Pastoral Care and Counseling in Large/Mega Congregations : Black Caribbeans’ Perception of Care in Cultural Diversity 9780761867302, 9780761867296

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Pastoral Care and Counseling in Large/Mega Congregations Black Caribbeans’ Perception of Care in Cultural Diversity Jean Beedoe

University Press of America,® Inc. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK

Copyright © 2016 by University Press of America,® Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 UPA Acquisitions Department (301) 459-3366 Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB, United Kingdom All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Control Number: 2015960100 ISBN: 978-0-7618-6729-6 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN: 978-0-7618-6730-2 (electronic) TM

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Training for me is a life-long journey, a process involving many types of people, relationships and situations. Therefore this book is dedicated to the following: My family: My parents, brothers, sisters, my daughter and extended family members in America and Jamaica who have proven to be crucial, even vital sources of my staying power. My Church community where God has seen fit to keep my feet to the fire and trained me through the pain and joys of growth and changes. All my clinical supervisors, professors and advisors who guided me, listened to me, probed my presentations, prodded me to find language to describe concepts, prayed with me and sent me back to do more . . . from them I have learned precepts of training and educating others. Thank God for the many places where God constantly showed up throughout this life-changing process.

Contents

Part One: Defining Pastoral-Care Needs in Large/Mega Congregations Chapter 1: Mandated Care of Congregations Chapter 2: Traditional Pastoral Care and Counseling Chapter 3: Pastoral-Care Response to Caribbean History and Culture Chapter 4: Pastoral Needs in Large/Mega Churches Chapter 5: The Learning Circle of the Study Chapter 6: The Congregations as Source for Dialogue

5 9 12 14

Part Two: The Cultural Aspects of Black Caribbeans in Three Congregations Chapter 1: Parables of Back Home Chapter 2: Defining Pastoral Care in Large/Mega Congregations Chapter 3: Pastoral-Care Theology of Black Caribbeans Chapter 4: Evaluations and Recommendations for Change Chapter 5: Towards Effective Pastoral Care

17 17 27 32 38 40

Part Three: Pastoral Care and Counseling in Cross-Cultural Needs of Congregations Chapter 1: Church as Pastoral-Care Unit and Mission Field Chapter 2: Towards Purposeful Pastoral Care and Counseling Chapter 3: Possibilities and Applications Chapter 4: The Future of Pastoral Care in Congregations Chapter 5: Hermeneutics of Pastoral Care Chapter 6: Framing a Theological Perspective Chapter 7: A Psychosocial Lens of Community Chapter 8: Cross-Cultural Impact on Pastoral Counseling Chapter 9: Racial and Cultural Identity Development Model

45 45 47 52 53 57 67 75 78 81

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Chapter 10: ACA Code of Ethics in Pastoral Care and Counseling Chapter 11: Cultural Ethics as Applied to Pastoral Care Chapter 12: Cross-Cultural Competency and Ethics Chapter 13: Values Clarification in Pastoral Care and Counseling Chapter 14: Pastoral-Care Aspects of Cultural Sensitivity Notes

83 85 89 91 93 95

Bibliography

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Index

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Part One: Defining Pastoral-Care Needs in Large/Mega Congregations

CHAPTER 1: MANDATED CARE OF CONGREGATIONS “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Ghost. Teach these new disciples to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And be sure of this, I am with you always even unto the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19, 20). 1

As church leaders, we may understand that church growth relates to the great commission given by Christ as He parted from the twelve disciples. Leaders with acute discernment realize that spreading the gospel message may incur quantity expansion of membership. George Peters, church leader and author, stated that it is out of the church’s “soteriological significance that concerns for church growth springs.” 2 Today the focus of church leadership styles is governed more by business interests than by biblical endeavors. 3 Some ministries find their genesis in their startup incentives to feed and clothe their ministers versus their congregants. To stay abreast of the times and contexts in which we live, the organization of some congregations with more than 250 members becomes more like that of commercially oriented companies than church communities. This shift causes some churches to adopt language and protocols that constantly allude to being in a business versus a worship setting. Elders become administrators or staff coordinators; visitors are interest-seekers; the sick and shut-ins become homebound associates. In many cases, small groups of lay leaders are assigned the task of overseeing the pastoral care functions of the church. Invariably, pastoral care 1

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and counseling may become the assignment of one whose training is focused in traditional pastoral or ministerial leadership. Thus, pastoral care and counseling are outside his/her ministry capacity. Ministers specializing in church growth and leadership may have a dearth of knowledge and experience working in areas of the dynamism of engaging the soul’s deep psychosocial and spiritual needs. In light of such concerns, it may seem that church growth should evolve from identification with God’s provision of salvation and interest in the welfare of all humanity. 4 The mandate, “feed my sheep” (John 21:15–17) is a commission that lies within the heart of caring for the needs of God’s people, which requires healing. In this endeavor, Christ is our example. Pastors and ministers are currently learning the valuable emerging factors pertaining to salvation, and that there is more to church growth and maintenance than the fear of hell or an idyllic desire for heaven. The welfare of all members must entail attention to their spiritual as well as their psychosocial needs. In the case of immigrant Black Caribbean congregants, many of them come to church primarily to have their spiritual needs met. Others come for fellowship and community with those of like beliefs, but invariably they also bring their needs for pastoral care and counseling. It is in the church that many marginalized, disenfranchised, and economically deprived individuals seek emotional refuge, social solutions, and mental courage. However, in large congregations like mega-churches, members with losses, pain, and suffering can often become invisible when church growth keeps the congregation in constant transitions that distract from urgent pastoral-care concerns. On the business end, churches function to grow and remain lucratively alive so that a wave of personal interest programs flourish to maintain congregation life. Programs range from the exclusively reflective to the trivial, theology to jazz, Shakespeare to fashion. These are provided in an attempt to be supportive of domestic education for children as well as other family members. Dealing with membership growth and stability is a constant struggle for the average congregation. As such, there are ongoing efforts to produce appropriate transitional events and pertinent solutions for attracting and maintaining members, and also for providing a variety of “spirited” programs as the congregation expands. 5 There seems to be more concerted interest in church growth and development than in pastoral care and counseling provision for migrating immigrants, such as Black Caribbeans, in mega churches. Although there are various authorities on church growth and development, no data seem readily available showing whether church-development leaders utilized their skills in support of pastoral care and counseling ministries offered to their congregations 6 and to incoming immigrants. So the questions arise: What are the ways through which pastoral counseling is offered to Black Caribbean members of large/mega churches? How are healing, sustaining, guiding, reconciling, nurturing, empowering, and lib-

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erating experienced? These questions came from my experience as a consultant pastoral-care counselor to individuals and families in large/mega churches. Therefore, the purpose of this Grounded Theory study was to discover the process of pastoral counseling and care provided within large/mega-churches with membership greater than five hundred. As a practical theologian, I started to develop an interest in the function of pastoral care and counseling in congregations. I counseled individuals in churches as a pastoral counselor and often wondered about the coordination of pastoral counseling to the church’s mission; whether it could be more intentionally integrated within the spiritual purpose and mission of congregations. More precisely, I wondered how Caribbeans perceived pastoral care and counseling as a process of their spiritual life. So, I chose to work with Caribbeans in congregations, since that is my heritage and the roots of my formation: a familiar place for me to start exploration. Besides, many local congregations of all denominations are comprised of a large percentage of English-speaking Black Caribbeans. CHAPTER 2: TRADITIONAL PASTORAL CARE AND COUNSELING William Clebsch and Charles Jaekle define pastoral care as “healing, sustaining, guiding and reconciling of people whose troubles proceeded from a context in which they question ultimate meanings and concerns about their life.” Their classical definition of pastoral care and counseling and the updated definition from Carroll Watkins Ali’s writing 7 laid the foundation for understanding the tradition of pastoral care and its intended functions. In spite of the traditional definitions, a closer look at church life may result in highlighting a variety of ways in which large congregations seem to interpret these pastoral-care criteria described in American church discipline. Many mega-churches introduce a variety of family-related educational classes and programs as church membership expands. Nevertheless, of the few researched articles on pastoral care and counseling offered in large/mega churches, none of these writings provide information as to whether pastoral care and counseling activities fell under the rubric of programs, or ministries to the congregation. Writings on the theme of pastoral care and counseling favored definitions of pastoral care and counseling derived from traditional American caregivers 8 in clinical institutional healthcare settings. Current expansion of the ideology and traditional definitions of terms suggest that the history of pastoral care and counseling is complex and inclusive. It is complex because the process of pastoral care and counseling involves various other human-rela-

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tionship disciplines beyond simply sharing scriptural comforts. Typically, pastoral care was focused on people who were sick in hospital beds, more distinctly in mental health divisions of those institutions. Ethical, moral, and spiritual care included an awareness of psychic and socio-cultural influences of interpersonal inter-subjectivity on the individual’s perception and wellbeing. 9 Today, pastoral care and counseling is inclusive, because it takes into consideration whole aspects of the personhood. To be beneficial to individuals and communities, it must include persons of diverse socio-cultural demographics and spiritual aspects of human life. Thus, pastoral counseling, like pastoral care, is important as one of many functions in ministry to congregations in which the pastoral relationship to Black Caribbean immigrant populations plays a dynamic role. Both pastoral care and counseling evolved out of an ideology of establishing the pastoral relationship with integrity, which guarantees that dimension of care which illustrates a metaphor of Christ in relationship to the congregant. 10 Authors who share their knowledge of pastoral care and counseling provide a cumulative agreement of definitions and terminologies that broaden and open up one’s understanding of what pastoral care means in a contemporary society such as ours. Pioneers like Seward Hiltner 11 distinguished pastoral care from pastoral counseling. However, Christian pastoral counseling by its very nature is not easily narrowed into simple cumulative skills. For this reason, Clebsch and Jaekle outlined a definition of pastoral counseling as “a ministry of the cure of the soul. This consists of helping acts which include healing, sustaining, guiding and reconciling of troubled persons whose psycho-social and spiritual needs arise in the context of ultimate search for understanding, meaning and concerns.” 12 The counseling acts become pastoral only if the seriousness of those issues are understood and interpreted with reference to Christian affirmations. Pastoral counseling as distinguished from pastoral care is the dimension of care-giving in which pastoral training of individuals is supplemented by training in concepts of transference and counter-transference. 13 It is said to be a relational style of engagement and tends to be a supportive, adaptive, reality-oriented approach that utilizes interpersonal and self-psychology theories. Emphasis is placed on the relational paradigm found in transference and counter-transference as a phenomenon of object relations. Pastoral-care theorists believe that all pastoral counselors work with the unconscious as well as the conscious dynamics in the therapeutic relationship. As such, some form of change and transformation is inevitable in the process of care-giving as well as care-receiving. In helping the individual to make the unconscious conscious, the bottom-line effort is put forward in therapeutic spaces, or sacred spaces, in an attempt to heal early childhood wounds and unhealthy pattern growth in the human life-cycle. 14 In my study, I adapted this definition and the restrictions that it entails to start working with three groups of

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Black Caribbean congregants and gather their perceptions of pastoral care and counseling within their churches. Utilizing some concepts of social-constructionist perspectives along with Grounded Theory, I reflected on the functions of pastoral counseling used by Clebsch and Jaekle: healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling, in conjunction with Watkins Ali’s healing, sustaining, guiding, reconciling, 15 nurturing, empowering, and liberating. 16 Then I noted whether the Black Caribbean groups expressed these functions as the traditional definitions. Thus, looking at care of congregations with Black Caribbean membership, I determined that this relationality of unconscious communication is a phenomenon that will invariably affect social, spiritual, and cultural re-constructions as it pertains to care in the healing process. Being in this state of acute openness, both pastoral care-giver and congregant are vulnerable. Most theologians would define pastoral care as the dimension of Christian ministry concerned distinctly with tending to the personal and interpersonal forms of human needs. Anton Boisen, the father of clinical pastoral education, stated that concrete experiences of pastoral care of living persons are sources of theological insights of equal importance to those of the historical text of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Here the emphasis is in valuing individuals’ personal experience, a hermeneutics of knowing pain and suffering. Pastoral-care concepts suggest that people who passed through transitional stages of life found solace with others of like transitions. Thus engaging with others enhanced healing. However, womanist 17 theologian Caroll Watkins Ali argues that pastoral care and counseling principles provisions must include facilitating survival and liberation of the physical body as well as the human spirit. 18 Boisen proclaims that the principles of pastoral care will always be an integral aspect of the psychosocial, as well as the soul’s salvation. 19 CHAPTER 3: PASTORAL-CARE RESPONSE TO CARIBBEAN HISTORY AND CULTURE Current government and other agencies concerned about immigration and displacement of individuals coming into American society influenced this study. Black Caribbean culture and post-colonial history stand as gauges of how Black Caribbeans perceive pastoral care and counseling within congregations. Proponents of Caribbean history state that Caribbean migrants from a post-colonial society have the tendency of looking to the afterlife for better things instead of making demands in the here and now. 20 Post-colonial Caribbean congregants tended to be missionary-minded in saving souls, but their own temporal, physical, and emotional needs were often left unattended or ignored. God will take care of you was a popular sentiment expressed more

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to bolster faith than to expunge reality. Caribbean leaders argued that the people often neglected the reality of their context and failed in qualifying the importance of finding help from within their own community and context of caring before looking outside. 21 To many proponents of Caribbean cultural history, the social context is still growing up from post-colonialism. A common assertion is that deep in the innermost recesses of the Caribbean mind was the notion that things foreign were better even if this perception resulted in alienation from self and community and led to economic and political disaster. 22 So Caribbean Blacks move into a new context motivated by the need for changes in their life situations. Like most immigrants, Black Caribbeans leave the land of their birth for such reasons as escape from political instability, disruption, chaos, and class victimization on the one hand, and for adventure, economic aspirations, or educational advancement on the other hand. Black Caribbeans’ expectations of transitioning into a new context can lead to disappointment and challenges as they adapt. New challenges like racism and standardized poverty are constant factors that incoming Black Caribbeans learn to face. Along with this comes the new and striking realization that they would be the minority instead of the majority. Individuals in each group were willing to vocalize their perceived definition of care and needs in the congregations. They were not simply echoing the adage “God will take care of you,” but they felt that as individuals and community they were co-workers with God in caring for each other. Like many descendants of an Afro-Euro Caribbean community, they alluded to various rudiments of Euro-African mixtures in their culture: “It goes back to Africa . . . it’s like in Jamaica . . . that's from old-time England . . . they had vicars in parishes back in those days. . . .” These excerpts of conversations demonstrate the remnants of cultural memories Black Caribbeans have used to idealize care. They seemed to claim whatever human resources they had in the church community. Therefore, in congregations of Caribbean immigrants, churchgoers believe that the pastor is the one to call before any other enforcing agent, resource for change, or disciplinary services to help or protect their family interests. Individuals living with nostalgic images of past Caribbean community define spiritual leaders as the primary source for giving instructions about spiritual healing and well-being. Their minister or pastor was seen as the first source for help in healing and restoration. Many Black Caribbeans would go to the Obeah man, to a “mother,” or to a mature, respected relative for counseling. Magic from the Obeah man’s rituals or the wisdom and advice of relatives necessitated physical presence. One invoked supernatural agents on behalf of someone seeking help or healing. The other helped by listening and recalling to memory knowledge of the person’s family and history, thereby facilitating a resolution to difficult issues. Each of these helping entities was one person helping another human being, promoting

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healing and restoration of a neighbor. They believed that invisible spirits, the experiences of anointing, and the invoking of supernatural powers cleansed the body of evil spirits and healed sufferings. Thus, to them, healing came about through the ministering spirits working in the presence of those using invocations, as well as through those who implemented memories of experiences and knowledge of people, their family, and history to bring about reconciliations. Whether or not we name the supernatural source as Christianity, healing resolutions happen where two persons, a group, or a community, through concerted efforts, summon forth some extra-normal powers to work according to one common belief system. What we believe and trust in determine how we move, what our hands do, where our feet take us, and what our mouths speak in days of grief, losses, and sufferings. Similarly, Christianity is the phenomenology of acts and attitudes. What we deem as faith is not just rules and doctrines written down, it is a complex of life. It expresses itself or denies itself in the patterns of everyday living in human interpersonal relationships: raising our children, caring for each other, how we gather around community and show hospitality to others. The phenomenology of one who experienced care becomes a carrier of spiritual presence that can heal others. Just as we believe that God works in and through our hands, voice, and feet in the room or space of healing, so many Black Caribbeans believe that mediums such as people can bring about healing. Black Caribbeans sometimes avoid using social helps and commodities such as counseling and other forms of mental healthcare provided by the local American government. Some perceive going to Departments of Human Resources for help as shameful. This feeling of shame may reflect back to times of slavery and colonialism when Black people were subjected to deplorable conditions of waiting in line for hand-outs and rations. Noel Erskine feels there is also the view that Black Caribbean congregations of the African Diaspora preach a doctrine of separation of church and state; 23 they see the economic reality and the issues of life and death that affect the poor as belonging to the secular realms of their society. Issues of legislation and justice are still considered as problems outside of religious jurisdiction, something that happens “out there in the world,” at the frontline of politics, economic trickeries, wars, or civil strife. The issues that are important to the poor, such as healthcare, housing, counseling, education, employment, and a better standard of living, are important but seen as secondary to growth and maintenance of church institutions and evangelism. Thus my basic questions received vital responses that may prove useful to church and other community leaders: How do large/mega churches provide pastoral care and counseling to Black Caribbean congregants, and how do the congregants perceive this care?

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Caribbean migrants experience challenges and changes when entering this new culture. Michael Manley, the late prime minister of Jamaica during the 1970s, reflecting on the region’s history, stated that most English-speaking Caribbeans are of African descent and came to the Americas via the Slave Trade, which flourished between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. 24 During the 1600s, Caribbean islanders fought as rebel warriors, rampantly becoming runaway slaves, disparagingly labeled Cimarrons by Spanish plantation owners, and later named Maroons as they gained freedom and land for themselves and their families. Consequently, for generations, groups of Black islanders in the Caribbean experienced a sense of pride in overcoming enslavement and owning the land, in a culture that stabilized them with a sense of ownership and belonging. In that era they aligned themselves more with American colonists who drove out British, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish overlords than with African-American Blacks. 25 Nevertheless, as McGoldrick rightly stated, many claim British or West Indian heritage, asserting these identities to distinguish themselves from other Blacks in America and from Whites. 26 For these migrants, challenges come in the form of developing new outlooks on entering a foreign community with new political ideologies, different social schemata, and new laws governing home, family, workplace, relationships, religion, and life. 27 Where comfort and commodities are concerned, colonialism taught colonists that commodities from “outside” and “abroad” were always better. According to Michael Manley and Howard Gregory, Caribbeans need to be de-colonized. They need to respect their ways of the past, not holding it as separate nor discarding beliefs and values, but integrating them within the present. 28 This is like the disease of “globalization” that Emmanuel Lartey, who writes extensively on global/international pastoral care and counseling, describes so well. 29 What Lartey asserts about other international conundrums in pastoral care and counseling applies in this case. 30 It is true then that ambivalence arises in pastoral care and counseling providers within the Caribbean church congregations. Other cross-cultural counselors like David and Derald Sue agree that there is uncertainty about counseling third-world individuals, especially concerning culturally sensitive issues and identity. 31 In Atlanta, Georgia, multicultural Caribbean churches reflect the same familiar passive attention to pastoral care and counseling of their congregants as these churchgoers experience in their country of origin. Howard Gregory, who received a doctorate in sacred theology from Columbia Theological Seminary, believes that many ministers/pastors who recognize the need for pastoral counseling in Caribbean churches struggle with modes of understanding and applying pastoral counseling that is adequate for the task. 32 The consensus of these writers is that Caribbean history highlighted control coming from outside the countries under the banner of colonialism, leaving a legacy of expectation of expertise and salvation from without.

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CHAPTER 4: PASTORAL NEEDS IN LARGE/MEGA CHURCHES Fellowship is a factor that steered congregants to the church and held them there, like an evangelistic tool. Maybe they have developed substitute bonds in the church as they have grown older and lost their own family members. Fellowship, then, seemed to be a vehicle for pastoral care, or it might be the actual care that heals, empowers, sustains, and even guides their lives. Mrs. C., a member of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) group, a woman about seventy years old from Guyana, stated that “we family at this church and I come here for the fellowship . . . the love is here.” Fellowship thus seems to find its definition in how churchgoers connect in common life experiences, around shared needs, in their exchange of reflections on personal sorrows, dialogues, and advice-sharing around family issues. Immigration issues include displacement, reduced status, reduced income, and personal and/or family role confusions. Caribbean families are historically large, and strive to push themselves out of poverty. Large families live in physically close conditions to cut costs and help in managing expenses. Close living can have its positive as well as negative effects. However, to Caribbeans the extended family is as important as, or more so, than individuals’ needs or desires. Here in America, a woman would rather send for her mother to come and take care of her child while she works than take a young child to daycare. The alternative would be to take the child home to the Caribbean. Enmeshment of families grows outward from home into the community, like growing vines. Among Black Caribbeans, self-differentiation as a prelude to individuation defies the Bowenian term of prying one’s self away from “family mess and muddle.” 33 This is difficult to accomplish within Caribbean families that are culturally communal in nature. In reference to my own family and the culture I grew up in, the small Caribbean community functioned much like a system. Biologically, the individual comprises systems, and environmentally we function within systems. If one system in the body breaks down, the whole person feels the effect; so it was in families like the one in which I was reared. If one person is ill, everyone gets involved, everyone’s behavior, thoughts, and attitude turn towards the one that was sick, bereaved, wounded, or spiritually troubled. An example of community and family enmeshment spread to the financial economy in rural sites. The term “partner” in Jamaica, or “Su-su” in other Caribbean islands, was applicable to an intangible banking system. People, especially women/mothers, put a small portion of the household money in a “community pot” and gave it all to one family on a weekly basis. This was circulated until everyone in the partnership received the community pot of income; then the cycle began again. This was a simple yet involved financial fellowship, which included risks, trust, and accountability, often

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demanding the enmeshment of lives. This was a communistic idea that kept many families from collapsing in times of dire needs. As a result, Caribbean church leaders and congregations are just learning how to do pastoral care and counseling for each other as part of their faith community. Many individuals would not expect to have the provision of professional pastoral care and counseling. With this in mind, I turn again to some words of wisdom from David Augsburger, who holds that there is a cross-cultural difference in the way Western cultures view dependence, independence, and interdependence. 34 He like other cross-cultural counselors 35 contends that across cultures there are subtle variations in the utilization of anxiety, shame, and guilt in controlling behavior and personality formation. This is true for Caribbean immigrants in local congregations, who still experience the power of central values that guided their worldviews before they entered the new culture. Many needs that arose in a congregation were hardly intelligible unless one was constantly aware of the distinction between the structure of its faith and the relationships within that faith. This seemed important in clarifying faith in the healing process versus faith in the interpersonal exchanges alone. In the process of fellowship, pain was disseminated through dialogue via the phenomenon of verbalizing congregants’ needs, failings, and triumphs. What happened between individuals radiated into the groups. In the group interviews, a string of laughter often bloomed into boisterous uproar as they shared or hinted at “back home” parodies. This always reduced the tensions in the circle. Even amidst laughter and joviality, needs go unseen among crowds and can be less evident in church. This is because there is a prevalent but unwritten code that everyone must be happy “in the presence of God,” that is, in church; otherwise their faith is not strong enough. But some needs in the Caribbean congregation become more apparent than others. Therefore, the pastor has to understand on which level he/she is thinking about offering care to the congregant by sermon or personal counseling. Pastoral care of Caribbean immigrants requires spiritual as well as psychological groundedness of the pastoral care-giver. Both faith and interpersonal relationships seemed to work together in pastoral care in the process of their healing, sustaining, and empowering each other. Migration calls for significant adjustments, even when the whole nuclear family migrates together. But it is doubly challenging when a shift of sociocultural systems take place. This creates a level of anxiety and apprehension in the parents, who are usually unsure of how good the arrangements for their children will be in the new community. There are grief and loss experiences of losing “home” friends, a pattern of life that will never be regained. This adjustment loss and grief is one that everyone in the Caribbean immigrant family goes through in their own personal way.

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Various types of depression are prevalent pastoral-care issues. Some of the resulting causes are subtle. Immigrants experience a devaluation of their qualifications in the job market. After many frustrating job searches at the level of their qualifications, most men and women end up accepting jobs below their education, skills, and experience. This means lower remuneration, and less ability to care for their family. Men feel the impact more keenly than women, for while they expected status acquisition in the new job market, instead they experience a reduction of status. Some find their expectations thwarted, with much lower income and much more restrictive financial flexibility than anticipated. The search for a new identity is required, as there are no designated identifying markers for Black foreigners in the United States. Application forms as well as social grants and aids require Blacks to acquire the nomenclature of African Americans. One is either Black or White as there are no other culturally attributive descriptives on demographic forms such as job applications, or other federal papers. Though pale skin-color gradient does not readily get the opportunities made available in the Caribbean, social preferences for “lighter complexion” still haunt the Black Caribbean’s flight from British post-colonialism to Black American social reconstructionism, infested with racial and color prejudices. It is in coming “abroad” that the “yellow” or “light brown” skin effects deepen the Black Caribbean’s awareness that skin color preference is deeply embedded in society outside their own Caribbean communities of “back home.” These are needs requiring nonjudgmental pastoral support. Then there is the need for social and political reframing, and for relearning how America’s government functions. To many Caribbeans, a political voice whether public or private means stability, a sense of ownership and belonging. Thus, a lack of interest in American politics means displacement. Sports is a means for Caribbean men to mingle, form friendships, and receive support in their community. The typical sports here are not soccer or cricket but baseball and football. Unemployed family members sit home staring at the television, or out the window. Winter months prove hardest for troubled local Caribbean migrant families because life is lived out of doors in the Caribbean. Mental or physical abuse and divorce follow when family-role conflicts climax into deadlocked fiery disagreements. Women more easily find jobs than men; children’s rights in America conflict with Afro-Caribbean disciplinary activities, so relearning styles of discipline often flip roles and order of authority within Caribbean families. Men become disoriented and depressed. Stressors relating to job-losses, unresolved distress brought forward from families of origin, economical and financial problems, and discipline of children all snowball at times into what we call “Bedlam,” a breakdown of the family structure. Sometimes this shows in parents’ verbal and physical fight-

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ing, someone becoming very ill, or even flights of parents or children from the family relationship. Often, losses are compounded with elderly individuals dying away from their country of origin with the expressed wish to be buried in their family plots back home. The family that cannot afford to comply with such wishes experience more grief and shame added to the loss. Death of loved ones in the “home” country, and being unable to go home to funeralize them because of work, school, financial, or family obligations in this country, also results in shame, guilt, depression, and rage. All these personalized family issues come to church, where people come to worship, to sing, to lift holy hands in false praise and painful thanksgiving. Understanding suggests sympathy, the capacity to feel something of what another person is experiencing. By an “understanding look” we mean more than mere objective knowledge but rather participation in the ghosted objects, collective memories that an individual presents as needs. As with the hermeneutics of symbols, the problem of the hermeneutics of narratives, likewise the content of what is symbolized in the telling, cannot be given as passing an object through air from one hand to the next. It is never portrayed exactly as thought out discursively in a completely satisfactory manner. Thus the stories and meta-narratives that the Caribbean groups shared cannot be easily reduced and de-symbolized without being damaged, since stories can be warped by time. They are seemingly made more accessible in being converted into temporal symbols so as to make them current within the socio-cultural mental vocabulary of the hearer. Although translating all emotions, verbal lilts, and expressions in these research interviews proved impossible, the images and stories told of concepts. These concepts were familiar from a socio-cultural and theological stance. The more I listen, observe, and attend to problems and issues, the more determined I feel that something professional and spiritually transformative must be done to help migrants in congregations. CHAPTER 5: THE LEARNING CIRCLE OF THE STUDY The chosen methodology of this qualitative research study was Grounded Theory, utilizing focus groups as the basis for an ethnographic study within congregations. It is a result of my belief that the socio-cultural life of the individual impacts his character, personality, and perceptions. This social research was an inquiry into the personal worlds of others, suggesting that the inquirer was fortunate to participate in a process that opens up a journey into the self. Three focus groups composed of about six to eight individuals 36 were invited to share life experiences, observations, and various intangible, mean-

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ingful reflections that would help us to formulate the details of pastoral care and counseling within the congregations. My motivator was the belief that the power of qualitative data lies not in the number of people interviewed but in the researcher’s ability to come to know a few people very well in their cultural context (depth of personhood versus breadth of data). 37 Thus, I began with the premise that all people have the potential to reflect, share, grow, and develop as individuals and as members of a community as they engage and encounter each other. The exchange that took place was a metaphoric experience of give and take within the community, and learning happened in the group share. Learning for me was the process of making new or revised interpretations of the meaning of the experiences of the Black Caribbean congregants in the study. Hence, learning for me was about understanding and appreciating how Black Caribbeans experienced and integrated change into their lives. “Change” as a process of learning was therefore a dynamic rather than a passive exercise. Learning took place when what became “known” could be repeated via the combined groups’ voices or demonstrated by experiences retold as stories. 38 Therefore, as I sat with these three groups, each consisting of six to eight individuals, I anticipated that our learning experiences would be mutual. In addition, what I learned would be reportable in narrations, reflections, and other summaries. Developing a congenial physical environment and psychological climate was important to learning and sharing with each other. Both Harry Sullivan and Karen Horney 39 as social psychologists claimed that our dialogue, postures, and attitudes are based on the cultural development of the adult we become. Such aspects of ourselves, according to these authors, involved our interpersonal relationships and included the core of our anxieties. They were determinants in times when the individual became resistant to removing her/his barrier(s), and this hampered sharing and learning because the individual remained hidden, detached, and closed. I agree with the many proponents of focus groups, the concept of which I adapted for use in this qualitative study. An ideal relaxed atmosphere with the least amount of tension was one of my intentional goals. 40 Participation in the groups afforded individuals the chance to dialogue regarding the strengths and needs within their socio-cultural beliefs and values without being overly influenced by the researcher. I was aware that I would invariably be utilizing my own socio-cultural personal values to set up the study, to evaluate the context/setting of participants, organize the material, and create an agenda for change. Consequently, I could influence what was implied. 41 This suggested a need for checks and balances to help keep the study safe, within a reasonable allowance of bias, and remain focused. Taping the sessions, taking notes, rewriting, and review-

