PASTORAL CARE TO SICK CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES: Expanding the church’s reach through training spiritual generalists and equipping pastors

How can the church provide high quality pastoral care to seriously ill children and their families? Train and seed the hospital with more than 300 Spiritual Care Generalists, that is, lay chaplains (doctors, nurses, child life therapists, social workers, psychologists, interpreters, etc.) who have learned to screen for spiritual needs or distress of parents and children during hospitalization, recognize spiritual strengths, incorporate basic spiritual nurture into the patient’s care plan, observe the ethics of pastoral care, and refer to a spiritual specialist (chaplain or clergy) when needed. The grant will enable me to measure the effectiveness of two training programs, analyze pre and post testing data, and disseminate this model to other hospitals and their chaplains. Provide the greater church community with training and resources for the pastoral care of sick children. The grant would enable me to review the breadth of material about healthy children, glean the best from the pediatric chaplaincy literature, add the practical wisdom 28 years of bedside spiritual care of sick children, and then present it in language and form accessible to the church pastor and lay care givers in congregations via publication of articles and a state –wide clergy workshop.