Traditionally the church was the primary source of ‘soul care’ for believers. Today, care for struggling people is available from many places, but not all of those places make the connection with scripture and faith. In the ‘Soul Care’ stream, we look at becoming better equipped to walk godly, wisely and side-by-side, with those facing the struggles of life.
The stream’s three sessions at EQUIP 2019 will be:
- Friday: A biblical framework for soul care in the church
- Saturday: Basic tools in Christian soul care
- Session 1 – growing as care givers: the practice of caring for others
- Session 2 – guarding your vineyard: the practice of caring for yourself
Resources from previous meet-ups
On Saturday 16th February, the Christian Soul Care network hosted a morning with Catherine Haddow, looking at Anxiety in the Christian Life.
Ninety nine of us were there in total, from several different churches and with different backgrounds and experiences.
In two sessions Catherine, a chartered psychologist, helped us apply the Goldilocks principle in this area. That is, sometimes we can be too hot and leave care entirely up to medical professionals, or too cold and just trot out bible verses which don’t help much at all. In two sessions we considered what a ‘just right’ approach might look like.
She helped us understand more of what emotional disorders are, along with the labels that go with them and how medication and talking therapies work, and then how to help us apply the word of God to the emotions behind these categories with some examples from case studies.
It was so helpful to hear wisdom from someone with a wealth of experience in this area, and to be encouraged that as Christian people we can help others who suffer from emotional disorders like anxiety. Both sessions were recorded and are available to listen to below, along with the handout notes and PowerPoint slides.
- Hand-out notes – download the PDF file here
- PowerPoint slides – download the PPT file here
- Session 1 – download the MP3 file here
- Session 2 – download the MP3 file here
- Questions & Answers session – download the MP3 file here
EQUIP 2019 Network Speakers / Facilitators
Elspeth Pitt grew up in West Wales and originally trained as a teacher, but has now been in church work for more than twenty years, working in a large city centre church in London and a medium sized suburban church in the Wirral. She loves to help women become more confident in handling the bible for themselves and growing in their personal walk with the Lord Jesus and has a heart for those on the edges of church life. After thirty years working in England, she is delighted to be back in Wales and working on the staff of Highfields Church in Cardiff.
Phil Swann began ministry in West Yorkshire in 1990 after leaving his career in Cardiff as a Physiotherapist. He now the Pastor at Llanelli Free Evangelical Church in West Wales. He also teaches Pastoral Theology, for the Evangelical Movement of Wales, on their Theological Training Course.
Jonathan Thomas is married to Rebecca and has three boys. Alongside his role at Union, Jonathan is the pastor of Cornerstone Church, Abergavenny.
