Gospel-shaped Pastoral Care in CPC
“Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” 1Pet 5:2-3
The word “pastor” comes from the Latin word for shepherd. Pastoral care is, therefore, the nurturing, guiding, protecting and caring for the flock’s wellbeing. While this is firstly the responsibility of the pastors and elders of the church under Christ, it is also the function of the church members towards each other. Biblical teaching on loving one another, caring for each other as members of the same body, bearing each other’s burden, and building up one another encapsulates most aspects of the pastoral function, albeit with some differences of emphases compared to the roles of pastors and elders.
Sometimes, pastoral care is seen as simply the equivalence of social work in secular society, caring for the sick, helping the poor, and counseling the traumatised. In that light, church leaders may prefer to delegate pastoral care to the members and just focus on teaching and organisation. This could lead to a detachment of practical care from biblical teaching/nurturing, resulting in the former losing sight of the ultimate objective of spiritual restoration, and the latter appearing as theoretical with little reality.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and our shepherding should be modelled on Him. He pastored His disciples and the multitude not only by teaching God’s truth, but also by personal involvement in the lives of those He met.
It is a practical difficulty for a pastor or elder to be involved in the life of every member in the CPC context. Even Jesus, in His physical body on earth was restricted by time and space and could not attend to everyone. He broadened His ministry through His apostles, who in turn trained up church leaders to share in the ministry. But He never detached Himself from those who need Him. This gives us a model to consider for delivering pastoral care in CPC.
Pastors and elders are charged by the Lord to shepherd the flock. They must oversee and be involved in pastoral care. While they do have the important roles in teaching, prayer and organisation, and have to delegate some mechanical work to others (cf. Act 6:2), they must not be detached from the personal lives of the members. This could be done by:
1. sharing the caring of individual members among the pastors and elders,
2. leading and working in concert with those members available to be practical care-providers, and
3. caring for and building up the care-providers.
This is by no means an easy task, considering the significant size of the congregation, the spread of our members over greater Sydney and our busy daily lives, particularly those of our elders. But as Hudson Taylor said “God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.”
At the end of this month, the Session will have a retreat led by Rev. Dr. Patrick and Jenny Fung. Improving pastoral care at CPC will be one of the main topics for discussion. Please pray that the Lord will inspire the Session to better fulfil this very important aspect of our community life.
教會以福音為本的牧養關懷
“務要牧養在你們中間神的群羊，按著神的旨意照管他們；不是出於勉強，乃是出於甘心；也不是因為貪財，乃是出於樂意；也不是轄制所托付你們的，乃是作群羊的榜樣。”（彼得前書 5:2-3）
“牧者”一詞源自拉丁文“牧羊人”。因此，牧養關懷指的是對群羊身心靈的培育、引導、保護與照顧。雖然這首先是教會中牧者與長老在基督裡的職責，但同時也是會眾彼此之間應盡的本分。聖經教導信徒們要彼此相愛、如同肢體般相互關懷、擔當重擔、彼此造就。這些涵蓋了牧養關懷的大多方面，儘管與牧者和長老的角色相比，其強調重點略有不同。
牧養關懷有時會被簡單地等同於世俗社會的社會工作，例如照顧病患、幫助貧窮者、輔導受創者等。基於這樣的誤解，教會領袖會傾向於把牧養關懷的責任委派給會眾，而自己僅專注於教導與組織工作。這樣的做法可能導致實際關懷與聖經教導/培育脫節，使得前者失去屬靈復興的最終目標，後者則流於理論而脫離實際。
耶穌是好牧人，我們的牧養應效法祂。祂不僅通過教導真理來牧養門徒和眾人，更親自介入到祂所遇見之人的生活中。
基於教會的實際情況，牧者或長老要關心到每一位會友的生活的確很難。即便耶穌在地上時，身體也受到時間與空間的限制，不能親自照顧到所有人。耶穌是借助使徒們來拓展祂的事工：使徒們培養教會領袖共同承擔牧養工作。當然，耶穌從未與需要祂的人疏離。這為我們在教會推行牧養關懷提供了可參照的模本。
牧者和長老受主之命牧養群羊，必須監督並且牧養關懷。他們固然肩負著講道、禱告與組織的主要職責，並會委託部分事務性的工作給他人（參徒6:2），但他們絕不能與會友的個人生活脫節。具體實踐可通過以下方式實現：
1. 牧者與長老共同分擔個別會友的牧養關懷事工；
2. 帶領並協助有意願參與實際關懷事工的會友共同服侍；
3. 關懷並造就這些承擔關懷事工的同工。
雖然這絕非易事，尤其是考慮到會眾人數眾多、遍布整個雪梨大都會區、大家都生活繁忙，尤其是長老們的時間有限。然而，正如戴德生所說：“凡照神旨意而行的神的事工，必不缺乏神的供應。”
本月底，長老議會將在馮浩鎏牧師與珍妮師母的帶領下舉行退修會，提升教會的牧養關懷事工將是討論的重點之一。
請弟兄姊妹為此禱告，求主帶領長老議會，使我們能更好地履行這項關乎教會生活的重要使命。
