Executive Summary
Pastoral care is an important aspect of our spiritual formation and plays a vital role in shaping our lifestyle and society at large. It encompasses all approaches that aim at helping an individual interpret his or her life and see the “meaning” of suffering. By embracing pastoral care, an individual can reflect, meditate and assess his or her faith which is an encouraging mechanism for wholeness and health. Pastoral care chiefly encompasses traditional ethics which include counseling, prayer, sacraments, and worship to quicken the development of spirituality. Besides, the Pastoral care initiative aids individuals to understand themselves and be in touch with reality.
By improving understanding within oneself, pastoral care helps to propel an individual towards perfection influencing creativity, independent and philanthropic members in the society (Hicks, 2003, p.97). Because it increases faith, influences thought patterns, emotions, convictions, wishes, and relationships of a person, pastoral work contributes to the development of faith hence raising an individual view of other people as an image of God. It allows God to inspire an individual through his unconditional love leaving spiritual activities to control our actions and helping individuals by promoting “spirituality for work”.
Thus, culture in the workplace necessitates change allowing spirituality to be achieved (Hicks, 2003, p.99). Pastoral care has heightened the change in workplaces by creating programs such as staff support programs to ensure that all cultures embrace diversity and feel at peace, comfort, and supported to enhance an organization’s growth and development.
Introduction
Discussion about workplace sanctity is progressively becoming a recurrent issue in our modern workplaces. By this consciousness, the topic remains to surge. Reasons such as assortment, variation, and recognition that pastoral care is not essentially a religion, tend to lean towards this course. Besides, pastoral care contributes to the production of quality work, shaping individual character, improving quality associations, and building a strong relationship with others.
Technology has shifted focus on medical care as a service to cure an ailment. This approach looks at ways of prolonging the life of a patient rather than just providing care. Pastoral care is a new approach to therapy and is expanding much faster in the area of patient care in the medical world. Pastoral care encompasses activities that promote a person’s spiritual, emotional, social, and physical needs (Hicks, 2003, p.86).
Spirituality and religion are directly connected to achieving specific health objectives. Besides, faith gives a positive effect on the mental, physical and emotional health of a person (Hicks, 2003, p.94). Spirituality and religion contribute to understanding the physical element of a disease in an individual.
This paper discusses the contribution of pastoral care in the workplace. First, the paper defines the terms pastoral care and medical secretaries. The paper discusses pastoral care and the workplace. Besides, the paper highlights the role of pastoral workers and their contribution to a strengthened workforce. Further, the paper elaborates on the importance of pastoral care in the workplace such as improvement of healthcare, faith healing, holistic healthcare, reaching out to a patient world among many other benefits.
In conclusion, pastoral care is a central element in the modern workplace. It strengthens forming of an individual in a holistic approach. This contributes to an individual’s growth and improvement of his or her personality thereby establishing a strong relationship with others. Besides forming a positive personality, pastoral care improves productivity and revenue increase in organizations.
Pastoral Care
A healthy society is assessed by the quality of relationship that exists within that society. A solid and affirmative relationship within a society increases the greater opportunity for a society to thrive. Pastoral care is a ministry of therapy and care given by ministers, clerics, and other spiritual leaders to a congregation of their church or people of a devotion-centered organization or establishment (Evans, 2006, p. 98). The pastoral ministry encourages a wider range of activities which can involve a home visit to counseling provided by ministers approved to provide counseling therapy or spiritual care.
Concisely, Pastoral care can be used to sustain a broader society and church community by inspiring, befriending, and reassuring (Evans, 2006, p. 103). Besides encouraging an individual by offering social and personal support for his or her well-being.
Pastoral care is important in every facet of an individual life regardless of the individual’s religious affiliation (Evans, 2006, p. 112). This is because spirituality is not a separate entity from a person’s experience, relationships, or environment.
The spiritual element in medical care is altered in our modern times and has received rejuvenated attention. Spirituality has incorporated various religious beliefs and practices stressing people’s experiences. However, it is faith that exposes people to altering lifestyle by fixing meaning to their lives and the needs of their immediate environment (Evans, 2006, p. 116).
