Shepherding the Sheep - The Bible and the Church through the ages have used the image of shepherd and flock to describe God and his people, and church (or synagogue) leaders and their congregations. Examples include: Numbers 27.17; Psalm 23; Isaiah 40.11; Ezekiel 34.10; John 10.11; Acts 20.28 and 1 Peter 5.2. 'Pastor' of course means 'shepherd'. Pastoral care, therefore, means taking care of the flock in every sense: searching for the lost, nursing the sick, nurturing the young, making sure they all get good food, and leading them to where they should be (whether they like it or not!). The Church has followed many different models of pastoral care. Sometimes these styles of pastoring have had great success, and sometimes (as more recently in Europe) they appear to have failed.
It was better then! - It is often said that all would be well 'if we only had vicars like they used to be'. In fact there were various models for a vicar in the past; some are no longer possible, and some may not be desirable. 50 years ago, most vicars served in a small country parish, a few served in large or very large city parishes. These two types of parish produced very different sorts of vicar.
The 'village vicar' usually worked on his own with just one church. A parish could have about 300 people (sometimes less!). This would mean approximately 6 funerals, 6 baptisms and 3 weddings per year. The vicar would have taught weekly in the (single class) village school. Everyone received personal attention from the vicar, who knew all about every parishioner, whether they attended church or not (most did, even if only twice a year) and whether they wanted him to know or not. The vicar's duties left plenty of time to write books, or build model railways, and to take tea with the Women's Institute. This pattern was true for most villages well into the 1950's. To sum up: clergy to parishioner ratio 1:300 (or better) - pastoral relationships personal and time intensive - basic workload light.
The 'urban vicar' usually worked with a team of curates, and more than one church. A parish could have a population of 20,000 (or more). There would be at least 8 funerals 7 baptisms and 4 weddings per week. At Wombwell (where I served in the 1980's) in the 1930's, funerals were done in bulk, daily at 3.30pm; a curate went to the cemetery gate and took any funerals waiting there, saying the service as he walked down the cemetery path. Baptisms were in bulk, on Tuesdays at 7.00pm and Sundays at 3.30pm, and weddings, also in bulk, on Saturdays at 3.30pm (double price at any other time). No bookings were needed (the Verger arranged wedding banns), there were no wedding rehearsals, no pre-funeral visits, no baptism preparations, etc. The Rector was an aloof figure, only approachable by a churchwarden. The Rector and curates did no teaching at any of the schools. The church school pupils walked (3 miles) to the parish church every Ash Wednesday and Ascension Day and sometimes at Easter, Harvest or Christmas. The Rector was frequently occupied with diocesan business, etc. leaving very little time for other interests in or outside the parish. Most pastoral work was done by the curates, parish visitors, Bible class leaders, readers, or the full time - paid Verger (who, unlike the Rector, lived opposite the church). At best around 10% of the population attended church (by 1960 well under 1%). Most people would never have spoken to the Rector, though many would have seen him present, or presiding, at official functions. In summary: clergy to parishioner ratio 1:6000 (or worse) - pastoral relationships impersonal and time saving - basic workload heavy.
Today, the majority of clergy still work in rural parishes. However, the number of clergy has fallen (to under half what it once was), while the population has grown. There have been many changes in both town and countryside. What is expected of clergy is also changing, but not necessarily in step with other changes, or even in a similar direction.
What all these changes might mean for us, is our topic in the next magazine.
Richard Pamplin