Stevenson-Moessner, A Primer in Pastoral Care

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Jeane Stevenson-Moessner, A Primer in Pastoral Care: Creative Pastoral Care and Counseling Series – Fortress Press, 2005.

Referenced in: Pastoral Care

LifeandLeadership.com Summary

This volume is part of the respected Creative Pastoral Care and Counseling Series, and is intended for the person who is new to pastoral caregiving. It discusses what can be expected in the first few experiences of pastoral work, how to move beyond trying to “fix” others to coming alongside them as a collaborator with God’s work in them. She also discusses several biblical images of pastoral care with guidance on how to choose one. One chapter discusses “compassion fatigue,” and how caregivers need to attend to their own spiritual and emotional well-being. This is followed by several chapters that describe the more common pastoral care situations among the ill, hospitalized, dying, depressed, bereaved, etc.

From the Publisher

Based on her twenty years of teaching and on her own experience in pastoral care, Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner has written a basic pastoral-care text to assist in the emotional and spiritual preparation of pastoral caregivers. Stevenson-Moessner sees pastoral care as the interconnection and interplay of love of God, love of neighbor, and love of self. Her brief book engenders confidence and caring in the initiate, and assuages the fear and anxiety that naturally occur when one accompanies people in life-changing pain and travail. Through bibical parables – especially the Good Samaritan and the Good Shepherd – and stories from her own experience, Stevenson-Moessner imparts genuine wisdom and meaningful support to those who courageously dare to offer caregiving ministry in whatever situation or through whatever method or paradigm.

About the Author

Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Christian Formation at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), she is also a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. Along with her most recent volume, The Spirit of Adoption: At Home in God’s Family (2003), she is editor of three pioneering handbooks in pastoral care of and by women: Women in Travail and Transition (1991), Through the Eyes of Women (1996), and In Her Own Time (2000), all from Fortress Press. A Primer in Pastoral Care Creative Pastoral Care and Counseling series Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner Finally, a simple, straightforward introduction to the whatwhy- how of pastoral care, for beginning pastors.


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