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ing the tapes helped me hear whether I was intruding or intervening excessively. 42 My method was based on open dialogue, which genuinely explored truth, respecting the perspectives offered by other socio-cultures and disciplines. I was prepared to invest appropriate quantities of intellectual energy in assessing and discovering the nature of the truth concerning the questions in the research. 43 This would mean providing a listening ear to those with whom I sat, reporting faithfully what I was learning with the intention of doing no harm, and of helping others who needed healing. CHAPTER 6: THE CONGREGATIONS AS SOURCE FOR DIALOGUE Anton Boisen and others called for ministers to get their priorities straight in caring for those who suffered, even while endeavoring to find healing and cures in the midst of religious communities. 44 Today, broken congregants such as the clinically depressed, those experiencing chronic losses from divorce, bereavement, deaths, and other deprecating life issues sit in the pews; undiagnosed borderline personalities enter church, all hoping to derive relief from one-hour services. These mentally and emotionally distressed states, having been constructed over time by life and social events, influence the individual’s ability to engage with the healing and ultimate growth one receives from a liturgical experience. The community of faith may provide a momentary distraction, but the individual battles his/her crisis(es) alone. Some who are able to do so agree that they have mental or emotional problems, and often feel that praying harder and having greater faith is the pivotal solution that will heal them. Others assume and accept pain, suffering, and grief as their crosses to bear. Research shows that many Christians, with varying forms of depressive diseases, wait too long to seek professional help for their mental and emotional sicknesses. Subsequently, their clinical depression overrides their ability to think and reason clearly; therefore, even their ability to exercise faith suffers. They need trained eyes and ears to guide them into healing their woundedness. According to current reckoning, small churches are those with 50 congregants or less in weekly attendance; a medium-sized church has 51 to 300 in weekly attendance; large churches have 301 to 1,000; very large churches have 1,001 to 2,000 members in attendance; and mega churches have approximately 2,000 or more members worshipping per week. 45 Most fall within the definition of large churches, and within most of these congregations, individuals who come with high hopes of salvation and healing are culturally diverse people. In the Stone Mountain communities of Georgia (population 5,802) 46 and Decatur (population 19,555), by contrast, I experienced difficul-

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ties in finding Black Caribbeans in mainline churches to participate in the study. However, Black Caribbeans were more visible and accessible in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) churches in both of these areas. For a specific research strategy, I chose to interview small groups in three separate congregations. I was curious as to connection or contrast between experiences of Black Caribbean congregants in two Seventh-day Adventist churches, and an African Methodist Episcopal church (AME). Several factors determined my choice of churches, including the fact that they had to be from accredited theological associations, and the training of pastors. The congregation as well as both of the denominations’ structures emphasized different missions. The comparison, as summarized in the conclusion of my study was helpful. The primary goal of the focus-group activity was not to offer prescriptive conclusions. The focus group was a pivotal tool for highlighting the productive potential of particular social contexts, like a slice out of the life of that community—in this case the church’s potentials. Testimonies and personal narratives were used to unveil specific and little-researched aspects of congregation life. In contrast to the individual-interview method, the focusgroup method is not highly subjected to the strong influences of the researcher’s role. Focus groups neutralize these effects by creating multiple lines of communication that help to create “safe spaces,” which counter the moderator/researcher’s overtones. The group became a safe space for dialogue in the company of others who shared similar life experiences. Focus groups allow for diverse forms of access to a more natural interaction that occurred between and among participants. The process within a focus-group exchange emphasizes horizontal interactions, a circular type of discussion on topics that surfaced over vertical interactions, which may be more suited for depth counseling. This horizontal exchange not only decreased the influence of the researcher but had the power to re-articulate power dynamics in ways that led to the collection of very rich information. It led to the integration of thinking and feeling accounts that encouraged re-imaging knowledge distributed in a relational, embodied, and sensuous fashion within the setting and dialogue. Based on the questions and the purpose of the research, I asked the specified leader from each congregation who was responsible for tending to the pastoral needs of the members to choose six to eight persons who were able to communicate comfortably in a group, and who might represent a broad spectrum of pastoral issues. Homogeneity 47 meant that all attended the same church and were Black Caribbeans. All had been adult members of the congregation for at least two consecutive years. The group from the Belvedere Seventh-day Adventist church had estimated ages ranging from forty to seventy years old. Another group from Stone Mountain SDA church had an age range of approximately forty to fifty years. The reason for selecting Black Caribbeans seems feasible as Blacks of African descent dominate the Caribbean. Why Black and not Whites, Chinese, or Spanish? They were

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more familiar to me than other nationalities with various languages (French, French-Creole, Spanish, Dutch, Dutch-Papiamento, English, Portuguese, and Jamaican Patois—a derivative of Spanish, English, and African languages). The first session was focused on group building around the central research questions. The initial questions included: What are the ways through which pastoral counseling is offered to Black Caribbean members of large/mega churches? How are healing, sustaining, guiding, reconciling, nurturing, empowering, and liberating experienced? The subsequent interviews were utilized for recursive questions towards achieving saturation of data. I supplemented the focus-group interviews with a one-on-one interview with the pastor or elder responsible for providing pastoral care to Black Caribbean members of the congregation. I interviewed the pastor/elder before and after my time with the focus group as a means of cross-checking the data. At times I became a part of their laughter and jollification, a friend; at other times I felt like their pastor, praying with them, or like their counselor, encouraging the unraveling of self-reflections and painful discussions. As an ethnographer, self-reflection and journaling my feelings, thoughts, and experiences were not only releasing exercises but proved very effective in formulating my conceptualizations. Community, Visitation, and the Pastor (represented as priest and intercessor between humans and God) were prevalent themes that seemed to emerge out of a Caribbean heritage. Thus, the conclusion of this study was the reflective reporting of their story-telling and my storytelling, represented by languaging couched within traditions and histories, psychoanalyses and spirituality, culture and religion. It was with this understanding of the Caribbean heritage that I entered an ethnographical study of these three congregation groups. My research examined some of the pastoral counseling needs, and provisions made for those needs, that are evident in local Caribbean congregations. The historical definitions of pastoral care and counseling and the counseling sciences sculpted in our present day provided a comparison to formulate a contextual praxis for pastoral counseling within local congregations. The spiritual and psychosocial nature of caring required an exploration of the theological and sociocultural aspects of Black Caribbean beliefs and values in relationship to their needs.

Part Two: The Cultural Aspects of Black Caribbeans in Three Congregations

CHAPTER 1: PARABLES OF BACK HOME For this study, Black Caribbeans from three large congregations described their experiences of pastoral care, which fit a hermeneutical/phenomenological model. In doing so, they seemed to compare and contrast what they experienced of pastoral care in the United States through a kaleidoscope of memories of persons and situations from their former communities in the Caribbean. These experiences conveyed images of pastoral care based on their hermeneutical values, ghosted, or transferred, from “back home.” Their narratives and reflections created kaleidoscopic imageries, like pictures that glossed over their past by placing them in a new land with old longings. They seemed to experience care and counseling through the medium of cultural and psychosocial relationships that seemed related to, yet varied from, traditional pastoral care and counseling definitions. Immigrants from various islands in the Caribbean, such as the Panama Islands, Jamaica, Cuba, Trinidad, Haiti, Aruba, Barbados, Grenada, and others, volunteered to share their perspectives on pastoral care and counseling in their congregations. Groups from an African Methodist Episcopalian Church, Antioch AME, and two Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) churches participated in these discussions. In each church, I secured space away from noise and distractions to ensure privacy, and to facilitate freedom of expression. In reporting the results of the research, my intent was to be faithful to context 17

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and language as I interpreted my discourses from the interview sessions. I tried to retrieve what they said, how they said it, and how they interpreted each other. I think this was my way of trying to maintain the context of the research conversations with respect to the stipulations of Grounded Theory. Because of my own Caribbean voice, this study undoubtedly reflected my own engagement with their tonality, the lilted meanings, the unfinished half phrases, outbursts of meaningful laughter, and eloquent jests. Having worked as a pastoral counselor and as a chaplain, I had the advantage of psychosocial understanding that straddled two cultural perspectives on issues of caring. Within this United States (US) culture, the welfare and well-being of the individual—for example, a child—might take precedence over that of the parent, family, and community. However, my own understanding of the Caribbean culture is the dependency of individuals on groups, especially families. Thus, “care” for me was an integral part of group effect, group effort, and the collective group mind. From the oral interviews to the written reports, this presentation passed through my own post-colonial, post-CivilRights influence, and the hermeneutics of my own development and formation within the two cultures. Two denominations represented three congregation groups. The African Methodist Episcopalian (AME) church group was comprised of older Caribbeans; although not specifically required, ages ranged from sixty to eighty years old. On average, the AME members seemed to have spent more time in America than the two other groups that I interviewed. These two groups from Seventh-day Adventist churches were younger and had a wider age range, from forty to seventy years old. After three consecutive meetings with each group and various follow-ups, I noticed the emergence of themes and concepts noted in this chapter. As an illustration of the kinds of cultural and psychosocial relationships among Black Caribbeans in pastoral care, the groups’ use of narratives illustrated their impressions of this care. Back home was a term that emerged as they spoke of the way parents disciplined children and how community interventions within the lives of families and individuals maintained status quo. When immigrants think of home, their minds are often in a state of confusion, caught between the old and the new. They conjure lives of people, friends, family, and places, whether in Europe, the Middle East, or the Caribbean. These mental images stimulate feelings of nostalgia and a desire to return to the life left in the past. A time past is never forgotten, even when memory distorts it. We never seem to escape the iconic images and object relations of our childhood days. But in a certain sense, it is a state of confusion, because if home is a place where our loved ones gather, and where the heart is, then most Black Caribbean immigrants cannot help feeling the strongest pull between kinship here and kinship there; that is, within the now and within the past. Immigrants live very much in the distant and somewhat

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imaginary past. It is imaginary because one’s adult recollection of childhood emotions, and scenes involving cognitive effects, are inevitably skewed by fading memories and the passage of time. The actual past as it occurred is now foreign to the immigrant living the life of nostalgia in the present reality. Nevertheless, mental recollections cannot be dumped off at the airport like unacceptable entry items upon arrival in the new country. Etched in our psychic patterns, the recollections of our childhood environment and experiences have powerful and indelible roots forming the basis of perceptions. Skewed or not, the Black Caribbean immigrant’s memories significantly impact their understanding of what is real and what ought to be or should not be. Consequently, they related narratives of their lives where cultural issues in connecting with pastors and other leaders in the church interfered with or facilitated the help they needed and received. In an effort to define the look and feel of pastoral care as an application of cross-cultural care and counseling for Caribbeans in large congregations, the prominence of some religious beliefs among Caribbean SDAs and Caribbean AMEs emerged. Defining a perception of pastors/ministers as care-givers became evident as scripture was held in reference for a theology of pastoral care-giving as reflected through the eyes of these Caribbean congregants. One consistent theme was that they all were Judeo-Christians, highlighting the life of Christ as an example and retrieving themes from Christ’s commission to care for each other. A broader vision of the future of pastoral care in the Caribbean community featured subtle differences between the SDA groups and the AMEs’ referral to evangelism within the community and offering pastoral care. Pastoral care often emerged under the headings of other concepts and imageries, such as fellowship, communication, family, and friendship, as pastoral caring or pastoral care-giving. In the application of pastoral care and counseling within large congregations, the use of narratives and dialogues was said by the groups to be more meaningful than individual therapy sessions. In organizing members into groups and listening to them, I experienced their idioms, old phrases, and proverbs, which not only stirred my own memories of living and growing up in a small Jamaican community, but highlighted their particular perspectives and impressions of pastoral care. Their communication pattern and style gave me a perspective of theological and pragmatic aspects of pastoral care that broadened the traditional definition of pastoral care as it originated in the United States of America. With the intent of remaining as loyal as possible to the context and language of our conversations, I etched out concepts as I shared my findings within these sections with as little judgment and as few alterations as possible. The question that propelled the conversation was: What are the ways through which pastoral counseling is offered to and experienced by Black

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Caribbean members of large/mega churches? Within a cultural framework, they used stories of “back home” as the standard of what they expected pastoral care to be in their present community. Interestingly, it was in the telling of their stories that they seemed to experience care. They emphasized “family” as a container for interpersonal experience, one that seemed to play a major role in their perception of care. From the interpersonal nature of visiting, an illustration emerged of movement involving shared exchanges between the giver and the receiver of care. A cultural blend of their stories resonates as comparison of the “back home” with the “here and now.” In the stories told by these three groups of Caribbean congregants, several issues surfaced that served to illustrate standards and values within each of their respective communities. One story that created a tense atmosphere of discomfort was that of a minister’s indiscretion. Not only the story itself, but the telling of it, clearly illustrated that churchgoers valued trust among themselves and their minister or pastoral care-giver and counselor. As a further illustration, an incident of the past entered the conversation, necessitating attention and a type of group care that was typical of what congregants have now come to see as caring for each other within the moment. The incident had occurred many years before, when a church member and his wife had a daughter who conceived a child out of wedlock. The minister leading the congregation at that time refused to provide the required convocation for the baby because of the nature of its birth. This caused ripples of distress and pain in some people, while others were unsure of what to believe concerning the matter, which nearly split the congregation. The minister—no doubt following his own strict Caribbean-inculcated code of moral ethics—had presented them with a confused representation of a pastoral care-giver. Some of the group members assessed that he might have been following his beliefs. However, something humane and kind was missing from his conviction, which might be priestly but not pastoral. He served his tenure at the church and moved on, but the group’s story told of the lasting pain and confusion they were still experiencing. This was evident in their dispute over the term “pastoral care.” So they argued that the pastor’s discretion should have been tempered with wisdom, caring, experience, and confidentiality in counseling and preaching. They decried preaching that displayed people’s “private business from the pulpit.” Discretion was a value they purported should keep the pastor from preaching congregants’ secrets. However, some of the older members of the groups felt that the sermon, if not the pastor, would always stir somebody the wrong way. Through telling stories of back home, congregants in America seemed to use their Caribbean cultural standard as ideal of expected pastoral care. As a result, they shared several cultural issues in the form of narratives that impacted how they made connections within American societal culture. There was a consensus of disappointment in the work and energy they had to

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expend in forming relationships outside their families when they first arrived in this country. Others announced that the difficulty of forming meaningful community outside their cultural group posed a continued problem. To these Black Caribbeans, community and congregation had “a different way of working than back home.” Their inclination towards interpersonal community heightened their disappointment when the desired connection did not happen as naturally as they expected, resulting in a sense of disconnection. Connective-ness was symbolized in significant exchanges. A female elder, also a professor at a local college, shared an encounter that pointed to the back home Caribbean style of embracing community fellowship as a deep spiritual experience: I went home in ’09 and I visited this old friend that used to take care of me and my sisters, she was a deaconess at our church. She was older and shaky now. I just drop by to visit with her. When I was leaving to come back to the US she came to my gate the morning and put three eggs in my hand. She hug me and didn’t say a word else just put three eggs in my hand. And even though I know I couldn’t take it on the plane, I said “thank you” and put it in my purse.

Of course, the Caribbean mind is aware of the symbolism of eggs as gifts. Eggs were used as substitute offering in Obeah rituals. Eggs were also augural objects used as symbols ritualized during the Easter season to predict a whole family’s future. The white of the egg left in a transparent vase streaked stringy lines of gothic images on Easter, the Resurrection morning. Giving eggs is like offering one ‘life,’ hope, and blessings. These stories and their symbols are foundations in defining the Caribbean social constructs of culture, influencing church members’ concepts and perceptions of pastoral care. Church also has always been a place where they found fellowship that satisfied their need for exchanges within the community. There is a definite conception of what they want such connections to be. Mr. M., 1 a seventyyear-old Jamaican man, gave me an example of how they valued personal relatedness in caring. “When people go home to Jamaica,” he said, “we say ‘bring back something.’ What we really want and what we really need all tie up in the carrier. I must bring something back. And this something anyone can get from a store. But it is not what you bringing but it is the who bringing it that matter most.” To the group, the feeling of connectedness between themselves and the care-giver precedes the care. To them, relatedness underlies care. According to Mr. M., care is packaged and carried to individuals by the care-giver. Thus, they seemed to value interpersonal connection more than care itself. Similarly, their manner of valuing their minister as the carrier of pastoral care also seemed to surpass how they value other professionals, especially when they are sick and suffering. They compared pastoral care in the Caribbean to their experiences here. They cited the importance of visiting as showing care: “Those you want to

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see, you visit, you curious ‘bout how they doing, you want to make sure they okay.” Back Home, they had no phone or other cyber-connections, just person-to-person communication. So, visiting someone who lives within ten or twenty minutes’ ride by car here in this country would translate into an houror-two walk, stopping to talk on the way with others—a whole day’s event or more if the person was ill and needed help in the home. Thus, a pastor stayed at church members’ homes in the center of the community, where he slept and ate, but visited surrounding members through the week. A group member of the AME Church seemed transported back to childhood as she narrated: “When I was growing up in Belize, every so often the pastor drop in for visit. And he don’t care if you invite him or no, he just come. We would feed the pastor and we had a young pastor too, and he was very friendly.” Another elderly woman from Trinidad pointed out that the pastor was like her adopted son, and added: “You need someone at times saying some love words to you”—indicating the need for someone close and dear. One woman in the group, twisting her mouth coquettishly and with a smile in her eyes, declared: “I love it when the pastor come home to me . . . “—the hint of intimacy was not lost in the air. Yet there were at least twenty years between the age of the younger pastor and of this elderly woman, who was about seventy-something and from Guyana. First they cast the pastor in a family role, later as a family member. The pastor is often directly or indirectly referred to as a male member of their family. One congregant stated that when he was a little boy, fatherless and with a flock of brothers and sisters, the pastor would ask for his school report card, and would come by his house to hear about his and his other siblings’ wrongdoings or accomplishments from their mother. The pastor represented a father figure and stand-in for other males missing from their lives. According to church members’ reports, the family is a family because each person puts him/herself “on the line” to safeguard the others’ wellbeing. They felt that when a change in family takes place—sickness, death, birth, problems—these require special visits from key members of the community, especially the pastor. Thus, the organic changes and structuring of the family define how care is given and received. From their socio-cultural point of view, members of families are at risk when they become isolated. Taking care of the individual historically has been the family’s responsibility. A Caribbean single woman may be at risk of being communally isolated if she is educated and highly professional. Such women must make more of an effort to stay within the range of conversation with those who are not educated and professional, yet play powerful roles within her children’s and consequently, her own life. The American instinct is to become individuated, and independent. This can happen unintentionally while the single Caribbean woman is young, vibrant, and active. However, when she gets sick, has a crisis, is grieving, or loses her job, there has to be a fireside to go to. One

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female in the group summarized her concern as follows: “In most of these church single members, especially women, are at risk. For myself sometimes I worry about who in church I would call to help me if I get sick. I mean to physically help me. It is the loneliest life . . . someone to speak for you, to tell the doctors and nurses about you. We don’t know each other well.” To those in the groups, an aging Caribbean female needs a stable community, whether church or family. Traditional Christian Caribbean women may seek for connection in church and may not connect well with those who limit care to holidays and special times. This is because care to them is not things, not simply cards and words, but fellowship by community living. If one person in the community was shamed for some behavior or lauded for some achievement, the whole community experienced it. For example, someone shared a story about a concerted effort in the community to right a family problem. A boy used to thief in the community: thief fowl, goat, clothes off the clothes line in de braad daylight, thief out people food they dig up out of the ground to take to market. He make everybody mad. The police couldn’t catch him. Nobody could set him straight. One day somebody corner him and the whole community come down on him. One uhman was shouting, “Beat him till him soft. Mek him stop thief.”

The boy’s father or mother was not singled out from the other concerned adults that chased this boy and took him under a cotton tree. In the Caribbean, tall powerful-looking cotton trees symbolized a central spirit-filled space inhabited by duppies, spirits that guide, protect, and punish. Standing as large as an American oak tree, cotton trees with far-reaching shade in remote districts were known to be good meeting places for people to perform civic or social functions. People in remote communities were often isolated and did not know a policeman, except from a distance, or when they went to the city and saw them in uniform directing traffic. In such instances, the most “prominent” person in the community, an older spiritual person like “a mother,” 2 a “Busha,” 3 or often the Parson 4 or pastor was called to officiate. So the boy caught stealing was carried to the cotton tree, whipped, and warned publicly by more than one adult. In this story of the community disciplining the young boy, the group discussed how women reacted to prevent discipline from becoming abuse. Soon the same uhman shout and jump in the man face and cry out “That’s enough, that’s a uhman’s chile.” She had tears in her eyes; she had a limit where it could stop. Men wouldn’t stop it, even if they knew to stop it. No man would and could stop the beating . . . she had more compassion than the men. More women are that type than men. Not saying men are not compassionate but more women show it more than men.

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Caribbeans acknowledged women as more nurturing, so much so that even women’s prayers are more sought after than men’s, as they feel God may be more open to hearing the sensitive cries of women than those of men. In the Caribbean mind, women over men are automatically considered to be the mainstays of care-giving. Often “a mother” or a “converter woman” in the community is sought out for pastoral counseling, conjuring spirits, spiritual direction, and healing. This sense of a woman’s spirituality seemed to flow not only from Mr. S.’s community from back home but also from his religious perspective: Well in scripture women gave their all into personal care. Whether childbirth, they know how to suffer; in an accident a woman would say, “That could be my son, my child,” so they cry for a stranger’s child. Some women, even though they have not borne a child, they don’t have the experience of a child twitching in a woman’s womb. But they still see everyone as a woman’s child.

The group seemed to feel that women have an inherent sensitivity for caring and for protecting life. It is often women’s intervention that stems abuse in disciplinary actions towards children. They perceived in men’s and women’s leadership that women tend to be more pastoral in terms of helping, healing, and compassion, whereas in terms of protectiveness and bread-winning, men, they suggested, are expressively touted as leaders, “He Mr. Man,” they would say when a man is responsible and authoritative. It was not unusual for male relatives to oversee the lives of boys who lacked fathers, so it was not strange for the pastor to see that boys without fathers in his community were “behaving” and doing their home and school work. They believed community support of individuals and community values helped to grow honest members of their community. To demonstrate family systems in their dialogue, church members “ghosted” the pastor’s role back home as an authoritarian parental figure. This view of pastors was widely held in the Caribbean, and so a comparison of the role of pastors “back home” with the incident of a pastor who was restricted from seeing an elderly Jamaican man of the AME group in an American hospital created similar reactions in all three groups. This Jamaican man narrated an emotional event in which he expressed his feelings that this society does not hold the pastor in the same esteem that the pastor deserves. To him this was a matter of his eternal life or death: Last year I was hospitalized at the point of death; had a pacemaker implanted. During that time my lungs collapsed. The pastor came and he was turned away . . . all this I am learning from my wife and son after I recover . . . BUT (here his voice grew louder and he raised his index finger, waving emphatically) the pastor came back a second time, though they turned him away, the ICU nurse turned my pastor away, he came back a second. . . . (He broke off, and

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his shoulder shook with sobs.) He came back! He cared so much for me. I could have died . . . he did not have to come back . . . I could have died between the first and second visit. The stupid people turn my pastor away!

These are important features in the application of pastoral care to Caribbeans within the congregation. A few distinctions surfaced among the three groups. The AME group on various levels seemed to engage the topic of life-cycle care of the congregation, while the SDA group focused on congregation and community people for visitation of the sick, primarily to spread the gospel rather than for social justice issues. The SDA group assimilated the gospel commission with healing, and hope of the Second Coming. The AME pastor focused on civicsocial duties in caring, while the SDA groups focused on eschatological issues and pastoral care as a means of salvation, not an end in itself. The Caribbean AMEs emphasized the church as a family system, and ghosted pastors into familiar roles based on their understanding of family. The AME group’s terms of community had a distinctly different tone with respect to their pastor. The AME pastor, an African American rather than an Afro-Caribbean, distinguished church community as separate from the surrounding areas. He felt that the church must re-think and re-envision pastoral care within the community: “No longer people come to church buildings but they still need spiritual attention and care. They need representative help. The community to them is outside and surround the church.” To the AME pastor, the power of moral leadership was no longer derived from the church; instead, everyone looks to society instead of the church for cues as to lifestyle, because “society came and stole the mind, heart and values of the church and must be reclaimed through pastoral care and counseling.” Thus, the church has to win back even the power for care of the community from society. Both SDA groups targeted community as a continuum of linked needs being met from church and extending into the community. However, the mission of the SDA church worldwide is, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every tribe and nation,” They differentiate “self” from the ‘world.” The self might be a circle containing oneself and God within a larger group of other cells within in a larger container, which is the church. Many traditional Adventists perceive themselves as bringing a particular message of salvation to the “lost world.” So to them, their non-SDA neighbors, family, and friends that they love live in the community outside the church. Church family, from a Caribbean cultural standpoint, flows into the district from the congregation. As needs arose in the church, these needs often touched their non-SDA or un-churched family members, friends, and neighbors in their small districts or communities. However, sometimes culture and religious understanding threatened a line of demarcation.

