Pastoral Care

Stacey Edwards-Dunn on African American Infertility and the Church’s Response

People experiencing infertility often suffer in silence. African Americans experience more infertility than other racial groups. But churches can offer healing when they open the door for conversations and include these sorrows in worship.

April 24, 2020
Recursos para iglesias en tiempos de coronavirus

Debido a la reciente pandemia COVID-19, iglesias y comunidades de adoración han sido forzadas a implementar medidas de aislamiento social y nuevas prácticas de adoración. Los siguientes recursos han sido recopilados de diferentes organizaciones, profesionales y artistas, y representan una variedad de respuestas para el ministerio cristiano en este nuevo contexto, con énfasis en el ministerio de adoración.

April 21, 2020

Dennis R. Edwards on 1 Peter and Good Shepherd Sunday

For lectionary Year A, Good Shepherd Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter, includes a reading from 1 Peter. New Testament scholar Dennis R. Edwards explains why Peter’s first letter is especially relevant as people deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

April 14, 2020
Shaping Worship During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Sparking New Connections at New Mount Zion Baptist Church, Roxboro, North Carolina

Like many congregations, New Mount Zion Baptist Church has people with varying abilities, incomes, and technology access. In this edited conversation, LaTonya McIver Penny shares how to use a mix of digital and old-fashioned ways to help worshipers and community members stay connected.

April 14, 2020
Spiritual First Aid during a Time of Crisis

Drawing from her past experience of shelter-in-place in Central African Republic, Ann Plantinga Kapteyn offers insights and resources for coping with trauma during COVID-19 pandemic.

April 9, 2020

Shaping Worship During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Ministry of Presence at St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church, Roseville, California

Greek Orthodox Christian worship is consciously embodied. Christopher Flesoras, a Greek Orthodox priest, discusses pastoral discernment for serving the faithful when public health needs require social distancing, also known as physical distancing.

April 7, 2020
Matthew Watson and Justin Fung on Neighborhood Spiritual Histories

Both church planters and established congregations can explore spiritual histories of their church neighborhoods. This helps them better communicate the gospel in the places where God calls them to serve.

April 3, 2020

Shaping Worship During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Livestream at Christian & Missionary Alliance Churches in Hong Kong

Yvette Lau explains how Christian & Missionary Alliance churches in Hong Kong are deciding whether or how to do virtual worship or even virtual communion. In this edited conversation, she suggests that worship planners consider what will be communal, hospitable, and beneficial to the whole community—during and after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

April 1, 2020
Shaping Worship During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Multicultural Community at Proskuneo Ministries, Clarkston, Georgia

In this edited conversation, Jaewoo "Jay" Kim says that Proskuneo Ministries "deeply holds to theological convictions and practices of embodied worship." Stay-at-home pandemic orders have upended their typical worship gatherings, but virtual worship doesn't fit who they are as a multicultural worshiping community.

April 1, 2020
Trauma-Informed Care in Church Worship and Life

This topic showcase highlights resources to help churches use trauma-informed practices in church worship and congregational life. Faith communities are more effective when they become more aware of adverse childhood experiences, collective trauma, and other tragedy.

March 24, 2020