Pastoral Care at Living Word

God created a good and beautiful world that has been marred by humankind’s sin and evil.

Our sin and evil as individuals, communities, and cultures bring death, suffering, and grief to the world. Salvation is God’s solution.

Salvation is God’s work from beginning to end, accomplished once for all uniquely by Jesus through his death and bodily resurrection.

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. We are known, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified by the power, grace, love, and life of Jesus.

God the Holy Spirit leads us to daily say yes to Jesus, spend time with Jesus, and love like Jesus, resulting in a life transformed by God’s grace: a life that, gradually over time, increasingly radiates love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control as we point others to Jesus and bring glory to God our Father in heaven.

Humans are embodied living souls who grow and are formed eternally.

This formation of our inner person – our heart, mind, will, emotions, desires, priorities, values, and habits – is what Christians call spiritual growth.

Everyone is growing in the sense that everyone is being formed by people, choices, conditions, and culture – even by the times and places in which we live.

Followers of Jesus seek to be formed chiefly by the saving work of God the Son (Jesus) through the ongoing work of God the Holy Spirit to bring glory to God the Father.

We choose, both individually and in community, to let our being, thinking, doing, relationships, work, and legacy be shaped chiefly by God who is most fully revealed to us in the Person, Word, and Work of Jesus Christ.

The question is not will you grow spiritually; the questions are: how will you grow? And who will you become?

Will you become more like Jesus: filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control?

Words on their own cannot encapsulate, honor, or do justice to the horror, pain, and weight we face in suffering, loss, and trauma.

Jesus is known as the “Man of Sorrows” because he himself was despised, rejected, dishonored, shamed, humiliated, forsaken, betrayed, assaulted, abandoned, and tortured beyond belief.

There are as many variations on suffering as there are experiences and situations that we can go through.
Jesus never intended us to try to “spiritualize away,” ignore, or hurry through our pain.

Instead, Jesus, familiar with suffering, chooses to silently meet us in our pain, sorrow, and devastation, knowing that what we need most is His Presence.

Additionally, it is vital that we choose community rather than withdrawal; that we let loved ones and trusted others in, instead of shutting them out.

What often surprises, sometimes even offends us, is that among the same group of loved ones going through grief or suffering, it looks and sounds different from one person to the next.

However differently we grieve, we need Jesus, and we need one another.

Hardship, especially in the form of loss, grief, and trauma, reveals the current state (good or bad) of our own emotional and spiritual health and maturity.

Dealing with it head-on means taking off the mask and letting our loved ones and trusted others (professional counselors, pastors, mentors, teachers, etc.) guide us through the fog, the pain, the mountain of grief and loss.

There are many points at which couples begin thinking and wondering, then perhaps asking questions. You will change and grow over time, and so will your spouse.

Both you and the person you marry will continue to be formed as the seasons of life, love, and marriage go by. Success and hardship, infertility or children, happiness and devastation, health and sickness or even disability – these are all part of the journey.

Often, couples approach pastors either when they are considering getting married or when their marriage is experiencing trouble or stress.

Pastoral consultations considering marriage are fun conversations of confidentiality and intentional questions and exploration, as the couple figures out, are we ready for marriage? Should we get married? How do we take this next step? What things should we be sure to be discussing?
Often, couples who happen to be experiencing trouble or stress approach pastors for support.

• Perhaps your spouse became an addict of some sort, and their addiction – to work, to a substance, to some sort of extremely time-consuming hobby – is deeply hurting the marriage, the family, the household.
• Perhaps your spouse cheated on you, or won’t have important conversations with you.
• Perhaps there is a conflict about money.
• Maybe there is outright abuse.

Too often, individuals and couples wait far too long to get help, to remember they are on the same team, to make choices to heal, redeem, restore, and work on the marriage.
While there are a few situations where the marriage cannot or should not be saved, much of the time, when help is sought and both partners are willing to do what it takes to build the marriage, most marital issues can be overcome.

Often, marriages in trouble are referred to the Counseling Center after an initial session. Some couples may seek additional pastoral care sessions in addition to seeing a counselor.

The American Church in general has not done a great job investing, developing, loving, and including singles, for the simple excuse that historically, most of their attendees were married.

At Living Word, we seek to be a church where singles can, right alongside married couples, encounter Jesus together.
We are intentionally not seeking to be a dating service where singles can “meet.” Instead, we want singles to grow by saying yes to Jesus, spending time with Jesus, and loving like Jesus.

