Christ's Under-Shepherds

An Exploration of Pastoral Care Methods by Elders in the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia Relevant to the Circumstances of Twenty-first-century Australia

Douma

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781498280921
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

The calling of elders is to be "shepherds of God's flock." Yet across the world elders are struggling to do that well. This very practical investigation identifies the obstacles to pastoral care from the side of the clergy, the elders, and the people themselves. A practical way forward is developed using an approach that enables the local elders themselves to find a solution.

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Introduction

Introduction

The impetus for this research project stems from the fact that the researcher is an ordained minister of the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia (CRCA). As such the researcher has been working very closely with the local church elders for over thirty years in three congregations.

CRCA Church Governance

In the Christian Reformed Churches’ governance the ruling authority lies with the elders who, together with the minister, form the Session or Church Council. There is no higher authority in the CRCA than the elders. The Classis and Synod are broader assemblies with delegated authority from the local church councils.

It is the eldership that determines the direction of the CRCA. All decisions at the local church council are made in collegiate, that is, the minister cannot of his own accord determine church policy or make decisions about pastoral matters. The Church Order of the CRCA makes it clear that the pastoral care of the congregation rests not with the minister only but with all the elders. In the Reformed system the elders, as the pastoral carers of the church members, oversee the church members’ life and doctrine.

Pastoral Care by Home Visitation

The traditional manner in which this oversight or pastoral care has been carried out is by means of an annual home visit. This consists of two elders visiting a family for an evening and together with devotions and prayer discussing with the parents and children their personal relationship with God, as well as other matters that relate to that family. It is also an opportunity for the family to discuss with the elders matters in regard to the life of the church.

From the above it can be seen that the elders play a vital role in the life of a CRCA congregation. They are not just a governing board. The elders are the primary pastoral carers who set the spiritual direction and tone of the congregation and determine its goals.

Training Provided

To assist the elders in their vital work in the congregation the researcher has been providing training for elders for the past decade. The researcher also initiated training at the Classis level designed for elders to consider issues in relation to new directions for the churches.

This training was provided because it was found that the elders had previously been “thrown in the deep end,” called to the responsible task of leading and pastoring the congregation with limited knowledge and skills.

Problems With Elders’ Pastoral Care

Even though training has been provided, there are ongoing concerns about the functioning of the eldership. The system of care provided by the elders, namely the annual home visitation, is unable to function as it should due to major changes in the circumstances of the elders and church members.

Personal observation by the researcher has made it clear that over the past decade there has been a steady decline in the number of elders who actually provide pastoral care by means of the annual visitation, to the extent that it is now virtually non-existent in the researcher’s own congregation.

Work and Time Pressure

One reason identified for the lack of home visitation has been the work rate of the elders in their day jobs. A recent government survey made clear the impact of the demanding work hours for most workers today.1 The length of the hours and the pressure of the work means that elders find themselves exhausted and unable to do much in their role as elders except for the barest minimum of attending Session meetings and some forward planning.

This concern regarding time and lack of visitation is not an isolated incident with the researcher’s local elders. Recent writings in other local church bulletins and the CRCA seminary magazine indicate similar concerns about the failure of elders to provide the traditional home visits.2

Elders’ Suitability

Even if annual visits were to be made, there are doubts as to the elders’ suitability to provide the pastoral care that is required in our current postmodern setting. Anecdotal evidence, such as the bits of conversation heard at recent ministers’ conferences, have raised questions about the pastoral care provided by elders. One minister asked, in frustration, “what do we do with elders?” Another referred to the method of home visiting as “patriarchal” or “policing.”

Value of the Process

Congregational members, who do still from time to time receive a home visit by the elders, wonder about the value of the process. There is a growing tendency for the younger generation to prefer not to be visited, some having suggested they see the process as intrusive and irrelevant.

Lack of Community

It is becoming clear that an aspect of what creates difficulty for the system of home visitation is that the sense of community that underpinned church life in sixteenth-century Europe no longer exists for many CRCA congregations in twenty-first-century Australia. When the pastoral system was designed, the church members lived in towns and villages and the elders saw most of the church members constantly throughout the week. The first draft of a Church Order even called on elders to visit families weekly. Recent discussions with an elder from South Africa revealed that all the families in his pastoral district lived in the same street as he did. So the annual home visits were built upon frequent social contacts, where people knew each other well. In the current Australian setting the membership in many CR...

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Glossary
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature Search
• Chapter 3: Methodology
• Chapter 4: Analysis of the Focus Groups
• Chapter 5: An Overview of the Action Research
• Chapter 6: Conclusions
• Appendix
• Bibliography