One interesting thing, that may or may not be a red herring with regard to pastoral care, was the male/female ratio on the course. Out of 36 attending the seminar, only 4 0r 5 were men (I didn't do an absolute head count). Does this mean that most of the pastoral care is actually done by women in the church? Is that a bad thing? Is it appropriate? Are male ministers more inclined to view pastoral care as an element of ministry but not the focus of ministry?
Of course this is not a detailed survey. I don't know how many of the women present at the day were either the ministers/ senior leaders in their respective churches or part of the leadership team and called specifically because pastoral care is their primary gift. Let's try and avoid stereotyping people. It was just the apparent imbalance that caught my attention.
Maybe it's a positive thing that churches are developing pastoral care models and structures that no longer rely upon a single, ordained leader do everything. It would seem to me that a healthy church will have a diversity of ministry across the leadership rather than a single leader doing everything. It also naturally opens the door to leadership to people who don't have the traditional gifts associated with church leadership, but who nonetheless are called and equipped to lead the church. Perhaps even better equipped.
Thinking about Alan Hirsch's Ephesians 4 paradigm, even if you still have a hierarchical approach to leadership, the senior leader could be any of the five types he mentions without isolating or minimising the others.
I just hope that the lack of men at yesterday's seminar doesn't mean that men have abdicated their responsibility to care.
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