Practical Pastoral Care
Australian College of Theology name: Lay Ministries Field Education
Experiential-based supervised learning through observation, participation and reflection related to at least one major area of individual and/or corporate ministries experienced and engaged in by Christians.
Aim
1. To provide you with the opportunity to be exposed to ministry within a local congregation and/or in the wider community;
2. To enable you to reflect upon personal life and ministry from a Christian perspective.
Content
1. Understanding the action/reflection model in Pastoral Care
2. The significance of the use of questions and listening
3. The nine needs of the dying, six losses and the four tasks of mourning
4. Spiritual assessment models that help develop more effective caring
5. Theological reflection and Pastoral Care
6. Understanding boundaries in Pastoral Care
7. Practical experience in your parish, prison, hospital, community, etc
8. Opportunity to reflect on your own ministry
Outline
1. A total of not less than 100 hours' experience-based learning, including
(a) Keeping a personal daily journal for at least one month, together with a written reflection upon the ministry experiences of daily life during that time;
(b) Observation and participation in some aspects of lay ministries undertaken in a local congregation, involving at least 50 hours' active work by you;
OR
2. Observation and participation in ministries undertaken in the wider community, which involve Christians (e.g. state school councils, homeless care, sports/leisure ministries, food co-operatives), involving not less than 50 hours' active work by you.
Note: You may wish to choose 50 hours from the first section and 50 from the second.
In each case -
(a) Appropriate supervised reflection, including written verbatims, is to be undertaken by you, and voluntary support groups utilised to provide peer feedback and support;
(b) You are to identify and evaluate the support structures used;
(c) You are to identify ways in which personal relationships and community structures were related to the life of the local congregation concerned.
(Note the minimum 50 hours active work should be supplemented by a minimum 50 hours of observation/reflection upon active work to achieve the 100 hour experienced based limit for the subject.)
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