Clinical Pastoral Care in Russia

Pastoral care and Counseling is one of the areas to which our church has been dedicating special attention throughout the years. Russia and its neighbors have lived through upheals and historical shifts that have affected generation after generation. This fact has led to many people carrying trauma in their lives, with no real tools with which to move toward healing. Out of desperation, some turn to the church for help; experience has taught us that lives can be changed if we are prepared with the skills we need in order to respond appropriately to cries of help.

With that in mind starting in 2017 an experiment program was initiated in order to see whether or not the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) approach that is the standard for many churches doing pastoral training in the West  could prove fruitful here. This is the first time the methods of CPE have been attempted on Russian soil. While the “clinical” aspect of CPE was not as formal as it would be in America or Germany – after all, it is next to impossible to find institutions where our people would allowed to act as chaplains – in other aspects we were able to replicate the growth in knowledge, skills and self-understanding that is necessary for quality “care of souls” (using the literal translation from the Russian.) Having completed the first cycle of training seminars with 8 graduates of the program, I can say I could hardly be more pleased with our progress.

While students evaluations in Russia tend to avoid specifics, I saw a pattern of positive results in what they wrote: “I learned how to listen;” “I saw how important it was to avoid giving direct advice and to instead accompany the care-seeker as he/she finds his own solutions;” “I now realize that... empathy is at the center of pastoral care.” “My job as a pastoral care giver is to be a sojourner along the path of life that the Lord has given us.”

For some of the participants the seminar was transforming on a personal and professional level: “I understood that pastoral care is interesting to me, is a gift God has given to me;” “Before this seminar I saw pastoral care from a different perspective and what I learned is really valuable and important;” “This... was a turning point in my understanding of the means and methods of pastoral ministry;” “I thought about...aspects of my life that I hadn't considered before;” after this seminar “I feel healthier spiritually and physically. I've been sleeping like I haven't slept since I was a child. Many thanks once again for accompanying me on the way, for caring about the healing of my soul.”

I look forward to continue to work with our German friends and the Russian head of the pastoral care committee, Pastor Oleg Shtulberg, as we plan next steps in the further development of this critical area of ministry.