Text book(Melvin)

 

Why This Book Is Needed.

 

The following observations convinced me that this book was needed.

  • Although many persuasive appeals have been made to both clergy and laity to share in the work of pastoral care, few provide a practical structure through which this shared ministry can become a permanent part of the church.
  • Existing pastoral care programs usually focus on people in crisis or those with special needs. While valuable, they often fail to provide ongoing pastoral care for the entire congregation.
  • Many books present excellent theology, sound principles, and inspiring theories about shared ministry. However, they either lack a workable model or fail to demonstrate how those principles can be effectively implemented in the life of the church.
  • Numerous attempts to establish lay pastoral care ministries have ended in failure, leaving churches with disappointment, frustration, guilt, and skepticism about whether lay people can truly share in pastoral ministry.

 

On the Other Hand

  • At CHPC, the Lay Pastors Ministry has proven to be effective. Its eight-year record demonstrates that this ministry is not merely a theory but a practical model with lasting potential.
  • Our ministry is comprehensive because it recognizes that every person in the congregation needs ongoing pastoral care—not only those in times of crisis. We all have needs. We all need someone to pray for us, encourage us, nurture us, and show us Christ’s love.
  • Because this ministry has been successfully adopted and adapted by churches of various sizes, it has demonstrated that it is a transferable model that can be implemented in many different settings.

Compared with other excellent books on this subject, I would not describe this as simply a “how-to” book. Rather, it is a “how it’s being done—and how you can do it too”book. It tells the story of ordinary lay people who are faithfully sharing in the ministry of pastoral care, showing that this model can become a living reality in churches everywhere.

In January 1974 (Melvin)

“I obeyed my inner drive (which I attribute to the Holy Spirit) to activate my theology.”

I began to lay plans for opening significant ministry to the members of the church I was then pastoring – the 400 people of Randolph Heights Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Ten months later I was called to the 2,200-member College Hill Presbyterian Church (CHPC) in Cincinnati, Ohio, as Minister of Pastoral Care. This took me from a long overdue start and instantly catapulted me in a place where I was expected to equip lay people for ministry. The call read, “to do pastoral work and to equip lay people for pastoral work.” It was the second part, “equip lay people for pastoral work,” which caught my spirit and led me to accept the call.

My personal commitment to the biblical teaching regarding equipping the saints for ministry, and CHPC’s expectation for my doing this, has led me into the best years of my pastoring career.

“Mel, if this program works you’ll be out of a job!” A fellow clergyman made this prediction as his way of saying, “This Lay Pastors Ministry you are developing will never work. Lay people can do a lot of things, but they cannot pastor. That job is for the clergy!”

However, for eight years an increasing number of lay people have been pastoring the member os of College Hill Presbyterian Church (CHPC) in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In September 1978, we conducted a pilot project in which five lay people each began pastoring five to ten families. Since then, the number of lay pastors has grown to 85 pastoring unit (131 individuals) pastoring 500 of our families.

Our goal from the beginning was to provide adequate pastoral care for every member of CHPC by calling forth and equipping lay people gifted by the Holy Spirit for pastoring.