It is nearly impossible for pastors to be familiar with every culture that exists out there, in the world. People will come from different countries, states or even counties that may have a radically different culture than the pastor. Andy Crouch, in his book Culture Making, argues that:
Culture is more than an ideology, trends, fads, fashion, sense of ethnic identity, the collections of practices, beliefs and stories that carve out a sense of distinctiveness and pride or failure and shame. It’s more than governing ideas, values and presuppositions of our society—as it is used in phrases like “culture wars,” ”the culture disbelief” or “the decline of our culture.”
Thus, when dealing with such a massive task as to attempt to understand one’s …show more content…
Thus, Johnson further argues, that in the universal category whereby all humans share commonalities are: biologically, we are fundamentally similar; socially, we require certain relational prerequisites; psychologically, we all experience similar developmental processes; and “spiritually, all human beings seek some form of connection with the transcendent.” So, in a multi-cultural setting, while we must strive to understand and relate with other’s from different cultural backgrounds, for pastoral caregivers, their persona faith and convictions should dictate how one will give …show more content…
Johnson calls this sort of impositions on care seekers—from a different culture— “culture oppression.” Therefore, as a pastoral counselor, one must be self aware of the other’s cultural dispositions and attempt to empathize and equalize with the other’s cultural sensitivities. These are some essential concepts that one who is seeking to counsel others from a myriad of different cultural backgrounds must adhere to, in order to better serve those who come seeking pastoral counseling. Furthermore, pastoral counselors who counsel individuals from a different cultural background, should consider their own biases and presuppositions, based on a Biblical and Christian
Culture is more than an ideology, trends, fads, fashion, sense of ethnic identity, the collections of practices, beliefs and stories that carve out a sense of distinctiveness and pride or failure and shame. It’s more than governing ideas, values and presuppositions of our society—as it is used in phrases like “culture wars,” ”the culture disbelief” or “the decline of our culture.”
Thus, when dealing with such a massive task as to attempt to understand one’s …show more content…
Thus, Johnson further argues, that in the universal category whereby all humans share commonalities are: biologically, we are fundamentally similar; socially, we require certain relational prerequisites; psychologically, we all experience similar developmental processes; and “spiritually, all human beings seek some form of connection with the transcendent.” So, in a multi-cultural setting, while we must strive to understand and relate with other’s from different cultural backgrounds, for pastoral caregivers, their persona faith and convictions should dictate how one will give …show more content…
Johnson calls this sort of impositions on care seekers—from a different culture— “culture oppression.” Therefore, as a pastoral counselor, one must be self aware of the other’s cultural dispositions and attempt to empathize and equalize with the other’s cultural sensitivities. These are some essential concepts that one who is seeking to counsel others from a myriad of different cultural backgrounds must adhere to, in order to better serve those who come seeking pastoral counseling. Furthermore, pastoral counselors who counsel individuals from a different cultural background, should consider their own biases and presuppositions, based on a Biblical and Christian