Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer's Position Worse

Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer’s Position Worse
Job 33 1-33

A woman came to see me a little while ago to talk about an occasion when she had been given pastoral care by some people, and she said the occasion had left her disturbed for years. I knew her to be an intelligent and gifted person but someone lacking in self-confidence, and in the process of these people’s pastoring, she realized that her lack of confidence stemmed from a tricky upbringing that included her parents’ divorce when she was quite young. The people who were going to pray with her about her personal needs believed that she was possessed by various demons and so spent the evening exorcising them. She found this a disturbing experience, which would be reasonable whatever one believes about the realities it assumes. She also did not find it to be a liberating experience. If anything, over the years that have followed it has held her back in her vision or expectations of God’s involvement in her life and in her understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives...