Getting started
So, you're about to get into a personal pastoring relationship? What is it all about and how do you get the best out of it? In this short video Andy O'Connell (one of the elders) explores
- Personal pastoring as one-to-one support and mentoring
- The place of care and challenge in growth
- Build a good relationship in pastoring
- Looking at the ABC - actions, beliefs and character - of growth
- Getting started in personal pastoring in OCC
To find our more please email the pastoral team on @email, or if you're a student, email @email
Supporting volunteer personal pastors
Our approach to pastoral care is to enable a network of volunteer pastors, with appropriate training and ongoing support. This approach most readily enables good pastoral care for the whole church, rather than centring pastoral care on a few paid staff.
Within this approach, how does confidentiality work? When we establish new pastoral relationships, we explain that the personal pastor is free, as necessary, to ask their own personal pastor, the pastoral team or one of the elders/Pastors for support or advice, or to refer (by agreement) someone on for more specialist support if required. All these conversations are in confidence. Very rarely, we may need to refer a matter to the OCC safeguarding lead (if it concerns risk to children or vulnerable adults) or even the police (if it concerns illegal behaviour). Pastoral care of under-18s or vulnerable adults is subject to rigorous safeguards under our Safeguarding policy and procedures.
For more on being a disciple and personal pastoring, including teaching from 2 Timothy, listen to this talk from our Autumn 2019 series Forged.