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This was evident as a three-hour discussion emerged from the Stone Mountain SDA church group’s struggle to distinguish whether pastoral care was secular work or God’s work. The discussion had much to do with members’ lack of resolution about community and their cultural sense of space and time. Sabbath was time marked off in the space of a week, time off from secular work to worship God. Twenty-four sacred hours were set apart from “our worldly friends and families,” which simply meant those around them who were non-Seventh-day Adventists. To them, non-SDA family and friends complicated their ideas of community outside their sphere of worship at those sacred times. Some even turned off phones and any home items that communicated with the secular world within those time boundaries. Their contact with non-SDAs ideally involved evangelistic endeavors like bible studies, feeding the hungry and homeless, distributing tracts, offering sacred ordinances like communion to those home-bound or sick, and nursing-home visits. The SDA group’s discussion around this issue opened up an avenue of dialogue about their history, as well as their social, cultural, and religious traditions. And so they assessed these sacred activities in light of pastoral care of others. In their dialogue about Jesus’ work as their example of caring in a cultural community, they started unraveling their concept of community. They argued that “care” and community were not simplified entities separate from Sabbath-keeping. Instead, they comprised a cultural and complex secular continuum of their Caribbean/European heritage juxtaposed with their effort to impose a Judeo-Christian culture from the first century BC into a Westernized, post-colonial sense of community and care. The conflict resided in how to understand the cultural sense of community and the Christian suggestion of the “world out there” as an integral part of their spiritual lives. A question arose as to how they might apply such an understanding to pastoral care of each other in homes, in their congregation, and in the community. They had existed with the dichotomous impressions of a “back home” district as community and the Christian ideology of “the world out there” without experiencing a conflict until this research encounter. As a result, they engaged the process of defining community as church continuum into their lives away from the building. Then they defined pastoral care as imitating Jesus’ holistic care, which traversed time and space. Eventually they came to a consensus that pastoral care included acts in the community that emulated Christ and His teachings even on the Sabbath. The Belvedere SDA church group offered a response to the Stone Mountain SDA church group by pointing to Jesus as a pivotal example of caring on the Sabbath. The AME group did not consider care on Sunday as either secular or spiritual, but as a continuum of positive interpersonal relating. The Stone Mountain group also struggled to distinguish doing “God’s work” in the church versus at home. The idea was that one has to be more “mindful of the sheep in the church than those in your house.” They felt that

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there were some differences in doing God’s work in the church and at home, and in the surrounding communities. The difference between feeding the flock at church versus feeding at home was the intimate familiarity that they counted as lacking in sacredness. They felt that the familiar, un-edited interactions that create intimacy within the family at home might offend or “drive off newcomers” at church. The AME group seemed to struggle to maintain their culture of Caribbean heritage but did not want to be isolated or negatively classified as different from their African-American brothers and sisters in their congregation. All of them proudly listed their Caribbean island of origin. But one pastor I interviewed suggested that many Caribbeans prefer to worship in European-style settings instead of Afro-American ones. Amidst praising their AfricanAmerican pastor, however, this AME group voiced a preference for assimilation in their Afro-American congregation: “By the way, we object to being called “Black Caribbbeans”—we prefer to be called Black members. Why do we have to be distinct, we are one family here. We have been in this country for years, this is our country. We came from the Caribbean but we have a home here now.” The question remained, why desire to be Black members if not Black Caribbeans? CHAPTER 2: DEFINING PASTORAL CARE IN LARGE/MEGA CONGREGATIONS In response to the research question: “How do you experience pastoral care and counseling in your congregation,” the dialogues among the groups produced a series of concepts from which their definition of pastoral care emerged. Though the question was inclusive of pastoral care and counseling, I found that the three groups seemed to focus on aspects of care rather than the technical processes that comprise the therapeutic modes of counseling. However, their concepts of care were understood to be the basis for both pastoral care and counseling. As the groups defined pastoral care as attitudes, interpersonal relationships, and attentiveness to each others’ needs, so they also outlined duties ordered by their religious beliefs and Christian values. To them, the style and method of applying care were determined by the personality, the interpersonal engagement, gender, and cultural background of both the pastoral care-giver and care-receiver. Pastoral care and counseling is grounded in Christian tradition; therefore they assumed it is the vocation of someone trained within a Judeo-Christian framework. These individuals receive authorization through ordination by the church and are “set apart” by God. The divine setting-apart of the pastor, then, entitles that pastor to be God’s vicar. To these church groups, the essence and source of pastoral care and counseling come from following Jesus’ example. Such understanding is

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the working-out of a cultural tradition ordered and influenced by religious beliefs and Christian values. In their eyes, pastoral care provides an interpersonal bridge whose steel girders are visitation and pastoral presence. The interpersonal bridge that conveys care is fellowship; fellowship is relationship that is shared among congregants in the invisible presence of the Spirit. Thus, Christian values become markers of pastoral care-giving that are evident in the presence and manner of the care-giver. Visitation revealed something of a spiritual value to all members of the three groups. And here spirituality seems more an esoteric cultural response than simply a scriptural one. In fact, the term “Spirit of God” was not often formally and informally identified in their conversation, but they used terms such as “what you bring” or “that something in the room” because they did not name the activity of going and coming to each other as pastoral care, or even “care.” Some church members required more visits, while others complained of the pastor’s lack of visitation to their homes. In reference to their cultural stories and stances, their language surrounding the theme of visitation illustrated it as a movement between the pastor and individuals; a movement of individuals towards the pastor; and movements of each other’s pain, suffering, and dying, shared and shuffled among the congregants. This kind of motion, of exchange of activity in caring, of bringing healing through words, prayers, “listening to hearts,” and bringing and sharing their heart-felt stories, was defined as healing. Visitation involved motions of bringing the Spirit into another’s presence, and possessing a sense of satisfaction on departure. Visitation, this healing motion, was not done only because a pastor was told to go to someone’s aid, but because it seemed to be an exchange of human endeavor, a desire to apply empathy—just doing what they felt satisfied the soul. The pastor’s visitation aligned with the cultural phenomenon of bearing something to one person and carrying something away. This Caribbean cultural phenomenon of movement seemed to apply more of a contextual and traditional spirituality than mere Christianity. One pastor stated that he would take the church bulletin of the past service with him when he visited a sick person or shut-in. He was the harbinger of news; he would bring news of the congregation and would share the liturgical outline of the service, read the scripture of the service, and summarize the sermon. Then, later, he would take back news from the individual to the congregation. So to them, in visiting like a messenger, he brought and sent love, received and conveyed love and gratitude connecting one person to the life of others, not necessarily resulting in a cure of sickness; but the fellowship resulted in a sense of belonging, and of healing. Thus the Caribbean congregant felt a sense of connection to their church community even when sick and away from church fellowship. Visitation is a telling point of the pastor’s authenticity and to

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some extent, his competence. “If a pastor is not a good visitor to a family, he can’t help with good guidance that they need,” said one member of the Stone Mountain group. Thus, to them, visitation was (is) a sign of care and caring, of bringing “God’s peace and forgiveness.” Care happens subsequent to the one called to care experiencing fellowship. Only fellowship experienced can become fellowship shared. Because they experience fellowship, this then results in their desire to care because someone cares or cared about them. As they see Christ as their example, going to the sick, going to the suffering, and bearing words of comfort give evidence of God’s presence in their fellowship with one another. So, caring through fellowship is guided if not embodied by the Spirit of God, who works in and through their hands, voice, and feet to touch others where they experience pain and suffering. Congregants agreed that doing pastoral care is not just an occasion for someone to “drop in” to pass the time of day. This kind of care-giving is intentional because God’s presence is ushered within the time and space of each visit. Pastoral presence therefore is vital for pastoral care and spiritual healing to take place. It carries an aura signifying authority and ordination. They described pastoral presence as more than the pastor himself. There is an alluding to the embodiment of a higher power that works phenomenologically in caring. The pastor represents Christ in the caring process. To them it is the pastor’s relationship with God that makes him effective; therefore the pastor’s relationship with God must be evident. When the pastor visits someone or preaches, that presence must be felt. According to one participant, “That’s the power in the preaching, that’s the Spirit coming through.” Some say they loathe to miss church because the pastor’s sermon blesses them. He may have a particular message from God for one individual that no one but the receiver can understand, like an encrypted message for which only that hearer holds the key to open it. The pastor is sanctified, set apart as a conduit of healing. So, pastoral care from the pulpit emanates ‘presence’ of God, which is based on the pastor’s sense of authority and ordination, his sense of calling to the vocation as pastoral care-giver. The groups’ respective pastors all suggested that pastoral care is not limited to the pastor alone but to anyone whose spiritual gift shows a calling to be a helper. Regardless of their pastor’s position on the matter, the groups feel that the office of pastor as care-giver is a sanctified vocation. Therefore, Christian conversion is identified as a good prelude for pastoral care-giving. But to the three groups of Caribbean congregants, the office of pastor requires a trained, competent, and skilled person. I understood from their conversations that the office, though occupied by the pastor, has a job description and requirements that are not modifiable by the one entering the position. Invariably, pastoral care and counseling may therefore be limiting or outside the capacity of one whose training is centered mainly on pastoral

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leadership or administration. Congregants see the office of pastoral caregiver as custodian of care. This sanctified position involves the duties of care and counseling for all congregants. Some group members expect the vocation of pastor, not his personal whim, to guide his actions, his sense of duty, even his calendar and how he budgets his time to see congregants. They felt that the essence and source of pastoral care and counseling comes from following Christ’s example. Because pastoral care and counseling, to them, is a sanctified position, they claim that they would prefer to go to a pastor than a “non-pastoral counselor.” Some used images such as “the shepherd of the flock,” “God’s vicar,” or “he’s family” to describe their pastors, their preferences, and the position or vocation. The groups voiced their opinions of what the pastor’s office entails: “Pastor is not free to be his own man, but he must care for all God’s people. He must be willing and able to put his feet under everybody’s table. If the pastor not doing it right, you know people going follow what they see he doing.” In other words, he must set a good example for others to follow in caring for everyone. Not only do they expect the pastor to be indiscriminate in relating to congregants, but able to acclimatize to everyone. As a shepherd, the pastoral care-giver is one who is accountable for the flock; he guides or leads, he “feeds them with the Living Bread of heaven;” he supports them in suffering, and protects them within the community. As God’s vicar, he must intercede on their behalf, making sure of a place for them in heaven. They assessed that while not all pastors can give proper guidance, all are expected to do it. Whether the pastor acknowledges it or not, they feel that he has exclusive privilege to visit people’s homes on a regular basis. Yet some of the group complained that they did not have enough time with the pastor. On the points of regulating pastoral visits to see members, the Belvedere group was adamant. However, listening closely to the three groups, I perceived that some based their desire to see the pastor regularly not on a compulsion to be in the pastor’s company, but based on their desire to be continuously right with God and the church; the pastor’s presence seemed to reassure them of this. They felt that the church is the institution that is ordained to facilitate their salvation. This then gave them the right to wish to see their pastor regularly, requiring him to budget his time as necessary. They expected the pastor to feel a similar obligation of flock-keeping, and consequently, to make access into their individual life. The pastor is the person with exclusive rights to their “secrets,” because he is close to God. They parried my question: “What about the priesthood of all believers . . . all have access to God through Christ’s death?”—and the discussion slipped and slid back to the original concept of that special connection the pastor has with God from their perspective: “The pastor pointing the person to Christ, that’s what he suppose to bring, pointing people to Christ, comfort soul means point them to Christ!!”

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said Bro M. of the AME group. “God put a special calling on him, ordained and set him aside so therefore he is well connected with God,” was the other AME man’s reasoning. “Yes, Sis. I say the pastor represent Christ!” said Ms. C. of the Belvedere group when asked the question, and she was strongly supported by another member who stated, “I agree, there is something special about pastor. The pastor is the direct link. Pastor has him place, elder him have a place too, deacon have him own place. The pastor is the direct link between the congregation and God. Him connect us good. The pastor must have that link with God!” The office or role of the pastor requires her/him to be present at a congregant’s bedside during a critical illness, or to have a pastoral representative sent to visit in times of need, since no other is more desired at the time of death or dying. He must be unbiased. Church members expect the pastor to share as much value and prominence as other professionals in the public eye, in institutions such as hospitals and hospices, because they believe that the pastor should have continuous access to them when they are in any unit of the hospital. They feel healthcare workers are fools if they don’t see the value of the pastor visiting his members in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital. To all of them, the pastor is more valuable at the final stages of life than the doctor, or their spouse, relatives, and friends. Their point of view once more rests on the theme of salvation and eternal life. The group members, especially the AME group, defined the pastor as their priest, a vicar of God who is supposed to represent God to God’s people; this makes him a conduit of spiritual healing and gifted with reserves of comfort. He has jurisdiction and authorization over the congregation. As pastor/priest and care-giver, he hears their confessions, he guides them in repentance, reassures them of forgiveness, and prays for healing and salvation. The pastor is an intermediary between themselves and God. Church members also see the pastor as one whom God favors and whose prayers and friendship would ease their way into heaven. This reflects a Caribbean mindset, a legacy of Spanish rule, a history of Roman Catholicism’s strong tenet that runs through the fabric of the whole culture. To them the care-giver is one who thinks and responds to situations that need care based on her/his personality and cultural background regardless of her/his Christian values. The pastoral care-giver helps them to lament, complain, give thanks, and ask for God’s favors on their behalf. The pastoral office gives a good example of right and wrong attitude in care-giving. The group shared scenarios in which pastors’ attitudes and judgments either diverted or created years of unresolved conflicts in congregations. Thus, they see the office of pastor as bestowing responsibility with respect to caring for individuals and their families in and out of the congregation. So in the congregation as well as the community, the pastoral care-giver

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is the representative of God and also the representative of the people. They classified the pastor as a family coordinator of the church, and to some of them, as previously mentioned, he is like a family member in their home. As a family member, then, the pastor must hold confidences; when he fails in this capacity, conflicts develop. When the individual is “far” from family, the pastor becomes their family. According to an elderly woman of the AME group: “The pastor is my adopted son. I have no children. That’s why I adopt him. (Everyone laughed then she added this.) We have moments in life when we need to have a love word at some time or another. So that’s why my church is like my family. If I can make it to church I can make it through the week.” This evidently gave her a sense of belonging to the church family, with the pastor as one of its leading members. Therefore, the pastor must be as trustworthy as he is discrete because this impacts pastoral care in the congregation. According to the AME pastor, it is important to have pastoral tools. These tools he defined as the word of God, along with his listening skills and pastoral presence. The word of God included scripture, hymns, or Christian inspirational themes. The pastor’s listening skills included attentiveness and an attitude of care. He described his pastoral presence as feeling his authority of being sent on behalf of God, the church, and the loved ones of the individual needing his care. Pastoral tools are the source of caring strategies that also help him to respond with an understanding of the culture and community where the care is done. Tools of pastoral care-giving allow the care-giver to have an attitude of readiness, capability, and capacity to care. It was no surprise when all the church members suggested that a caring pastor is one that has subjected himself/herself to training. All three groups agreed that pastoral-care needs required an understanding of conflict resolution needs in congregations; the trained pastor, they feel, needs to have conflict resolution skill and the ability to use scripture to resolve conflicts. While one Stone Mountain female group member argued that “care” cannot be taught, they all seemed to define pastoral care as help provided by trained, educated, and experienced individuals wanting to help and care for others. CHAPTER 3: PASTORAL-CARE THEOLOGY OF BLACK CARIBBEANS Considering Black Caribbeans’ view of care in community, their theology, or their “God-talk,” seems to echo from one individual to the next, among the three groups. Their Judeo-Christian tradition not only influenced congregation and community life, but also the way they lived out their life of giving and receiving care in a Caribbean cultural context, as well as the way they perceived and talked about God.

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As part of this Grounded Theory study, I outlined the theology that I heard reflected from the groups. In doing so, I tried to articulate it as I received their feedback about the source and essence of their beliefs concerning aspects of pastoral care. The groups’ emphasis on culture, congregation, and scripture seemed to govern their theology, the way they formulated “God.” Their chief theologian is Jesus. Thus, for these church members, pastoral care seemed guided by religious beliefs mingled with cultural reflections. From such cultural references, their beliefs coincided with scriptural references of going or coming to a human intercessor. The pastor’s visits to members, and also members visiting each other, were mentioned several times as being as an attempt to do God’s will, God’s work in caring for others. There were dialogues, heated discussions, and reflections on movements of going and coming similar to giving and receiving. You go to someone when you are in need, when you are suffering. You also go to someone in need of care. Caribbeans from all educational and economic levels know about finding spiritualists in their communities in times of special needs. The Obeah man, the Mother, the Busha, or the Parson were equally important for helping when children were “out of hand,” when someone at home was sick beyond help of the available medication, or when someone “not following the order of things.” Caribbeans will go to a human intercessor to speak more influentially on their behalf to a spouse, to warn a wayward child, or to apply wisdom and judgment in a dispute between two offending parties. In some cases, the influential person would mediate justice or interpret legal matters; sometimes judgment meant commandeering supernatural emissaries to act. From the Judeo-Christian perspective, Jesus Christ is cast as an intercessor between God and humankind. As Mary the mother of Jesus, a prevalent iconic figure of Roman Catholic doctrine in the Caribbean, so were the Mothers also embraced as intercessors. No doubt the research group placed great emphasis on pastors as human intercessors. Caribbeans’ cultural reflections coincided with the Judeo-Christian scriptural references of going first to a spiritual source for help. In Caribbean culture, a man or woman would consider seeking out a spiritual leader in the community for help with general sickness of mind or body before going to a “secular professional.” Often the pastor would visit, their homes, but later they would have to search and find the Obeah man or the Mother, often in secret, as these were gradually stigmatized as non-Christian and dangerous leaders. The Busha, usually a rich landowner, was more concerned with fixing economic problems than spiritual ones. Those who are called to care for others in or out of the congregation take on the allure of an intercessor. This is another place where culture and theology intersect. With no quick and easy access to emergency health care, and no access to hospitals, families learned to share remedies. An older child, preferably a girl, would be made

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available to stay with any elderly, mentally impaired, sick, or dependent individual in the home, or anyone needing help next door. Sharing of human and economic resources made people in the community dependent on each other. “Care” was not a label used for what village life measured as give and take, for “care” is a soft and insufficient descriptive to apply to the depth and complexity of human exchange that was the fabric of these small, remote societies. In Caribbean culture, the pastor or parson was assumed to be the most prominent public figure in the community. The parson (“the person,” a word from Scottish dialect gradually corrupted to “parson”) was the one who could read, write, or interpret public and legal documents for the community; he had answers to social as well as spiritual questions. He was usually a church leader and important because he was educated outside the community. The parson, although a church-designated rather than a government-appointed or elected official, was often seen as the one who governed the district or parish. To the Caribbean groups, a pastor is assumed to have been trained by the denomination’s seminary to care for the congregation, and is set apart as such by God. Because they assume he has been trained and sanctified, they believe that the role or office of pastor is distinguished from other disciplines. The pastor is believed to live close to God and has a good connection, if not a special type of friendship with God. As a result, the pastor is their confidant, so that none other than the pastor is more vital at the bedside in times of death and dying. In fact, they believe he sets an example to his parishioners of right or wrong attitudes in care-giving. It follows, then, that they believe the pastor has an exclusive right to his congregants’ homes, going and coming to visit as he sees fit. In fact, as mentioned previously, he is expected to make access into their life and has exclusive rights to their “secrets.” Their burdens are lightened when shared with the pastor, guilt is taken away, and suffering and pain are alleviated. To the Caribbean congregant, the trained pastor is assumed to be superior in knowledge about pastoral duties. Some feel that he has “extra-spirituality” because he is assumed to have a special connection with God. A theology of belief and care in congregation and community emerged gradually out of their dialogue, within and among the church groups. Their belief is that pastoral care surfaced as a means of providing hope, as an alternative to helpless and lonely suffering. The tension of doctrines and culture emerged in these narrations. The concept of the priesthood of ministers gleaned from their dialogue seemed to prevail against the scriptural tenet of “the priesthood of all believers” even though they all agreed that the pastor was not the only one expected to do care-giving. Nevertheless, pastoral presence is valued in crises and for resolving differences. He is the one they rely on for pastoral-care needs in life’s chaos. Paradoxically, although pastors are generally men, all three groups pointed out that the vocation of pastoral care

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requires a woman’s sensitivity in caring for people in and out of the congregation, as they are generally seen as nurturers. Coming to church meant being present in a central place to receive spiritual teaching and doctrinal understanding. Coming into the presence of others and making contact with other believers meant witnessing to God’s work of healing. This bolstered them at intervals when they were absent from each other. Congregants’ meetings with others served as an exchange and dividing of burdens, concerns, pain, and suffering, and connected them in and out of the congregation. But more important to them was their belief that “this is God’s remnant church even if it’s in trouble.” In other words, God operated in times past through the church, and God, they believed, still performs through people even via the medium of pastoral care-giving. Theirs is the belief that fellowship draws them to be part of the congregation. And while caring is an expected function of fellowship, they all seemed to agree that knowing “how” to care is a result of being cared for, whether at home or in the congregation. With this in mind, some pointed out the importance of teaching young ones in the congregation to care. The nature of caring was as dependent on the “person” as it was on the Spirit working through that person to care for others. They believed personality, gender, and cultural background formed a basis of how one gives and receives care. They also believed that their congregation was a pivotal resource and had an obligation to connect with the surrounding community. This was a way of connecting others to Christ. All three groups believed that the church is called to witness God's work in the world through them and that they must “go out into the world as sheep among wolves” to reclaim the lost. However, caring for those most familiar to them using familiar methods can be tricky, since one cannot treat an unfamiliar person the same way one treats family, since in doing this they might offend some and scare away others. But because they have witnessed the impact of a caring congregation on the stability of individuals where the centering of lives through pastoral care in the congregation took place, they all voiced the importance of having strategies of doing pastoral care in the communities. Church to them is a haven where healing and help function together. They believe that pastoral care could be experienced from the pulpit. All groups cited the pastor as a shepherd who guided the congregation. But all agreed that the pastor must also be skillful in his use of scripture to resolve conflict. The pastor must know how to speak to the heart without confusing the preaching of individuals’ secrets with pastoral care from the pulpit. All three groups believed that because the church is like a family system, reconciliation is as crucial a need within congregations as pastoral care. They stated this repeatedly through the individuals’ stories and grievances they had experienced in the congregation. Reconciliation was an on-going need, one they seemed to see as an important pastoral-care device.

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They believed that the theology of care is implied through the activities of pastoral caring. Following biblical examples of Jesus created a guideline of how to apply care in the church community; these included going to the homes of those He healed and converted, or to the bedsides of those who were sick. However, it was at this point of the conversation that members of the Stone Mountain SDA church questioned the meaning of pastoral care in reference to Sabbath rest. They wrestled with the concept of “holy rest” on the Sabbath Day in reference to care-giving. To this group, doing pastoral care was work that required too much professionalism versus spiritualism. On the other hand, the Belvedere SDA group responded to their dialogue about pastoral care and Sabbath-keeping by stating that the Sabbath was a day of “doing good” to and for others. They suggested that following Christ’s example would clarify how and when to do pastoral care. They quoted Jesus’ rebuke to the Pharisees about not leaving a donkey that’s fallen in a hole to suffer on the Sabbath, but frowning on healing the sick and raising the dead on the Sabbath. Thus, their belief influenced their perspectives on congregation and community fellowship, as well as their theological perspective on the role of the pastor as provider of pastoral care and counseling within and outside the congregation, and as to when pastoral care should take place. A theology of belief and scriptural guidance emerged out of images of Christ’s work on earth. The groups often quoted scriptures to support answers to questions I asked concerning their perspective on pastoral care. A consistent quote was “Jesus the Good Shepherd went to seek and save the lost;” another was “Christ died for all mankind.” But they seemed to invest their scriptural quotations with more than one meaning. For example, they said they believed their pastor followed Christ’s example in going to search for those among them who were homebound, sick, suffering, and dying. But the visit of the pastor seemed to mean more than a comforting presence. “My pastor was turned away by the intensive care unit nurse of the hospital” was a statement that produced waves of indignation among the groups. On exploring the context and hermeneutics of their indignation, I discovered more phrases and concepts they harbored about their ministers. The pastor is their intercessor, their link to salvation, to God and heaven. The pastor is the good shepherd, which also meant: “I could have died without being blessed;” “the hospital staff had no respect for God’s anointed;” “those who do not honor pastors at the bedside as care-givers are stupid;” “the pastor should be seen as a respected member of the professional care-giving team.” One woman verbalized a concurrent theme of all three groups when she stated that ‘the pastor knows me from my hair-style and from seeing me from my back.” This theme is reflected by the text, “I know my sheep and they know my voice; I call them by name”. (John 10:14, 27–33). She felt special, recognized by the Shepherd’s giving her a sense of belonging, for she is known.

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For the SDAs in the group, tending to the pastoral care of the congregation and community took on a special sense of urgency when there was a crisis. Legislative needs for justice and equanimity, while important, seemed secondary to eschatological SDA doctrines. Conversion and evangelism were their mission for reaching out to a world community “lost in sin.” The community “outside” of their church fellowship had their non-SDA friends and relatives, so culturally their community was without borders, although they often referred to unconverted family members and friends as those “out there in the world.” Where the groups were concerned, their Caribbean culture and their affiliation with the church often limited their relationships with friends and relatives who “were out in the world.” But there were conflicting stories about living closely with all their neighbors. They seemed to live with a dichotomy of tensions because their lives were still very much enmeshed with those who were non-converts, even nonChristians. The AME group highlighted advocacy for political and social issues impacting families, women, and men here in the culture of Atlanta, Georgia. But all of them agreed that scripture required them to love their neighbor as the self, which was the motivating factor in the work of pastoral care to all who needed their help. Scripture supported their belief in fellowship and community. The highlight of the SDA group in providing pastoral care in and out of the congregation was based on their doctrinal belief that translated into working to prepare a people to meet the Lord at the second advent of Christ; that is, there and then. The AME theme, based on their beliefs, was to work for the Lord to bring the kingdom into the present, the here and now. Thus, the subjectivity of a pastor guides his/her belief and subsequent method of care. But it is their religious belief that Christ is their example that forms their attitude and motive for giving care that is classified as pastoral in nature. While Christian values, they agreed, were the markers of the duties of pastoral care-giving, Christian conversion was the facilitator of pastoral caregiving—a good prelude, they felt, for an effective care-giver. As the Spirit moves one to do what is right, so they believe one must be able, under the guidance of the Spirit, to discern the needs for care of friends, neighbors, and families in the community. Some felt that caring for those with whom they were familiar versus the stranger took special attentiveness, while others stated that family members should be treated with as much delicacy and care as those they feared to offend. However, they referred to the Old Testament exhortation that required special care of strangers, visitors, or guests: “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God!” (Leviticus 19:34). Also, they felt that special ministers should be set apart to care for those in need in the congregation, much like the deacons who were

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consecrated in the apostolic church to take care of the widows and orphans. Their use of scripture supported their beliefs and cultural construct, illustrating their theology of care. It highlighted their perspectives of the work of anyone who occupies the office of the pastor as a care-giver of the congregation and their surrounding community. CHAPTER 4: EVALUATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHANGE The groups focused on care in the congregation. Instead of “pastoral care,” they often shortened it to “care.” One Stone Mountain SDA member informed the group that “bad care doesn’t exist.” In other words, the oxymoron of bad care illustrated their definition that “care” or “caring” are positive action words. So, bad care would either be nonexistent or would be an attempt at care that needed improvement. As a result, in this section I noted what they counted as affirmation of care and caring versus needed care that was not available, and their recommendations of how pastoral care can be effective in congregations like these three. In essence, the group endeavored to describe their version of the making of community. Appreciation of pastoral visits and pastoral presence resounded throughout the three groups, illustrating a generally felt need among congregants. They all verbalized appreciation of pastoral visits and what they described as the result of those visits, “the holy presence” or pastoral presence. To them, visiting and pastoral presence seemed more important than any other process of pastoral care and counseling. Visits from the pastor and congregation are valued because they felt that the pastor’s visits showed care and caring for them. The pastor’s presence is more favored than others. According to the AME group, they see the pastor as intermediary to God: “The pastor makes intercessory prayers; his prayers ease the way into God’s kingdom.” The pastor represents Christ in the caring process and has good connections with God; he is the shepherd of the flock and he holds their confidences. Therefore the pastor is appreciated in times of crises. They appreciate his use of pastoral tools to help them in times of bereavement or suffering. Appreciation of communication and community emerged in one group’s discussion about the routine flow of services. Another group stressed the feelings behind reading items in the church bulletin concerning community issues. Their desire to stay aware of the comings and goings of each other— births, deaths, life-cycle situations that connect the lives of their faith community—gave them a sense of ownership and of belonging. Communication is vital to the life of the congregation. They felt that good communication was comparable to pastoral care: listening to each other,

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responding with kind words or appropriate interventions, touching, which included hugs and kisses when they met or parted. Communication was also important for what they called grapevine care. This determined their quick access to support in various forms: phone calls or emails. They cited communication as good pastoral care when they participated and heard the whole congregation pray for them or others. Knowing that everyone around them was talking to God with them, sometimes about them by name, had a special comforting effect. In this regard, they appreciated communication, which included hearing the prayers and support of the congregation praying in concert for each other and for absent individual members. This took on special meaning and function when elders/ leaders participated. To them it is good when those who are cared for communicate their appreciation to the care-giver. They feel that sermons can be good communicators of pastoral care when kind words and appropriate language are used to manage sensitive issues. The sermon, then, is enough to teach lessons like forgiveness, and inspire hope. The group voiced appreciation for women’s way of performing pastoral care. From their perspectives, women provide a pastoral presence that is suited to good care-giving. They seem to say that most women and even men prefer to talk out emotionally charged or sensitive issues with women than with men. Women are seen as sensitive, nurturing, patient, and more discerning. They appreciated the pastoral care definition found in women’s way of caring. Fellowship was a theme that emerged as a function of pastoral care. The groups agreed that the church is central to pastoral care-giving. Church is where strategies, visions, and conversations regarding care of the congregation and community take place. The AME group voiced their appreciation for the church’s strategies in reaching out to the community because the church is a pivotal point of fellowship. The congregation is the place where friendship, help, and healing oscillate around each other. Thus, the fellowship and interpersonal relationships in pastoral care connect people to small groups in the church. In light of this, congregants feel that a large or mega-church atmosphere would prevent them from having access to the pastor, and so they value smaller churches versus mega churches. All three groups of congregants from three different churches felt that the size of the church would significantly affect how they experienced pastoral care in the congregation. It is felt that in smaller churches, pastoral care-giving and receiving can be managed intentionally and be less taxing. Most areas where they felt care was lacking implied a need for formal and informal education and training. Two identified areas were insensitivity to human experiences and emotions, and insensitivity to human vulnerabilities and human values. For example, as mentioned previously, a minister refused sacred services to a baby born out of wedlock. This created conflict among

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the family, the pastor, and other church members. Other issues were preaching shared secrets, breaking confidentiality, and incurring their distrust, resulting in over-cautiousness about speaking to their pastor and a feeling that they had forfeited the spiritual guidance they needed from him. Over time, some avoided him, and even grew to dislike him. Feelings of shame and open vulnerability occurred, and of being judged by the one from whom they wanted respect. They stressed the importance of knowing what to say and how to say it to people. How not to offend in word and deed comes from being aware of how others live, where they come from, their personal experiences, and sensitivity to their woundedness, pain, and suffering. Cultural insensitivity or unawareness seemed to be a basis of problems. Pastoral care in small groups is good, but some group members complained that small groups often became cliques, which made people feel excluded. The size of the church matters in the way it is organized around programs or people’s needs. Church size, the group members explained, interfered with coordination and community. The larger the congregation, the more time it took to connect and feel involved or integrated. They complained that some pastors were more available to those who were more educated, had professional degrees, and more income, than to those with less. Single women felt marginalized in two of the groups. One female felt uncared for by the church community. She stated that the church was more favorable and attentive to married couples, marking anniversaries and having couples’ nights, marriage retreats, and other emphases for them, whereas she felt that if she got sick no one would be available to take her to the hospital or speak to the doctors and nurses on her behalf. Yet the church expected her to be available for working in the church as a lay officer and to visit the sick and shut-in. CHAPTER 5: TOWARDS EFFECTIVE PASTORAL CARE It was not “care” that needed improving, as defined by those in the group, but those offering and receiving pastoral care. As I listened to their recommendations, I asked clarifying questions, such as, “Is it more life experience that’s needed for better caring, or more in-depth academic studies?” Maybe continuing education or mentoring by other flourishing pastors might be helpful for some ministers. For example, they claimed that some pastors’ “fear of church members” might be a result of lack of life experience, education, and/or proper training. Another question was, “How does one discern needs?” Some group members felt that discernment, like caring, cannot be taught, but must be demonstrated or modeled. On the other hand, they felt that it is good when people have the gift of discerning the need for caring. Many people, especially women, they argued, can discern the need for care. But discerning care, knowing how to attend to the need, and understanding how and when to meet

