Who Cares? Exploring Pastoral Care in Dutch Protestant Parishes Using the Church Life Survey (CLS)

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Abstract

Abstract
Pastoral care in parishes is a rather “silent” religious practice. As a result, data regarding the quantity and quality of regular pastoral care in local churches is scarce. To address this defciency, we added several questions about pastoral care and support to the Church Life Survey and then carried out the survey with church attenders (N = 2,854) from 30 Dutch Protestant parishes. The results show that church attenders mostly receive pastoral care from their minister or professional pastoral worker. Church attenders also frequently advise others in their community to ask for pastoral support. They feel that their congregations should not only pay attention to particularly joyful or painful circumstances but should also direct more pastoral attention towards a general interest in people’s lives. By and large, respondents acknowledged that pastoral support is done in a competent and safe atmosphere. This study reveals a wide range of quantitative and qualitative insights into the frequency and quality of pastoral care as a religious practice, a practice that is not often discussed but which is of great importance to church attenders and is now a practice that is
being given a voice through data.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages14
JournalPastoral Psychology
Volumehttps://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-021-00981-2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Nov 2021

Keywords

  • Pastoral Care
  • Practical Theology
  • Church Life Survey (CLS)
  • Quantitative research
  • Protestantism
  • Church Congregational life

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