Pastoral care is a grounded issue in medical care. It has been instrumental in the fields of palliative, aged, and community organizations. Pastoral care personnel has been important in attending to the spiritual needs of patients not synonymously in a religious perspective of spirituality but by encompassing religious faith and patience of faith (Evans, 2006, p. 124). Pastoral care in this setting encompasses a holistic approach that incorporates psychological, social, physical, and spiritual facets. In pastoral care, spirituality contributes to harmonizing other faith elements aimed at integrating a person’s well-being.
Medical Secretary
Medical secretaries exist in most hospitals, physician groups, and doctors’ offices. Medical secretaries provide much-needed support services to doctors, hospital consultants, and senior medical care personnel (Kirkwood, 2005, p.63). They work under stress and sometimes during emergencies. Medical responsibilities of medical secretaries involve an apt understanding of health care terminologies such as general administration, scheduling appointments, answering phone calls, checking and labeling medical samples, and preparing and circulating meeting agendas. Pastoral care and medical secretaries exist as different entities based on duties and responsibilities each contributing to the welfare of a person and workplace.
Pastoral Care Significantly Contributes to Positive Reasons In the Workplace.
The workplace has taken a different perspective in modern times (Kirkwood, 2005, p.75). This has been a result of spiritual appreciation and networking aspects. The workplace is a “meeting place” where people meet each other and spend most of their time with “strangers” as well. However, recognizing this opportunity, spirituality such as; faith healing, promoting holistic health, and pastoral counseling among other benefits help to unify the workforce (III, 2009, p.69).
Pastoral Care at Workplace
Church has contributed to breeding and safeguarding work ethic. It is therefore clear that church and business entities complement each other. The church has contributed significantly in creating change and providing meaning to modern business productivity (Kirkwood, 2005, p.88). Faith gives meaning to individuals’ lives, leaving an individual to decide and make a choice of either embracing or rejecting an individual’s hold on this power when making choices that affect their lives, hence spirituality becomes an important aspect.
Expanding human insight and mingling with other cultures across the world has resulted in the development of change in our modern society. This change has infiltrated every area of our lives including our working environments (III, 2009, p.76). Change has contributed to misgiving, progression beyond understanding, fast revolutions, and multiplicity. New perspectives characterized by fixed ones have arisen. More importantly, women and minorities have joined the workforce. This development has not enjoyed great eagerness; it cannot provide an opportunity for reversal. But the human population has adapted to this change. Besides, change has fostered respect and affection in valuing other employees in the workplace. An organization that ensures that employees’ workplace conditions are good should further consider aiding the employees through life processes (Kirkwood, 2005, p.98). Pastoral aspects such as supporting staff to handle changes of life for instance; balancing work and family or minding the aged plays an important factor in developing a person’s faith. During an employee’s life, he or she meets challenges unrelated to work thereby impacting performance at work. For this reason, spiritual care asserts for harmonized working environment forming an employee’s well-being and growth. This however responds to business improvement and expansion. Diversity has developed and now is the culture of most workplaces (III, 2009, p.77). Diversity has led to alternate thinking and behavior which are positive aspects at workplaces. In a real sense, the human population has embraced these other ways of thinking.
Also, diversity initiative in the workplace is equally important. An organization that embraces diversity influences an individual spiritual formation. This influence encourages growth and success towards their organization’s goals (Kirkwood, 2005, p.91). Diversity encompasses a training mindset to recognize the uniqueness of people and value their likenesses; unrelated to results or accrued achievements. Embracing this approach, cultural diversity helps to nurture a natural workplace and the spiritual welfare of its workforce. Various reasons exist to improve cultural diversity in a working setting. The presence of multicultural society in the workplace suggests recognition and appreciation of the differences that exist in different cultural backgrounds. Diversity inspires individuals to recognize and value individuals and the notable contributions they affirm in the workplace (Kirkwood, 2005, p.95).
Besides this holistic approach of human ethics, there exists an empirical reason that an organization accrues through workplace diversity. Dynamic following of diversity in the workplace contributes to increased productivity and profit generation. Organization investing in diversity shows a pool of talents which gives a competitive edge in an organization (Kirkwood, 2005, p.97).
