Public Issues in Urban Pastoral Ministry

Aim:

To examine issues involving public policy, collective predicaments, community power, controls and influence, as they bear on community and pastoral achievement.

Objective

* Be able to analyse the underlying issues in urban life;
* Understand and evaluate Christian and other faith responses to public issues;
* Understand the reasons for possible reactions to public issues;
* Have a critical view of the role of the church in responding to public issues;
* Be able to regenerate education and positive action on public issues at
individual and community levels.

Content:

Public issues in a selected country: unemployment, inadequate health care, insufficient and sub-standard housing; debt. A consideration of existing forms of reaction to public issues: despair, organisation, individual initiatives, self-improvement and education, collective improvement. Different faith attitudes and responses to public issues. Examples of various approaches from different viewpoints. The role of the church in public policy issues, particularly the deployment of pastoral resources to facilitate and promote understanding of the assumptions and beliefs underlying public issues, and decision making process.