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the needs of others is an aptitude that is on a different level than simple intuition. One can sense that someone is hurting, troubled, angry, and lonely, but not have the means or method for alleviating their distress or responding to that particular need. They felt that readiness, capability, and the capacity to care require occasional training reviews. Also beyond dispute was the fact that elders, deacons and others who are set apart, designated by the congregation to care for congregants, should receive continuous training to do well or better in that capacity. It seemed important that those who go out to care for others are Christians trained in pastoral care and counseling; otherwise they can cause harm. They felt that not only is the pastor endowed with a mandate from God to deliver care, but that the variety of ideas, cultures, and ethnicities that gather in one place for worship and fellowship require training in reaching out indiscriminately to others. Then there is the need for pastoral care amid life’s chaos. Sometimes needs come about not because of a personal immediate crisis, but due to lifecycle changes occurring in families. The aging elderly members become homebound, and a single adult child is left to care for both parents while trying to wrestle with his/her personal life, family, or natural changes. These care-giving individuals are often very active in church because they are single, and when they become sick, their life story starts to sound like a tangled web of financial, family, and intra-personal mayhem. The congregation, the group agreed, needs better understanding of how to discern oncoming crises. This may be better covered in understanding natural changes in the lifecycles of both individuals and family systems. Cultural and social sensitivity affect how church members cared for the people they visited. According to their estimation, having an understanding of how to enter the home, or the hospital room, how to visit with and care for people in hospitals and hospices, was lacking. Their concern was what to say when attending to individuals who were dying, and what to say to their families. This, they concluded, required a trained pastoral care-giver with considerable life experience, or leaders, elders, or care-givers trained for that work. Some in the group felt they were not qualified even to talk to people. Some felt neither they nor their church leaders were trained, educated, or good enough to caution, guide, exhort, or counsel others. Because of tentativeness and a sense of unpreparedness, they felt that individuals receiving their care may experience their tentativeness as being unloving and maybe even unconverted. Therefore, all three groups agreed that training was needed in order for the lay-persons to improve their skills. This meant intentionally going through courses of study geared towards understanding people, culture, society, religions, and their God-talk. Besides the need for training, they had other specific recommendations. First of all, a recommendation was made for coordinated community minis-

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try. In our discussion, the group distinguished pastoral care as care in church versus the surrounding community separated from the church. They cited a need for experienced outreach pastors. The AME group claimed that the church needed pastors who were trained to reach out to the poor, the homeless, the sick, and others who were in need in the community, even if they were not connected to the church. However, all three groups agreed that the church needed intentional goals and training for working within communities outside the church. The SDA groups favored training that specified that pastoral care means there is no agenda in caring for needs; in other words, the needs are what matter. Rather than evangelizing people to add to the number of the church, the purpose was to “visit the sick; feed the hungry; go to those in prison.” Of course, evangelism has its place, but it should not be confused with pastoral care-giving. Another recommendation was for better coordination of communication. The groups felt the need for better coordination of communication in the congregation. Knowing what is happening among members is like the bloodstream flowing throughout the church body, yet some felt that there was not enough time or space in congregation life for conversation and dialogue. “We need to talk more so we can get used to each other,” they all agreed. Recommendations for training a pastoral-care conflict-resolution coordinator surfaced. The SDA groups felt a strong need for the church to acquire conflict resolution specialists as a function of pastoral care for the congregation. That this pastoral-care provider have a background in psychology was important to help in resolving simple-to-complex problems that interfere with spiritual growth of individuals and their church. They also felt that more modeling of caring was needed to intentionally teach others, including new members or younger members, how to reach out and connect without hurting others. Recommendations for visiting persisted throughout the three groups. There was a general recommendation for more coordinated visitations. It was agreed that the pastor needed to visit everyone; the congregation should know how to access him at all times, and how to utilize his assistants or elders when he was not available. He had to make time and make visitation a priority of his ministry. The pastor should never be too busy with other functions, they felt, since visitation was important to other aspects of the pastor’s ministering to the congregation. Through visits, they expected the pastor to make access into their individual lives. People want to feel close to their minister/pastor; some of them want the pastor to take the initiative to visit them and reach out to make friends with them. Though the pastor is a person with likes and dislikes like anyone else, he is expected to be on friendly terms and make connection with all church members. Some felt that small groups created more and better opportunities for connectivity. Therefore, a recommendation was made for better coordination

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of small groups. This would support the need for the whole congregation to regularly know of those who were going through pain and suffering, and the sick and shut-in, so that these people could know they were not alone and that others were there to help. As a result, a small group may uncover types of training needs to be done for the many. There seemed to be an ongoing need for focused plans to draw people closer to one another. In large/mega churches, people cannot get to know each other because fellowship tends to be limited by time and space. So, people are veritable strangers to each other, and as noted in the groups, it is hard to ask a stranger to drive you to the hospital emergency room for a colonoscopy, to get food stamps, or to put up bail bond for yourself or a family member who is in jail. These, they claim, are the realities of modern-day communities, and though life can be unsavory, this is what makes church life matter. In reflecting on sickness and death, the recommendation for a bereavement coordinator for churches seemed important to the groups. They suggested that the church have a bereavement coordinator as an appointed pastoral-care leader who could help with grief work, funerals, and continued griefand-loss workshops. This person would be trained in pastoral care and acquainted with the church’s doctrine on death and dying. The group pointed to the decline of prayer meetings in all churches, and claimed that some basic pastoral care and counseling needs were manifested during that time. So, their recommendation was for prayer meetings to be revamped for the sake of pastoral care and counseling. According to the group, prayer meeting time on Wednesday evenings was a mid-week encounter, a time and place where people became vulnerable when they made prayer requests. It was then that more than one person heard the needs of individuals, so that many prayers were answered by the closing-time of a meeting. As such, open prayer caused listeners to move to act in tangible ways to help the person in need. Besides the physical and spiritual release and relief of praying, praising and testimony is unmatched by any other remedy. Nowadays prayer meeting times are displaced by other departmental intrigues or become too intellectual and didactic. The group wanted time and space for traditional prayer and testimony. Finally, a suggestion in the form of a recommendation was directed at care recipients. The group felt that those who are recipients of care need to ask for help when they can, be a little bit more vulnerable, and reach out to others before their need(s) become overwhelming, so that others can share the burden. For us to survive as a community, we must allow others into private spaces of our pain and sorrow. When we become “family” members of the church, we give up some of our private space. We connect as we reach out from self to others. If more people reached outward, rather than waiting for others to come to them, more care-givers might be created. Often pride and lack of humility in receiving care impede help and healing.

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However, fear of being hurt loomed heavily among group members. People who have experienced past relational pain and suffering also fear being hurt again, by getting involved with someone in need of care. To some of the group members, having been hurt sharpens one’s ability to perceive similar effects of pain and suffering in others. Perhaps the person discerning the need for caring is presently experiencing an equal situation, or has experienced what the individual is going through, but is not yet healed and wants to avoid being affected or hurt again. Therefore, there is a need for pastoral counseling and care for those who commit themselves to caring for others.

Part Three: Pastoral Care and Counseling in Cross-Cultural Needs of Congregations

CHAPTER 1: CHURCH AS PASTORAL-CARE UNIT AND MISSION FIELD Christ admonishes us, as Christian disciples who minister to those of the faith community, to embrace a responsibility towards each other: “Feed my sheep . . . deal your bread to the hungry. . . . I was sick, naked, hungry and you visited me. . . . If you do it unto the least of these, you do it also unto me” (Matt. 5:13). Christ is our example of love, care, and embracing of others. As redeemed sinners, we receive the characteristic of Christ, acting out loving kindness, justice, and care to all those who need us, who live within the precinct of our community. Christ challenged his disciples to “give ye them to eat” (Mark 6:37). The disciples in turn asked Christ, “How shall we feed so many in the wilderness?” (Mark 6:37b). By trusting that God would multiply my effort, limited by time; by trusting that God would be the Living Bread, providing wisdom to do and act faithfully towards gathering information, I would help in feeding many in this type of wilderness. This was the basis of my choice of using the qualitative Grounded Theory method with focus groups. The church is a community that provides spiritual and social resources for most people, yet there is not enough reliable understanding of how the church facilitates care for the total person through pastoral care and counseling. The welfare of all the members would entail attention to their spiritual as well as their psychosocial needs and to church-community woundedness. 45

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Today the church seems to struggle to maintain its significance in a society that defines religion in a way that makes spirituality a secular thing. But the church is still considered to play a vital role in providing pastoral care more effectively than any other agent in society. David Powlison, an editor, seminarian professor, and pastoral counselor, states that in the 1950s, mainline Protestant churches had “no comprehensive models of counseling . . . no pastors or other Christian workers were trained to work in face-to-face care for souls.” 1 In the 1950s, the churches that were proposing to evangelize the country had little to say about counseling. Religious beliefs, practices, and experiences might have been privately engaging and meaningful, but the God of the Bible seemed quiet in objectively explaining and addressing the human condition. 2 My exploration showed some distinctions between Seventh-day Adventists and the African Methodist Episcopalian (AME) missions that may define their outlook on pastoral care within community and congregation. Though the Wesleyan movement endeavored to bring the gospel to foreign lands, its offspring the AME church had their mission primarily within the continent of America. The mission of the AME church had its beginnings and focus towards the liberation and elevating of Blacks from American slavery. 3 So what is community to the AME? And might there be a significant difference in the two churches’ definition of “caring for the community”? Seventh-day Adventists, also off-springs of Wesleyan Methodism, derive their mission, purpose, and ideology of “church” from the great commission of Matthew 28: 19, 20, which specifies going to peoples, and nations with the directives of teaching and baptizing. 4 Their first priority then is worldwide evangelism which is essential to the mission of the church. Their second priority is that the church exists also for the edification of believers and for the promotion of worship of the true and living God. 5 The third priority is engagement in matters of social concern as indicated by James 1:27. Visitation of those sick, in prison, or absent from services is a familiar aspect of church life. Seventh-day Adventists believe that the church as simply a community of faith is not an option, since it is a crucial component in the plan of salvation. The church or house of God is the pillar and ground by which sinners are brought into contact with God’s offer of salvation. It is not a human invention, though temporal; it was created by God for the purpose of bringing everyone into a saving relationship with God. Ecclesia then is any autonomous group of people gathered together who share in a saving relationship with Christ, who is the head of the universal Christian body of believers. 6 The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church has a history as one of seven major historical Black denominations in America. To the AMEs, the “black sacred cosmos” or the religious worldview of African Americans is

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related both to their African heritage, which envisaged the whole universe as sacred, and to their conversion to Christianity during slavery and its aftermath. African-American scholars recognized that history, culture, and religion defined Black Americans’ culture, worldview, and religion. The Old Testament notion of God as an avenging, conquering, liberating paladin remains a formidable anchor of the faith in most Black churches. The older the church or the more elderly the members, the more likely a demand for the exciting imageries of the personal involvement of God in history. 7 Thus, “church” represents the “black religious phenomena” born from the experiences of oppression, enslavement, and segregation that affected places of residence, education, religion, and social life. Religion or the religious dimensions of church community consist of the encounters of human beings with the “sacred” or “divine.” This is associated with “the mysterious, terrifying, and fascinating awesomeness and attractiveness of the sacred black cosmos.” 8 Religious life and experiences include a social phenomenon, a shared group exercise that has shaped and influenced the cultural screens of human communications and interpretations. 9 Both the AME and SDA denominations seem to be immersed in community care. However, neither group of Black Caribbean congregants classified their ministries as pastoral care. Culture for the Black American church is the “sum of the options for creative survival,” 10 and this is inherent in the symbolic importance given to the words freedom and liberation. Throughout Black history, the term freedom has found a deep religious resonance in the lives and hopes of African Americans. God’s imminence in Black communities, despite pain and suffering in the lives of individuals, is represented through song, prayer, and liturgy within the community of faith in Black churches such as AME. Freedom is not only for the “sweet by and by,” but church members’ determination is for it to be “here and now.” From the summation of my ethnographic study, Seventh-day Adventists struggle to strike a balance between evangelism and community care. Pastoral care within congregations is still a foreign space in terms of how to coordinate trained professional counseling and ministry in individual care. CHAPTER 2: TOWARDS PURPOSEFUL PASTORAL CARE AND COUNSELING To pastors in training, to teachers who instruct them, and to those currently in practice, these recommendations might be valuable reminders. I based the following recommendations on what the three groups of Black Caribbeans shared. As I contemplated the concepts emerging from our dialogues, I examined the needs behind their requests and recommendations. Therefore, I

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used the psychosocial and cultural lens at my disposal to build an understandable picture of the outcome of our dialogues. Emphases on “visiting,” “giving/receiving,” and “community” suggested a need for trained leaders grounded in practical theology, who understand languaging as a tool and vehicle for caring. The Black Caribbean groups expressed needs that speak of a pastor who understands preaching—preaching that heals because the pastor’s spirituality is culturally sensitive. One who understands how healing relates to conversion, transformation, and learning should also have the ability to distinguish and utilize these theories in an opportune manner. There is a desire for a minister who understands and respects the phenomenological aspects of belief and culture and who can blend his/her hermeneutics with those of whom he/she pastors. He/she would respect female and male as genders, not only in relationship as other in community but as Imago Dei, and metaphoric of the Christian’s salvation story. Organizing regular fellowship times for self-expression, such as prayermeetings and testimonies, seemed vital to the group for making their requests known—not only within the presence of the Holy Spirit, but also to the listening ears of all members fellowshipping with them. Some members of the groups felt that the traditional special time and sacred space set aside for prayer meetings and testimonies is disappearing, or changing to something other than the interpersonal promotion of caring for the spiritual and temporal needs of congregants. Many Christian churches in Metro-Atlanta, Georgia have traditionally met on Wednesday evenings for mid-week praying and testimony service, but currently the meetings may be comprised of anything from Bingo games to travel-tour lectures. Black Caribbeans in large/mega congregations prefer supportive meeting sessions for spiritual care and continued spiritual growth. These were concepts emerging from their suggestions for care in the congregation. Ideas such as affirming those who are designated care-givers in the congregation sparked new discussions, but even more interesting was the suggestion for affirming the care-receivers as well. The care-receiver, it seems, enters the cycle of care not as a victim of circumstances or a pawn of the devil but as one who embraces his/her vulnerability in allowing others to enter their sacred and private spaces. Often, caregivers in the congregation are uncertain of how to give needed care. Gratitude or positive feedback from care-recipients does matter. A crucial dichotomy exists between the pastoral care-giver and care-receiver, for without one or the other, care would not be a relevant Christian experience. Another ongoing need was for trained elders and church officers to alleviate the inevitable conflicting situations. For where people engage within a community of sinners saved only by grace, conflicts and disagreements can potentially do harm. It is not easy, according to the group, to reconcile differences, so the trained minister must receive

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continuing education, and possibly have a therapeutic alliance, to maintain effectiveness in pastoral care of the congregation. Clinical Pastoral Experience (CPE) demonstrates how this training experience is relevant to a transformational understanding of pain and suffering at various levels of “personhood,” but training of pastoral care-givers must be ongoing and repetitive to be fruitful in congregations. The group agreed that they needed a community pastor for their churches. He would not be an evangelist, but would visit the sick in their community, whether at home or in hospitals. The ministry of this pastor would be an outreach for families and friends of members within the congregation, so he would be available to officiate in times of bereavement in churches or funeral homes. The Stone Mountain and Belvedere SDA groups verbalized strong opinions in opposition to visitations being done only around sickness, death, and dying. People visited each other to help with physical needs as well as to hear each other’s concerns, even if there was no solution. In other words, they listened to hear, as a witness of an experience versus to take action. The pain and suffering might take the form of stories that span years of events, or a current incident. Often the visitors had no immediate solutions for the issues they encountered; sometimes they offered advice or suggestions. All groups voiced strong opinions on the occasional miscommunications or lack of communication about those who needed care: those who were sick and suffering in the congregation. One woman in hospice care came to church with an oxygen tank, and spoke with labored breathing; three women in need of care lived within extended families, and one lived alone. To these individuals, community and communication were synonymous. Communication, interestingly, seems like a very sound basis of fellowship in community, and those in the group expressed a need for it. First, they desired an interchange of basic knowledge about the skills of pastoral care, including what was required for visiting sick members in the Intensive Care Units of hospitals, and how to listen to the needs of those for whom they cared. Communication seemed like a vehicle and tool for pastoral care in their congregations, indicating a need to share information about each other’s needs, especially of those who were sick and shut in. The communication itself provided comfort and reassurance of receiving needed information; it connected those in need to sources of other human contacts. In this context, communication seemed to be the equivalent of remedial urgent care. Brother L., a deacon from Jamaica, claimed that there is a need to have weekly communications for absent members. He confronted the female head elder of the group by stating: “Sister Elder ma’am. Sick and shut-ins not just sick and shut in at communion time, mark oh! The next time they get a visit is when communion come round or when they dead. We must create a roster for visitation.” Therefore, they indicated the need for a visiting pastor or bereavement coor-

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dinator, one who might visit individuals or their family members at times of palliative care for incurable illness, dying, death, grief, and loss. The group felt that public service organizations, such as the police, fire department, and emergency medical teams, should be acquainted with the visiting community pastor. Neighborhood Watch organizations, restaurants, country clubs, gas stations, and school boards should all get to know the community pastor as a volunteer ministerial presence among them. His training should gear him for involvement in various types and levels of ministering within his congregation’s community. People claim privacy around their personal life stories. As a result, those with pastoral-care needs that are not overt are less likely to be approached and engaged. Needs are not always evident in crowds. Unless one is able to distinguish between the structure of the individual’s faith-story and his or her relationships within the church community, it is often uncertain how to apply needed care. So, the groups suggested means for more engaging encounters with others within congregations. 11 They cited needs for coordinated purpose-driven small groups that can “care” for individuals as well as families in the congregations. Singles, both men and women, need connections within the family systems of the church for help and support beyond spiritual accountability. Though their needs are very similar to those of typical individuals in families, singles feel isolation more keenly when pastoral-care needs arise. When a single member becomes sick, incapacitated, or incarcerated, and needs to grant power of attorney, a specific group of people must be able and available to act on their behalf. A single woman or man may require help to transport her/him to the doctor, to the emergency room, or to drive her/him home after a colonoscopy or pupil dilation, after incarceration and release, or when stranded at odd hours. These are examples of personalized care within daily existence that are now common among congregants because of the changing nature of church members’ families, including those of Black Caribbean immigrants. The group suggested that learning to care comes from experience that one sees, feels, and learns at home, in the community, or at church. Training Christians to be skilled care-givers was one highlighted value. These questions came from members of the Stone Mountain SDA group: How does one know when there is a “need,” and how do you learn the art of caring? How do you learn or know that you are doing it well? Someone responded, “I don’t need to know the sickness but I should know how to respond.” This expressed a confirmation of the desire to see leaders receive special training in practical levels of caring. One group gave an example concerning caring for church members who are disabled. Someone stated that there are physically disabled children coming to their church, and that how the members respond to them demonstrates the church’s level of spiritual discernment and

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understanding of pastoral care of the disabled. It also comforts the parents and family when the church knows how to care for these children in a proper manner. When the Belvedere group received the same questions, one member summed up their discussion with, “The church in general need a lot a eddy-kating is my tinkin.” They wished that all pastoral care-givers received training, but emphasized the benefits of seeing more church members doing “a good job with caring for those in need.” The constructivist nature of interpersonal encounters and relationships in these congregations suggests that modeling is inevitable in a church community. Children as well as adults may learn how to be responsible and caring members from observing others both at home and in the congregation. But intentionality in demonstrating and explicating care-giving and care-receiving are vital to developing youth sensitivity to the needs of others. My intuition is that discerning the need for care is an attribute that we can model and learn. Caring, then, seems to come from modeled care, from giving and receiving. Appropriate preparation and training/spiritual formation, and clinical formation (including psychological training) are the supports deemed best for practical theologians and pastoral-care ministry leaders. Pastoral-caring needs are those arising where there is stress, pain, hurt, and general dysphoria. Embracing and understanding tensions in caring is a core principle in training for pastoral care and counseling. However, the nature of need can create tensions, since the one offering care has to be focused, intentional, and a good listener, thereby discerning the necessary response. A member of the Stone Mountain group asked whether people could abuse “care.” The group was discussing the complications of caring, where recipients might be reluctant to share what they really need with the caregiver, causing the care-giver to do too much or too little. She stated that she experienced hurt and frustration from trying to help, or from reaching out to someone who responded with unkindness. The three groups agreed that they all definitely needed training. Some wondered, “Should we tell people how to care?” This question was not about training in the basic mechanics of doing something for someone in need; how to present the self as a helper versus shaping an individual’s personality and identity so that they become an ideal care-giver seems to enter into the domain of prolonged professional training. It seemed as though the group’s discussions opened up avenues and definitions of care that made them sense their limitations. The chief limitation was in distinguishing instinctual caring from academic and clinical training, to counsel, guide, and change others’ behavior as in therapeutic work versus having a spiritual desire or an innate sense of human kindness towards another. The AME men stated that to be caring has to be intentional, and that for men, this is not easy. As Caribbean males, they claimed they would not know

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how to feel in the helping act as care-givers; they just did what seemed right to them. If the situation posed a threat to their manhood, they would not enter into the giving or receiving of care. They declared that they started a group with one purpose, to help men care for each other in the congregation. The SDA groups also stated the same dilemma among the men and applauded an organization in their church, the Pathfinders, that trains youth to do outreach activities in the communities. They claimed that this could be an important route for teaching youth, especially males, to be intentional in how they care for each other and for people in general. Author Jeffery Tribble, who is also a professor of practical ministry and researcher in congregation leadership, states that for sensitive, transformative training to take place in congregations, leaders must first catch the vision for change and embrace the value of such a change. This is what will give intentionality and purpose to training and transformation in congregations. 12 All three groups of Black Caribbeans strongly inferred a need for women’s leadership in pastoral care within their congregations. They likened care in the community to women’s spirit of discernment, and to a woman’s attitude of helping as a natural reaction that does not demand applause or public citations. In this they all agreed that care is a type of nurturing that is comparable to woman-like or maternal sensitivity stirred up and performed in response to community. The men’s story demonstrated their respect and deference for women’s way of nurturing and caring, both for individuals and as catalysts in their communities. During discussions on ways and means of caring, the topic of women as leaders and pastors in the church emerged. Some went on to suggest the need for women in leadership roles that require sensitivity in discerning as well as caring for others as pastoral leaders in congregations. Men in one of the groups stated that connecting with other men was difficult. Some of the Belvedere group members claimed that it is often easier for men to trust women with emotions than other men. They reported that some women hesitated in trusting male pastors with ‘intimate” secrets, or with their personal pains and past sufferings related to hurtful or shameful encounters. CHAPTER 3: POSSIBILITIES AND APPLICATIONS 13 The purpose and mission of the AME and the SDA churches seemed to influence the groups’ as well as the pastors’ and elders’ definitions of pastoral care and counseling. While the Caribbean culture blanketed a common way in which church members’ accepted socialization in this culture, a distinction of their church’s purpose and mission emerged from interviews and my own research. I wondered whether a better understanding of their church

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mission and purpose in the community would result in implementing their definition of pastoral care within their congregations. Specific aspects of learning to care for others involve change, not only cognitively but within the whole self—like a re-birth, an ideal of spiritual formation. The anxiety of entering a new cultural environment is inevitable to any immigrant, as ideal safety may mean distrust of unfamiliar impositions. Thus, anxiety can be a pertinent subject for further exploration as an aspect of an immigrant’s life. Even as he/she lives within a new environment for years, there may be psychosocial elements pertaining to cross-cultural experiences, leading to pathology. Pastoral care and counseling classes, like grief and loss seminars, could be an avenue for change, and may be acceptable if offered in conjunction with classes in congregational spiritual formation. The value of counseling by a pastor seems highly desirable to church attendees even though their needs might include psychosocial as well as spiritual interventions. Multi-faceted as congregants’ needs are, the pastor in most cases is still more trusted than other types of professionals. According to Friedrich Schleiermacher in his thematic on Christian caring, pastoral care and counseling ministries intersect the wider disciplines that we label practical theology. 14 Jeffery Tribble 15 might conclude that good leadership in caring congregations defines the pastor as “good and faithful servant” of the varied lives, pains, and struggles entering God’s house. CHAPTER 4: THE FUTURE OF PASTORAL CARE IN CONGREGATIONS It seems to me that a better understanding of pastoral care and counseling is an advantage wherever there is a cultural mix of people who gather together consistently. The congregation is such a place. Whether in America or all around the world, more and more congregations are coming to terms with their responsibility of considering and addressing pastoral care as it relates to the personal as well as community needs of their congregants. Prior to social welfare and Social Security, a great part of a church’s mission was attending to the total well-being of its members. As political, economical, sociological, and technological changes swooped down on Western culture, people found less and less space in their busy lives for church. However, church still has its magnetic power. People from varied and diverse socio-cultural backgrounds are returning to church, seeking what their grandparents experienced in congregations. But today the gathering in church is different. There are more unwed singles over 40 years old, more parents with advanced educational degrees, more broken or joined families, and same-sex couples. Some of these congregants within the pews are Black Caribbean immigrants. Even

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among Black Caribbeans there are various and diverse international cultures, all singing one song and hearing one sermon. It is no wonder, then, that each person leaves the service with different points of view, and different levels of theological understanding; some even leave offended. Yet they will return, week after week. A minister may be a good preacher, and/or a good administrator, but the question for these times is: How do pastors provide pastoral counseling for a group of people whose purpose and expectations in gathering together are as diverse as their culture? Many of these Black Caribbeans would not initiate a visit to a professional counselor or psychiatrist; their pastors are like first-line counselors/advisors. In other words, divine rites have supposedly endowed the pastor with wisdom. If he tells them to see another counselor, they may heed his direction. Cultural awareness influences the pastor’s ability to counsel members effectively or poorly. The pastor of necessity must first learn to embrace his/her own culture of origin, and in so doing learn the art and science of interpathy. As such, a pastor learns who he/she is, and he/she is better able to set aside his/her own cultural enigma and idiosyncrasies temporarily while entering into the personal and cultural world of another person. This kind of cultural awareness comes only with education, and is a vital prerequisite before inter-cultural pastoral counseling can be successful. A shift then must take place in the way we define the essential nature of pastoral counseling and a broadening model of the pastoral counselor. As a person, as a professional, and as a culturally capable bricoleur, he/she performs a number of tasks and adopts roles within the care-giving exchange ranging from interviewer, pastor, and counselor to friend, using self-reflection and introspection constantly. Through reflective exchange with congregants, the trained pastoral counselor comes to terms with the roles in which the congregant casts him/her. Black Caribbeans often see pastors or ministers in a priestly role; other roles of family members are projected through transference and counter-transference onto the pastoral counselor. Working effectively towards help and healing takes in-depth training on the part of the minister who works as a pastoral counselor in his congregation. In looking at the dynamics of culture, and its impact on the individual, one is able to imagine how this new model of pastoral care and counseling could be useful to pastors everywhere who minister in multicultural congregations. Relationships within faith communities can become containers for God, the Holy Spirit, in which two or three are gathered together in God’s name, forming a connecting bond between members and pastoral care-givers. Though the Black Caribbean person’s mind may be imbued with the word of God, it is in community that the benefits qualify and express healing. Pastoral care then takes forms that grow out of contexts in which people interpret current issues through the lens of past experiences that stir memories of past affects, relating to emotions ranging from feelings of love to hatred. My

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sense is that an intentional relationship between the minister or pastoral counselor and immigrants such as Black Caribbeans may result in various forms and degrees of healing. I assume that Black Caribbean members, like other people, traditionally identify the church as an accepted place where confession and forgiveness lay bare the human soul before God, thus relieving the individual of burdens and overwhelming grief. Sometimes this is done in the presence of the minister, within a small group of believers or before a congregation, within the liturgical voice of the church. Each of these entities for confession and acceptance of forgiveness become witnesses within the framework of worship. These relational acts promote spiritual as well as psychosocial and spiritual well-being. From a global perspective, the concept of culture now entails classes, ethnicity, and gender, and on a sub-cultural level, sexual orientation; these characteristics may be different from those of the pastoral counselor or minister. These are functional aspects of the psychological, cultural, therapeutic, and theological complexities of doing pastoral care and counseling in an increasingly diverse society. Black Caribbeans or other culturally homogenous groups can benefit by learning that among themselves there are micro-cultures, significant differences that are culturally orchestrated. When viewed from a theological perspective, human beings are a global community. In this generation, the church’s mission must incorporate the need to demonstrate to society what transcultural awareness means. Such awareness, to be sure, will expand the cultural horizons of future pastors, care-givers, and counselors, enabling them to take steps towards greater understanding of worldviews beyond their own. The advantage of this attitude for congregation care could provide experiences of freedom from unconscious ethnocentrism that sometimes encapsulates us in a small cultural world. Understanding one’s personal culture should help us to read the past like a reference book. It should help in appreciating and applying a cultural understanding of the self and how we meet personal problems, as well as other interpersonal relationships within society. When we are lethargic about cultural awareness, our ethnic and cultural pride become no more than a mistaken badge of courage, a dead albatross around our necks. Pastoral care in congregations with immigrants, whether Black Caribbeans or others, poses a challenge and also inspires one to look at cultures as frontiers to be crossed and explored in order to better understand the similarities and differences housed within human interpersonal relationships. With the rapidly integrating church communities of mixed cultures, it is becoming more and more dangerous for pastors/ministers to interact closely with other cultures without a concerted effort to understand how to counsel with them. The average pastor would benefit from cultural interpathy education. According to cross-cultural proponents, 16 the culturally aware pastoral care-

