Abstract

Pastoral Care is an important task of the church and its congregations. It contributes to the personal development of the individuals as well as to the processes of growth of the congegation. To support the pastoral care of a congregation, you need to know how it works. In this International Report it is analysed how 29 pastors of the Estonian Protestant Churches (Luthera, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal) think about the status of pastoral care. The results show that first of all it is important for them to come to a clear definition of what they mean when they talk about pastoral care. They described the different ways of pastoral care in their congregations, who is in need of pastoral care, which characteristics the role of a pastoral care giver should entail, which problems and challenges they face and where they see possibilities of cooperation with other fields of knwoledge. On the background of this analysis the authors present ideas how to develope pastoral care in Estonian protestant Churches and congregations.