shepherding

As I wrote in the blog post several weeks ago regarding congregations working together in a catechumenate, a joint catechumenate expands the pastoral and ministerial resources with two or more pastors and ministerial associates leading the catechumenate together. This mitigates against the demands of time and energy for the pastors and coalesces the imaginative, planning, and teaching gifts of all those involved. Within such a vision one of the challenges is coordinating pastoral care and oversight for the catechumens—the shepherding of the catechumens. The origin of responsibility for nurturing the catechumens is with the pastors. As Paul encourages the pastors in Acts 20:28, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” A pastor has primary responsibility within his congregation for the catechumens that the congregation incorporates into their life together. It is critical that he build a pastoral relationship with them individually. That cannot devolve only onto the other pastors. Especially so since the nurturing is oriented toward life within that particular congregation. The catechumens are learning to life by faith within the particularity of that congregation’s way of life. The pastor of that congregation must ensure that happens. Even as catechumenal classes and formation are shared responsibilities, it is important for pastors to arrange times to “meet” with the catechumens of his congregation. These don’t need to be formal. It could be through regular contact by phone, email, text, or other forms of social media. It could be through meeting at a coffee shop occasionally. Or it could be some kind of regular gathering with the pastor. Establishing and maintaining the personal, pastoral relationship is vital.

Yet, in a collaborative catechumenate the pastor is not solely responsible for pastoral oversight and nurture. As we discovered in all the congregations explored in our book Journey to Jesus, but especially at St. John, Wheaton, Illinois, the pastors nurturing of the catechumens is a practice that permeates the entire congregation. The members own and share that responsibility as a community. As Paul says in Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” God’s mission to his creation is one and is shared by the one church of Christ. The shepherding of the catechumens is shared by the entire congregation and by all the pastors and congregations in a collaborative catechumenate. All are responsible for nurturing the catechumens’ faith. For this practice of shared pastoral responsibility to take form necessitates a unified catechumenal vision among the pastors and congregations. Pastors need to be in regular communication with one another about the catechumens and their newly-springing lives of faith. Catechists, sponsors, and members of the congregation actively involved in this responsibility need to regularly communicate with the pastors and with one another about the growth and the challenges to growth in faith of the catechumens. Healthy communication is central to this shepherding task. But the result of such a collaborative approach to pastoral care is as Luke describes in Acts 15 regarding the conversion of the Gentiles: it “brought great joy to all the brothers,” and sisters!

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Photo by Kent Burreson
Façade of Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris