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| General Pastoral Care |
Pastor as Caregiver | Spiritual Growth |
| Mutual Aid | Weddings &
Marriage | Birth and Adoption |
| Special Needs | Hospital
Care | Dying & Grief |
General Pastoral Care
The American Association of Pastoral Counselors
The AAPC seeks to professionally integrate psychotherapy and spirituality.
This web site provides information to AAPC members, potential members
and the general public. Includes a listing of pastoral counselors with
a search engine.
The Canadian Association for Pastoral
Practice and Education
CAPPE is a national multifaith organization which is committed to the
professional education, certification and support of people involved in
pastoral care and pastoral counselling. The site contains a number of
papers of interest as well as resources for members of the association.
International Pastoral Care Network
for Social Responsibility
IPCNSR is a an interfaith and international network of pastoral care specialists
working together to foster and promote spiritual, emotional and environmental
health for all persons, institutions and the planet.
The Pastor as Caregiver
DPS PastorCare
Site
From the Desperate Preacher's Site comes some resources primarily for
a pastor's self-care. Included among such topics as burnout, money management,
and living arrangements, are also topics like guilt and forgiveness, helping
people cope, and crisis and grief resources.
Spiritual Growth
Please see our section on the Worship
& Spirituality page.
Mutual Aid
Mennonite Mutual Aid
MMA has created a helpful site with information on their products and
services, congregational grants, financial calculators, and other services
available to congregations.
Weddings & Marriage
Wedding Gazette
Not necessarily Christian, but quite traditional, this is a good website
for referral to couples who want help on thinking through their wedding
plans. Includes some basic resources on wedding ceremonies.
Use this site with care and attention to helping couples think through
their own Christian values.
Mennonite and Brethren Marriage
Encounter
This is the Anabaptist adaptation of a movement adopted by many Christian
denominations designed to foster growth in marriages. Includes a schedule
of upcoming encounters.
Marriage Intimacy
Looks at the concept of intimacy as a starting point for building strong
Christian marriages. Includes other helpful links to Christian organizations.
Marriage Builders
Dr. Willard F. Harley, Jr. claims he has saved thousands of marriages
from the pain of unresolved conflict and the disaster of divorce. This
website presents his basic principles for restoring love. Although not
overtly Christian, he has principles that can be adapted to a Christian
context, particularly his starting point of having couples practice making
their partners happy.
Marriage Ministries International
MMI is a non-profit organization, ministering to marriages around the
world. They offer a basic class, "Married for Life", which is
conducted in small groups in homes over a fourteen-week period.
Birth & Adoption
A pastoral presence at the birth of a child is a crucial element of pastoral
care. Pastoral care is especially important in unplanned pregnancies,
particularly where young unmarried parents are involved. To uphold God's
forgiving love, affirm life, and provide hope and joy for infertile couples,
the option of adoption should be considered. The following links give
some starting points for both birth mothers and prospective families as
well as some samples of adoption agencies.
Dave Thomas
Foundation for Adoption
Founded in July 1992 by the late owner of Wendy's hamburger chain, this
foundation serves as an active voice encouraging adoptions. There are
sections for professionals and for couples seeking to adopt.
National Adoption Center
The National Adoption Center is a non-profit organization whose mission
is to expand adoption opportunities throughout the United States for children
with special needs and those from minority cultures. The NAC is the home
of the largest waiting list in the U.S. of children waiting to be adopted.
Founded in 1972, the Center works with social workers and other adoption
professionals to bring children and families together through its telecommunications
network called the National Adoption Exchange.
Adoption Council of Canada
The ACC is the umbrella organization for adoption in Canada. Based in
Ottawa, the ACC raises public awareness of adoption, promotes placement
of waiting children and stresses the importance of post-adoption services.
The site includes links to provincial government information.
Lifetime Adoption
Lifetime Adoption is a National Adoption Facilitation Center that assists
birth parents in finding qualified adoptive families. Their services are
free to birth parents and include guidance and encouragement during and
after pregnancy. They provide services for prospective parents to adopt
newborn as well as older children.
Adoption Services
Adoption Services is a fully licensed, non-profit, private adoption agency
that connects birth mothers and couples wanting to adopt. Licensed in
three states, but with the connections to help adopting families living
anywhere in the U.S. as well as in other countries.
National Adoption Center's Learning
Center
This center gives support to adoptive families, primarily through online
course materials.
Adoption ... Assistance, Information,
Support
A clearinghouse site to exchange information on adoption.
Special Needs
The following site offers offers a wide array of annotated links related
particularly to resources on disabilities and mental illness.
Companion Resources
Living in community is a key value for Mennonites. Yet many persons are
at the margins of the community as they deal with physical and mental
illness, dysfunctional neighborhoods, or permanent disabilities in the
family. This site provides information and networking around key themes
such as community development,
disabilities, and
mental illness. New topics
added from time to time.
Hospital Care
The Association for Clinical Pastoral
Education
ACPE is a multicultural, multifaith organization devoted to providing
education and improving the quality of ministry and pastoral care offered
by spiritual caregivers of all faiths through the clinical educational
methods of Clinical Pastoral Education. Includes an introduction to CPE
and a listing of CPE sites, supervisors, and more.
The Association of Professional
Chaplains
The APC is an interfaith professional pastoral care association of providers
of pastoral care endorsed by faith groups to serve persons in physical,
spiritual, or mental need in diverse settings throughout the world.
AIDS Pastoral Care Network [Link not
currently working; website being revised.]
Founded in Chicago in 1985, APCN supports the spiritual health and growth
of individuals and communities affected by HIV/AIDS through pastoral care,
outreach, education and training, and the promotion of social justice.
Dying & Grief
This section deals with issues surrounding death, including funerals.
Hospice Net
The hospice movement offers terminally ill patients appropriate medical
services in their homes or in a separate home-like from a hospital. Hospice
Net is an independent organization that provides information and support
to patients and families facing life-threatening illnesses through its
Internet site. Contains a wealth of information that is helpful as pastors
counsel families.
Grief & Loss Resource
Centre
A Canadian site, spread across a few pages, is divided into three sets
of links. The first set includes grief and bereavement resources, called
"Grief Links." The second set is devoted to various "losses" in our lives,
other than death, that involve varying degrees of grief, called "Loss
Links." The third set is comprised of links to Memorials collections.
You will find these three categories useful.
funeral.com
A secular site which, nevertheless, has a wealth of practical resources
on every aspect of funerals.
The Compassionate Friends
The Compassionate Friends is a national non-profit, self-help support
organization that offers friendship and understanding to bereaved parents,
grandparents and siblings, following the death of a child of any age.
There is no religious affiliation and there are no membership dues or
fees.
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Paul D. Leichty