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giver or pastoral counselor has several characteristics. He/she has a clear understanding of his/her own values and basic assumptions. He/she has a capacity for welcoming and entering into other worldviews without negating their legitimacy. Sympathy, empathy, and interpathy 17 are not simply commendable pastoral dispositions. These attributes are now seen as techniques used in pastoral care-giving. The third, interpathy is more aligned with intercultural pastoral counseling. Seeking to understand the source of influence from the person’s point of view and his or her context is the pastoral counselor’s primary means of connecting, and thus showing care. The individual situation and the environment are also taken into consideration for the sake of clarifying cultural values. Values for daily living and survival vary among cultures. What the Black Caribbean individual values has the power of influence over his/her attitude and spiritual formation. Cultural values distinguish the individual and the group with which he or she is in alliance. What one uses as a value is selected from a variety of other means, methods, and processes for reaching an expected end. For Black Caribbeans, values are created in family-like communities where personality is constructed, shaped, and maintained. Values, like one’s locus of control, then influence Black Caribbeans’ ways of operating, conceiving, and internalizing the world. With cultural sensitivity as a viable goal, pastoral-care counselors must then be able to move beyond didactic counseling theories and mechanical techniques and become effective as one human being interfacing with another. Cultural relativity 18 is the term David Augsburger used to describe a human universality in which people have more similarities than differences. According to natural laws, the similarities exist between the counselor and counselee, but are crisscrossed by learned culture, cultural dynamics, and culture contracted through symbols and modeling. Ineffective pastoral counselors are described as culturally encapsulated, a state in which the counselor sees the world as stretching only from horizon to horizon. He/she feels at one only with those between his/her familiar boundaries. Unfortunately, these boundaries are considered as absolutes. Whether working with Black Caribbean immigrant populations or others, the capable pastoral counselor conversely sees himself or herself as a universal citizen, related to all humankind as well as distinct from all of them. He/ she becomes capable by adapting to the universal human themes that undergird the foundation of all cultural motifs. The first is the universal motif that we are all humans, of the genre homo sapiens; second is that we are all culturally programmed with learned patterns that influence our attitude and actions; third is that as individuals, we are unique. As a result, we are simultaneously like all others, like some others, and like none other. 19 Culturally biased research in this society as well as other Western developed societies may classify what is unique and different as illnesses of the mind or diseased

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mental status. In another culture, this classification may be praised and prized as divine or genius. In the US culture, independence is akin to privacy; both of these styles of living are desirable and seen as optimum to individualism. To Black Caribbeans, dependence and interdependence traits keep families and communities not only economically viable but physically and mentally healthy. While one culture might categorize a person as mentally impaired, another culture may view that person as an acceptable maverick or divine prophet. Entering a new socio-cultural lifestyle requires an individual to go through necessary changes, from their behavior to the level of their thought process. This process of change may be subliminal or it can result in psychosomatic issues requiring some assistance and care. When individuals like Black Caribbeans break out of one effective socio-cultural lifestyle, and enter another, there is a consequence of transformation that affects even the thought process and can manifest in disorders. For example, Black Caribbeans who live together in groups may find themselves in family situations that this society may assess as too dependent. In this social context, which requires more independence in thought and decision-making concerning self, the negative connotation of being too dependent on family and friends can become a source of stress all on its own. CHAPTER 5: HERMENEUTICS OF PASTORAL CARE After reflecting on the recommendations of Black Caribbeans in mega/large congregations, I borrowed terms of hermeneutics to highlight language as a locus from which they presented their perspectives on pastoral care. To Paul Ricoeur, hermeneutics is “an ontological state whereby understanding ceases to appear as a simple mode of knowing in order to become a way of being and a way of relating to being.” 20 Though hermeneutics tend to express interpretations of written texts, other authors such as Wilhelm Dilthey 21 and Friedrich Schleiermacher 22 have broadened the definition to speech, the precursor of written words, to include a state of being. Schleiermacher points out that in dialogue, the interlocutors are present not only to one another but also to the situation, the surroundings, and the circumstantial evidence of the discourse. Dilthey suggests that story and interpretation seem to engage in the birth of understanding; understanding not simply of words spoken but of the speaker. By giving meaning to their experience through my own heuristics, they became more than flesh and bones in my presence. As I reiterated their narrative to their satisfaction and agreement, I was allowed entrance into that portion of their life, a slice of their history. My own perspectives and interpretations have their basis in the complexity of my Caribbean early childhood development, a cultural background

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forged in a tradition of village relationality, but deconstructed and reconstructed in academics and an Arminian, Christocentric theological understanding. Cross-culturally, my psychosocial development in the metropolitan society of the United States affected the spiritualization of my religious and theological perceptions. Besides, I sat with the groups as an Afro-centric Jamaican woman and Seventh-day Adventist chaplain. My grounding in the field of pastoral care and counseling greatly influenced both my work as a health-care chaplain and as an elder of a large congregation of multicultural members in the metropolitan community of Atlanta, Georgia. I engage with a personal narrative of pastoral care emerging out of a Caribbean, post-colonial, post-Civil Rights existence, which rests indelibly on my mind. Thus, the stories of the groups of Black Caribbeans in three congregations come through their hermeneutics as well as mine. The following is an illustration of how I perceived pastoral care as a child. In the Caribbean, the pastor or parson is derived from the Scottish or northern English “parson,” a corruption of “person,” The pastor or “parson” was “the” person in the community, the man to whom they sent strangers. The pastor spoke for and on behalf of the community. He was the educated one. As a child, I remember dressing up in my church clothes instead of my school Jatext uniform and taking a bus and a taxi with my mother to the pastor’s house in the better part of the community. A servant woman greeted us and we sat in the living room and waited. We were ushered into a hall that was spick and span, glistening with varicolored Terrazzo tile that covered the floor in exotic patterns. Shiny dark mahogany furniture and flowery settees lighted up the room. Fluttering lacy curtains dressed up the clear, clean louvered glass windows. The atmosphere was accented with the rich affluence that a young girl with my poor background could only enjoy in the moment. He came out dressed in a suit, and my mother, all flustered and thankful, kow-towed to this young pastor. He held a small, important key to my future, for he was the parson, the person with the “know-how” in those times of my teenage years. He asked my mother a few questions in a kind of polite, friendly but condescending manner, which she expected and adored, and we sat silently while he wrote a recommendation for me to enter the only girls’ high school in Montego Bay at the time. Years later, after graduating from college, I met this pastor again. He was much older; we greeted each other at a Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brooklyn, New York one Sabbath. I, still young, was amazed at how cordial, and genuinely down-to earth he and his wife were. I was not a little girl anymore, yet I was still in awe of my parson. But simultaneously I had a different point of view and was at a different place and time. American society tends to rob incoming cultures of their exclusivism. Due to the post-Civil-Rights, Afro-centric Black solidarity, sans Euro-

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British classism, a conglomeration of Brooklyn's bric-a-brac cultural mix, the would-be Caribbean classism found a leveled field of encounter. So, using the concepts inherent in hermeneutics, in this section I will reflect on my journey with the three groups of Black Caribbean subjects for my interviews. Caribbean culture streams from the African Diaspora, transAtlantic slavery, and European colonialism. Most Caribbean countries received their independence during the 1960s, a time corresponding to the Civil Rights movement in the United States of America that echoed within the Caribbean. The Civil Rights experience in America confronted the postcolonial Eurocentric attitude instilled in an Afro-centric Caribbean people. Coming into American society further destabilized the Eurocentric classism that was rooted within the religious and social fabric which cross-grained the African heritage that Caribbeans embraced. Within this frame, the Black Caribbeans in the three groups shared narratives from “back home” and testimonies about the type of care they needed, that they remembered, and that healed and empowered them while living in Civil-Rights-era, post-colonial Caribbean lands. Hermeneutics of Languaging In Shared Wisdom, Pamela Cooper-White, 23 a strong proponent of psychoanalytic theory in pastoral care and counseling, highlights the struggle that pastoral care-givers experience in confidently claiming to understand the total pain and suffering of the care-receiver. How do we know other persons, other cultural experiences? I used Paul Ricoeur’s concepts of hermeneutics and languaging 24 as support in exploring the question. The groups believed that when communication is poor, pastoral care-giving and receiving are at risk. Thus, for the Caribbean groups, good communication within the congregation increased understanding of others and enhanced pastoral care. In fact, communication as mutual exchange becomes a platform for the caring, healing, empowering, and guiding processes to take place. However, I deciphered that communicating for them was more than dialogue, for it disseminated information in symbols. The use of idioms, syntaxes, humor, irony, and sarcasm become part of the Caribbean culture that blows over the heads of someone foreign to the cultural innuendos. Christopher Bollas amplifies this as “inter-subjectivity and relation to the self as object” in juxtaposition with the self-object of the other. To me this dialogue between intersubjective selfobjects starts within the individual and leaps outward to similar objects in an other, with familiar idioms and syntaxes within their life story or culture. Languaging 25 and phenomenology are theories that allowed some leeway for the experiential assumptions about the groups that are scientifically immeasurable. 26

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According to French psychoanalytic theorist Jacques Lacan, 27 language and symbols are central influences of forming the “self.” 28 An important aspect of languaging among Black Caribbeans is most apparent among “story tellers” of “back home,” where many people could not read or write. The speaker was judged by his or her ability to “turn a phrase” or “how much sense he/she made” when he/she spoke. The more practical and applicable the wisdom they gleaned from these stories, the higher was their esteem of the speaker. They relished metaphors and twists of puns and symbolisms. Caribbean communities used “double-talk,” a type of languaging 29 that was specific for certain groups or within a family. It was a way of giving discrete instructions to certain persons so no one else understood the under-tone of the message, although everyone heard the same words. Lanuaging is a historical Caribbean Afro-centric cultural ploy that was influenced by times of slavery. 30 In the post-colonial, post-Civil Rights era, it was echoed in music, comedy, parables, and idiomatic phrases. Louise Bennet and Ranny Williams 31 were forerunners of the Saturday-night amusement of the radio comedy Dulcimina. The laughter flowed from a far-reaching understanding of the pain, the darkness in circumstance that threw light on the universality of the experience that people once held as private and personal. The taboos and superstitions that circumscribed our lives were shown to be laden with folly if not unwarranted fears. Community in that “back-home” era seemed less jarring to the senses and less difficult to enter. I realized only gradually that the language of “back home” carried more universal meanings than was intended among the three separate groups. A conversation with Emmanuel Lartey 32 helped me ascribe a globalized concept of Black Caribbeans’ hermeneutics through languaging. “Back home” is not simply a place or time outside the country. It can mean an aesthetic place in and among bonded groups. This is similar to the modern-day African American terminology of “back in the day.” Back home is a congregate of familiar ideologies that decide and direct Black Caribbeans’ outlook and attitudes. It is object relations that one carries through life from “ghosted” times of memorable comfort. Images of pastoral care ghosted from back home became stories addressing memories of places of rootedness where individuals felt a sense of stability and confidence, of safety and security, even if the memories lacked complete veracity. Each Caribbean immigrant, then, has a Core Narrative as the central interpretive theme providing a basic structure for his/her outlook on the world. According to Christopher Bollas, this core narrative is composed of numerous smaller stories (meta-narratives) that organize and make sense out of each aspect of the human condition that the Caribbean congregant experiences in his new community. 33 Edward Wimberly, pastoral counselor and professor, affirms that change and healing come through hearing our own voice in our story. 34 Selfhood, it seems, is formed through narrative structur-

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ing, a process rooted in and inclusive of all three dimensions of temporality (past, present, and future). I agree with Andrew Lester, who suggests that like a narrative plot, life stories must answer the question, “Where is all this going?” 35 What changes are we making in the process of adjustment from our past towards the future? The Caribbean congregants’ epistemology in narratives reflected a worldview that comprised their unique interpretation of a past, present, and future world. Language, idiosyncrasies, symbols, and myths all unconsciously contribute to perceptions, from perceptions to a kind of understanding and belief within the Black Caribbean mind that varies from what exists within American culture. According to Jean-Paul Sartre in his book, Being and Nothingness, “the past is continually organized with the present.” 36 We are nothing without memory and collective memory. The Caribbean language, symbolic terms, myths, and beliefs are all offspring of our African Diaspora and post-colonial concepts. Once freed from colonization, the Caribbean people maintained rudiments of their European semiotics. These languages conveyed cultural undertones from European countries, substances of colonization, ideologies embedded in the meaning of words that once coerced and controlled them. The Black Caribbean groups’ dialect, rich with idiomatic expressions, proverbs, metaphors, and myths, still sparked with meaning as I listened to them. Our minds continually organized the past with the present, using language and narrative. Therefore, to understand people’s historical past and place it in context, it is necessary to refer to a current universal value that connects their own self-reflective narration to the present. Hermeneutics of Community Community as an emergent concept, like visiting and extended family, can reflect a type of interpersonal survival tools for Caribbean Blacks. Community became a major element of the discussion that gradually but consistently emerged from my dialogues with the three groups. As pertaining to pastoral care and community, I posed these questions to the groups: What is community and how do the concepts of community affect pastoral care in the congregation? Other questions were as follows: What is valued as (in) community and how important is it in giving and receiving pastoral care? Is there a difference between a community of faith and a work/business corporation? Do you think pastoral care in Caribbean culture differs from that of this culture? These questions helped to clarify the group’s cultural and spiritual values concerning their repeated referring to “care,” “fellowship and community,” “visiting.” and “back home.” In providing such care to each other, it was their concerted effort to care beyond affable friendships and neighborliness. Care towards each other seemed to come with the familiarity grown from knowing each other’s sto-

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ries and from knowing what others required to feel better. So, in caring for others, they responded to their own needs for healing. They seemed to experience care in their need for sustaining each other, others who bore similar stories. During the interviews, they shed tears as they shared stories, comforting each other with hugs and encouragement. They aspired to reach those who were unfamiliar, but whose well-being caused concerns. It seemed to them that care was the foundation principle of social community; care preceded any other action that governed groups of people. One man in the congregation called the pastor when his granddaughter was “cutting up.” This lonely grandparent was afraid that his granddaughter’s “ behavior was going to land her in jail.” He called the pastor into his home to help him with this teenage granddaughter, and to talk with him. He told the pastor to “help me with my children.” In other words, I interpret him as saying to his pastor, “The way that I think I know to care for my children has not done what I want for them and for me. Please extend yourself to me and share what God and your spiritual and academic life have given you.” From my standpoint, that was the grandfather’s way of valuing the pastor, the office and presence of the minister. This illustrated their kind of wisdom in caring as they claimed the pastor as a family negotiator, the spiritual leader in their community to help guide their families. In their responses, the group often contrasted or compared the context of their Caribbean life “back home” with that of their Atlanta congregation. The discussions of how the church formed community in pastoral care here versus “back home” suggested strongly that “care” required giving and receiving, just as “visiting,” to the Caribbean mind, suggested particular kinds of movement between two intelligent selves: of going and coming, of bringing and taking, carrying away something. In Jamaica, someone who meddled in other people’s affairs was a “carry-go-bring-come,” which implied that the person moved information around from one entity to another. Likewise, “giving someone a visit,” in the “back home” vernacular, meant giving and receiving something upon arrival. Stories of “back-home” narratives divulged their impressions of how they experienced care in their congregations. They used imageries of family members, siblings, and parents, to illustrate relationality among fellow church members. Thus, a hermeneutic of their “back home” values sometimes stood out against traditional definitions of pastoral care. The groups valued congregations that emulated family systems. For the AME group, the family-like fellowship was the drawing element on Sundays. According to Ms. B., an AME member from Grenada, “It’s like a family here. I cannot wait until Sunday to see my friends and hear the pastor. I never missed a Sunday except to visit my mother.” For the Stone Mountain SDA group, Christ is the head of the Church family. Value in this context meant

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the emotional cost of whatever kept the equilibrium of fellowship and bound the relationship of community. They also valued leaders who care. The AME group seemed to put much emphasis on the pastor in their lives, almost glorifying the pastor. It might be significant that these were elderly females and males. All the females were single, widowed, or divorced; the two elderly men, married in this group, had been in the hospital with pastoral visitation and had sick, homebound wives. The gist of their lives seemed based in culture and history. “We value our pastor” was a phrase that echoed through the voices of the three groups, throughout the duration of the interviews. It followed that they typically saw the pastor as a coordinator within the church and within the lives of families. Nevertheless, contradiction reigned within the celebration of “community” among group members, as the Black Caribbean mindset was that there is personal as well as family privacy. One has a private as well as a public demeanor. This factor they claimed spilled over into congregation life and required the effort of the pastor or leader to gain access into their personal space. They expected, even desired the pastor to enter their lives while allowing them to slowly relinquish their private self as they developed trust of the pastor. The AME pastor’s perception of how care should take place differed from that of his Caribbean church group. His emphasis was based on his experience of the township, its politics and learned academic strategies, which he was able to map out on a piece of paper. There was a quiet political purpose to pastoral care, not only of the congregants but also to being available for members’ relations outside the church, as well as being present in community institutions and at legislative gatherings. And since the pastors I interviewed seemed dispassionate, cautious, or even indifferent to the groups’ attested “need of the pastor,” I was somewhat curious about their reactions and was tempted to judge them as either arrogant or callous. I wondered how the pastors viewed themselves. Because the groups valued the pastoral persona more than the pastors were willing to accept, or admit, I thought of my own attitude and training in the areas of pastoral competence, pastoral presence, and pastoral authority. In listening to the pastors’ reactions, I assessed that their training, the routine of their work, and possibly humility helped them exude an air of calm acceptance of their congregants’ adoration. Hermeneutics of Assimilation Here in the United States, as individuals got older, these Caribbean members preferred to assimilate into congregations where they were in the minority. One pastor of a predominantly African-American congregation pointed out that it was difficult to distinguish Caribbeans from others in church unless he got to know them on an individual basis. I learned from the group of AME

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members that they preferred not be distinguished as Black Caribbeans. One of the women of the group spoke for the rest: “We object to being called Black Caribbeans; we prefer to be called Black members. Why do we have to be distinct, we are one family here (she looked around at others for support; they all nodded). We have been in this country for years; this is our country. We came from the Caribbean but we have a home here now.” Clearly, they felt that identifying themselves as “Black Caribbean” put them at risk for being seen as separatists, which might result in possible isolation and loss of the fellowship that was so important to them. Like most groups away from their native land, Black Caribbeans can hear the twang of another Caribbean in a crowd. To be a Caribbean means having an acute sense of belonging to a group, a feeling that moves them towards fellowship with others. And church seems to be the place where they found those others and felt accepted. It was the most natural place for them to find and maintain, as far as they could, the similarities to “back home.” Phenomenology of Community Church members’ stories and testimonies revealed the gist of who they were, from past to present to future. The emphasis of the exchange being a circle of how care happens was new to me. They specified that care happens not only because an individual gives it, but because it is both given and received. Community to them had hidden and immeasurable values. Community meant visiting, fellowship, communication, and the responses of recipients. It was in community that they valued all the above. “Community” and “fellowship” were closely similar to “the church family.” But even in a caring community, they felt that pastoral care happened when there was a response from the receiver. This cyclic process of giving and receiving emerged as a new phenomenon of pastoral care. The traditional pastoral care and counseling vocation trains an individual to give of one’s self to help with the psychological and spiritual support and comfort of others. In one traditional aspect of pastoral care, the giver made connection to the receiver by listening. However, according to the Black Caribbean groups, accepting as well as giving care means connecting to others. Trusting others, they perceived, was a responsibility of the care recipient, requiring a willingness to participate in the pastoral care encounters. It made them just as vulnerable to share personal burdens as to enter into someone’s confidence, to offer oneself as burdenbearer. A son in jail, a philandering spouse, bankruptcy, being fired from a job, and threats of homelessness are modern-day situations in which Black Caribbean congregants sometimes find themselves. However, lack of involvement with each other around these crippling issues can cause interpersonal distancing, incurring false shame, self-blame, and loss of self-esteem. These form a basis for self-reproach, and unless there is a safe place to air

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such problems, pastoral care of Black Caribbean congregants will deteriorate. However, the Stone Mountain SDA and Belvedere SDA groups highlighted the care recipient as mainly responsible for sharing needs and asking for help. In other words, “The care recipient should be more humble, and ask for help” according to a Stone Mountain group member. Pastoral care, to them, spread to the act of resolving differences from within the home such that it spilled over into the congregation. People seem to suffer more when they have unresolved issues within the church because it inhibits their free movements and their ability to live as they should. They cited stories that showed how enmeshed the community was within the life of families and individuals. Brother S., a Jamaican elder of the Stone Mountain SDA, shared one such story: In my likkle district in Anchovy, we live with windows and doors wide open from mauning til night and evvybady in the community could hear Blue beating up Miss Doll all the time. It was a manner for so. Nobody ever think anything ‘bout it. It was nut’n to see her jumping ova de fence and running into yu house to hide under wi bed. Once in a while wi have to hold down Blue till him calm down. But is not like wi did anything more or less than wi expect him to do for us. Is over a couple hands a dominos during the nite wi would all try to reason wid him bout him wife and chil’ren and how bad it look for him running afta de uhman in de street, and the rest of him friends in the community looking down at him for beating up him wife evvy day and all this happening right in front of him boy pickneys them. That was not any good example, that’s how we have to show him. That is how we use to look out for each other. We no know police back then. Policeman come and him would do about just the same as we. Talk hard to him. An shame him to change ‘im ways.

It was within the phenomenal aspect of community fellowship that the men exhorted and demanded a change in their neighbor who was beating his wife. Change in the man’s behavior led to feelings of empowerment on their part, causing them to value that clique of manhood as more powerful than police authority from outside their community. Through memories of “back home,” they relived certain types of personal as well as communal selfcontainment, where they were “the boss” of themselves, proud of what they held together. Thus, a community of faith is a necessary vehicle for healing and restoration to take place in the lives of these Black Caribbeans among us. For them, pastoral care is guided by religious beliefs. God is in the midst of the caring process, at the bedside or in their fellowship meetings. Questions they posed about the pastor as priest and their conflicting views of the priesthood of all believers were worth examining in terms of its application to pastoral care. To the AME group the pastor is still the one who is vital in representing the saints to God. The SDA group also contended that the pastor’s leadership includes guiding the church to Christ. Another interesting

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point they shared was the need for continuous reconciliation, not only spiritually between the congregation and God, but physically under certain contexts, between pastors and individuals or among the “brethren.” According to the group sentiment, most people come to church because it is more than hearing and digesting a sermon; otherwise they would stay at home and listen to the television. Fellowship is vital, friendship and connectedness in relationships are a prerequisite to properly caring for and receiving care from each other. Those who would wander off into a lonely life of depression, or move to another state or another community, tend to think about their “community” where their friends are before moving away from fellowship. One woman in hospice care came to church in order to experience fellowship with others while she was still able to walk. Many people have said, “I can’t move so far from my church family”—in other words, from their stabilizing community, from their pivotal center. This seems very applicable as people grow older, an issue I heard consistently resonating among members of the AME church group. However, single women of the Belvedere SDA group voiced concerns that they felt shut out of fellowship with the mostly married members of the congregation. They attributed this to being single and to the fact that “married couples don’t know how to relate to them or that marriages are not secure enough to accommodate friendships of singles in the congregation.” Young college-age SDA men said that involvement in households and interpersonal relationships in church gave them a sense of being involved, less disconnected—even a sense of safety. One young Jamaican male reportedly moved from Florida to Stone Mountain to be in a church community, to live with other Jamaicans who invited him to live with them after meeting him for the first time at church. Community in and out of congregations, then, seemed to be an enmeshment of lives that created cohesive and lasting bonds. Just as they did “back home,” the groups felt it is important to be able to discern the needs for care in the church community and outside the church in surrounding areas. Some cited concerns about the homeless and hungry in their church congregation and in the surrounding community. This again they compared to “back home,” where no one was homeless or hungry. Where food and shelter were concerned, home was everywhere, if not from family then from a neighbor. They would constantly walk over to share soups or meals with neighbors, or with someone who was ill. Besides, “back home” there was food everywhere, fruit trees, and ground provisions like yams, potatoes, and corn, at times growing wild. Many families had strangers living in their homes for years. This was not unusual, since many men or women had children outside the family who often turned up and merged into that household. Extended families moved from the “country” to find jobs in “town,” becoming part of the “town” family until they were self-sufficient. “Back home” there was no

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government supervision, nor provision for personal care of the individual. In fact, government and public authorities seemed far away from the people. To the groups, the phenomenological aspects of interpersonal relationships were an assumption that is evidently a fundamental of the gospel message of healing. However, from my perspective as an Afro-Caribbean academic of pastoral care and counseling, I have some speculations about the language of the group. Their epistemology of pastoral care surfaced as they defined their stories from their memories of imageries of care in a Caribbean community. A social constructivist point of view would suggest that the building of their present assumptions of pastoral care comes from imaging their “back home” life to explain their ideals of pastoral care-giving and receiving. CHAPTER 6: FRAMING A THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Within these provisional principles, it seems that the Christian community may find its actions reflecting God’s work within communities of faith in reaching and touching the lives of wounded and suffering individuals. In this context of Black Caribbeans, pastoral care comprised that which included the pastoral-care counselor in the congregations. 37 It seems that large congregations can become unwieldy when it comes to providing pastoral care. For better management, many large/mega churches resort to officiating congregations like corporate business arenas. However, there are various distinguishing marks of a church congregation that separate it from a businessproduction site. Pastoral care takes place in the house of God because of the people who are there. People gather together, making an effort to maintain a cohesive relationship through organization and communication, and consequently, by worshipping an invisible God. Their conversion and belief in Christ cause them to show love and compassion. Herein lies true evidence of transformation: the drawing power of association, fellowship, and the phenomenology of the worship experience. In the church body, there is urgency for all to be Christ-like, not only the pastor, but also the whole body of believers. In such a community of faith, the priestly role of the pastoral leader matters. The pastor is an intermediary between God and people. Black Caribbeans as a cultural group value the pastor’s intimate connection with God and so feel connected in community with each other and God. While some believe that the pastor is the one to teach them the way of salvation, others assume that he/she is the one who paves the way for them into heaven, even on their dying bed. A pastor’s presence is spiritually meaningful, and his/her words are not just friendly remarks but liturgical, gracefilled blessings from scripture, endowed with the authority and sanctity of the ministerial office or pastorate. They agreed that each person in the faith is a

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part of the “royal priesthood, a chosen generation . . . priesthood of believers” (1Peter 2:9 adaptation). Everyone including the pastor has the gift or the mandate from God to care. However, personal access to God within the fellowship of believers, through Jesus Christ, is what they value most in their pastor. They referred to the pastor’s duties as work beyond the person of the pastor. Some visualized pastors as shepherds as well as priests. There is authority in these labels for ministers and pastors who are seen as guides, shepherds, and confessors, as well as priests. Reflective and active modeling of Christ as care-giver, having a pastoral leader who models the Christo-centric thematic in preaching and pastoral care, are what differentiate the faith community from a social or business corporation. 38 39 Basic needs move into the realm of pastoral-care needs when Black Caribbean congregants’ psychosocial and spiritual needs search for understanding. 40 Black congregants’ struggles 41 must take place within a consciousness of God’s presence. The process and tasks of Black Caribbeans declare the idea that incarnation means that the expression of the living God is among us. 42 43 Pastoral resurrection 44 is physical as well as spiritual. 45 46 I find my own sense of communities of faith framed by both of these ideologies. Embracing the uniqueness in others is a basis of appreciating other social and cultural personality constructions within congregations. But because we are organic and human beings, change is inevitable. Black Caribbeans in the study groups referred constantly to social and cultural communities “back home,” in which they framed their own context of personhood. Whether we pay homage to social group influence in constructionism, or to personality and ego constructivism, it is as persons that we come together. Black Caribbeans in large or mega congregations will always turn to each other for support. After interviewing three groups of Black Caribbeans in large/mega churches, I contemplated a theology of pastoral care in relationships. The theology of pastoral care reflected the concepts of “giving and receiving care,” “visiting,” and of “community fellowship” in valuing individuals, their families, and the congregation. My own “God talk” is a hermeneutic of my beliefs that examines pastoral care and counseling of Black Caribbeans in large/mega congregations. Theology of pastoral care and counseling is a phenomenon signifying that the unfolding of the self is achieved in relationship to God, one’s self, and others. It is a theology rooted in an ethics of care based on providing care to individuals with varying degrees of cultural differences. Care as practical theology begins with human experiences; sharing burdens becomes exchange of narratives. During my time with the groups I heard the recurrent themes of giving and receiving; of visiting, and of community and fellowship. These dialogues recalled my own experiences of pastoral care and counseling. This type of spiritual care advances via relational love within a community of faith. Yet we cannot relate to others unless

