Pastoral Leader:

Certainly one of your main responsibilities as a pastoral leader is to ensure that people in your congregation and community receive pastoral care – that they receive prayer, encouragement, counseling, teaching and more. Providing pastoral care is a foundational part of the pastoral leader’s role; church and community members know they can depend on the pastoral leader for support in their time of need.Awareness of this reality leads to some questions that are difficult to answer:
Among the pastoral leaders you know, what percentage of them receive pastoral care?

What percentage receive care from a specific person or small group, that comes together on a regular basis, because the person or small group loves the pastoral leader, is personally committed to their character and ministerial growth, and has access to the pastoral leader’s heart because the leader trusts them and is open to them?

Among pastoral spouses, what percentage receive pastoral care?

And perhaps the most difficult question to answer, because it’s a personal one:
What about you - are you receiving such care?

In recent years pastoral and training leaders have been recognizing that the healthy, wholistic development of church leaders requires more than just classroom-oriented training and education.  They are affirming the importance of pastoral care and mentoring in the development of leaders.  The TOPIC SA Research Project has (so far) identified that 59% of church leaders believe that being mentored is important or very important.

But there is still room for more and better mentoring in churches.  The same research indicates that 42% of leaders are not mentoring anyone. When one talks of mentoring, typically the idea of ‘skills transfer’ comes to mind... the mentor imparting particular ministry skills to the mentee. Overlooked in that thought is the deep need for shepherding and pastoral care. More specifically, when it comes to being shepherded and receiving pastoral care, most pastors do not have anyone to watch over them, providing care, support, encouragement and nurturing.  As pastors continually expend themselves in caring for their congregations, they find themselves running towards empty from always giving and never receiving.

If you find that you give and give, and don’t receive pastoral care yourself, you need Pastoring of Pastors. Pastoring of Pastors, or POP, is a Biblical proposal that puts an END to the LONELINESS of pastors, leaders and their spouses! This happens through horizontal, committed and healthy relationships in an informal and safe environment. POP is small groups of pastors and spouses walking together in a regular, interdependent and intentional way for the promotion of:
Personalised Care
Unconditional Support
Spiritual Covering
and Development of lives and ministries.

In Brazil, thousands of pastoral couples are experiencing health in their relationships through Pastoring of Pastors. In Africa, the vision of Pastoring of Pastors began in 2000 and there are already many groups in various countries across the continent. This is your opportunity to begin receiving care!