National Service

EDUCATION
In addition to the orientation and training of Care Team® members, Interfaith CarePartners® provides educational events for its partner congregations.  For example:

  • Lay pastoral care
  • Listening skills
  • Leadership skills
  • Grief-related issue
  • Aging
  • Caregiving
  • End-of-life care and planning

Interfaith CarePartners®' staff are practiced in the supervision of team members, one result of which is the forming and maintenance of a cadre of laypeople in each congregation whose pastoral and leadership skills are a lasting asset to the congregation. Continuing education events regularly upgrade team members' skills. Because of the close team member/Interfaith CarePartners®' staff relationship, Interfaith CarePartners® has accrued a wealth of experience which is now available to interfaith and health care or social service agencies considering replication of the Interfaith CarePartners®' Care Team® concept in their own communities (see consultation).

Dr. Shelp greets President George W. Bush at
Air Force One in Houston 2002.

Dr. Ron Sunderland, Interfaith CarePartners®' co-founder, developed Equipping Laypeople for Ministry (ELM) as a tool for training laypeople for pastoral ministry in the congregation. ELM workshops have been held in many communities nationwide and are offered regularly as continuing education events in the Houston area. Congregations and interfaith agencies may contract to provide ELM workshops in their areas.

RESEARCH and SCHOLARSHIP
Interfaith CarePartners®' programs address a variety of concerns and interests of professionals and laypeople. The results of scholarly and empirical research sponsored by Interfaith CarePartners® are published in books and journals, extending the work of the agency to national and international audiences. Dr. Earl Shelp, Interfaith CarePartners®' co-founder and President and Dr. Sunderland have co-authored books which report the development and content of the various Care Team® projects, as well as providing a theoretical and theological basis for Interfaith CarePartners®' work.



Sustaining Presence: A Model of Caring by People of Faith, by Earl E. Shelp and Ronald H. Sunderland.  Pastoral ministry, the authors assert, is a function of the entire church, not only of the ordained.  The function of sustaining is the defining feature of pastoral care, while the function of presence is the defining method.  ISBN 0-687-02589-3.  Paper, $15.00

This can be ordered through  Interfaith CarePartners® @ 713-682-5995.