Getting started as a Pastoral Visitor

Methodism has always organised itself around the spiritual and pastoral needs of people. One of the key early roles in Methodism was that of ‘class leaders’ who enabled small groups to ‘watch over each other in love’. The class leader role still exists in places where there are small groups that meet, but in many places these have developed into pastoral visitor roles where some people take on the responsibility of pastorally and spiritually caring for a small number of people in their local church, working in collaboration with the minister.

John Wesley organised these groups of mutual care to encourage people to consider how things are with their soul. He wanted groups and individuals to get to the heart of spirituality and not avoid the deeper questions. We see this happening today where we can easily answer the question, “How are you?” with a response that glosses over any deeper things. Methodist pastoral care has always been about the deeper realities of life and our relationship with God, where we are mutually open to transformation through God’s grace in pursuit of holiness.

Pastoral visitors and class leaders have a key responsibility in supporting the discipleship of the people they care for. In the list of responsibilities set out in Constitutional Practice and Discipline (CPD), they are required “to encourage members to fulfil their commitments as set out on the ticket of membership, and where appropriate to encourage others to consider the claims of membership.” (SO 631 (1)(iv))

The membership ticket for Methodist members states the following:

As a member of the Methodist Church I am called to:

• worship within the local church, including regular sharing in Holy Communion, and through personal prayer
• learning and caring, through Bible study and meeting for fellowship, so that I may grow in faith and support of others in their discipleship
• service, by being a good neighbour in the community, challenging injustice and using my resources to support the Church in its mission in the world
• evangelism, through working out my faith in daily life and sharing Christ with others.

A Methodist Way of Life and associated resources are designed to support these four areas, each area being divided into three commitments to make the twelve commitments of a Methodist Way of Life. Therefore, in fulfilling duties as a pastoral visitor or class leader, A Methodist Way of Life may be just the ticket!

Ideas to try

Every context and church community is different. The most appropriate ideas will be the ones that are authentic for the people and place you’re in. Here are a few ideas to consider – more can be found on the pages for each commitment, and on the MWOL resources page (including a series of service outlines).

Give each of the people you oversee a copy of a Methodist Way of Life Pocket Guide and use the questions to spark conversation.

• Focus on one question each time you meet, rather than trying to cover lots of questions – help the conversation to go deeper. Don’t feel you have to choose the questions either, maybe ask the person/people you’re caring for to choose one they’d like to focus in on.
• Focus on celebrating and affirming – which commitments do they feel they’ve done well with recently? Is there one they’re feeling frustrated or guilty about? Always focus on God’s grace and help them to let go of unhealthy feelings about shortcomings and to recognise God’s love in the midst of our messy lives.
• Listen well, but be willing to share your own responses to the commitments and questions. It can be difficult for one person to be vulnerable in front of another, but shared vulnerability can be powerful.
• Explore the resources for a Methodist Way of Life on Methodist Publishing and use them to focus pastoral and spiritual care in your conversations. Maybe use the coaster when having a cuppa with them or give them a badge as a prompt in their reflections.
• Use a Methodist Way of Life Examen in the Prayer Handbook as a way of praying together and encourage them to regularly use it in their daily prayers to reflect on their discipleship journey.

The Evangelism and Growth team of the Methodist Church run events and webinars throughout the year for individuals and church leaders to explore what A Methodist Way of Life means for your community, including ‘Rural and Rooted’, a series for rural churches.