Pastoral Care Through the Internet

How can pastoral care happen through the Internet? Doesn't the impersonality of digital communication virtually contradict the essence of pastoral care? Let me say at the outset that I do not believe the Internet can replace personal pastoral relationships. Pastors need to look people in the eye, listen to their voices, shake their hands or offer a supportive hug. Nothing can take the place of genuine, one-on-one conversation.

However, the Internet can enhance and extend that which is centered in immediate fellowship. To cite an obvious example, Marc, a member of Irvine Presbyterian, chose to put aside his military retirement in order to serve a year's term in Iraq. While he was overseas, he listened to my sermons online. He read my Pastor's Letter (see below), and we kept in touch via e-mail. Our personal relationship continued electronically so that when I saw Marc again face-to-face, it felt as if we had hardly been apart.

Speaking of my Pastor's Letter, this was another of my surprises from the new media. My Pastor's Letter was an e-blast (an e-mail sent simultaneously to all church members who had signed up for it). I began the letter partly because I realized many in my flock, especially older adults, didn't visit blogs, though they did read e-mail. Also, I was looking for a more personal and intimate way to address issues of concern within my church family, the sort of thing I wouldn't post on my public website.

When I began sending the Pastor's Letter, I was astounded by people's response. Though they knew this was an e-blast, they received what I had sent as if it were written personally to them. It extended and enriched my relationship with my flock in blessed new ways. I would say that in most cases this mode of Internet communication is more immediately useful to pastors than blogging.

Although I greatly prefer face-to-face conversation for pastoral counseling, I found that some people prefer the safe distance of e-mail. I had some members, who would never in a million years make an appointment with me, open up about deep struggles in an e-mail. Sometimes this led to personal meetings; sometimes an e-mail relationship sufficed. By the end of my tenure at Irvine Presbyterian, though, my number of weekly counseling meetings remained the same as at the beginning of my ministry there. To put it differently, the Internet enabled me to do four times more pastoral care than I'd have been able to do in person.

New Media Devotions

The Internet also allowed me to offer devotional input to my congregation on a daily basis. I began with a website called PrayThePsalms.com. This site focused on a psalm each day, offering a short excerpt for reflection, a link to the whole chapter, my prayer based on the excerpt and a brief postscript or question for further reflection. In actuality, I was putting online a portion of my own daily devotions, inviting my flock to join me as I spent time each day with the Lord.