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we have love for “self,” which comes from emulating Christ as the ultimate model of what and how self must be. From growing up in a Caribbean culture/community, my notion of relationship as a source of healing evolved from family relationships, church community, and a very dynamic Arminian-Wesleyan theology. Considering my relationships as a single mother/parent, it has been important for me to experience God as father/mother, brother/sister, at times friend/stranger. These are roles I often experienced within typical family systems and the community of congregations. In a phenomenological sense, we perceive God as the Sovereign One whom we experience as intimate and close, or transcendent and unimaginable. But God chose to inhabit human life. Such a relationship empowers those committed to it. God creating us in God’s image means that we, as human beings, have the ability to choose. So we can choose to live in community in the “here and now,” sharing relationships that cause us to grow, versus living in the “there and then” back home in an idyllic past. Though the spirits and spirituality of “back home” have relevance, growth occurs as we serve others and they serve us in the present context. As we give, we also receive care from each other. This exchange expressed itself in interpersonal fellowships of visiting the sick, the suffering, dying, and bereaved. God is the dynamic, empowering Spirit within the fellowship life of individuals, the focal point in authentic community with others. My theology then finds its basis in interpersonal relationship and community. Therefore, I have chosen Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Carroll Watkins Ali, and James Cone as my chief references to explore community as a theological system for pastoral care and counseling in congregations. I chose Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor, as my main theological reference because in his life and work he centered on the redemptive and liberating acts of Christ in his atoning work for all human beings. 47 Bonhoeffer’s promotion of community and faithful acts of caring influenced the way he re-read scripture “over against self,” 48 guiding him in broadening his views on race, religion, and culture. I chose James Cone because of his commitment to copious correlations in which he used Christ as exemplar. In this he endeavored to relate the gospels to the dynamics of cultural situations. To Cone, God lives and abides wherever there are pastoral-care needs. God, in Cone’s perspective, turns away from those who oppress and cause pain to others and protects the oppressed. 49 Carroll Watkins Ali emphasizes the Afro-centric context as a culture peopled with “needs for liberation and survival.” 50 Pastoral care then must meet the needs of those who are disadvantaged, not only women or disenfranchised African Americans, but also Black Caribbean congregants. Thus the phenomenological understanding of the Caribbean congregant’s own per-

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sonal experience of the cultural context is desirable before the care-giver can apply any modification or corrective measures of care. As I carried this awareness into the group sessions, I began to embrace an expanded definition of care, its particular value to Black Caribbeans, and its effects on their human conditions. In accordance with Bonhoeffer’s philosophy of community life, 51 Black Caribbeans in congregations learned that faithful performance of discipleship, like rehearsing music, means intentionally enacting routine visits, listening to others without diagnosing or judging. Care happens during the uneventful times of exchanging simple stories laden with heavy burdens. Orchestrating daily Christian principles incurs a realization in the pastoral care-giver that God’s performance in human affairs can be routine and mundane, yet timely. Care-giving is pastoral only when the human experience is temporal (not immortal or infallible, not independent of the supernatural embodiment of the Holy Spirit), and the event is grounded within the gospel of Christ. Such acts of care find their base in scriptural mandates and form the foundation of fellowship. These types of caring come as a result of change of heart and not necessarily before “conversion.” This Jesus indicated to his disciples, who were more concerned at times about their own welfare as church leaders than as pastoral care-givers: “when you are converted, feed my sheep!” (Luke 22:32; John 21:15–17). So the directive of Jesus to all disciples that they “feed my sheep” assures us that for pastoral care-givers, Christian conversion is not optional. According to the Caribbean groups, it must be evident in the life of care-givers. From a summation of the groups’ interviews, I assessed that one may illustrate themes of conversion and community using the psychosocial and cultural values of Christian fellowship. In turn, Christian conversion and fellowship facilitate pastoral care. James Cone seems to agree with this principle as he states that love without righteousness is unacceptable. 52 This is because care is not only action and behavior but also attitude based on experience and maturity: physical, spiritual, psychosocial, mental, and emotional. Showing meekness and kindness in relating to others is the Christian points of view, which evolves with the individual’s attitude and actions as he/she embraces his/her hope of salvation. Practical theology, according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is performing the faith. 53 The gospel, he reminds us, is more than beliefs. In democratic societies with an increasing technologically based life-style, like North America, Christians maintain the ideology that what they believe about their religion makes them Christians primarily through belief. Bonhoeffer argues that this is a grave misunderstanding of how Christianity works. To him, our beliefs about the Trinity were spoken in, and knowledge of it given to us, in community. Bonhoeffer states that feeling “known is important in a perpetual but

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changing community as church.” This is because the church is our access to God and means of being known by God. 54 This message may translate for Black Caribbeans as a mandate of connectivity with others in their congregation as well as in their communities. “You can’t love God and not care for your neighbor,” insisted Ms. R., a young teacher from the Stone Mountain group. Pastoral care becomes a metaphor for action, not just belief, for community connecting Black Caribbeans to each other and to Christ. Therefore, they felt that being connected to God made pastoral care-giving easy for those who live in community with each other. Connectivity to God affects how one metes out pastoral care. Community thus shapes our worship and beliefs. Our lives as Christians cannot be lived as metaphysics. It is based in performance, just like you would perform a play by Shakespeare, or a piano recital. So, pastoral care and counseling in Black Caribbean communities, while it may be like a performance, must be constantly repeated for authenticity. But, unlike an art performance, carrying out faithful acts and care in the community will never be a completed work. We may read all of Shakespeare in blocks of time to completion, but pastoral caring is not text, it must be a performance of daily proportions. I like Bonhoeffer’s concept of how one enters into relationship with God: It is through accepting others as valued creatures. The cost of our redemption is Christ’s death on the cross for our sins. Upon embracing this value and salvation, it is only then that we can truly be relational to others and God. 55 In this sense, I perceived the Black Caribbean group as community, a place of relationships where God is the Eternal presence, ever available, willing to be in communion and willing to relate. Psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion’s concept of a successful “work group” is that it has a purpose for being. 56 The three groups of Black Caribbean congregants specified their purpose, which was to care for each other. This reminded me of Bonhoeffer’s concept of intentionality in the Christian’s “faithful performance.” 57 With Christ as the center of that community, pastoral care of each other gives purpose for being in fellowship. An attentiveness to obedience, willingness to repeat beneficial actions over and over until they become a part of the psyche, seems to undergird the Seventh-day Adventist group’s theological stance. There is a hymn that signifies the assiduous nature of obedience that SDAs try to live out in their beliefs: I love thee, I love thee, I love thee my Lord, I love thee, I love thee, I love thee my God. I love thee, I love thee, and that thou thus know but how much I love thee, my action will show. 58 It is a type of learning and shaping that enters into the process of our healing and salvation. For example, the Christian is exhorted to forgive not seven times seven but seventy times seven, an intentional repetition with the purpose of integrating active performance of forgiveness in the spirituality of caring. Black Caribbean churchgoers desire repetitious intentionality in

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pastoral care-giving in their congregation, especially with respect to conflict resolution. Relationship source and purpose as well as its power to heal are centered in theology. Our source was God’s creating touch and God’s Word, which came to us in the creative and incarnate powers of Christ, and subsequently, through the touch and words of those created in the image of God. So, to be human is to have our source and being in God and also be in relation to some other. Therefore, who we are as relational caring beings, how we got that way, and what it means for Black Caribbeans as women and men to be in congregations is applicable to how we live together in any community. The triune God continually calls us to community. The ideal community is a place where the person is in a relationship and is respected, valued, loved, forgiven, dependent, dependable, learning, free, and is held accountable. Carroll Watkins Ali states it well in her suggestion that many concerns of Blacks in general, as well as Black Caribbean congregants in particular, “require a community effort or a network of care-givers working with the pastor/pastoral care-giver.” 59 The adage “No man/woman is an island” rings true and parallel in this case. The Imago Dei concept assumes an illustration in which God is in a triune community relationship. Every person is also in a relational community with God and the world around us. “Visit” conjures the phenomenological concepts that offer the possibility of mutual relationship that is not coerced or demanding. It embodies experiences of movement between two persons whose needs dictate that Black Caribbeans in congregations can find a relationship with God through every relationship he or she enters in life. “Going” is a movement towards those in need, giving and receiving illustrates a movement towards and not away from; this is the basis of caring. The Bible makes this clear in Matthew 25:35–40, speaking about those who will inherit the Kingdom of God: “I was hungry, you came and gave me food; I was naked, you came and gave me clothes, I was sick, you came and visited with me; I was in prison, you came and stayed with me. In as much as you did it to one of these brothers/sisters of mine, even the least of these, you did it also to me.” Here the emphasis is placed on ordinary actions and on the routine exchanges of the day, of visiting. The Black Caribbean faith community provided space in which the individual received as well as shared whatever of the self he/she brought to the table, in a Eucharistic fashion. Living in community and experiencing fellowship was synonymous with pastoral care for individuals and groups, connecting them all to Christ. Caribbean Blacks came to faith communities with their own woundedness and painful life experiences: social, emotional, or spiritual. Regardless of how Black Caribbeans perceived the source and outcome of their woundedness, these created a bridge as they visited others. In relating to and understanding the pain and woundedness of those to whom they offered care, they

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found value in the presence of others, including those from whom they received care. At times, the groups of Black Caribbean congregants struggled with questions about their own woundedness and that of others. As they chose to share their stories, they identified emotions or circumstances of their peers that mirrored their own. In the midst of empathizing with each other, they demonstrated that human lives are intertwined by other lives. The discovering of where their pain and suffering crossed other stories seemed like the unraveling of twines of their story that bound them to each other in faith. Just as they shared faith, at the doctrinal core of their Christian beliefs, the three Black Caribbean groups believed that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. They believed in the divinity of Christ, and they also believed in the efficacy of Christ’s life, death, and physical resurrection for the conversion, transformation, and salvation of human beings. They experienced pastoral care in the most commonplace phenomenological exchanges rendered in interpersonal relationships, in fellowships within their congregations. Noel Erskine, Caribbean theologian, author, and professor, is aligned with Bonhoeffer’s themes of the Christian’s life together. He stated that the people of God, that is, the church as community, must seek to emulate Christ’s care for the everyday needs of others, as it is important to learn to speak the language of redemption, to speak from the pain and suffering of God’s people. 60 Carroll Watkins Ali affirms this by specifying and expanding the definition of pastoral theology, which is applicable for members of the African Diaspora. 61 This consists of helping acts, which include healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling those whose troubles arise in the context of wrestling with ultimate meaning and concerns. While pastoral counseling includes diagnoses and one-to-one psychotherapy, pastoral care engages the individual around interpersonal relationships, not necessarily in an enclosed solitary therapeutic space; it may take place from the pew or the pulpit. However, this distinction in pastoral care counseling and pastoral care-giving is not an assumption that we tout as an aspect of the gospel message of healing. 62 In the group interviews, Black Caribbeans all agreed that a caring congregation could impact the stability of individuals; it affirmed and raised the self-esteem of those who received care. This may be an evangelistic endeavor by which visitors enter into congregational fellowship, which in turn maintains them as care and fellowship continue. Caring in congregations must be manifested as intentional and purposeful acts. In an ethnographic study of congregations, Jeffery Tribble showed that a sense of belonging and security comes when individuals are within a congregation that makes them feel accepted and accountable. He pointed out that as self-image is raised, spiritual growth takes place, and the wounded are made whole. From the individual’s response to receiving care, he/she learns to care and nurture

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others within congregations. Thus the most significant transformation to appreciate is the growth and healing that follows, making possible a community in which all persons might find resources for their survival, healing, and wholeness. 63

Because of the seemingly mundane nature of typical human living, individuals normalize and adapt to maladies that fester, creating feelings of powerlessness, anger, and quelled hopes. General social, political, and judicial issues that affect the daily existence of Black Caribbeans require a particular type of sensitivity for pastoral leaders and care-givers. The needs emerging in their “back home” stories became unspoken understanding among those who love binding together in community. Politicking, judgmental attitudes, and prejudices against genders, the aged, various races, and the disabled, bear witness to the typical cultural insensitivity that runs counter to that kind of uneventful “caring” suggested by Bonhoeffer. 64 However, this nature of routine pastoral care demonstrated another complexity involved in expressing care around psycho-normal expressions of grief, losses, and anger (whether at God or others). The need for reconciliation among individuals seemed to be an ongoing requirement. It took spiritual as well as cognitive discernment to hear the difficult but routine needs camouflaged and hidden in stories and ornate displays of humor and parables. Extrapolating Edward Wimberly’s philosophy of how to engage scripture in these situations was insightful. The construct of the Black Caribbean congregant is that his/her cultural history can be utilized by the skilled, mindful pastoral counselor or pastoral leader, to guide the individual or family in engaging biblical stories, imageries, and principles for their healing. 65 Sermons, like counseling offered to the congregation with the same thoughtful preparation, can be helpful, hopeful, and healing. There is comfort in using familiar methods of caring to reach out to those with whom we become familiar, both culturally and in terms of holding the same beliefs, while feeling the need for taking extra precautionary measures towards “strangers.” Theologians and the leaders of faith communities align their thoughts along the theme of interpersonal relationships to God and each other as the foundation of healing. James Cone distinguishes church as a community in which God is present among those who suffer, are oppressed, and in pain. Carroll Watkins Ali highlights pastoral care as the need for individuals (specifically Black women) to be empowered and liberated, not only outside of the church body but as members of the community of faith. Bonhoeffer speaks to the imperfections of communal life among church members and the importance of learning to live together in congregations. Ellen White, a Seventh-day Adventist visionary, stated: “We should remember that the

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church, enfeebled and defective though it be, is the only object on earth on which Christ bestows His supreme regard.” 66 Like most modern-day Christians, the Black Caribbeans in the focus groups believed that God is governing history. But today, Christian beliefs are no longer an identification of church membership. The Apostolic Church membership means acting within the discipline and obedience of following Christ’s examples in loving and caring for the individual needs of those for whom He died. Believing God’s creation of all human beings to be the most spectacular supernatural miracle of God; the incarnation of Christ to be the ultimate demonstration of God’s affinity to people; His resurrection to be the ultimate sacrifice; all these are commendable. However, for our belief to be transformative, for belief to translate into deep concern for the pastoral care of Black Caribbean congregants and other immigrants, it must become the catalyst for responding to “the Great Commission” to the church; a willingness to become the voice for those who are silent. This specifies the church’s relational obligation to the community of “others.” Belief in the creation story, the Sabbath, and Christ’s resurrection are not the solutions to the problems of pain, suffering, and death. Faith must take the form of feet, hands, and voices; faith must be performed as acts in advocating for the needs of those in large/mega churches; the stranger, the immigrants, Black Caribbeans. A deep sense of God’s presence in the community among Black Caribbean congregants emphasized the impression that “church” as a place of communion and community is not an option. No human agency can dismiss or dissolve it, for it is an appointed theme in the plan of human salvation. Church, then, is an important means by which the community engages with God’s saving and healing powers. The phenomena of pastoral care-giving that Black Caribbeans encounter in large/mega churches must distinguish the congregation from any other non-profit organization. CHAPTER 7: A PSYCHOSOCIAL LENS OF COMMUNITY In considering Harry Stack Sullivan’s description of personality 67 as it relates to interpersonal subjectivity within community, I understood that personality is a descriptive device, one that encompasses the dynamics of persons as involved in interpersonal relationships. 68 69 Sullivan 70 71 offers insights into aligning the psychosocial and cultural sources and norms of my own hermeneutic. I was able to relay in writing what I saw, felt, and heard during my interviews with the three groups of Black Caribbeans. Being of African-West Indian, post-colonial descent played a role in how I entered the spaces of conversation with these groups, how I listened, how I translated my engagement with them. Through this lens, I contemplated a psychosocial and

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cultural framework for the groups of Black Caribbeans’ experiences of pastoral care and counseling in large/mega churches. I have come to an understanding that personal development includes experiences of tragedy, loss, disappointment, and grief, as well as triumph, success, love, and happiness. These do not occur in isolation but in community. The Interpersonal Relationship theory of Psychiatry helped me to understand human development in community systems. In addition to this theory, I have drawn upon the Object Relations Theory of how humans interact with their environment: not ultimately as pleasure-seeking but for “connection with others.” 72 My concepts of relational community emerged from my observations and experiences of relationships. The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry supports my understanding of interpersonal relationship as it relates to human relational exchanges. In the study of human development, an individual could not be conceived as existing at any time in isolation. The human condition, by its very definition, is at all times a communal existence, and all development takes place in interaction with others. Even within the womb, the baby responds relationally to external stimuli, that is, sound waves and emotions of his/her parents. From the moment a baby is born, he/she is in contact with at least one other who sees that he/she stays alive. From then on, numerous others help shape his/ her personality. Thus, personality can never be isolated from the complexities of interpersonal relations in which the person lives and has his/her being. 73 Therefore, in our encounters with others, we forge particular characteristics of individuality. In this, Sullivan’s position is close to that of other social-psychologist humanists such as Kenneth and Mary Gergen, Alfred Adler, and Karen Horney, 74 who emphasized the all-important social nature of human beings concerning our lifestyle influences—our experience of life and interactions with others. Cultural factors have a vital influence on personality development. In addition to one’s parents and other significant personalities, there are many other influences that are worth considering if we are to make sense of the individual’s interpersonal activities. Elaine Grimm, 75 another social psychologist, stated that the most beautiful as well as the ugliest inclinations of men/ women are not part of a fixed and biologically given human nature, but result from the social process that creates men and women. In his “one-genus postulate,” Sullivan states his concept that all persons are more alike than different, forming the bridge between the theological implications of community and the psychological perspective. 76 It begins with the commonality of all human experience through interpersonal relationships, in which we mirror others’ reactions in conflicts and confrontations. Pamela Cooper-White infers this as a concept of social constructivism, revealing itself in transference and counter-transference. 77 Thus, being born in community means that it is through community that one increases aware-

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ness and enhancement of one’s capacity to develop and survive. This is the state of human personality that the individual brings into community, a state necessary for interdependence. Christian theology affirms community as the basis of humanity. In fact, scripture (Jeremiah 17:9) deflects concentration on the self as chief source of personality and character development, because the heart or self is “desperately unreliable” as an independent entity. 78 Interpersonal theory of relation uses self-system and the notion of anxiety to describe the individual’s mode of navigating self through environmental, interpersonal, and intra-subjective changes. The self-system amasses experiences and modes of relating to others that the individual discovers as he/she encounters life situations. The memory retains these experiences as safe and secure. As a result, the self-system avoids or rejects ways of relating that promote anxiety, seen in distrust and suspicion of people in the individual’s new environment. For Black Caribbeans, new experiences such as coming into a new culture promote anxiety; in some cases they distrust new people unlike the Caribbean self. Novel experiences cause mistrust simply because they are new. So, the self extracts from the experiences only that which is already within the purview of the self-system. Accordingly, anxiety leads the individual to latch onto things familiar and satisfying, ignoring the rest, causing incomplete “registering” of totally new experiences. This is what Sullivan calls “lack of formulation mode as defense,” which he defines as the sequenced operations of prototaxic, parataxic, and syntaxic modes. 79 The prototaxic mode is the period of infancy during which the first retinue of defenses are formed. The parataxic mode is the state of the selfdefining, re-defining, ignoring, or avoiding experiences, according to its prototaxic foundation. The prototaxic system even sifts through experiences that are non-rational; that is, images, impressions, or ideas that are fragmented and incomplete. The syntaxic mode is the way in which language is used or misused to avoid, repress, or suppress what causes anxiety. Black Caribbeans often use subterfuge languages, saying heartfelt things through use of parables, bawdy jokes, music, and stories. Verbal refuge, then, is a method of incorporating language usage as parataxic mode. Personality and relationship-development theories help in clarifying Black Caribbeans’ adjustment needs with respect to pastoral care and counseling in congregations. As for counseling care to Black Caribbeans within congregations, many issues in cross-cultural understanding arise when it concerns these specific populations. Incidents may range from basic interpretation of words to critical family dynamics in cross-cultural counseling. It seems to me that a better understanding of cross-cultural counseling is an advantage wherever a cultural mix of people co-mingle consistently. The congregation is such a place.

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CHAPTER 8: CROSS-CULTURAL IMPACT ON PASTORAL COUNSELING It is one thing to love the world, to win the world for Christ, to make the world the mission field; it is another thing to live within the life of an immigrant who is sitting beside you in the pews. Some missionary-minded leaders may claim to love humanity. They can love all persons in general, even Black Caribbean immigrants from afar, because they can intellectually place everybody in the category of humanity. But when it comes to embracing particular Black persons, most mainline White American church pastors, leaders, and ministers are at a loss. Their attitude seems to say, “The more I love humanity, the less I can stand real people.” The uninformed, traditional evangelistic church-growth paradigm shapes God’s call into a mistaken view that God is a universal being who is separate from pain and suffering, as well as the basic pastoral needs of Black Caribbeans and other immigrants in large/mega congregations, and in our communities across the United States of America. Black Caribbean congregations are representations of segments of this society. This is no less true of the diversity of culture found in cities across America. National interest in minority mental health has increased in the past decade. But the human-service professionals, especially clinical and counseling psychologists, have failed to meet the particular mental-health needs of this population. Some people turn to their pastors, out of habit, for counsel. Others seek their pastor as a first-line advisor because of distrust of secular counselors. Many search for the right atmosphere, one that is safe yet provides stress relief while allowing them to maintain a sense of privacy and integrity. Their traditional weekly prayer meeting at their local church was understood to be a place where spoken and unspoken requests for prayer lifted some burdens. The heart of the problems that jeopardize effective examination and cross-cultural pastoral care and counseling is worth exploring. Immigrant populations, like Black Caribbeans, battle common stresses experienced by everyone else, but they are more likely to encounter problems such as poverty, cultural racism, color prejudice, discrimination, violence, and fatality. Yet studies show that all minorities tend to underutilize traditional mental health services. Findings show that minorities including Black Caribbeans terminate counseling after first visits at a rate above 50 percent, in contrast to less than 30 percent termination among White clients. Research by Derald and David Sue provides the following reasons for underuse of professional secular counseling by minorities: the biased nature of the services themselves; the services are frequently antagonistic or inappropriate to the life experience of the culturally different client; there is lack of sensitivity and

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understanding; oppressive and discriminative interaction with minority clients; and lack of culturally aware professionals in the field of counseling. 80 Minority health is usually categorized and focused on pathological lifestyles and false stereotypes. For example, in various cultures, demon possession and mental health are confused or coincide. Each culture, not unlike that of Black Caribbeans, has its form of witchcraft, such as obeah, juju, or samfi. To understand the social and spiritual power involved in witchcraft is to understand a cultural dependence on occult spirituality that often get confused with religious beliefs. In Black Caribbean culture, some Judeo-Christians as well as non-Christians practice the occult arts as alternatives to pastoral counseling for seeing what their future holds, or alternate to conventional mental and medical health interventions. Some narrow these practices to expressing belief versus unbelief in God. To the traditional culture of Black Caribbeans, you might as well categorize going to the community health center as unbelief in God also. The problem of such a narrow focus is that professionals who deal with mental health issues of ethnic minorities lack understanding and knowledge about ethnic values and their interaction with a racist society. For Black Caribbeans, a change from “back home” to a new home will cause feelings of loss and grief. These experiences are often compounded by other burdens of getting acquainted with the new life, which brings about increased physiological and emotional problems. In some non-Western cultures, there is much emphasis placed on the constructive as well as the destructive roles of anxiety, shame, and guilt as a social means of controlling behavior, which supports the formation of personality. Sociologists have discovered that anxiety, guilt, and shame are a basis of spiritual as well as mental health. Guilt, shame, and anxiety are natural, normal, and universal control mechanisms in every culture. However, Western society devalues shame as immature and weak, such that matured persons overcome shame and live with self-abandonment. In Western cultures, guilt, shame, and embarrassment, or fear of punishment, failure, or retribution are believed to be flip sides of freedom, independence, and inner peace. The idea is touted that one must overcome these inherent limiting tendencies in order to experience maturity. To Eastern psychologists, shame is intrinsic and essential to healthy humanity. Non-Westernized thought is that we learn from shame. It teaches sensitivity to human relationships and that one profits from it by staying alert to failures anticipated or failures suffered. It is then not a sign of immaturity, but for cultures outside Americanized ideology, it is an orientation to relationships in groups for ethical harmony. These cultural differences may manifest themselves in psychosomatic affects or even psychosocial behaviors. Lack of understanding may create barriers between cultures in the congregation.

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Furthermore, counseling practitioners are graduates from programs highlighting minorities as inherently pathological, and that counseling involves a simple modification of research on traditional White models. All participants in my ethnographic study were first-generation Black Caribbeans. According to David Williams et al., 81 compared with AfricanAmerican men, Black Caribbean men had higher risks for twelve-month rates of psychiatric disorders. Black Caribbean women had lower odds for twelve-month and lifetime psychiatric disorders compared with AfricanAmerican women. Risks varied by ethnicity, immigration history, and generation status within the Caribbean sample. First-generation Black Caribbeans had lower rates of psychiatric disorders compared with second- or thirdgeneration Black Caribbeans, and, compared with first-generation Black Caribbeans, third-generation Black Caribbeans had markedly elevated rates of psychiatric disorders. Mental-health risks were associated with ethnic diversity within the US Black population. Increased exposure to minority status in the United States was associated with higher risks for psychiatric disorders among Black Caribbean immigrants, which possibly reflects increased societal stress and downward social mobility associated with being Black in America. It is evident that the imageries and ideologies of “back home” among the Black Caribbean groups fostered a sense of community among first generations, but the imageries by which they live in this country get lost by the third generation. The home remedies, the economies of interpersonal community exchanges have physical, mental, and spiritual benefits for Black Caribbeans. Mental forces that Black Caribbeans brought from “back home” not only defined their idea of pastoral care and counseling but also fostered mental as well as psycho-spiritual health. Research shows that non-formal and natural support systems (like intentional small groups formed by church members) are more powerful in many minority lifestyles than professionally planned ones. Instead of undermining and berating these, as Sue and Sue’s 82 counseling experiences indicate, efforts should be made to foster them and find out why they work better than Western forms of counseling and therapy. White Western European culture holds certain values that are reflected in the therapeutic process. Many Western counselors prefer clients with what is called the YAVIS syndrome: young, attractive, verbal, intelligent, and successful. They feel that QUOIDs, on the other hand, don’t counsel well: quiet, unattractive, old, indigent, and dissimilar culturally.

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CHAPTER 9: RACIAL AND CULTURAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT MODEL Effective pastoral care and counseling in a multicultural congregation challenges the generalized one-style-fits-all mode of relating to those who come to their pastoral leader for help. Segregation within congregations of mainline denominations seems easier than integration. Because who we are is expressed in how we behave, and subsequently in how we care, research counselors warn of inherent biases that impact the care-giver and can ultimately thwart pastoral and therapeutic relationships. Concerning cross-counseling pastoral care, Black Caribbean immigrants may fall into what David and Derald Sue define as the Racial/Cultural Identity Development model (R/CID). They used this model to show how intrinsic racism is to the mental health of individuals, especially minorities like Black Caribbeans in this country. It’s remarkable. The R/CID proposes that there is a process of assimilation that an individual experiences as he/she enters a new culture. The model proposes that there are five stages of development that culturally different people experience as they struggle to understand themselves in terms of their own culture, the dominant culture, and the opposing relationships between the two cultures. I call it a type of cognitive, psychosocial journey, for want of a useful description of Sue and Sue’s exposé. There are five stages: conformity, dissonance, resistance and immersion, introspection, and integrative awareness. 83 The developmental journey is not straightforward and final but it is a progression that overlaps in its stages. Whites as well as Black Caribbean immigrants go through the process of defining themselves as racial beings. The R/CID model suggests that whenever the race or cultural identity of the counselor is a building block of the relationship, there is a natural identity development. Whites, even with fewer critical or life-threatening dramas in this country, also go through the process of defining themselves as racial beings. 84 The cultural mindset of the major US culture was formed when racism was a basic intrinsic and integral part of the structure of society. Whites are socialized into US society and therefore inherit biases, stereotypes, racist attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the society. In other words, developmental models suggest that all Whites are racist whether knowingly or unknowingly. The stage of White racial identity development in a cross-cultural encounter (e.g., pastoring a church, counseling an individual congregant) affects the process and outcome of the interracial relationship. In the conformity stage, the minority persons are distinguished by their unequivocal preference for the dominant cultural values over their own. Lifestyles, value systems, and cultural/physical characteristics most like those of White society are highly valued, while those most like their own minority group are viewed with disdain, or are repressed.