Modern workforces understand interconnectedness prevails in everything. This entails upholding the value of an individual and approaches which has been an aspect of western attitude for a longer time (III, 2009, p.86). Human beings do not subsist as units but subsist as codependent to one other and encompasses dynamics to perform their daily routine. Understanding and learning from each other has contributed to human development hence highlighting the importance of recognizing others at the workplace, needless of their ranks; as equal and understanding the benefit of sharing (III, 2009, p.92). Accepting diverse differences of human beings and driving to foster quality of life for all parties involved in the process i.e. community, customers, colleagues, family, we, and suppliers are important elements contributing to pastoral care at work.
Pastoral Care Workers and Workforce
Pastoral care Workers provide individualized care. The care is focused on specific spiritual needs and possibilities that arise from an individual’s experience of life. These experiences can range from a frightening disease and how this change manifests in their relationship with other people, surrounding or stressful situation that she or he undergoes in life (Lester, 1995, p.102).
Pastoral care personnel in liaison with another specialist in the caring fraternity work closely in accomplishing uniform care among individuals. Pastoral care can take three important levels in an individual life. The first level is reactive intervention. Pastoral care workers help in dealing with unpredicted challenges that might occur on an individual (Lester, 1995, p.109). Their role involves providing personal care, marshaling suitable recommendations to community possessions, and discovering existential concerns that might arise because of experiencing and talking about those problems.
The second level is routine interventions. A routine intervention involves a pastoral care team with health personnel teaming together to help in strengthening the relationship. Routine intervention ensures that individuals get desired treatment and therapy. Besides, it ensures that families and friends of an individual discover issues of intense personal fears and unswerving clinical significance (Lester, 1995, p.117).
Lastly, is the proactive intervention. Individual spiritual welfare is nurtured by routine and reactive care. Pastoral care practitioners harmonize the valuation of these essential concerns, institute plans engaged in spiritual nourishment and progress. They also cooperate with other groups in fulfilling these plans.
Reasons for Surging Number of People Interested In Pastoral Care at Workplace
The number of people interested in spiritual care in the workplace in modern times has been on the increase. The surge has been characterized by several reasons. The first reason for the increase is a sense of surging inconsistency between workplace and individual attention (Patton, 2005, p.98). Consequently, there are other progress occurring like moving towards large public businesses and family-owned enterprises and focusing on increased revenue. This shift is often met with stress and anxiety due to the loss of centrality and command which human beings are known to possess. Besides, the shift has contributed to the question of how to manage change and focus. This change has inspired conscious realities leading to loss of an individual connection in businesses ranging from low to higher rank in an organization. The shifts have symbolized how people view change and formulate mitigating action (Patton, 2005, p.101). Besides change, rapid development, exposure to insecurity, change, cultures, religion, and performance has contributed to the essence of spiritual care in the workplace.
How Spirituality Enhances Personal Spiritual and Mental Growth
Spirituality provides an important contribution towards individual improvement and performance at the workplace. This occurs in various ways. The first reason is it enhances connection with other workers enabling learning from colleagues and their performance (Patton, 2005, p.105). Though learning does not stop because of connection, it usually extends further noting the flexibility of human beings at the workplace. Communal learning extends in diverse areas between families and workers, family, and between families and community. So, an individual who recognizes spiritual development and connectivity continues to connect (Patton, 2005, p.110).
Besides, spiritual workers have enormous inner locus mechanisms. They are not always responsive but embrace proactivity. They work inside out. They try to discover how they can contribute positively to an individual spiritual improvement and deliver concise strategies without minding returns on their deal (Patton, 2005, p.114).
They aim at doing better and embrace a route that gives progress. Importantly, spiritual workers strongly believe that by doing good first, something better will come on your way. Spiritual workers’ inspiration emanates from role models by appraising their affirmative qualities and mirroring them. Spiritual personnel assimilates these appraisal potentials to advance themselves and the immediate environment in which they perform to create a change (Best, 2000, p.79).
Also, spiritual workers grow by conscious transience. When people recognize that things arise and pass, an inclination in engaging in needless stress reduces. Spiritual workers appreciate this reasoning of impermanence and assimilate it beyond the corridors of the workplace as an alternative of personal growth, better learning, and grasp (Best, 2000, p.84).
Role of Pastoral Care in Modern Workplaces
Pastoral care has taken a different shape in the present-day workplace. Therefore pastoral care has incorporated historic tradition to address present and future challenges in the workplace. Several reasons can be assigned to the importance of pastoral care and the transformation of modern workplaces (Best, 2000, p.91). However, these roles have integrated historical work of pastoral care in forming a person to fully understand the “meaning” of life. The first role of pastoral care in the workplace is recognizing confession, liturgy, and rituals, traditional and modern Christian ethics which are beneficial to an individual. It does not entirely build on prayer and apt spiritual healing for the suffering. But it appeals from spiritual direction castigation. It centers its emphasis on the role of spirit (Best, 2000, p.96).
Secondly, pastoral care does not necessarily view a personal change as a primary focus goal of its work. But, it provides support to a person whereas sometimes being confrontational. It enhances the regeneration of relationships and sometimes contributes to their ending too (Kirkwood, 2005, p.63). Importantly, it promotes an individual to stretch about benefit from God-given gifts and strengths. Also, pastoral care roles recognize that all individuals grow in faith thus they are inclined towards love and service for the benefit of others and the society (Kirkwood, 2005, p.67).
Thirdly, because pastoral care is not doctrinally and ethically neutral, it emanates from an individual perspective. Thus it is suitable and effective in encompassing ethical control and spiritual trend. It increases moral life and a faithful view towards service to a neighbor (Kirkwood, 2005, p.74). Consequently, it strives at embracing a sense of community because pastoral care’s main focus is to better the community’s well-being. It aims at bridging the gap between individual, community, and God.
Fourthly, Pastoral care enhances a systematic and social alignment. Though pastoral care is not essentially a social change, it is an informed sharing. It encourages awareness and a need for a social and moral act in most specific circumstances (Kirkwood, 2005, p.81).
Fifthly, pastoral care strives to form individuals’ feelings, attitudes, positive attitudes, and thinking. It embraces the feelings of a person and influences the thinking and faith of an individual (Kirkwood, 2005, p.88).
Lastly, the focus on coping with modern-day issues enhances the importance of pastoral care in workplaces. Pastoral care remains a future objective rather than a broad analysis of the past (Lester, 1995, p.98). The perspective of Pastoral care is preventive and focuses on aiding existing gifts, talents, and relationships instead of altering or uncovering severe issues or limits.
Pastoral Care and Health Care
Pastoral care plays an integral part in addressing a patient’s suffering from acute illnesses. Spiritually, it helps in outlining their coping strategies. A chronic person embraces spiritual needs because it serves as a connection to a quality life. Though divine, existential, and emotional wants are not important in the end to those experiencing chronic illnesses, it provides an alternative of comfort to their well-being. The need for peace, social nourishment, and health are all basic wants and that play an important role in a patient’s long-term suffering. Therefore spirituality in a patient helps her or him to realize the importance of peace, purpose, transcendence, and connection with him and God. These attributes can be associated with the underlying influence of emotional, religious, and psychosocial needs.
Healthcare comprises a comprehensive program that involves social and cultural approaches to disease and health (Carroll, 1996, p.75). Healthcare has not always directly embraced the spiritual approach of care within this context. Healthcare has always been concerned with spiritual concerns and has not sufficiently addressed the issue in which they emerge.
However, with a new dimension and need to provide a holistic approach to healthcare, pastoral care integrated with healthcare help to underwrite the needs of society by addressing the needs of both worlds such as social, spiritual, psychological, and physical (Carroll, 1996, p.90).
Pastoral Care and Faith Healing in Workplace
Faith healing is all aspects that point to the healing process from the healer to a patient. Faith healing relaxes and re-energizes a patient enabling her or him to deal with his or her challenges such as illness or other important issues at hand. The healing is mostly divine and is channeled from the spirit of God. Faith healing has been associated with pastoral care. Many people believe that religious faith encourages healing by embracing prayers or rituals by inducing divine exhibition and command directed towards adjusting an illness or a disability (Pattison, 1994, p. 112). Having faith in divine mediation towards a disease or therapy relates to faith belief. Pastoral care has contributed to incredible recoveries which have been associated with countless practices merged as “faith healing” (Pattison, 1994, p. 118). Situations such as prayer, conviction to a Supreme Being, and pilgrimage to a religious shrine strongly underline the command of faith healing in modern workplaces.
Bible teaching has strongly highlighted the power of faith healing. Faith for instance has been associated with healing blindness, deafness, anemia, arthritis, skin rashes, and cancer among other many untold illnesses (Pattison, 1994, p. 121).
However, claims have been voiced that people suffering from cancer experience remissions which the science community cannot explain hence invoking the power of faith healing. Therefore faith cannot provide a solution for effectively curing physical illnesses hence predictable medication is of the essence (Pattison, 1994, p. 124). High prevalence of disability and death among other negative issues can emerge if faith healing is considered instead of medication for acute illness or injuries.
Spirituality is connected to various facets of individual lives. Each facet contributes to a unique and different role. Spiritual healing contributes to the harmony of mind, body, and spirit. And can be applied to any conditions facing a person. The spirituality of a patient plays an important role in the kind of healing a patient may need and is spread to the body or mind it stays.
Pastoral Care in Promoting Holistic Health
Holistic well-being is a synonymous health practice that encompasses all individual needs; physical, social, mental, and psychological are factored. The importance of a holistic form of treatment is largely accepted in the medical field, therefore, strengthening a patient to recover fast (Pattison, 1994, p. 126). The holistic approach claims that a disease is caused because of spiritual, social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and environmental disparity as an alternate and complementary medicine. This is because spirituality is a fundamental element of holistic care an increased reason of spirituality in medical care (Pattison, 1994, p. 128). Pastoral care strives to nurture spiritual growth hence sustaining interreligious collaboration without establishing interfaith rivalry.
Besides, Pastoral care encourages the importance of cultivating soul and spirit in the workplace. The innate facet of people is fundamental especially during an organizational change (Pattison, 1994, p. 131). For the progress of an establishment or organization, nurturing the spirit of the people involved should be a priority. In a faith-focused organization, pastoral care calls for the soul is believed as a way of showing religious identity. Holistic healing ensures that an individual realizes full potential as a human being and a passion for nourishing life. The aim of the holistic approach is not just feeling “well” but being at peace with the environment and our inner selves in all aspects that is spirit, body, and mind. Besides, social circles, lifestyle, and relationships with others create a comfortable sphere for a holistic approach to reveal.
Spirituality contributes to the growth of the organization and biomedical ethics. Ethicists are apprehensive with comparative synopses’ difficulties, for example, how to apply ethics, fulfill beliefs, or sort out concerns (Pattison, 1994, p. 138). But when ethics becomes person fixed, it aids in dealing with issues of opinions, enthusiasm, and personality. This helps to expose the origin of moral verdicts and activities of an individual (Pattison, 1994, p. 141). Ethics forms the pragmatism of spirituality, therefore, exploring the genuine basis of an individual who performs. In this view, spirituality forms a foundation of ethics.
Pastoral Care in Promoting Compassion Care
Pastoral care promotes compassion care among patients because patients feel that they are “suffering with” someone (Close, 2006, p.96). Compassion care entails medical secretaries “walking” with patients in a time of their pain instead of ordering information to them. Challenges facing medical secretaries are helping patients establish importance recognition in the middle of their pain and protracted illness. Health ethicists, therefore, recap that pastoral care encompassing spirituality provides a foundation for answering patients’ problems (Close, 2006, p.99).
Besides, as patients are being challenged by physical facets of their illness, they undergo other suffering too i.e. sufferings that are related to spiritual and mental. This leads to the patient’s incapability to absorb fully in accepting the sincere problems of life. Patients might experience some personal questions such as; What is thereafter when I die? How will my family live after my death? Among other many questions (Close, 2006, p.103). Honest healing needs answers to these questions. A cure of disease usually is a challenging issue in most cases, but always there is a possibility of healing. Acceptance of disease contributes to one’s peace of mind which forms a basis of healing. This is a fundamental belief of spirituality (Close, 2006, p.106).
Pastoral Care in Reaching out to a Patient’s “World”
Pastoral care helps to see a patient’s perspective to build trust and confidence between the medical practitioner and the patient. Critically analyzing what a patient has passed through helps medical practitioners in evaluating a likely source of nervousness and opposition to cure and allows them to regulate their prospects and perform according to their skillful roles ((Hicks, 2003, p.103). The capacity to reason and feel the inner life of another person life provides pastoral care experts with an understanding of patient life. Pastoral care does not encompass physical touching but inspires emotional touching. Emotional touching is a common platform of ethics where all healers share (Hicks, 2003, p.111). Efforts in understanding the inner world of a patient and other important areas of his or her life, pastoral care helps in relieving patients to communicate the confined wishes and worries including spiritual and cultural issues. Besides, they also express relaxing compassion existing at the center of healing (Hicks, 2003, p.115).
Pastoral Care in Establishing a Common Ground
Pastoral care contributes to bioethics hence helping in showing a common ground between a patient and pastoral caregiver ((Evans, 2006, p. 131). A pastoral giver can empathetically comprehend and respond to questions and statements that a patient tries to ask hence cementing the trust of a patient. A remorseful attitude in medical care assumes that a collective ground is reached hence a prospect to intercede conflicting concerns between groups having a stake in determining requests and conflicts. Passable communication among the patients and pastoral caregivers can persistently provide a chance to elaborate on changes and misunderstandings on a patient’s condition (Evans, 2006, p. 138).
Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care
Medical secretaries provide important pastoral care to patients hence forming patient spirituality. Spirituality is not a religion; it encompasses aspects that explain the meaning of life (Best, 2000, p.114). The human race is spiritual hence spirituality helps individuals to cope with a disease, loss, life, and trauma by incorporating mind, spirit, and body. The holistic aspect of curing patients, therefore, is a necessity. Pastoral care which is made up of spirituality has a profound effect on the being of a person. During medication predicament, patients focus on spirituality to help them cope with personal challenges and anxieties of their lives. The power of prayer and spiritual activities is equally important in strengthening the healing process (Best, 2000, p.117). Chaplains and medical secretaries help in providing emotional support to patients by creating the ability in reflecting, listening, and clarifying. When appropriate, chaplains influences patients’ support by praying, scripture reading, and offering sacrament hence connecting with a patient spiritual and secrecies of his or her belief (Best, 2000, p.122). During periods of chronic illnesses, chaplains offer a solution of providing comfort and empathy to patients irrespective of faith connections.
Pastoral Care in Promoting Sharing of Spiritual Gifts
Pastoral care enhances sharing of spiritual gifts with the patients. Spiritual gifts and their existence in the surgical room are important in reminding patients of the curative authority of religious faith. The significance of spiritual gifts can be reflected in a patient’s health (Best, 2000, p.127).
Important spiritual gifts that patients accrue from the pastoral care
The gift of empathic listening is developed when a patient and medical secretary are provided with pastoral care. Having an ability to listen empathically to the patient’s agony is a fundamental receipt of compassionate spiritual care (Stone, 1996. p, 57). By embracing empathy listening the pastoral caregiver can sufficiently comprehend the patient’s needs. Listening encompasses listening whereby the pastoral giver and patient confirm that both have heard what has been said correctly. It involves listening beyond the story and being attentive in noting loss or grief, and being thoughtful to ruined relationships and their contribution to the patient recovery process (Stone, 1996. p, 60). Analyzing spiritual valuation and recording for necessary solutions provide suitable care for a patient by medical practitioners.
The gift of scriptures also helps in cementing the patient spiritual wellbeing and helps him or her to cope with her or his situation. Patients who are deeply rooted in religion often turn to scriptures when faced with health crises or diseases. Scriptures give comfort alternatives for spiritual survival. The covert power of scriptures speaks to an inner person’s heart as highlighted in Genesis 2 where scriptures authority can provide life to people. Bible stories can have an impact on a patient’s life by communicating unswervingly to him or her and inspiring them to witness hope and reassurance that far exceeds the command of pastoral caregivers (Stone, 1996. p, 75).
The gift of faith is also enhanced by pastoral care. By appreciating faith, patients are likely to focus on spirituality prayers to help them handle the anxiety of a disease. Pastoral care provides an opportunity for patients to spot their spiritual sorrow and accept them to decide their divine warfare. Pastoral caregivers can therefore help the patients resolve a patient issue by praying with them to enhance rehabilitated health (Stone, 1996. p, 89). Active listening by the pastoral caregiver and reflecting often allows the inner spirit of a patient to request a prayer. This puts a patient in communication with God trusting that God is heeding and He can provide solutions to his or her prayer.
Pastoral care enhances the gift of touch (Stone, 1996. p, 97). Bodily touch is a symbol of tenderness, caring, warmth, and intimate association with another person. Pastoral care embraces this technique and is attained by a humble touch on a patient’s shoulder or hand or using other alternatives such as anointing with oil or laying hands on a patient’s head as a sign of blessing. Patients are readily open to touch when ill and react positively to the practice. The touch is always a natural therapy that signifies the relocation of energy dynamism from one person to the other (Stone, 1996. p, 104). The relocation of energy from one person to the other person being touched gives a gift to the recipient power. The primary significance of touch is aiding the transmission of power to a person suffering from some mental or physical weakness hence it is often assumed that touch transfers extraordinary spirited influence to a patient (Best, 2000, p.139). By embracing that touch, a patient is connected to Jesus and His authority.
Pastoral Care in Promoting Inner Spiritual Resourcing
The inner state of an individual is shaped by spirituality. This is related to practices and activities associated with spirituality hence these activities generate some elements of consciousness such as; compassion, peace, and dependence among other elements (Kirkwood, 2005, p.103). These activities are directly linked to a person performing them. They make part of individual history and have to be analyzed in this context. This is a complex task for a person to explain and predict the inner effect of outer activities on a different person. This calls for personal discernment. But when spiritual activities are encompassed in suffering and health, an approach can be devised and the inner route defined and stages described and fixed (Kirkwood, 2005, p.108).
One of the stages can move from a spiritual sense to resiliency or agency. However, when spirituality is anchored in a context of health and suffering, “divergent inner resources” are formed. This is because; first individuals see the importance of a spiritual sense. They connect with what is taking place around them at large. They realize a new way of their formed relationship with the divine origin; they are not secluded but included (Kirkwood, 2005, p.116). The connection with divine origin molds them and their activities enhance spirituality to gain influence in their souls. The latter impact establishes a background that escalates resources in reacting to concerns of creativeness in their personal lives.
Individuals connected to spirituality have two distinct qualities. One of the qualities is agency (Kirkwood, 2005, p.127). During times of social, physical, and mental difficulties, an individual sometimes becomes inactive and fails to contend with life’s reality that befalls them. When an individual is connected to a divine source, it confers him or her power to make decisions and make choices of what should be done. Agency and resiliency mirror the supreme nature of an individual and spiritual aspect that human beings possess (Kirkwood, 2005, p.133). Resiliency is another quality. This is the ability that helps to keep individuals from being overwhelmed by problems. It encourages individuals by instilling a positive culture in an individual mind. Whatever challenges they experience they take heart knowing that they were created for more, hence there is always something important for them and it cannot be condensed to their current situation (Kirkwood, 2005, p.138).
Conclusion
Appreciating the importance of spirituality in the workplace and society is a significant factor. The importance of spirituality contributes to the workforce’s inner development forming and affirming their physical, psychological, emotional, and social life. Besides, spirituality influences one to appreciate vital processes bringing comfort in their life such as compassion, peace, and interdependence. These processes encourage workers to think positively hence improving their emotional and social wellbeing which is important in establishing a strong relationship at the workplace and the society.
Pastoral care in our modern workplace contributes to several positive factors to the workforce. It has been attributed to the promotion of Health Care, enhancing faith healing and holistic care. Further, pastoral care in the workplace encourages compassion to care, forming common grounds, sharing spiritual gifts, and encouraging spiritual resourcing.
By embracing pastoral care initiatives in the workplace employees and organizations will be in a better position for complementing each other’s unique skills such as conflict resolution, strong relationships, and decision making. Also, it will encourage spiritual integration and enhance the creation of networks aimed at improving individual life.
Consequently, the connectedness of workers with fellow workers, families, and support services is influenced and contributes to an important factor in times of challenges such as change, crisis, and personal transitions among many challenges. Besides, spiritual nurturing and growth sprout and cherishes in individuals immersed in understanding themselves and the “meaning” of their existence, spirituality when incorporated built deeper understanding and strengthen tranquility.
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