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Nurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care in the Twenty-First Century
Trends and skills for those who offer pastoral care. Christian pastoral care has changed a great deal in the past few decades in response to many factors in our rapidly changing world. In part 1 of Nurturing Hope, Lynne Baab discusses seven trends in pastoral care--shifts in who delivers pastoral care, the attitudes and commitments that undergird pastoral care, and societal trends that are shaping pastoral care today. She illustrates them with stories from diverse congregations where Christian caregivers are meeting those challenges in creative and exciting ways.In the second half of the book, Baab presents four practical, doable, energizing skills needed by pastoral carers in our time. Focusing on skills that help carers nurture connections between everyday life and Christian faith, she explores the need for carers to understand common stressors, listen, pray with others, and nurture their personal resilience.Grounded in an understanding of God as the true caregiver and healer, the author offers tips for readers who are training other pastoral carers or developing their own understanding and skills. Each chapter ends with discussion and reflection questions, making the book helpful for groups.Lynne Baab brings readers hope for their caring role and for their own spiritual journey.
217 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2018
20 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Lynne M. Baab
29 books9 followersI was born in Washington, DC, and moved at 18 months to Athens, Greece. That would be the first of 12 moves in my first 15 years. My dad was in the military. Two of the few constants in my life were church attendance and reading.
As a kid I loved Nancy Drew, the Little House on the Prairie books, and the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. Probably my most favorite were the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. Betsy was so sure she would be a writer when she grew up, and I thought I'd like to do that too.
My writing career began in earnest at midlife. I've read a lot of biographies of writers, and they seem either to start young (like Georgette Heyer who wrote her first book as a teenager) or at midlife. I did write a couple magazine articles in my twenties and a couple more in my thirties, but I started focusing on writing in my late thirties.
It took me a year to write my first short story ("A Garden of Living Water," the title story in my collection of short stories published for kindle). in my late thirties, I wrote a handful of short stories, mostly focused on themes of "what am I going to be after being a stay at home mom"). In my early forties, I wrote four novels. I have recently published two of them for kindle ("Dead Sea" and "Deadly Murmurs").
I was 45 when I got my first book contract (for "Personality Type in Congregations"). More books followed every year or two after that. Every one of them is precious to me. Equally precious are the three Bible study guides I wrote, for which my husband, Dave, did the background research into each biblical passage. It was fun to work with him. My Bible study guides are "Sabbath," "Prayers of the New Testament," and "Prayers of the Old Testament."
My strongest selling books are "Sabbath Keeping" (which has been chosen to be a "book of the day" at the Urbana Conference December 2018), "Fasting," and "Personality Type in Congregation." My latest book focuses on Christian care, "Nurturing Hope." It's the first book I've ever been asked to write, and it's the "anchor volume" for a series of books on pastoral care.
Dave and I live in Seattle, and our two sons live here, too. One of them is married and the father of our beloved granddaughter. Our other son is a journalist with the Huffington Post, writing long and interesting articles using the pen name Michael Hobbes. It's easy to find his articles online because they are read by millions of readers. It is a thrill to have a writer son with such a big audience.
The topics of my books continue to be very real in my own life. I keep a weekly Sabbath, and I engage in a variety of Christian spiritual practices. I try to care for the people God puts in my path.
Thanks for reading my books. I am deeply aware of the privilege of being a writer, and writers depend on readers. Please visit my website where I blog every week: lynnebaab.com.
As a kid I loved Nancy Drew, the Little House on the Prairie books, and the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. Probably my most favorite were the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. Betsy was so sure she would be a writer when she grew up, and I thought I'd like to do that too.
My writing career began in earnest at midlife. I've read a lot of biographies of writers, and they seem either to start young (like Georgette Heyer who wrote her first book as a teenager) or at midlife. I did write a couple magazine articles in my twenties and a couple more in my thirties, but I started focusing on writing in my late thirties.
It took me a year to write my first short story ("A Garden of Living Water," the title story in my collection of short stories published for kindle). in my late thirties, I wrote a handful of short stories, mostly focused on themes of "what am I going to be after being a stay at home mom"). In my early forties, I wrote four novels. I have recently published two of them for kindle ("Dead Sea" and "Deadly Murmurs").
