Pastoral Care Foundation Course
PASTORAL CARE FOUNDATION COURSE
Introduction
The ACC Pastoral Care Foundation Course is designed to reach across the breadth of pastoral care offered by Christians. It is a development of the acclaimed ACC Pastoral Skills Course that has been available for the past four years.
The need for pastoral care has never been greater and Church leader’s resources never more stretched. Many members of the Church show the love of Jesus to others in pastoral ways but would benefit from some guidance in how to be more effective in this. The ACC Pastoral Care Foundation Course aims to develop those with a heart for pastoral care, helping them be enabled to release the hands, feet and voice of Jesus into their local communities.
The new course recognises the value of collective wisdom to which we can all contribute, and from which we can all gain. It has been designed and developed to embrace the sharing of our experiences and can be used to develop individuals, pastoral care teams, leaders, specific groups and congregations.
Course Aim
To enable Course Members to develop their understanding of pastoral care from a Christian perspective and to become more effective in relating to and caring for the people and communities around them.
Who is it for?
It is suitable for a wide range of people who have a heart for Christ-centred pastoral care as well as those who have clear pastoral responsibilities - they include those who:
- see themselves helping others informally in their daily relationships and who desire to learn more about pastoral care generally without being part of a pastoral care team
- may be members of a pastoral care team and who desire to learn more about pastoral care in order to help others both informally and in more formal planned times
- are in church leadership or who have specific church roles and who desire to develop their awareness of pastoral care in order to support those for whom they have responsibility
- wish to help others in specific community and workplace settings and desire to learn more about pastoral care in outreach and mission
- desire to explore and pursue a call to pastoral care
Planned Learning Outcomes
The course is designed to help Course Members:
- develop an understanding of pastoral care from a Christian perspective
- develop an understanding of the various dimensions of human need
- understand the nature of a caring relationship from a Christian perspective and define the personal qualities necessary to build this
- acquire and develop appropriate listening and responding skills
- identify and know how to access and utilise relevant personal, spiritual and community resources
- identify and understand principles of spiritual, emotional, physical and sexual safety within the context of pastoral care, and know how to apply these principles in caring relationships
- reflect on learning and how it might be applied in a pastoral care context
- identify areas where further growth and development would be beneficial
Who can run the course?
The course is designed so it can be led by anyone who is able to train / facilitate in a learning group context and who has relevant understanding and experience of pastoral care. This could be church leaders, pastoral team leaders, youth leaders, independent trainers, Bible college trainers etc.
Course Structure
This is a 40 hour training course comprising 20 hours of led group sessions and 20 hours personal reflection work which includes reading, writing a book review and maintaining a learning journal.
The course material is divided into 10 sessions of 2 hours each which Course Leaders can modify to meet your own requirements e.g. 10 evening sessions or 3 Friday evenings / Saturday day time combinations, or 4 Saturdays
Course Content:
Session 1 Introduction
Session 2 Biblical Perspective
Session 3 Human Need
Session 4 The Caring Relationship
Session 5 Listening to Self and God
Session 6 Listening to Others (1)
Session 7 Listening to Others (2)
Session 8 Safe Practice
Session 9 Resources
Session 10 Going Out and Close
Training Methods
The course is primarily interactive and experiential and is designed to involve:
- discussion groups
- small group interactive exercises
- demonstration by Course Leaders
- presentation of ideas by Course Leaders
- handouts (built up during the course to form a Course Member’s Folder)
- personal reflection including keeping a Journal
- reading and reviewing a relevant book
- prayer
What’s in the box?
The course comes on a CD and contains everything required to deliver the training:
Course Information Leaflet, Poster, Application Form templates – can be modified and used to help you advertise the course- Comprehensive Course Leader’s Guide - help with setting up, administering and running the course
- Course Leader’s Manual – Session Notes and Resource sheets to enable you to run each session of the course
- Course Leader’s Journal and Book Review Guide
- Presentation slides to support each session - both a PowerPoint version and a set of OHP masters that can be used to produce slides if preferred
- Course Welcome Pack and Welcome Letter template – designed to help Course Members prepare for taking part in the course
- Session Handouts for Course Members - these will build up throughout the course into a helpful resource for Course Members
- Certificate template - can be reproduced and given to course members on completion of the course
What will it cost?
The CD can be purchased at the following prices:
- Standard price £125
- Affiliated Churches £100
- Upgrade from previous versions £65 – for those who have bought one of the previous versions of the course - offer available until the end of July 2010
- Training Agencies and Independent Trainers who intend to derive either personal or corporate income from using the course – please contact ACC Head Office for prices and terms and conditions.
How to Purchase
You can buy on line or please contact head office on 0845 124 9569 or write enclosing payment to ACC 29, Momus Boulevard, Coventry. CV2 5NA (Remember to put full address details in for where you wish the course to be posted to).
If preferred we can invoice you, but be sure to say who to invoice if different from delivery address.
It would be appreciated if you could also let us have a contact number and/or an email address if you have no problem about us giving out your details to members of the public that may wish to join a Pastoral Skills Course within your area.
