This was a 1973 proposal to the coordinators about how to meet the pastoral needs of every member of the People of Praise. It was written when the community had grown to be around 85 people, nearly three times as big as it was when it was founded in 1971.
By Paul DeCelles
PROPOSAL
TO: the coordinators
FROM: Paul
RE: the pastoral needs of each person in People of Praise
1. There exists a gap in pastoral care in People of Praise
2. There’s an uneven attention paid to members of the People of Praise.
—-a. those who ask, and ask again, get helped. Those who don’t, don’t.
—b. some are rarely talked to personally about their relationships with God. For example, the gifts of the Spirit, etc. and with each other.
Thesis: everyone in the People of Praise should be talked to by an elder at least once a week.
Thought: there should be links of pastoral responsibility. The coordinators cannot talk to each person each week. But we could talk to some who do.
Proposal: this contact can at the moment best be handled by coordinators meeting with some household heads. Different sets of heads with different coordinators.
We should use the pastoral team that meets on Saturday morning as aides to the coordinators in the general work of instructing beginners for becoming members of the People of Praise. Life in the Spirit Series, Christian Living Series, Community Formation Series, Community Weekends. And special problems that pertain to the community, like polling concerning a question such as, “What does P² think of prophecies?”
Suggestion: Clem, Kevin, and Paul divide the list of heads into three sections. Be in weekly contact with the set of heads agreed upon, about five each, concerning (1) their needs; and (2) those special problems they can’t handle for someone in their care. Make certain that everyone is headed and that both head and he know who.
Copyright © 1973 People of Praise Inc.