I was 45 when I got my first book contract (for "Personality Type in Congregations"). More books followed every year or two after that. Every one of them is precious to me. Equally precious are the three Bible study guides I wrote, for which my husband, Dave, did the background research into each biblical passage. It was fun to work with him. My Bible study guides are "Sabbath," "Prayers of the New Testament," and "Prayers of the Old Testament."
My strongest selling books are "Sabbath Keeping" (which has been chosen to be a "book of the day" at the Urbana Conference December 2018), "Fasting," and "Personality Type in Congregation." My latest book focuses on Christian care, "Nurturing Hope." It's the first book I've ever been asked to write, and it's the "anchor volume" for a series of books on pastoral care.
Dave and I live in Seattle, and our two sons live here, too. One of them is married and the father of our beloved granddaughter. Our other son is a journalist with the Huffington Post, writing long and interesting articles using the pen name Michael Hobbes. It's easy to find his articles online because they are read by millions of readers. It is a thrill to have a writer son with such a big audience.
The topics of my books continue to be very real in my own life. I keep a weekly Sabbath, and I engage in a variety of Christian spiritual practices. I try to care for the people God puts in my path.
Thanks for reading my books. I am deeply aware of the privilege of being a writer, and writers depend on readers. Please visit my website where I blog every week: lynnebaab.com.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 10, 2018
Lynne M. Baab's new book is practical, well researched, and spiritually rich. She does a good job offering a survey of scientific and cultural findings on the topic of pastoral care. I appreciated the questions for reflection and list of resources at the end of each chapter. It's clear that she has read widely and she draws on a deep reservoir of experiences, conversations with others, and other writers to make her case. My favorite chapters were on old/new sources of stress and listening skills. I am grateful for Baab's expansive definition of pastoral care: it is about healing, sustaining, guiding, reconciling, nurturing, liberating, and empowering, and it's often done by non-ordained individuals or teams of people. Baab's books have definitely helped me be a better pastor.
I received a free copy of the book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
I received a free copy of the book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
December 31, 2020
An accessible overview. Practical for pastors and lay leaders.
August 20, 2018
This is the second book I've read by Lynne Baab and definitely not my last! One of my favorite things about Baab’s writing is her constant reminder of God's presence with us in every situation. There is not a place I could go or a person I could meet with where God is not with me. All ministry and pastoral care should flow out of this mindset.
Baab begins by reviewing the definition of pastoral care as it has changed throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty- first. She highlights a major shift from a pastoral counselor setting (e.g. individual receives counsel from a minister in his/her office) to one that is more organic, stating that “almost any congregational activity can have pastoral care components.” Baab encourages all pastoral carers to engage with others in ways that help them see where God is working in their everyday life. This view of pastoral care does not put the carer in the position of problem solver, but rather as creator of caring environments and relationships.
In the first few chapters Baab addresses topics such as lay pastoral care, the ministry of presence, and missional ministry. Each chapter ends with questions to be used in training sessions for pastoral carers. The questions are useful for brainstorming ideas and to encourage you to think through what it means to be a pastoral carer in your own life and ministry setting. I appreciated chapter seven’s discussion of carers as people who need care themselves. Part Two includes practical skills for carers. My favorite part in this section was chapter nine, “Listening Skills”. I found this chapter very helpful and full of sound wisdom in building skills as a listener.
This book is extremely practical and enjoyable to read - highly recommended for both women and men serving in pastoral and lay ministries.
Baab begins by reviewing the definition of pastoral care as it has changed throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty- first. She highlights a major shift from a pastoral counselor setting (e.g. individual receives counsel from a minister in his/her office) to one that is more organic, stating that “almost any congregational activity can have pastoral care components.” Baab encourages all pastoral carers to engage with others in ways that help them see where God is working in their everyday life. This view of pastoral care does not put the carer in the position of problem solver, but rather as creator of caring environments and relationships.
In the first few chapters Baab addresses topics such as lay pastoral care, the ministry of presence, and missional ministry. Each chapter ends with questions to be used in training sessions for pastoral carers. The questions are useful for brainstorming ideas and to encourage you to think through what it means to be a pastoral carer in your own life and ministry setting. I appreciated chapter seven’s discussion of carers as people who need care themselves. Part Two includes practical skills for carers. My favorite part in this section was chapter nine, “Listening Skills”. I found this chapter very helpful and full of sound wisdom in building skills as a listener.
This book is extremely practical and enjoyable to read - highly recommended for both women and men serving in pastoral and lay ministries.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews