Emergency Pastoral Care in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover
Gesa Junglas
What is Emergency Pastoral Care?
Emergency Pastoral Care is "first aid for the soul" in an acute emergency situation. It is organized in a non-denominational fashion throughout Germany by the Protestant and Catholic churches, but also by organizations such as the Red Cross. It is run as a mobile team in cooperation with the police, fire brigade and rescue services. The team is alerted via the rescue control centers of the districts. It operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, all over Germany.
In the area of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover, 50 groups are working today in ecumenical church sponsorship. There are mainly full-time colleagues on duty, pastors and deacons. But there are also more and more specially trained volunteers. In 2021 there were over 2000 assignments fulfilled by almost 950 employees.
The task of Emergency Pastoral Care is to help people in sudden existential crises through support, conversation, counseling and, if they wish, a ritual.
Alert keywords of the rescue control center for Emergency Pastoral Care:
• Sudden death at home
• Delivering a death notice with the police
• Death and severe injuries to children
• Fatal Accidents
• Fires
• Suicide
• Violent Crime
• Major claims
80% of the operations take place in the home.
History of Emergency Pastoral Care in Germany
In 1962 there was a major flood in Hamburg. Tens of thousands of people became homeless and many died. Church communities helped and provided rooms and food, but also human closeness and conversations for those affected.
The EKD (Protestant Church in Germany) then published guidelines throughout Germany under the title: “Church action in the event of accidents and catastrophes.”
In 1990, an ecumenical working group was founded across Germany, which over the years has developed and organized structure for Emergency Pastoral Care in cooperation with the fire brigade and rescue services. In 1997, a proposal was adopted that describes Emergency Pastoral Care as a basic component of the churches' pastoral work. At this time, the regional churches began to systematically set up systems of emergency pastoral care in the church districts.
Another reason for this was a major loss event: a railway accident in Lower Saxony in 1998. A high-speed train derailed and crashed into a bridge. Over 100 people died and many more were seriously injured. It was the worst accident involving high-speed trains in the world to date. Many colleagues came spontaneously to give pastoral care to those affected and their relatives. A large ecumenical service was held. The churches then saw the need to draw up plans and put in place an alert system so that they could be prepared for such events.
After that, most church Emergency Pastoral Care systems in Germany came into being at the end of the 1990s.
Theological Foundations of Emergency Pastoral Care
Pastoral care for people in need is a fundamental part of the congregational mission. The local church cares for people in need as Jesus did. Pastoral care in emergencies refers to the basic pillars of the church:
- Martyria / Giving testimony: Suffering with someone, helping someone
- Diakonia / Ministry: Practicing mercy, caring for victims
- Leiturgia / Worship: Holding intercession services
- Koinonia / Community: Not abandoning people, standing by them
Referring to our faith and the mission of charity, one grows
- Spirituality of action:
- Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10)
- Parable of the Last Judgment (Mt 25): "works of mercy"
- Tradition of the saints: Martin, Elisabeth of Thuringia,
- traditions of the monasteries and
- Spirituality of suffering and compassion, of powerlessness:
- Discipleship in suffering (Mk 8)
- Succession of the cross of Jesus
Organized Emergency Pastoral Care reliably fulfills this congregational mandate and no longer leaves it to chance depending on the time of day and the availability of colleagues on site.
Training
There are training courses for employees and volunteers. The professionals are extensively trained in pastoral care. We have practiced thinking about questions of theodicy and stand up for the philanthropic God with our profession. Special Emergency Pastoral Care is now part of the training to become a pastor. There is also extensive training for experienced colleagues.
For volunteers, we have a basic course in pastoral care, which is then supplemented by another special Emergency Pastoral Care training.
How does Emergency Counseling work?
Pastoral care in an emergency is always based on the needs of the affected person. It asks: What can I do for you now? What do you need now? This results in a three-step set of tried-and-tested measures that help people in an acute crisis situation to find their way back to life:
- Stabilize: make contact, support, convey a feeling of closeness and security.
- Protect from harm. Endure silence.
- Give Orientation: Classifying observations and feelings, explaining what is happened, letting people tell you, giving information, grounding in reality.
- Activate resources: Assess the social situation (who do you want to have with you now?), reinforce key points, pray to God, offer a ritual, stimulate planning for the next steps. The assignment is limited in time and will ideally end when someone close to the person concerned takes over the care. It can last about twohours.
Concrete organization of Emergency Pastoral Care in church districts
There is a digital action plan at church district level in which colleagues register. It is organized daily to weekly, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For the duration of the assignment, their phone responds to the emergency pastoral care phone number. Only the police and rescue control center have this number. Nobody can call privately. There are material aids for use: Bible, prayer texts, candle and a lighter, a teddy bear for children.
In the event of an alarm, the first thing you try to do is reach out to your colleague in the local congregation, where the accident took place. If they can't attend, you take on the job. The assignment has priority over other work during this time. Exceptions are church services, funerals and events with children, who cannot be left to their own devices.
In the event of a major accident (train accident, etc.), emergency chaplains from all over Lower Saxony and neighboring federal states can be activated. There are representatives and networks at all levels of the regional churches as well as contacts to the municipalities, the fire brigades, the rescue services and the police.
If you would like further information on Emergency Pastoral Care, please look at the following links or talk to me directly.
Gesa Junglas
Pastor, facilitator of Emergency Pastoral Care, church district of Diepholz
Representative of Emergency Pastoral Care, Osnabrück
Bonhoefferstraße 29
49356 Diepholz
0152 062 866 53
Gesa.Junglas@evlka.de
More information:
