From Religious Recruitment to Spiritual Health

The contribution of a congregation based unit

of Supervised Pastoral Education (SPE)

to cultivating spiritual health in congregational ministry.

Workshop

Annual Conference

Canadian Association for Spiritual Care

Ottawa, Ontario

Friday, April 12, 2013

Presenters Bonnie and Don Misener

Spiritual Health Survey

● February 2013 survey emailed to all 30 graduates of the congregation based SPE (including those enrolled in the 2012/13 unit)

● 14 of the 30 graduates completed it and emailed it to an independent assessor.

● Rev. Dr. Kathy Edmison, Teaching Supervisor in Toronto completed the analysis of the survey submissions in March 2013.

Words Associated with

Spirituality:From Christianity after Religion, published in early 2012, Diana Butler Bass

Words Associated with

Religion:From Christianity after Religion, published in early 2012, Diana Butler Bass

In light of your above associations with spiritual health,how did your participation in SPE

impact your own personal spiritual health?

Survey Observations of spiritual health growth during and following SPE

● Themes highlighted by Dr. Edmison arising from responses to survey questions 3 and 4 - “understanding of one's life, healing, growth, and the experience of making this connection between spirit and health and its connection to self-care.”

● “As we gather weekly to share our own life struggles, hopes and joys, we also share stories of our ministry. We discover the vast potential of the Spirit to work in a multitude of ways bringing healing and hope to our world. How can this not affect your spiritual health in positive ways. We bear witness to God at work in our world.”

● “My own participation in SPE taught me the value of checking in with my own health on a continuous basis. With the cumulative effects of pastoral ministry it can be quite easy to dismiss your own feelings in the midst of dealing with the feelings of those you serve. Therefore, for me, it has become paramount that I be aware of the cumulative effect and that I need to carve out the time to look after my soul and spirit.”

Observations continued

● “SPE increased my ability to be authentically myself.”

● “I have found listening empathically has helped my pastoral visiting and conversations with people. I am not as tired. I used to try to fix situations and bore the brunt of it on my shoulder blades which were so sore.”

● “Allows me to take time for spiritual health, to seek support and spiritual direction.”

● “I am being more intentional about taking the time I need to reflect on what is happening in my life, I am also more aware of my feelings and how they are affecting my work.”

● “the experience of SPE was indeed for me spiritual. While the learning of the gifts and skills required to engage in thoughtful pastoral care were invaluable, also the opportunity to look deep within yourself was indeed as valuable.”

Introduction to Bay of Quinte Conference Congregation Based Supervised Pastoral Education

● Bay of Quinte Conference is one of 13 Conferences of the United Church of Canada

● Located in Eastern Ontario

● Consists of 8 Presbyteries including over 300 congregations

● Over 2/3 in rural communities

● Many pastoral charges are ageing and shrinking in numbers and finances

● Also happening in urban communities – Kingston-one amalgamation in 2011, four threatened with closure currently.

● Conference facing the consequences of budget shrinkage, program cutbacks and crisis manangement.

●

Program Organization

● First extended unit offered in September 2007

● Nationally accredited in 2010 by CASC● Reports to SPE Professional Advisory Committee

● Reports to Conference Permanent Committee on Personnel and Education

● Conference contact person and member of Professional Advisory Committee Rev. David Timpson, Conference Minister, Personnel

● Seminary Affiliation Emmanuel College, University of Toronto

● Seminary representative to Professional Advisory Committee Dr. Pamela Couture, Academic Chair of Church and Community at Emmanuel College

Program Leadership● Don Misener is the SPE Teaching Supervisor● From 2000 to 2008 Don served the Bay of Quinte Conference

as an ordained pastoral minister. Prior to this Don served for 14 years as a CPE Teaching Supervisor in acute care alongside 8 years as Associate Professor of Pastoral Care, Saskatoon Theological Union, University of Saskatchewan. Prior to that Don served for 17 years as Chaplain and CPE Educator in Federal and Provincial Corrections.

● Bonnie Misener is a Communications Coach. with background employment as a social care coordinator in a seniors independent living residence, Life Skills educator, Acute Care Chaplain, and Palliative Care Counsellor in Saskatchewan. Since 2000 in Ontario she has been a consultant - acute care staff communication education and conflict resolution and CPE communication skill development coach.

Program History and Participants

● March 20, 2013 the 6th extended fall/winter unit was completed with 5 other units completed one per year beginning in 2007

● 30 graduates (average 5 per year)● 19 current B of Q. Conference ministers

● 1 B. Of Q. Minister currently serving in Chaplaincy

● 2 United Church ministers now serving in Atlantic Region

● 3 lay ministers serving in B. Of Q. Conference

● 2 UCC Seminarians

● 3 from other denominations – 1 (SA) is Pastoral 2 (CRC) in Chaplaincy

Program Clinical Responsibility

● The clinical site is the pastoral charge where the SPE participant is employed in paid accountable ministry

● This means that verbatim and spiritual life clinical material are derived from ongoing pastoral relationships where there has been a relationship established and where the insights and discoveries from the clinical work can be applied in follow-up pastoral care.

● This clinical context has proven to give the verbatim and spiritual life review assignments a much deeper level of importance for the SPE participant and increased the value of what has been learned for follow-up care.

● It has also served to encourage the SPE participant to become more intentional in their pastoral care and follow-up on issues that arise. For example with those congregants who have experienced a death in their family there has been emphasis on timely pastoral care follow-up on anniversaries etc.

Clinical ResponsibilityThose not in paid accountable pastoral leadership

With those program participants who are laity providing clinical service in a pastoral charge or in Chaplaincy settings a learning contract has been established with the clinical site.

All SPE participants who are not in paid accountable ministry settings are required to purchase the CASC Liability coverage.

Pastoral Consultation

● A significant feature of the congregation based SPE has been the amount of pastoral consultation that has arisen out of Check-ins in group and individual supervision. Individual and group conflicts and crises within the congregation have been named and explored to identify options for pastoral follow-up and the exploration of the possible outcomes of each option.

● This has provided valuable opportunity for ministers to have their feelings expressed and heard. There is then more room for objective identification of the issues, pastoral options identified and a pastoral plan put in place prior to the next engagement with the issue.

SPE Program Contents

● IPR Agenda woven throughout group supervision – Creation of a Circle of Trust

● informed by the work of Parker Palmer and described in A Hidden Wholeness which is assigned reading prior to program beginning.

● Hearing each other into speech with honest open questions

● Grounded by two basic beliefs

● 1. we each have an inner teacher

● 2. community is important to invite the inner teacher and help individuals amplify and discern

● Group process rule “No fixing,no saving, no advising, no setting each other straight.”

Communication Skill Development

● Also described as active listening, walking with, contemplative listening, interpersonal companionship, and approaching the other as teacher.

● Skills/attitudes/disciplines

● 1. Nonverbal – bodily expression of presence - facilitative silence.

● 2. Verbal – facilitative grunts, statements, questions

● - empathy

● - clarification (perception and paraphrase)

● 3. Empowerment to take charge and choose options

● Other communication skills taught in winter term -assertiveness, conflict ministry and crisis

ministry

●

Verbatim Analyses

● Six written presentations of verbatim of pastoral care contacts complete with analysis that reviews issues presented, self-analysis of verbatim and self, identification of follow-up pastoral issues and challenges.

● Supervisory written feedback● Individual Supervision every other week● Peer group review and feedback

Three Spiritual Life Reviews

● Using -“Identifying the Formative Threads of Our Life's Spiritual Tapestry” developed by Bonnie and Don Misener (2001)

● Public Threads – Self description, legacy, key investments and contributions

● Personal Threads – experiences, dreams, losses, regrets and joys

● Awakening Threads – discoveries, insights, surprises

● Transforming Threads – confrontations, interventions, choices

● W/Holy Threads – Awesome moments, actualizations, transcendings

● Written Narrative of story prepared by minister and provided to the story teller with feedback and follow-up

Religious Life ReviewAlternative Spiritual Life Review format

● Identifying the story of faith● Religious Connections – organizations, past activities,current

activity

● Religious Beliefs – God words, religious qualities, beliefs re. death, convictions, important scriptures

● Family Influences – parents, influences in childhood, adolescence and current practice

● Personal Experiences – personal experiences of closeness and distance, worst sin, God's expectation, spiritual concerns

Foundations of Spiritual Companionship

● Lay Pastoral Care Education

● Three days in winter term (regular small group day)

● Opportunity to include up to six lay persons from the SPE participants pastoral charge

● SPE participant is learning circle leader teaching the communication skills/attitudes/disciplines

● Use of real life experiences in communication skill exercises

● Objectives – equip laity to visit shut-ins and those who are ill

● - empower laity with the confidence to care

● - encourage growth of pastoral charge team ministry

● - enrich Christian faith and spiritual growth

“Foundations” Topicspresented and modelled by Bonnie and Don

● Qualities of effective caregivers

● Hospitality to world of feelings

● Levels of communication

● Contemplative listening, approaching the other as teacher,

● Communication short-circuits

● Caregiver boundaries

● Caregiver self-care

● Biblical foundations for pastoral care

● Grief ministry -defined, types of loss, symptoms, mourning/grief work, children and loss, palliative care

Ongoing focus on Spiritual Health

● SPE Application definition of spiritual health

● Introduction to Spirituality during first term

● Religion and Spirituality compared and explored

● What religions share in common

● Walsh - Essential Spirituality (1999)

● Seven practices common to seven world religions

● -1. purify motivation, 2. cultivate love and compassion 3. train our attention, 4. clarify awareness, 5. develop ethics, 6. cultivate wisdom and 7. engage in service to others.

● Mid-term revisiting of definition

Spirituality defined

● “Spirituality is the being grounded experience that

● Awakens us to wonder, to community, to trust, to hope, to healing

● Informs us about our identity – who I am

● our place – where I belong

● our purpose – why I am

● our values – how I live well

● And inspires us to be creative and responsible

● to build mutually beneficial relationships

● to cope with change and loss courageously

● to invest in good that transcends our life.”

● Don Misener 1995

Belly Button Spirituality

● Every body has one● Association with basics of our life -our essence● Some are “insies” others “outsies”● Reminder we did not self-create (umbilical cord)● Invitation to an deepening of awareness of

rootedness● Quote

Spirituality and ReligionDon Misener 2011

● From either/or to both/and● Word associations with spirituality

● experience, connection, centredness, expansion

● Word associations with religion

● belief, behaviour, community, accountability

● What makes them toxic -claiming power and control

● Religion -superiority and dominance

● Spirituality – superiority and unaccountability

● Shared in common – justice, compassion, gratitude

● What makes them inspiring – humility and humor (self focused)

● Stronger when woven together.

Spiritual Care Defined

● “With the questions (Who am I? How do I fit in? And What makes my life worth living?) front and centre in my thinking, I enter the room of a resident or patient and listen, actively listen, for clues to what is the source of energy used in the past by the person in the chair or bed to address the spiritual questions. Then, using that source of energy, I try to assist them to bring their own source of energy to bear on their presenting problem. It is not up to me to bring my source of energy to bear on the others presenting problem; it behoves me to assist them to apply their own sources.”

● From Soul Work p. 37 by Tom Powell (2013)

Supervised Pastoral Care Assessment

● Completed in February 2013

● Emailed to all 30 graduates

● 18 completed it

● Analysis completed by Dr. Kathy Edmison, Teaching Supervisor in Toronto

● Objective 1. to receive feedback from graduates with more distance from the program for quality improvement purposes

● and 2. to assist the Professional Advisory Committee to advocate for the expansion of the program within Bay of Quinte Conference and encourage other Conferences in Canada to develop congregation based SPE.

Assessment Structure

● Two parts

● Part 1: Assessment of program using the new CPE competency evaluation format with assessment scale of Significant/Some/LIttle/None.

● Part 2: Evaluation of program from the perspective of the two original objectives of the Personnel Minister who co-developed and advocated for the program

● “Achievement of personal, professional and spiritual growth”

● “building community and an attitude of mutuality in ministry”

Part 1: Competency Assessment

● Provision of relational approach that encourages expression of care receiver's feelings, values, personal and family needs, beliefs spiritual awareness, resources and supports – Significant94%

Some6%

● Pastoral Assessment that elicits expression of needs, concerns and sources of spiritual strength, hope and coping - Significant83%

Some17%

● Self-awareness of spiritual roots, beliefs,values, assumptions, power dynamics in relationships -Significant 100%

● Engagement in continuing education that addresses personal relational pastoral and spiritual needs and demonstrates accountability – Significant 72%, Some 22%, Little 6%

Part 2: Evaluation of personal, professional and spiritual growth and building of community

● Contribution of program to “personal, professional and spiritual growth” Significant 100%

● Comments: “I have found that gathering with colleagues to share the joy and sorrow of ministry in the Body of Christ provides a place to feel the power of the Spirit to heal and transform our world. We share stories of transformation and hope, stories of loss and grief, and together we weave circles of love to heal our world. We seek to create circles of trust and set a pattern for being in community that begins with us and the way we connect and share with each other. In the groups we learn to model the potential for our church communities, for our whole world.”

Comments re. Growth continued

● “The program enabled me to confront several personal issues around ageing, and personal loss, give them boundaries and continue in community ministry with a vitality built from the trust of small group experience with colleagues”

● “In the circle of trust that developed in SPE we shared at a deep level regarding our personal, professional and spiritual lives. The confidentiality of the circle and the commitment to avoid trying to fix each other, meant that we were freed to “work out our own salvation”...There was a strong sense that there was another partner in our conversation – namely God's Spirit....The communication skills...helped us get out of the way of the Spirit's work”

● “The program helped me at a time when I was feeling rather disconnected from colleagues, and emotionally uninspired in my relationship with the church. Spiritually by the end of the program I felt engaged again, could relate more deeply with the people in the pastoral charge and I felt more competent to deal with the conflict that had disturbed the peace of the pastoral charge.”

“Capacity to build community and encourage mutuality in ministry”

Significant 88%, Someb6%, Little 6%● Comments: “As a leader I was able to create opportunities for the

pastoral charge to learn about spiritual care and encouraging the community of faith in their giftedness in companionship ministry.”

● “Since taking the unit of SPE I have been jointly responsible for the establishment of a ministers support group of five United Church ministers from four different Presbyteries...We have formed a circle of trust as experienced in the SPE unit.”

● “The community I served during the year I was in SPE was divided and had been through a difficult pastoral relationship. My task was to provide them with pastoral car through the transitional time until they called a new minister....The program helped me to be clear about the issues we faced and help them express their feelings of anger, distress and betrayal, and begin to address those things together...several people from each church took part in the Foundations part of the program to help increase their own listening skills and that helped to build relationships”

Community building/mutuality Comments continued

● “The camaraderie that developed was inspiring, especially in a national church where competition and distrust seems to be escalating.... (Following the program) I was situated in a remote area of BC with no colleagues...It is through the SPE program I attended , I was able to connect with another minister from the unit by phone.”

● “The circle of trust model used in SPE was of tremendous benefit in learning how to build community with other ministers. I still regard the relationships I developed then as among my deepest and most significant. My companions continue to offer me support and encouragement in the work I do.”

● “As soon as I read the Palmer book I knew I wanted to experience a circle of trust.... I came to the first day prepared to build that trust even if that meant being vulnerable to a fellow Presbyter with whom I didn't always agree...I treasure the new relationship I build with my fellow Presbyter and colleague as I know he does too.”

Community building and mutuality Comments continued

● “I learned from SPE the power of community and finding a circle of trust. For years our SPE group would gather a couple of times a year and be instantly in a safe space and place to share and learn .Unfortunately we have spread pretty far across this great country and to gather became impossible. But, I knew the power of this type of group and created a new one of local clergy.”

● “This was one of the most powerful aspect of the SPE program – we developed a very close relationship within our group and shared deeply the stories of our fears, hurts,challenges and spiritual high-points.”

● “SPE is the first continuing ed that encourages and practices an attitude of mutuality in ministry that I have taken. Trust is the basis of the process, and through it, isolation is removed, and personal and spiritual strengths examined and honored.”

Workshop Participant Observations

● What have these SPE participants taught you about spiritual health?

● What builds spiritual health?● What does it take to maintain it?● What have you learned that may encourage

growth in your own spiritual health?● What have you learned that encourages the

growth of spiritual health in those you serve?