Lauren Derstine's reflections

The first ministry skill I chose to work on and learn about this summer was pastoral care. I chose this because connecting with people and listening to them is something that brings me a lot of joy. I think it has a huge part to play in healing from the past and gaining strength to face the present.

I contacted Herb Wenger, the chair person on our pastoral care team, and he sent me a packet of information to read about pastoral care before accompanying someone else on the team. The packet gave me some general guidelines for the visits, told me the mission of the team, and how that related to the mission of our church. I then proceeded to go with two women on the team several different times as they went visiting.

Initially I was nervous about this because I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. But the more I went, the more it became apparent that I was only supposed to be present with people and represent the presence of Christ and the church with them especially in times of difficulty. A lot of the people I visited were in the hospital or in retirement communities. Often they just wanted someone to listen to them. As the visits progressed, I felt more comfortable sharing with them and would pray or read scripture with them.

I felt much more connected with my church after spending time actively caring for people, especially the older people in our congregation. Many of the people we visited I had heard of in our church prayers, but many I hadn’t met, either because they were unable to make it to church anymore or because of a significant age gap.

Visiting people was, by far, my favorite part of the internship. I have found that I love being available to just listen to people, especially elderly people. I knew this was true before my internship as I absolutely loved spending time with my grandfather the previous summer. I have grown as I heard their stories of God’s faithfulness through their lives and also how they see God working today. Being a chaplain is something that I have considered pursuing as I seek to serve God in the church.

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As a group I think that playing games together at Mirror Valley and the initial worship time centered on Jeremiah’s call was really helpful in establishing a base for our group’s cohesiveness. I really felt a new understanding of how God saw me and possibilities he might have for my life as we looked at how he called Jeremiah. The games gave us some chill time to just have fun together.

The triad times were also a time where our group got closer within itself. My favorite triad time was in our last meeting together when we told each other where we saw each other serving in the church. This was so powerful and I heard God calling me through these three people who I had only met two and a half weeks prior. The idea of being a pastor is still a little overwhelming, but I am open to it now. I don’t want to run from God’s call if this is what he thinks is best for the building of his kingdom.