Richard was a member of the Community Church of God in Slave Town. Pastor Greenbush had served that.

Richard was a member of the Community Church of God in Slave Town. Pastor Greenbush had served that church for nearly twenty-five years. Richard had got saved under the ministry of Pastor Greenbush, and was identified as a potential leader in the church. As such then, he was sent by the church at age 18 to Bible School. He graduated and became the youth leader in the church.

Richard was doing well, and many persons were obviously blessed by his music and singing. His music style appealed especially to the young people. The church attracted a great deal of young people, and the Richard was doing well in the youth ministry.

Eventually Richard got married, and the marriage bore one child, a daughter. Richard and his wife remained married for ten (10) years. During this period, both he and his wife were well received and respected by the church.

Pastor Greenbush was a fairly conservative Pastor. He believed in the traditional values of the family, and his preaching and teaching reflected his deep convictions. So his convictions were based on his understanding that Genesis 2 v 24 teaches male and female in marriage until death separates them. Both the content and intensity of his preaching and teaching left no doubt whatsoever in the hearers’ minds about his position. “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” “Marriage is until death, so don’t even think about divorce; and do not come to me if you are homosexual and lesbian; or if you are married as man and woman and you want to divorce!” “In fact, if any of these apply to you and you hold any office in the church, then you will be relieved of the position, and you can find somewhere else to worship!”

These are often repeated admonitions that Pastor Greenbush would give in his sermons.

Richard’s marriage later ran into trouble as a result of his homosexual “tendency”. In his own words, “he came out as gay”. He was also about to divorce his wife, but decided to approach his Pastor for counselling. Richard had heard and known his Pastor’s position.

COMMENTARY:

Pastoral Counselling may not be as structured and formal as other types of and approaches to counselling. Pastor Greenbush may therefore be presented with other opportunities outside of the formal sessions to share with Richard. He could use these opportunities to help the counselling process to be more meaningful. If he is willing, he could use these opportunities to re-examine and re-state his position on the subjects of homosexuality and divorce.

The rest of the counselling process will depend on how well Pastor Greenbush navigates the first two phases of the counselling process as described in the model from Baker’s Dictionary of Pastoral Theology.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

Could       the Pastor be blamed for his convictions?

Using        the model from Baker’s Dictionary of Pastoral Theology, which was         posted in an earlier session, relate this case to the Phase of Preparation.

Give your description of how the Phase of Relaxation may go when Richard         approaches his Pastor.

What        would Richard say?

What        would you expect Pastor Greenbush to say and do as a Pastoral         Counsellor?