We want singles to find wholeness in Christ as a single. Only Christ can truly “complete” us.

We love when we can celebrate a new marriage, and we equally love when we can celebrate the joy of a single who learns the secret of being content in Christ, even in the midst of a prolonged portion of life where marriage and family are not, for that season, a part of the picture.
Singles at Living Word come in all shapes and sizes. Some are young, some are old; some are parents, and some have lost loved ones.

No matter your story, at Living Word, we believe Jesus invites singles to be a life-giving part of the Kingdom of God and the mission and work and purposes that God placed us here in York to accomplish.

Discipleship is for singles as much as for couples, for parents as much as for those who are not currently raising kids.

Sometimes, singles seek out pastoral care for guidance on a broad host of issues, and we would love to hear your story, to help you be seen, named, and known.

Raising future adult decision-makers is no small task, nor is it for a season.

Parenting is a life-long endeavor, though it does look and feel different depending on the ages and stages of our children, whether they are infants or adults in their own right raising their own households.

Parenting is the journey of a lifetime.

Parents seek out pastors for a host of reasons across the seasons of the parenting journey. How do I help my child follow Jesus? How do I communicate with my teen? I am really struggling with how my daughter is raising her kids; what do I do?

Parenting is filled with joys and setbacks, and the truth of the matter is, you are not alone.

The journey of parenting gives us a new window into the deep, deep love of God the Father for us, and how He has loved us in spite of our weakness, rebellion, failure, or distancing ourselves from his grace.

Many parents just need some pastoral guidance crafted for their particular family and will sit down a time or two with a pastor.

Some parents and families are facing heart-rending situations and seasons where professional counseling is needed.

At Living Word, we want you to know that you are not alone, that there is grace for parents and for children – including wayward children – and that Christ is greater and stronger than the obstacles, hurt, or hardship you may be facing.

Whether it is simply to strengthen your parenting or to address a particular issue, we encourage you to reach out to our pastoral staff for an appointment, or, as needed, to the Counseling Center.

Far too regularly, community members and people in the church come to pastors because they are the victims of trauma and/or abuse.

We want you to hear very clearly that it is not your fault, and that it is not OK to simply remain in a situation or setting where abuse or trauma is ongoing.

To be clear, pastors and counselors are mandated reporters and if we learn of a situation where a child is allegedly being traumatized or abused, we will promptly report that situation and the information we have to the authorities.

Our chief desire as pastors is both

• for you to experience Christ walking with you through your suffering and healing
• for you to be safe physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

We will seek to appropriately help you enlist the aid of subject matter experts and professionals (medical doctors, professional counselors, police, etc.).

We will pray with you and for you, desiring and seeking both your short-term and long-term healing.

During times of major life transitions, people often seek out pastoral guidance, prayer, or wisdom as they think through their particular situation.

Medical diagnosis, retirement, loss, relocation, considering a new career, and many other types of situations lead people into a phase of major life transition.

We welcome and encourage you to seek out our pastors for care, prayer, and a pathway to connect more deeply with Jesus throughout the transition as you seek His leadership.

Seasons of transition can really throw off your regular practices and rhythms as an apprentice of Jesus.
Yet it is in these seasons that encountering Jesus together is more vital than ever.

Do not try to do this alone.

Seek wise counsel from trusted followers of Jesus who have a real depth and maturity in their spiritual walk with Christ.

Pray and study the words, ways, and loves of Jesus, and grant extra space in your heart and routine for God to love and lead you.

Above all, do not succumb to the temptation to be in a rush. While you may be busy, you do not need to be hurried.

Depression and Anxiety are rampant in our families and culture today.

You are not alone.

At the same time, your particular suffering and trial is unique to your life, your family, your situation, your personality.

Our pastors would love the opportunity to see, name, and know you, and to pray with you and for you.

We want you to know that Jesus sees and hears you.

No matter what it feels like, Jesus is greater and stronger and able to help you both in and through your depression and anxiety.

We also know that in many, many cases of severe depression and anxiety, more than pastoral care is needed.

We urge and encourage you to reach out both to the Counseling Center and to your primary care physician. Please let both medical and mental health professionals know what you are going through.

You are not a problem to be fixed; you are a person to be loved. And our desire is for your healing, for you to choose community over isolation, and to see you encounter the God of hope.