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In the dissonance stage, no matter how much an individual attempts to deny his/her own racial/cultural heritage, he or she will encounter information or experiences inconsistent with culturally held beliefs, attitudes, and values. Denial begins to break down, which leads to a questioning and challenging of the attitudes/beliefs of the conformity stage. The movement to this stage is gradual and the individual experiences conflict between pieces of information or experiences that challenge his/her current self-concept. A traumatic event may propel some individual to move into dissonance at a rapid pace. In the resistance and immersion stage, the culturally different individual tends to completely endorse minority-held views and to reject the dominant values of society and culture. He or she tends to exhibit a dedication to reacting against the dominant society and rejects White social, cultural, and institutional standards as having no validity for him/her. During this stage the three most active types of feelings are guilt, shame, and anger. There are considerable feelings of guilt and shame that in the past the minority individual has “sold out” his/her own racial and cultural group. The feelings of guilt and shame extend to the perception that during this past he/she had contributed to the oppressions of fellow minority members. There is also anger against the brainwashing that the individual feels he/she experienced. Anger is directed outwardly. In the introspection stage, the minority individual discovers that the futility of this level of feelings is psychologically draining and does not permit one to really devote more crucial energy to understanding themselves or to their own racial and cultural group. He/she experiences feelings of discontent and discomfort with the minority group views, which may be quite rigid in the resistance and immersion stage. Many times, in order to please the group, the culturally different individual is asked to submerge individual autonomy and individual thought in favor of the group good. Then many of the group views may be seen as conflicting with the individual’s own. In the integrative stage, the minority person has developed an inner sense of security and now can own and appreciate unique aspects of their culture as other conflicts of the previous stages are resolved, allowing greater individual control and flexibility. There is allowance of acceptable and unacceptable aspects in all cultures. It is important that each person is able to examine, accept, or reject those aspects of a culture that are not seen as cogent. The most desirable stage for a counselor is one in which he/she accepts himself/herself culturally, but defines it in a non-defensive and non-racist manner. One’s locus of control and worldview seems to be influenced by the stage of their R/CID. So a pastor, regardless of how liberal-minded and spirit-filled, from Sue and Sue’s point of view, needs to understand the barriers that interfere with cross-cultural counseling. Theoretically, the pastoral counselor is also going (or has gone) through a racial/cultural identity

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development. Wherever he/she is in this developmental process affects his/ her teaching, preaching, and counseling. On the basis of the Racial/Cultural Model, most counselors make errors in interacting with various minorities in this country. Even when using specific techniques, pastoral counselors need to become familiar with their own biases, values, or “hang-ups” that would interfere with proper counseling. The culturally aware pastor would be one skilled in counseling, who has moved from being culturally unaware to being aware and sensitive to his/her own cultural heritage and to valuing and respecting differences. He must be aware of his own values and biases and how they may affect minority individuals. He/she is comfortable with differences that exist between him/herself and others, whether it is race or beliefs. The culturally aware pastoral counselor or pastor is sensitive to circumstances that may dictate referral of the minority individual to a member of his/her own race/culture or to another counselor. He or she must be aware of his/her own racist attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Being aware of worldviews and how they are formulated in himself/herself and others is important training for counselors. This moves us into the realm of ethics, as it becomes a guide for pastoral care-givers such as lay leaders, trained ministerial leaders, and pastoral counselors. CHAPTER 10: ACA CODE OF ETHICS IN PASTORAL CARE AND COUNSELING Pastoral care and counseling falls within the auspices of the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics. Thus, pastoral and counseling of Black Caribbean immigrants in large/mega congregations requires the use of the guidelines laid out in the ACA Code of Ethics. The professional code of ethics 85 governing the pastoral counselor’s behavior is a primary source of exploring and expunging inappropriate professional behavior that causes dilemmas in pastoral care and counseling relationships. The following are relevant ethical references for the case presented below. The client’s interest and well-being were the primary objectives. Using the ACA Code of Ethics to explore the counseling experience of R., the Black Caribbean woman seeking counsel from a lay leader in her congregation, may help to define what kinds of training might be indicated. Pastoral-care counselors should be aware of their own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, and avoid imposing values that are inconsistent with counseling goals. Pastoral-care counselors are required to respect the diversity of clients; for example, Counselor M. assumed that all African males have more than one wife. Pastoral-care counselors and congregant(s) should work jointly in devising integrated counseling plans that offer reasonable

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promise of success and are consistent with the abilities and circumstances of the clients. Pastoral-care counselors and clients should regularly review counseling plans to assess their continued viability and effectiveness, respecting the freedom of choice of the clients. Though he and the client share a similar ethnic background, some of his assumptions needed to be explored with the client. For example, M. demonstrated bias and insensitivity to the elements of cultural diversity among himself, his client, and her husband. Pastoral counselors, ministers, and marriage and family therapists must seek appropriate professional assistance for their personal problems or conflicts that may impair work performance or clinical judgment. It is expedient that other professional therapists supervise a pastoral counselor while he/she counsels others. Unfortunately, the counselor M. used his own personal experience as a gauge for the success rate of the client’s marriage. M. felt that he could deal with the marital problems of his client by discussing possible divorce. The ethical question is whether M. was unaware of that part of himself that was experiencing his own divorce. It seemed fitting that he should decide whether to retain this counselee or to request that R. be reassigned to a licensed professional counselor (LPC) based on his own inexperience, personal boundary violations, cultural insensitivity and incompetence, and poor skills in cross-cultural decision-making. Based on the “narrative construct” of Sue and Sue, counselees such as Black Caribbeans who come to sessions already have a psychological set. Because they have their own construction and narratives, when they engage with the pastoral-care counselor they can be guided to decipher what is truth, and what is acceptable, based on what they value for their situation. Sue and Sue describe the process of deciphering truth that is acceptable by using the problem-solving set. This includes the following subsets: “consistency set,” “identity set,” and “economic set.” 86 Black Caribbeans in large/mega congregations who receive appropriate help will find themselves listening for and choosing to embrace information that coincides with what their construct and beliefs echo. They compare the new facts with information they already possess. Because of their aggregate communal nature, they would also seek to compare the information they receive in sessions to information from others in their own socio-cultural system. When change is demanded through pastoral counseling, congregants operating under the consistency set accept or reject information based on the level of ease or difficulty in re-associating their values, attitudes, and behaviors with the new concept. Congregants can “pick up on inconsistency” in the pastoral counselor’s own constructs, through non-verbal values, attitudes, cues, etc. 87 It seems important that pastoral counselors own their prejudices towards other cultures and understand the counter-transferences that may result.

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The congregant invariably functions within an identity set. Part of our development is learning to identify with others like ourselves. In the identity set, the individual generally desires to be like or similar to a person or group he/she holds in high esteem. Much of our identity is formed from those reference groups to which we aspire. We attempt to take on the reference group’s characteristics, beliefs, values, and behavior because they are viewed as favorable. Black Caribbeans are also influenced in their culture by economic set. The congregant, R., and her husband, S., exhibited the result of being under the influence of their economic set. For S., it was his family and Kpelle community; for R., it was her own Black Caribbean socio-cultural understanding of romance and the nuclear family. Under this influence, they received rewards and punishments for behaving in accordance with the group and authority leaders they carried as templates in their minds. CHAPTER 11: CULTURAL ETHICS AS APPLIED TO PASTORAL CARE What is Cultural Ethics? Who needs to know and understand cross-cultural ethics? How does it impact pastoral care and counseling of Black Caribbeans in large/mega congregations? Derald Sue and others 88 suggest that where pastoral care and counseling of congregants is concerned, lack of cultural competences is unethical. They implied that “a serious moral vacuum exists in the delivery of cross-cultural pastoral care and counseling services when the values of the dominant culture are imposed on the culturally different individual.” 89 Cross-cultural ethics, then, is not simply a question of distinguishing relative versus absolute values. Different cultures prioritize their values differently in relation to the patterns of meaning relevant to the story of their people. Different priorities may require the understanding of values constructed in different contexts. Ethics in pastoral care and counseling is considered vital enough that the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics 90 is included in training curricula for pastoral care and counseling training. The following case takes into consideration aspects of cultural and value ethics that invariably feature the individual or self as outcomes of personal, socially heuristic construct. Everyone involved in the solution of a situation is subjected to his or her own personal construct and values. Therefore, the therapeutic hermeneutics must then be controlled by more objective codes of ethics. The following scenario is an example of how the ACA Code of Ethics can be a protective guideline for pastoral care in counseling diverse populations within large/mega congregations. In Chapter 10, we were introduced to R., 91 a 40-year-old Black Caribbean woman who was encouraged by her gynecologist to seek counseling for

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depression. Instead of engaging a professional counselor, R. set up an appointment on the phone with M., a local church elder the pastor was confident could help her. She felt that her marriage was causing her physical and mental deterioration and wanted to talk out some issues with her church leader. Based on her background, she felt uncomfortable seeking counsel from a professional counselor outside her church. In fact, she felt that an intelligent person with a good Christian background was good enough. She stated that she had met and married her husband, S., in West Africa. She was there as a volunteer nurse with a team of medical missionaries. He was a teacher at the missionary center who taught the medical team, as well as their children, the basic vocabulary of the Kpelle 92 dialect. Three years after returning home, he joined her and they lived in Atlanta, Georgia. She told M. that S., her husband, was a West African man from the Kpelle tribe whom she felt was neglecting her by going home too often to his country, and thereby depleting their finances. Their discussion on having children, that is, “making feet for shoes,” 93 ended in an emotional explosion when he stated that children do not belong to their parents but to the whole community. She said she became alarmed as he described that boys were taken from their parents at six years old and sent into the bush to live with men until they grew to school age; at ten years old they received an ironbranding on their body so they were identifiable within their tribal family. He accused her of not wanting to get pregnant. R. was aware that as the oldest son, S. had responsibilities to his family that she did not quite understand. Her Caribbean background cast the whole family as responsible, first of all, for caring for parents, and then for each other, not simply the eldest male taking care of whole families. With this as background, she came to this nonordained counselor to talk about her troubled marriage. M. is an elder in her church, an African-American male in his mid-forties who received a master’s degree in counseling. This counselor, recently divorced from a Caucasian-American female, felt that R. should get divorced, as cultural differences are detrimental to a stable happy marriage. Besides, he felt that African men are problematic in marriages other than to “their kind,” that is, to African women. At their first meeting, M. announced that R. did not sound like a true Black Caribbean woman on the phone, as she sounded more like a British person, and as a result, M. thought she was a White woman. He was from a middle-class background; his parents, both deceased, had been teachers; he had two younger sisters, both of whom were single professional women. He had never traveled outside of the United States. M. voiced concern that R.’s husband might be “married back in Africa to another woman.” In response, R. denied feeling suspicion of her husband being unfaithful, but stated that she felt trapped by the new cultural burdens that she had not anticipated. She felt that they loved each other but that she could “read her husband,” that she wanted to “feel special” to him, and to have him

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express his emotional love in words as well as non-sexual actions. She felt that her husband was putting his family, even his country before her. Although they were both members of the same Pentecostal church, they expressed themselves differently in worship; while she and her family often did the “holy dance,” he was stoic. Both felt that God frowned on divorce without a “biblical” reason and did not want a divorce. The ethical dilemma was that M. heard but did not seem cognizant of assessing the main issue, the cultural differences between R.’s Black Caribbean background and her husband’s West African heritage. However, he hinted that Black women “go after” African men because they were not confident in acquiring American men. He seemed to assume that the marriage was over based on a lack of “bridges” between the couple. During the course of the sessions, R. wanted to look at ways to evaluate her marriage at that point in time. But after six sessions, she discontinued counseling with her lay leader M., feeling confused and misunderstood. Still, unable to trust professional counseling, she then turned to another local church elder for further counseling. A lack of clarity about competencies creates ethical dilemmas for counselors who work with culturally diverse populations. What is the level of competence necessary before a counselor can ethically work with diverse populations? One answer has been to improve graduate-level training in this area. 94 In the case presented, one is able to identify that the situation or incidents represent an area of conflict of cultures, values, standards, or goals; the solution is not always obvious; or there may be considerable controversy as to the most appropriate or effective action to take. What are the rationales for teaching ethics? Therapists, pastoral counselors, and licensed professional counselors hold “expertise” by virtue of esoteric knowledge, experience, and education. Therefore, they are seen as authority figures with hierarchical power to give or withhold rewards and punishment. 95 Trainees can begin the practice of becoming potent agents of change for culturally different clients early in their training. They can begin the task of identifying cultural or sociopolitical forces operating in a situation and so develop an enhanced understanding and awareness of issues as they affect lives. In supervised or controlled settings, trainees have the opportunity to examine potentially troublesome situations that may hinder their functioning with clients. Worldview and value differences can be explored and contrasted with those of other trainees. With increasing awareness and sensitivity to clients’ cultural behaviors, communication and the understanding of differences often result, and can be explored. What is more important is to discuss with the trainee his/her reactions and distortions (value judgments) that may have a detrimental impact on culturally different clients. For example, M. was insensitive to how his cultural inexperience and his own personal

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life were impacting his response to his client. Houser et al. 96 use the elements of the hermeneutic circle in clarifying an ethical dilemma in counseling. This can be very effective for guiding process method in doing therapy with culturally different clients. Given several cross-cultural situations that involve people from different cultural/racial backgrounds, each case should briefly be described in some counseling, educational, or mental- health framework. The task is to do three things, as enumerated here: 1. Identify as many cross-cultural issues in the case vignettes as possible. Do not stop with one or two. Your ability to see the situations from as many perspectives as possible is important. In most cases, listing your answers with brief elaborations is all that is needed. 2. Identify as many value differences as possible between the interaction of the characters or the values of the characters and institutions. For example, restraint of strong feelings may be highly valued by certain Asian groups, but not by many White Americans. A possible value conflict may arise between individuals from each group. Conflicts can also arise between an individual and institution or another society. In this case, institutional and societal values need to be identified. Again, listing these conflicts with some elaboration to clarify your analysis is all you need do. Third-world people and those who are minority in a majority society are taught that to be different is to be deviant, pathological, or sick. Pastoral counseling therefore is sometimes seen as a powerful weapon both political and cultural, a ploy against people whose ideas, beliefs, and behaviors differ from those of the dominant society. 3. Committing yourself to a course of action in each case vignette forces you to examine your own values/priorities and those presented in the case. Address what you would do, how you would do it, and why. In other words, it is important to define your goals, approach, and rationale. The ethnographic study groups in three different churches, having mixed congregations of Black Caribbeans and others, provided practical illustrations of culture and relationality. They confirmed the action and attributes of care as a phenomenon and also confirmed the need for training of those who engage in the task of pastoral care and counseling of immigrants in large and mega congregations. Problem-solving and conflict resolution can be effective tools utilized in cultural ethics training and evaluation. In the case of R., culture and value ethics would have been viable foundations for decisionmaking in assessing, diagnosing, and planning goals to relieve the client’s stress, a stress that seemed mostly formulated by lack of sufficient communicative engagement between R. and her husband around the issues of cultural differences. As cultural difference is not proven grounds for divorce, helping

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to clarify the meaning and effects of cultural differences would have been helpful for this client. Considering the essence of Sue and Sue’s proposal of cultural intelligence and sensitivity, one senses the importance of applying narrative theory of “self” construction within the confines of psychoanalytic theory in engaging individuals’ narratives based on their heuristics and hermeneutic formations. There is no easier way of acquiring cross-cultural sensitivity than conscientiously learning from those experienced in cross-cultural engagements. CHAPTER 12: CROSS-CULTURAL COMPETENCY AND ETHICS According to the Webster New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, ethics, taken from the root word ethos, defines atmosphere resulting from behavior after intentional cognitive assessment. It is the way in which we read our surroundings and our pre-understanding, so that our behavior is not harmful in the presence of others. Multicultural competency has been touted as an important aspect of counseling. 97 Culture ethics refers to understanding ours and other individuals’ fundamental values, commitments, and patterns of behavior within a social order. 98 A working definition of culture is that of an integrated system of beliefs about God, reality, or ultimate meanings of values. This includes ideology about what is true, good, beautiful, and normative, of customs, governments, laws, courts, temples or churches, family, schools, hospitals, factories, shops, unions, and clubs, all of which bind a society together and give it a sense of identity, dignity, security, and continuity. 99 Culture and sub-cultures invariably overlap. Where pastoral care of congregations with diverse cultures (such as Black Caribbeans and others) are concerned, advocates for multicultural competence include three general dimensions of beliefs in which a pastoral-care counselor needs to be culturally competent in order to avoid harming congregants. These are: being aware of one’s own values, biases, and preconceived beliefs about culturally diverse groups; the pastoral counselor actively trying to understand the worldview and experiences of culturally diverse group members; and developing pastoral counseling skills appropriate for culturally diverse immigrant congregants. 100 Culturally aware pastoral counselors have reflected upon and explored their own values and basic assumptions. So they recognize which human behaviors they view as appropriate or inappropriate, desirable or undesirable, life-enhancing or destructive. Regardless of his/her beliefs and value systems, this culturally aware pastoral counselor is fully aware that others may hold different values and assumptions that are legitimate even when they are directly opposite to his/her own. This is an integrative understanding dependent on both insight (cognitive) and awareness (affect) so that the pastoral

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counselor will not unwittingly impose values or unconsciously influence others into accepting directions contradictory to the congregants’ construct. Sue and Sue 101 reverberate this dictum, which is applicable in the case of pastoral care and counseling in culturally diverse congregations. The following question may then be asked: What about questions on doctrines? Although this book’s goals exclude an in-depth discussion on the intersecting impacts of religious beliefs on culture, and vice versa, the question is relevant and imposing because it is the society of people, the community at large, those who have particular values and beliefs in common, that create a culture. Beliefs and values are formulated and measured by a group mind not unlike culture. Religion, like culture, has its foundation in group minds and group beliefs and values. Thus, a pastoral-care counselor usually works under the auspices of his/her own church administration, whose congregants’ baseline beliefs are similar to those of the pastor/pastoral-care counselor, thereby eliminating religious doctrine as an obstacle. This being taken into consideration, the pastoral counselor who counsels without cultural intelligence is at risk of ethical violations and harming his/ her congregant. This affirmed by the ACA 102 Code of Ethics by which all professional counselors are bound. While they are directly applicable to the church administration, the ACA guidelines also pertain to pastoral counselors. Those who provide professional care and counsel to others must actively attempt to understand the diverse cultural backgrounds of those they counsel and serve. Pastoral counselors receive training to explore their own cultural identities and how these affect their values and beliefs about the counseling process. Their words and actions must demonstrate the intention of avoiding harm to their clients, or imposing their personal values on them. In such cases, pastoral counselors are aware of their own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, and avoid imposing values that are inconsistent with pastoral counseling goals. Thus, pastoral counselors and care-givers must respect the diversity of those who come to them seeking pastoral care and counseling. Respecting the rights of those to whom they minister and give counsel includes concerted attention for multicultural considerations. Congregation care from pastoral care-givers requires the maintained awareness and sensitivity regarding cultural meanings of behaviors and complex issues. Churches with global mission organizations that intersperse doctrinal teachings with worldwide cultures may benefit from cross-cultural training of their ministers, pastors, or administrative leaders. Culturally aware pastoral care-givers and counselors see themselves as universal citizens, related to all humans as well as distinct from all of them. They live in the world, not just in their own community or country. Aware as they are of what is culture-bound and class-bound, they refuse to allow what is local to be valued as universal, or to trivialize what is universal by identify-

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ing it with any local applications. This is directly applicable to Black Caribbeans as well as other immigrants in large/mega congregations. CHAPTER 13: VALUES CLARIFICATION IN PASTORAL CARE AND COUNSELING Whether they belong to a multicultural large/mega congregation, which includes Black Caribbeans, or one on downtown Main Street, many people today are surprised to find the world at their doorstep. Even more surprising is the fact that they have to make some concessions in order to live as neighbors of another culture. When other people within our social space live by different moral norms, how should we respond? A serious consideration of ethics today cannot afford to ignore the cultural elements that influence our perceptions of good and evil. 103 On the other hand, it is human needs that formulate ways of thinking, and behaving. In a circular system, humans both influence and are influenced by their engagement and interpersonal relationships with society, creating and being created by the culture. This circular emphasis claims that individuals are not unrelated atoms motivated only by internal urges and instincts; rather, they are parts of larger systems that exert considerable influence on their thoughts, feelings, and actions. 104 The belief that patterns of connectedness are dynamically unfolding rather than structurally based is at the foundation of discussions of cultural ethics and values. Thus, negotiation of values is increasingly central to relationships in large congregations housing Black Caribbeans as well as other cultures. Traditions, customs, and roles within relationships—especially cross-cultural relationships—must contend with mounting pressures to change; many institutions, including congregations, cannot withstand these tensions. Thus, subversive behaviors like White flight or gospel ghettos are created. Consequently, when pastoral-care counselors in large/mega congregations with Black Caribbeans or other culturally diverse groups are faced with ethical dilemmas that are difficult to resolve, they are expected to engage in a carefully considered ethical decision-making process. Pastors, ministers, and pastoral-care counselors are expected to be familiar with a credible model of decision-making that can bear public scrutiny and its application. Through a chosen ethical decision-making process and evaluation of the context of the situation, ministers and other pastoral-care counselors are empowered to make decisions that help expand the capacity of people to grow, make meaning out of life’s difficult situations, and develop. It is important that the pastoral counselor clarify his/her own values if he/ she is to assume a distinctly professional identity. Here a “value” is purported to be an attitudinal behavior resulting directly from one’s own construct,

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based on how one’s basic self-narrative was formed. Thus, a lack of selfawareness by pastoral counselors represents a “fatal flaw.” Such self-awareness must entail a clear understanding of why pastoral counselors choose to assume their particular professional identity and what skills they claim to bring to the helping relationship. Required standards strongly suggest a rationale for cultural competency in professional ethics. What comprises professionally competent identity? Values clarification has been suggested as a means for pastoral counselors to clarify their professional identity. Inherent in this endeavor is the vital act of thoughtfully reflecting on one’s beliefs. Doing this is primary to fostering viable alternatives with less detrimental consequences to people’s lives. Another important aspect in values clarification is acting consistently within one’s most cherished beliefs and values. Values clarification represents a consideration of the process of valuing as opposed to simply identifying the content of one’s values. It is an active process composed of seven subprocesses, each eliciting questions that need to be answered in a developmental sequence. A. Choosing Basic Beliefs 1. Choosing from alternatives: Have a number of alternatives been considered? For example, in the preceding case of R., S., and M. has sufficient time been taken by the pastoral counselor in identifying possible alternatives to divorce for this couple? 2. Choosing after considering consequences: What are the most valuable aspects of the belief? What if everyone held the belief? 3. Choosing freely: How was the belief first procured? How freely is it now being chosen? Is there a viable possibility for re-thinking the belief; is its source negotiable? B. Prizing Basic Beliefs 4. Prizing and cherishing: Does the belief hold significant importance? Is it one to be proud of? 5. Publicly affirming, When appropriate: Is there a willingness to share the belief with others? With whom would it be appropriate to share the belief? C. Acting on Beliefs 6. Acting: Is the belief one that can be readily acted upon? Is there a willingness to act upon it? D. Acting with a pattern of consistency: Is the belief one that is typically acted upon? Is there a willingness to consistently act upon the belief? In this cross-cultural marital system, the North American pastoral counselor must be

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aware that not all cultures view individualism as a positive orientation; rather, it may be perceived in some cultures as a handicap to attaining communal health within relationships, keeping couples from spiritual growth. In traditional African culture, one’s identity is defined within the family system. CHAPTER 14: PASTORAL-CARE ASPECTS OF CULTURAL SENSITIVITY Within cultures such as that of Black Caribbeans, one of the greatest punishments is that of shaming someone into changing unacceptable behavior. Often, refusal to submit to the guidance/shaping of the shaming process can lead to being disowned by one’s family, or losing membership in a church community. When it comes to pastoral care and counseling of such individuals, the pastoral counselor must take into consideration the consequences to culture and values as he/she assumes a diagnosis of the counselee’s presenting problem, then devises an appropriate plan based on that understanding. In the counseling scenario of R. and her West African spouse, S., the lay counselor was not aware that S. would be put to shame if he ignored the cultural edict of the oldest son’s obligation to his family. Some cultures value shame above guilt; Western culture values guilt above shame. 105 Affective elements, oftentimes seen in counseling, can also be strongly influenced by the particular orientation one takes. In the United States, when individuals are accused of doing something wrong, they are most likely to experience guilt. However, in traditional societies that emphasize a group orientation, the most dominant affective element that follows a wrongful behavior is more likely to be shame than guilt. Guilt is an individual affect, while shame appears to be a group affect. Pastoral counselors and therapists who fail to recognize the importance of defining this difference between individualism and group orientation will create difficulties in counseling. Many pastoral counselors and therapists tend to emphasize the fact that verbal, emotional, and behavioral expressiveness is important in individuals. Pastoral counselors see a client as “open” when they are verbal, articulate, and able to express their thoughts and feelings clearly. Emotional expressiveness is also valued, as we like individuals to be in touch with their feelings and to be able to articulate or demonstrate their emotional reactions. In fact, some therapeutic assessments assume that if a feeling is not verbalized and expressed by the client, it may not exist. This culture tends to value expressiveness and assertiveness, to stand up for one’s own rights, and to engage in activities that indicate one is not a passive being. These characteristics can place culturally different clients at a disadvantage. With this in mind, pastoral counselors who are culturally educated have a capacity for welcoming, entering into, and prizing other worldviews without

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negating their legitimacy. They can go beyond empathy into interpathy, which assumes a common cultural base, and makes them feel at home on the boundary between worldviews. They can enter into another’s world, savor its distinctness, and prize its differentness while holding firmly to the uniqueness of their own. These would be the trained pastoral care-givers, ministers, pastors, and pastoral counselors who will learn to seek to understand both the person and the context, both the individual instance and the environment. Having come to appreciate the impact of the historical, social, religious, political, and economic forces that have shaped the identity and values of all human beings, they will then be sensitive to the effects of racism, economic exploitation, political oppression, historic tragedy, religious prejudice, or the absence of these, on the person’s personality or interpersonal adjustment. Cultural sensitivity allows pastoral counselors to be able to move beyond counseling theory, orientation, or technique, and be effective humans. They are truly eclectic in their counseling, not in a random selection of techniques that work for their satisfaction, but in a disciplined flexibility that allows them to select a particular set of counseling skills as a considered decision about its appropriateness to the life experience of the particular congregant/ counselee. They can be critical of each methodology, theory, and orientation, recognizing that “no theory of counseling is politically or morally neutral.” 106

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PART ONE: DEFINING PASTORAL-CARE NEEDS IN LARGE/MEGA CONGREGATIONS 1. All Biblical references are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible New York: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982. 2. George Peters, A Theology of Church Growth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 78. 3. Tom Raabe, The Ultimate Church: An Irreverent Look at Church Growth, Mega Churches, and Ecclesiastical “Show-Biz” (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 65. 4. George Peters, A Theology of Church Growth, 77. 5. Ruth Tucker, Left Behind in a Mega Church World: How God Works Through Ordinary Churches (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006), 42-46. 6. Ibid. 7. Clebsch and Jaekle are known throughout the field of clinical pastoral education as having laid the foundation for the definition of pastoral care and counseling. However, womanist theologian Carroll Watkins Ali challenges what she notes as an incomplete definition of pastoral care of African Americans, especially African-American women. William Clebsch and Charles Jaekle, Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective (New York: Jason Aronson, 1994), 4; Carroll Watkins Ali, Survival and Liberation: Pastoral Theology in African American Context (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 1999), 124. 8. Pastoral care and counseling advocates such as Carroll Wise, Seward Hiltner, and even more recent writers such as Andrew Lester tend to speak of pastoral care and counseling from the context of American acculturated Christianity. Their theology provides a good foundation for understanding the purpose and meaning of caring, yet still seems to fall short of announcing the broader needs of immigrants from other cultural schemata. 9. Charles V. Gerkin, Widening the Horizons: Pastoral Responses to a Fragmented Society (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986), 43-58. 10. John Patton, Pastoral Care in Context: An Introduction to Pastoral Care (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993), 20-23. 11. Seward Hiltner, Pastoral Counseling: How Every Pastor Can Help People to Help Themselves (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1981), 57.

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12. William Clebsch and Charles Jaekle, Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective (New York: Jason Aronson, 1975), 4. 13. Pamela Cooper-White is a strong proponent of Freudian psychoanalytic theory in interpersonal relationships. Her focus includes the works of transference and counter-transference as conscious and unconscious phenomena in counseling. In: Shared Wisdom, Use of the Self in Pastoral Care and Counseling (Minnesota: Fortress Press, 2004), 35. 14. Ibid. 15. Clebsch and Jaeckle. Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective, 4. 16. Watkins Ali, Survival and Liberation, 65. 17. “Womanist” theology is derived from a term coined by Alice Walker in her book, In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose, Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace, 1983 It emphasizes that relationality is universal; as humans we are inherently relational beings. Culture and environment shape our individual consciousness. Here I find support from feminist/ womanist theologians who speak of the importance of women as promoting more than the reality of women’s needs for acceptance. They contend that attention be given to empowerment and liberation of the physical body as well as the human spirit; they also speak to male and female relating, not as separate genders, but as individuals who need the community of others. In: Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore and B.L. Gill-Austern, eds., Feminist and Womanist Pastoral Theology (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1999), 46-50. 18. Watkins Ali, Survival and Liberation, 66. 19. Glenn H. Asquith, ed., Vision From A Little Known Country: A Boisen Reader (Decatur, GA: Journal of Pastoral Care Publications, Inc., 1992), 68-71. 20. Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica (1972–1980), wrote prolifically about the historical, social, and political state of Jamaican and Caribbean ascendency from British rulership and African origins. Noel Erskine uses references from Manley in his book. Michael Manley, Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery (London, UK: Third World Media, 1982), 12-26. Noel Erskine, Decolonizing Theology: A Caribbean Perspective (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1998), 63. 21. Erskine, Decolonizing Theology, 91. 22. Manley, Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery, 35. 23. Erskine, Decolonizing Theology, 101. 24. Manley, Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery, 63. 25. Mavis Christine Campbell, The Maroons of Jamaica 1655-1796: A History of Resistance, Collaboration & Betrayal, (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1990), 31-62. 26. Monica McGoldrick, Joe Giordano, and Nydia Garcia Preto, eds. Ethnicity and Family Therapy (3rd edition). (New York: The Guilford Press, 2005) 93-95. 27. Ibid. 28. Howard Gregory, a Jamaican minister, joins Michael Manley’s voice in the argument that Afrocentric peoples in the Diaspora tend to undervalue their own natural instincts in deference to Western-imposed ideologies concerning care of family and other ways of life. Howard Gregory, “Towards a Model for Pastoral Counseling in the Caribbean,” (Doctor of Ministry Dissertation, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA, 1988), 12. Manley, Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery, 40. 29. Emmanuel Lartey, “Globalization, Internationalization, and Indigenization of Pastoral Care and Counseling” in Pastoral Care and Counseling Redefining the Paradigms, ed. Nancy J. Ramsay (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2004) 87-108. 30. Emmanual Lartey, In Living Color: An Intercultural Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling (2nd edition), (New York: Athenaeum Press, 2003), 35-65. 31. Derald W. Sue and David Sue, Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, (7th edition), (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2015), 88. 32. Gregory, “Towards a Model for Pastoral Counseling in the Caribbean,” 53. 33. Peter Titelman, Clinical Applications of Bowen Family Systems Theory (New York: Routledge, 2013), 13-26. 34. David Augsburger, Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures. (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1986), 12-20. 35. Sue and Sue, Counseling the Culturally Diverse, 201.

