MA WEEK

ENABLING PASTORAL CARE

January 8th-11th

Some of the changes in society have resulted in an increasingly fractured context for many forms of Christian ministry. Christian communities that are seeking to be biblical in their expression of shared life have significant resources at their disposal to be effective communities of care. While pastoral caring may occur ‘naturally’ as part of a Christian community, it is important in any ministry context that people who are involved in providing or facilitating pastoral caring in either a local church context or in a broader sphere reflect critically and theologically on both the theory and practice of their caring. The module gives students an opportunity to do this for the context in which they are working professionally, although the focus will usually be on church-based caring. It is also important that students think about how to enable and empower others in a variety of roles in pastoral caring.

The module aims to enable students to:

• explore and evaluate biblically and theologically various models of pastoral care used in contemporary church life and their impact on practice;

• reflect on how theological perspectives/biblical models shape pastoral care;

• stimulate students to reflect critically on their practice of pastoral care;

• develop an appropriate strategy to enhance their professional practice.

This 4 day course can be taken independently, without enrolling on our full MA programme. You can choose whether you would like to do the assessment or not. To apply please download this short application form and return it by email to sarah@ibi.ie:

If you are interested in applying for our 3 year MA programme, and you would like to include this module, please visit our MA page to download the full MA application form.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss options, email our administrator Sarah on sarah@ibi.ie, or telephone 01 8069060.