Perception

Perception

Introduction

Pastoral care is considered to be the ministry of care as well as the counseling provided by the chaplains, pastors and other religious leader to the members of the congregation and the church. Furthermore, the counseling may also be provided to people of all faiths and no one within the institutional settings. The range of pastoral may range from formal counseling as well as visiting homes by pastors. These pastors are known to be licensed officials for providing the services of counseling. This may also be known as the spiritual care. On the other hand, the practice of the pastors refers to application of an idea or using it when providing spiritual guidance or motivating someone to come closer to the way of the God (Lynch, G., 2002). This may be in the form of teaching, spiritual formation, in liturgy as well as counseling. The term of pastoral care can also be applied when the people offer care and help to other people within their churches or communities. This is the general sense of pastoral care and its application may also be connected to listening, supporting, befriending as well as encouraging. Generally, the application of the term could be attached to ensuring social as well as personal well being of students along with the other children under the teachers care. It encompasses a wide variety of issues including moral or social education, health, emotional support as well as behavior management. The usages of these practices are commonly witnessed in the United Kingdom. Other than the United Kingdom, the application is also commonly practiced in Common wealth countries which include New Zealand and Australia where it may also be used for the support of student services at the level of the university (Lester, A. D., 1995).

Discussion

In the book In Living Color by Emmanuel Lartey, she has successfully been able to highlight an academic piece of work which tends to addressing the activities of counseling as well as postal care from the inter cultural perspectives. He has also managed to include observations which are considered historical along with the present practices and the issues which are related to spirituality from a multiplicity of geographic and ethnic sources within the text. At first glance, an individual might not be able to realize the relevance of the theme of Lartey's pastoral care which tends to be intercultural. It states that the world is becoming smaller every day as various individuals belonging to different backgrounds and cultural groups come together and have now even become neighbors. This is not seen as an exception, rather it is considered as a norm. Focused concentration on this phenomenon which is known to be demographic would only tend to help the people as in numerous local contexts, they would seek out to preach the global community.

The author has had an enthusiastic longing and interest for showing genuine care to all the people in the interpersonal dealings. This is highlighted in the introduction of the book as he states that ...