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36. Ibid. 37. In Larry VandeCreek, Hilary Bender, and Merle R. Jordan, Research in Pastoral Care and Counseling: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, (Decatur, GA: Journal of Pastoral Care Publications, Inc.,1994), 45-80. 38. Wilfred Bion, Experiences in Groups, and Other Papers (New York: Brunner-Routledge, 1961), 128. 39. Sullivan and Horney are social psychologists who propose that the interpersonal relationality of adults is influenced by their cultural environment. Harry Sullivan, The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry (New York: W.W Norton, 1978), 67-71. Susan Quinn, A Mind of Her Own: The Life of Karen Horney (New York: Summit Books, 1987), 47. 40. These proponents of focus groups helped me to formulate and adapt a group based on their outlines. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds., Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials (3rd edition), (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2008), 46-71; Larry VandeCreek and Arthur M. Lucas, eds., The Discipline for Pastoral Care Giving, Foundations for Outcome Oriented Chaplaincy (New York, NY: The Haworth Pastoral Press, 2001), 30-37. 41. John Creswell, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, (3rd edition.), (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2003), 1-90. 42. Glaser recommends against taping or taking notes during an interview or other datacollection session. Speaking for myself, I sometimes take key-word notes, noting atmosphere, tension-causing comments, and my own affect during sessions, and convert them to themes afterwards, or I note the key themes, which is often the best approach for me. I will tape-record the group sessions and check notes against the tape recording. This won’t be as time consuming as making full transcripts, and in my experience, does the job well. Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss, The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research (New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine Transaction Publishers, 2009), 50. 43. Swinton and Mowat emphasized various methods of interviews that are better for allowing interviewees to be at ease and relaxed, which facilitates an atmosphere of genuineness and trust. John Swinton and Harriot Mowat, Practical Theology and Qualitative Research (London: Canterbury Press, 2003), 74–76. 44. Asquith, Vision From A Little Known Country, 35. 45. I assessed the sizes of churches based on collective readings from Peters’ A Theology of Church Growth, page 78; Raabe’s The Ultimate Church, page 61-66; and Tucker’s Left Behind in a Mega Church World, page 14-17. 46. Population number based on 2011 United States Census records. See Internet information on Stone Mountain, Georgia, and Decatur, Georgia populations. 47. Denzin and Lincoln, Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials, 45-88. The authors suggest that you specify the need to select groups based on some homogeneous criteria that will promote ease of dialogue and connectedness.

PART TWO: THE CULTURAL ASPECTS OF BLACK CARIBBEANS IN THREE CONGREGATIONS 1. All members of the three groups in the ethnographic study signed permission forms for participating, allowing their narratives and point of view to be printed; however, all names appearing in the book are pseudonyms. 2. Usually an elderly woman who is seen as being connected to a supernatural being and as having power to help medically and spiritually, or to punish individuals. 3. German-derived terminology for “one who supports” financially, “the boss man.” 4. Parson is a corruption of the Scottish-dialect “person.” In the nineteenth-century colonial Caribbean community, a parson was the most important educated man in that community.

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PART THREE: PASTORAL CARE AND COUNSELING IN CROSS-CULTURAL NEEDS OF CONGREGATIONS 1. David Powlison, Mark McMinn, and Timothy Phillips, eds., Care for the Soul: Exploring the Intersection of Psychology and Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 23 2. Ibid. 24. 3. The African-American slaves and freed Black congregation members who exited the Methodist church focused on Black elevation, civil rights, and ongoing liberation from the repercussions of enslavement of Black peoples. See in: Stephen Angell and Anthony Pinn, eds., Social Protest Thought in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1862-1939 (Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press, 2000), xiii; Lewis Baldwin, “Invisible” Strands in African Methodism: A History of the African Union Methodist Protestant and Union American Methodist Episcopal Churches, 1805-1980 (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press 1983), 85; and Eric Lincoln, and Lawrence Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1990), 47-57. 4. John Dybdahl, ed., Adventist Mission in the 21st Century: The Joys and Challenges of Presenting Jesus to a Diverse World (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1999), 45, 72. 5. John Dybdahl, ed., Adventist Mission in the 21 st Century, 88-95. 6. “Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide” (General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Silver Springs, MD, October–December 2012), 64–70. 7. Lincoln and Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience, 3. 8. Ibid., 2 9. Ibid., 4 10. Ibid. 11. Carroll Wise, The Meaning of Pastoral Care (New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1966), 28. 12. See in Jeffery Tribble, Transformative Pastoral Leadership in the Black Church (New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005), 59. 13. Some limitations were evident. The time duration designated for this research study was not extensive and was done within the Stone Mountain area of Atlanta, which has a different cultural mix from metropolitan Atlanta. Only Caribbean Blacks were interviewed, and all were Christian-oriented in their religious beliefs. They suggested that learning care comes from experience that one sees, at home in community, or at church. It is seen, felt, and thus learned. Although exploring such a premise may prove invaluable, the interview sessions were not set up to measure such an experience. There were three churches that participated in the interviews. The study was not double-blind; the pastors or elders in charge selected participants. Therefore, the subjects were not as randomly selected as would have been the case in a larger and longer study. These pertinent questions came from members of the Stone Mountain group: How does one know when there is a “need”? How do you learn about caring; how do you learn or know that you are doing it well? What about pastoral care for disabled members? There was not time enough time allotted to teach or explore the means of answering these relevant questions. The question was asked: Could this study be applicable to every other congregation everywhere? If not, what is missing? I refer to the boundaries of the study and its limitations pertaining to the focus and time intervals. The demographic, economic, and educational criteria of the subjects were not taken into consideration. Race, ethnicity, gender, and age were not carefully balanced. In another future study, their definitions and the concluding concepts may be less limiting than their dialect and idiomatic expressions allowed. A study exploring the rationale behind the choice of pastoral/ministerial counseling versus other types of counseling could be revealing. This study would acquire more varied outcomes if conducted in a clinical setting where variables were controllable, where there was more time for interviews, and where there was a better balance of demographics of the individuals and a quantification of the outcome. I wondered how it would turn out for surveying and studying one denomination or

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looking at segments of one or many congregations through a demographic lens: age ranges, sex, economic status, ethnicity, or culture. Further ethnographic studies may look at end-of-life groups in congregations or new mothers, on the broad spectrum of the life cycle. Seventh-day Adventist and African Methodist Episcopalian church leaders in the area of study may benefit if they note the recommendations and suggestions coming from voices in their congregations. This research may be applicable to every congregation, especially those where immigrants attend. It may be feasible to do informal research in congregations, carried out by trained researchers. I found that the variety of training and experiences I brought into this study served me well in entering the groups, guiding dialogue, ministering to them, providing care and comfort, and working with my own academic advisors as well as church administrators. It would be interesting to look at comparisons among more churches, or among churches of similar or non-similar denominations, nationally or internationally. 14. See in Friedrich Schleiermacher,Christian Caring: Selections from Practical Theology, ed. James O. Duke and Howard Stone, trans. James O. Duke (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1988), 99. 15. Tribble, Transformative Pastoral Leadership in the Black Church, 45-50. 16. Derald Sue, David Sue, Emmanuel Lartey, and David Augsburger are pastoral counselors and theologians who write prolifically about pastoral care across cultures. See in: Sue and Sue, Counseling the Culturally Diverse, 92-25; Lartey, In Living Color,153-160; Augsburger, Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures,17-373. 17. Augsburger in Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures, 27-29 defines these three dispositions as separate stages of ability and aspects of the pastoral care-giver or counselor to engage at the level of helping and promoting healing of someone with different cultural values. 18. Ibid., 68. 19. Augsburger in Pastoral Care and Counseling Across Cultures, 69 uses this line of thought to describe the making of the existential self, and of the social self as it functions in cultural contexts while relating to others. 20. Paul Ricoeur, Hermeneutics & the Human Sciences: Essays on Language, Action and Interpretation, ed./trans. John B. Thompson (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 43. 21. Ibid., 50. 22. Ibid., 72. 23. Cooper-White, Shared Wisdom,111. 24. Ricoeur, Hermeneutics and Human Sciences, 93-99. 25. Languaging according to Wilheim Dilthey is that “energy and affective tone deriving from inner stirrings that connect it to our own life” (Dilthey 1924a, 96). All aspects of our own life are brought into play as we respond to others and the world around us. 26. Mario Valdés, ed., A Ricoeur Reader: Reflection and Imagination (Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1991), 141. 27. The understanding is based in the language of phenomenology and object relationship psychology, as one grows socially, spiritually and otherwise, old experiences take on more varied shadows of meaning. In Ricoeur, Hermeneutics & the Human Sciences, 254: “The question of proof in Freud’s writings.” Lacan is quoted as saying expressions, impressions, and mnesic traces are recast later within new experiences of the individual’s life, especially in a different stage of growth and change. The individual puts the past experience to use more efficiently in the growth and change process than at first expression. 28. In Share Wisdom, 47-48, Pamela Cooper-White explains that social constructivism involves coming to know self through the language of others, a shared experience which help to shape the self. 29. In Ricoeur, Hermeneutics & the Human Sciences, 254-57. 30. In The Maroons of Jamaica 1655-1796, the author Mavis Campbell discussed the use of special words and phrases that the runaway slaves used to communicate with each other. 31. The late Louise Bennet and Ranny Williams were internationally known Jamaican folklorists and comedians who were daily features of public media education, social and political satirists, and entertainment artists during my childhood days.

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32. Emmanuel Lartey is president of the International Council for Pastoral Care and counseling, and professor of pastoral theology and care at Columbia Theological Seminary. He is also the author of In Living Color: An Intercultural Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling. 33. Christopher Bollas, The Shadow of the Object: Psychoanalysis of the Unthought Known (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1987), 48. 34. Edward Wimberly, Recalling Our Own Stories, Spiritual Renewal for Religious Caregivers (San Francisco, CA: Wiley & Sons, 1997), 15. 35. Lester, Andrew, Hope in Pastoral Care and Counseling (Louisville, KY: Westminster Press, 1995), 27. 36. Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothing: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology, trans. Hazel E. Barnes (New York, NY: Philosophical Library, 1956), 71. 37. Cahill, L.S., “Using Empirical Information,” in From Christ to the World, eds. Wayne Boulton, Thomas Kennedy, and Allen Verhey (Grand Rapids, MI: William Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994) 177–180. 38. In his writings, Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks to the importance of community relationship in affirming one’s role as a disciple of Christ. In John Doberstein, ed., Life Together (San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1993), 91-103. 39. Edward Wimberly, Using Scripture in Pastoral Counseling (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1994), 11. 40. Clebsch and Jaeckle, Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective,55. 41. Watkins Ali, Survival and Liberation, 113. 42. James Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation (New York, NY: Orbis Books, 1986),71. 43. Bonhoeffer, in Life Together, ed. Doberstein, 31. 44. James Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation (New York, NY: Orbis Books, 1986), 76–78. 45. Bonhoeffer, in Life Together, ed. Doberstein, 47. 46. In his book, Client-Centered Therapy, Its Current Practice, Implications, and Theory (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965) Carl Rogers centers his discussion around the individual and their personal and present needs, while Bonhoeffer and Sullivan commute the idea from their work that community is vital in developing Christian faith and interpersonal relationship for survival. See Rogers, Client Centered Therapy, 3-11. 47. Stanley Hauerwas, Performing the Faith: Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Nonviolence (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2004), 73. 48. Hauerwas, Performing the Faith, 83–85. 49. Here Cone seems to define very clearly God’s immanence within congregations in his book. Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation, 1986, 129. 50. Watkins Ali, Survival and Liberation, 132. 51. Bonhoeffer proposes that living in community and being faithful in caring is like performing a musical instrument repeatedly until it becomes second nature. See Hauerwas, Performing the Faith, 77-81. 52. Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation, 1986, 130. 53. Stanley Hauerwas, Performing the Faith, (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2004), 91. 54. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together. Edited by John Doberstein. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1993. 191–193. 55. Dietrich Bonhoeffer contended that community was a lifetime of repeated activity that was sometimes mundane but was a direct modeling of Christ. Bonhoeffer, in Life Together, ed. Doberstein, 101. 56. Wilfred Bion, Experiences in Groups, and Other Papers (New York: Brunner-Routledge, 1961), 111. 57. Bonhoeffer consistently advocates for determined intentionality in creating and developing Christian community, which he labeled “brotherhood.” Hauerwas, Performing the Faith, 41. 58. Hymn, “I love you” (No. 236), Ingall’s Christian Harmony, 1805 in The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal (Washington, DC: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1985).

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59. Watkins Ali, Survival and Liberation: Pastoral Theology in African American Context. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 1999, 199. 60. Noel Erskine, author of Decolonizing Theology: A Caribbean Perspective, is a practical theologian and professor who speaks from the places of Afrocentrism in the diaspora. Bonhoeffer spoke from the center of brotherhood in community where Jews were treated as foreigners by Nazis in their own country, Germany. Bonhoeffer, in Life Together, ed. Doberstein, 115. 61. Watkins Ali, Survival and Liberation, 59. 62. Wise, The Meaning of Pastoral Care, 38-41. 63. Tribble, Transformative Pastoral Leadership in the Black Church, 58-62. 64. Bonhoeffer, in Life Ttogether, ed. Doberstein, 102. 65. Wimberly, Using Scripture in Pastoral Counseling, 73-89. 66. Ellen White, Selected Messages, book 2 (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1948), 47-55. 67. Sullivan, The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry, 53. 68. I utilized the Grounded Theory research method with my focus groups in an attempt to inductively derive a detailed description of the process of how pastoral care and counseling was provided within large/mega churches in Atlanta among Black Caribbeans. In looking at individuals’ needs within the community, I looked at how they experienced pastoral care. I was aware that the nature of Grounded Theory and the type of research I chose to do allowed for the interpersonal relational and intersubjective component that was the basis of my personal theology. I believed that using the qualitative research method was ideal for this study, as I intended to explore personal experiences of individuals in mega church communities. From a social constructionist perspective, Grounded Theory may also foster an expansion of this epistemological definition of ministry as related to the four functions of pastoral counseling used by Clebsch and Jaekle: healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling. To this I added Carroll Watkins Ali’s expanded functions of pastoral care and counseling in the congregation so as to include nurturing, empowering, and liberating of individuals. 69. Bonhoeffer in In John Doberstein, ed., Life Together (San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1993), 91-103 and Sullivan in Sullivan, Harry. The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry. New York, NY: W.W Norton, 1978, 73-111 are quoted from their works on community and interpersonal relationships. 70. Quinn, A Mind Of Her Own, 49, 71. Sullivan, The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry, 79. 72. W.R.D. Fairbairn, “The World of Internal Object Relations” in Freud and Beyond: A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought, eds. S.A. Mitchel and M.J. Black, (New York, NY: Basic Books, 1995), 116–122. 73. This is a prominent theme of personality theorists like Harry Sullivan as highlighted in his book, The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry. 47-52. 74. Mary and Kenneth Gergen, quoted in Chris Hermans, Gerrit Immink, Aad DeJong, and Jan Van der Lans, eds., Social Constructionism and Theology (7th edition), Lieden, Netherlands: Brill Publications, 2002, 115, focus on social constructionism in personality formation, while Alfred Alder and Karen Horney are portrayed as proponents of individual psychology. Alder explains the social and personalized way in which the creative self interacts, while Horney emphasizes the individual’s lifelong interactive stance of pushing towards and away from others’ help to forge the real self and the ideal self. Quoted in B. Hergenhahn, An Introduction to Theories of Personality (Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1980), 83,84,102,. 75. Elaine Grimm, “Interpersonal Principles,” in An Interpersonal Approach to Child Therapy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1989), 10ff. 76. Sullivan, The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry, 125. 77. Cooper-White, Shared Wisdom, 128. 78. See Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is desperately unreliable . . . who can trust it.” Here the author portrays God’s deposition against trusting the mind or self, as a compass for selfdevelopment. 79. Sullivan, The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry,116. 80. According to studies and research presented by Sue and Sue in Counseling the Culturally Diverse, 16-18, the attrition rate in counseling to minorities makes it evident that training in

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cross-cultural care and counseling is needed. This is very interesting to me, as in the past I have fallen into this statistical category as a counselee. Now I am getting an exhilarating sense of relief that I was not simply being uncooperative, inconsistent, and undisciplined. 81. Highlighting the mental health of first-through-third-generation Black Caribbeans has vast implications for methods and training level of counseling in large/mega congregations. Research supporting this may be found in: David R. Williams, Rahwa Haile, Hector M. Gonzalez, Harold Neighbors, Raymond Baser, and James Jackson, “Mental Health of Black Caribbean Immigrants: Results from the National Surveys of American Life,” American Journal of Public Health, 97(1) (January 2007), 52–59. 82. Sue and Sue, Counseling the Culturally Diverse, 26. 83. Ibid., 31. 84. Ibid., 32-34. 85. Pastoral-care counselors are trained to work within the guidelines of the American Counseling Association (ACA) codes of Ethics, and may be subject to their disciplinary actions. 86. D.W. Sue, P. Arredondo, and R.J. McDavis, “Multicultural Counseling Competencies and Standards: A Call to the Profession,” Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, (1992), 477–483. 87. Ibid. 88. D. Sue et al Multicultural Counseling Competencies: Individual and Organizational Development (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 1998), 118-122. 89. Ibid. 90. The American Counseling Association (ACA) is the governing body for licensed professional counselors and therapists. Its guidelines are adapted by other counseling organizations that fall within the realms of providing ministry, care, and counseling in congregations. www.counseling.org/resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf. 91. All names are pseudonyms. This case is a compilation for the purpose of addressing issues in cross-cultural counseling. 92. An official dialect spoken by tribes in West African countries such as Liberia and Guinea. 93. “Making feet for shoes” is a West African colloquialism that when used in conversation generally means becoming pregnant and having children. 94. R. Houser, F. Wilczenski, and M. Ham, Culturally Relevant Ethical Decision Making in Counseling (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2006), 64-68. 95. Sue, Arredondo, and McDavis, “Multicultural counseling competencies and standards, 477–483. 96. Houser, Wilczenski, and Ham, Culturally Relevant Ethical Decision Making in Counseling, 66. 97. David Augsburger, Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures, 17 98. R. F. Von Dohlen, Cultural War and Ethical Theory (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1997), 71-82. 99. Ibid. 100. Augsburger, Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures, 175. 101. Sue and Sue, Counseling the Culturally Diverse, 142. 102. The code of ethics for counselors compiled by the American Counseling Association, which is the governing body for licensing and disciplinary actions of members including pastoral-care counselors.ACA 2014 Code of Ethics, As Approved by the ACA Governing Counsel, American Counseling Association, https://www.counseling.org. accessed July 23, 2015. 103. B.T. Adeney, Strange Virtues: Ethics in a Multicultural World (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 25-63. 104. Ibid. 105. Augsburger, Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures, 96-99. 106. Sue and Sue, Counseling the Culturally Diverse, 149.

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Index

abuse, 11, 23, 24, 51 African Diaspora, 7, 59, 61, 73 African Methodist Episcopal (AME), 9, 15, 17, 46, 99n14 Afro-Caribbean, 11, 25, 67 Afro-Euro, 6 American Counseling Association (ACA), 83–85, 90, 102n85, 102n90, 102n102 Augsburger, David, 10, 56, 99n16, 99n17, 99n19 back home, 12, 21, 60 Bion, Wilfred, 71 Black Caribbeans, 2, 27, 47 black churches, 46, 47, 98n3 Boisen, Anton, 5, 14 Bollas, Christopher, 59, 60 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 69, 70–74, 100n38, 100n46, 100n51, 100n55, 100n57, 101n60 borderline personalities, 14 boundaries, 26, 56, 84, 94, 98n13 Bowenian, 9 bricoleur, 54 Busha, 23, 33 Caribbean Immigrants, 4, 6, 10, 18, 19, 47, 53, 56, 60, 78, 80, 81, 83 Caribbean lands, 59 caring strategies, 32 children’s rights, 11

christian conversion, 29, 37, 70 Christianity, 7, 47, 70, 95n8 christian values, 27, 28, 31, 37 church and state, 7 church family, 25 church growth, 1, 2, 78 Cimarron, 8. See also Maroons Clinical Pastoral Education, 5, 95n7 code of ethics, 83–85, 90, 102n90, 102n102 cognitive discernment, 74 colonialism, 6, 7, 8, 11, 59 community, 2–93, 96n17, 97n4, 98n13, 100n38, 100n46, 100n51, 100n55, 100n57, 101n60, 101n68; psychosocial lens of, 46, 47, 98n3, 98n7, 98n12, 99n15, 101n63 communion, 26, 49, 71, 75 Cone, James, 69, 70, 74 conflict resolution, 32, 42, 72, 88 congregation care, 55, 90 connective-ness, 21 context, 1, 3, 4, 13, 17, 18, 19, 28, 36, 49, 54, 56, 61, 62, 66, 67, 68, 69, 73, 85, 91, 94, 95n8. See also cultural context; social context contextual, 16, 28 converter woman, 24 Cooper-White, Pamela, 59, 76, 96n13, 99n28

107

108

Index

counter-transference, 4, 54, 76, 84, 96n13. See also transference cross-cultural, 8, 10, 19, 53, 55, 58, 77, 78, 81, 82, 84, 85, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 102n81, 102n91 cultural context, 13, 32, 70, 99n19 cultural development, 13 culture ethics, 89 cultural sensitivity, 8, 56, 89, 93, 94 dependence, 10, 57, 79. See also Independence; interdependence depression, 11, 12, 14, 66, 86; clinically depressed, 14 Dilthey, Wilheim, 57, 99n25 disenfranchised, 2, 69 divorce, 11, 14, 63, 84, 86, 87, 88, 92 doctrine, 7, 33, 34, 37, 43, 90 doctrine of separation, 7 duppies, 23 empowering, 2, 5, 10, 16, 59, 69, 101n68 enmeshment, 9, 10 Erskine, Noel, 7, 73, 96n20, 101n60 ethical, 4, 79, 83, 84, 85, 87, 88, 90, 91. See also Code of Ethics ethnographic study, 12, 16, 47, 73, 80, 88, 97n1, 98n13 evangelism, 7, 19, 37, 42, 46, 47 extended family, 9, 61 family member, 2, 9, 11, 22, 25, 32, 37, 43, 50, 54, 62 family role, 11, 22 family structure, 11 family system, 24, 25, 35, 41, 62, 69, 93 fellowship, 10–74; definition of, 9 funeralize, 12 ghosted, 12, 17, 24, 25, 60 globalization, 8 God-talk, 32, 41, 68 God’s vicar, 27, 30 God’s work, 26, 27, 33, 35, 67 Government, 5, 7, 11, 34, 67, 89 grapevine care, 39 grief, 7, 10, 12, 14, 43, 50, 53, 55, 74, 76, 79 grounded theory, 3, 5, 18, 33, 45, 101n68

guidance, 28, 29, 30, 39, 93; scriptural, 36; spiritual, 37, 40 guilt, 10, 12, 34, 79, 82, 93 Guyana, 9, 22 heritage, 3, 8, 16, 26, 27, 47, 59, 82, 83, 87 hermeneutic, 5, 12, 18, 36, 48, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 85, 99n27 hospitality, 7 human intercessor, 33 human life cycle, 4 human personality, 76 human resources, 6; department of, 7 human spirit, 5, 96n17 immigrants, 2, 3, 6, 11, 17, 54, 55, 75, 88, 90, 95n8, 98n13, 102n81. See also caribbean immigrants immigration, 5, 9, 80 independence, 10, 57, 59, 79. See also dependence; interdependence individuation, 9 inter-cultural, 54 interdependence, 10, 57, 77. See also dependence; independence interpathy, 54, 55, 56, 94 interpersonal relationship, 3, 10, 13, 27, 39, 55, 66, 67, 69, 73, 74, 75, 76, 91, 100n46, 101n69 interpersonal theory, 77 inter-subjectivity, 4, 59 intra-subjective, 77 issues of legislation, 7 justice, 7, 25, 33, 37, 45 languaging, 15, 48, 59–60, 99n25 Lartey, Emmanuel, 8, 60, 99n16, 100n32 liberating, 5, 16, 47, 69, 101n68 loss, 2, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 43, 50, 53, 64, 74, 76, 78, 79 marginalized, 2, 40 Maroons, 8, 99n30. See also Cimarron mental health, 4, 7, 78, 79–81, 88, 102n81 meta-narrative, 12, 60 medium, 17, 35 medium sized church, 14 mega churches, 67, 75, 101n68

Index metaphor, 4, 13, 48, 60, 61, 71 migrants, 8, 11, 12 migration, 10 mission, 3, 5, 15, 25, 37, 46, 52–53, 55, 78, 90 missionary, 5, 78, 86 moral, 4, 20, 25, 85, 91, 94 mother, 6, 23, 24, 33. See also converter woman multicultural competency, 89 nurturing, 2, 5, 16, 24, 39, 52, 101n68 obeah, 6, 21, 79 obeah man, 6, 33 object relations, 4, 18, 60, 76, 101n72 office of pastor, 30, 31, 34 one genus postulate, 76 parataxic, 77 parson, 23, 33, 34, 58, 97n4 pastoral care, 1–21; inter-cultural, 54; needs of, 32, 34, 50, 68, 69; historical definition of, 16; tools of, 32, 61, 88; traditional definition of, 3, 5, 17, 19 pastoral care and counseling, 7–93, 95n7, 95n8, 99n19, 101n68; definition of, 4, 16, 27, 38, 46, 51, 52, 53, 57, 62, 69, 70, 73, 76, 95n7, 98n13 pastoral authority, 63 pastoral care-giver, 5–31, 41, 49–94 pastoral competence, 63 pastoral presence, 28, 29, 32–39, 63 phenomenology, 7, 59, 64, 67, 99n27 political reframing, 11 post-colonial, 5, 6, 11, 18, 26, 58, 59, 60, 61, 75 Powlison, David, 46 practical theologian, 3, 51 prayer meeting, 43, 48, 78 prototaxic, 77 psycho-normal, 74 psycho-social, 4 quiet, unattractive, old, indigent, and dissimilar (QUOIDs), 80 racial and cultural identity development (R/CID), 81, 82

109

rage, 12 religious beliefs, 19, 27, 33, 46, 65, 79, 90, 98n13 rituals, 6, 21 reconciliation, 7, 35, 66, 74 Sabbath, 26, 36, 58, 75 salvation, 2, 5, 8, 14, 25, 30, 31, 36, 46, 48, 67, 70, 71, 73, 75 Sartre, Jean-Paul, 61 Schleiermacher, Friedrich, 53, 57 segregation, 47, 81 self-differentiation, 9 self-psychology, 4 self-system, 77 Seventh Day Adventists, 26, 46, 47 shame, 7, 10, 12, 23, 40, 64, 65, 79, 82, 93 single woman, 22, 50 skin color, 11 slave trade, 8 social construct, 21 social constructionism, 76, 99n28, 101n74 social constructionist, 5, 67, 101n68 social constructivism, 76, 99n28 social context, 6, 15, 57 spiritual care, 4, 48, 68 spiritual discernment, 50 spiritual formation, 51, 53, 56 spiritualist, 33 spirituality, 16, 24, 28, 46, 48, 69, 71, 79 Sue, David, 78, 99n16 Sue, Derald, 8, 81, 85, 99n16 Sullivan, Harry Stack, 13, 75–77, 97n39, 100n46, 101n69, 101n73 Supernatural, 6, 7, 33, 70, 75, 97n2. See also mediums syntaxic, 77 temporality, 61 transference, 4, 54, 76, 96n13 transitional stages, 5 Tribble, Jeffery, 52, 53, 73 values clarification, 91, 92 verbal refuge, 77 visitation, 16, 25, 28–29, 42, 46, 49, 63 visiting, 20, 21, 22, 28, 31, 33, 38, 42, 48, 49, 50, 61, 62, 64, 68, 69, 72 vocation, 7, 20, 27, 29–30, 34, 64

110 Watkins Ali, Carol, 3, 5, 69, 72, 73, 74, 95n7, 101n68 West Indian, 75 Williams, David, 80 Wimberly, Edward, 60, 74

Index Womanist, 5, 95n7, 96n17 world out there, 26 young, attractive, verbal, intelligent, and successful (YAVIS), 80