyond what they can do. Therefore if they have this kind of knowledge of what was done

before it gives them guidelines on how to do it and even better in their time.

From the above discussion, I will conclude by saying that every pastor needs the knowledge

of history and methods of the study of pastoral care because it is of great importance from the

ancient period to nowadays. This knowledge helps the pastors to identify the cultural

elements versus the dogmatic elements of the expression of the convention. It helps pastors to

concentrate in the right thing, it provides them with a picture of what was done in the past

and why it was done that way. It gives pastors guidelines in the ministry of pastoral care of

the present. As portrayed above one of the needs is for them to know that the ministry of

pastoral care is a ministry of all Christians but it is their duties as church leaders to train lay

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members on how pastoral care functions and how it is offered or how it should be practiced

by everyone in the church as we saw Paul and early church doing with others. This

knowledge will help in improving the fulfillment of the great mission of the church in

disciple-making as stated in Matthew 28:19-20. It is actually the work of pastoral care all the

way through as it was done by Paul in 1Thessalonissian 5:11-18.

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Works Cited
Academic, T. (2022, Oct 27). Church History Full Series | 1st - 5th Century (Theology Academy).
Retrieved from YouTub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onHIpArMENU&t=3556s
Anandarayar, A. (2017). THE ROLE OF THE LAITY IN THE CHURCH IN THE NEW
MILLENNUM. Retrieved from The Cannon Law Society of India:
https://www.canonlawsocietyofindia.org/research/the-role-of-the-laity-in-the-church-in-the-
new-millennum/
Baab, L. M. (2018). Nurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care in teh Twenty First Century.
Minneapolis: Fotress Press.
Morphakis, F. (2020). What is history. History today , 1.
William Clebsch and Charles Jaekle. (1994). Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective. Jason Aronson.

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