Culture of Care: Mutual Calling and Pastoral Vocation
The church of Christ is called to be a place of care. Such care is not limited to the actions of leaders, but must permeate the entire life of the community. It needs to be part of the church’s culture.
But what do we mean by culture? Culture is the way of life of a people — its common pattern of values, relationships, habits, practices, and expectations. When we speak of a culture of care, we refer to a widespread disposition within the church to care for one another as a natural part of its common life — not as an exception, but as a practice expected, recognized, and encouraged. It is an environment of welcome, listening, compassion, wisdom, and presence — sustained by a biblical theology of mutuality and shepherding.
In our Igreja Batista da Graça, known for its magisterial profile, teaching occupies a place of prominence. Yet, an assessment carried out in 2024 revealed a concrete need: to grow in mutuality and horizontality. The culture of care still needs to mature. Our commitment is to remain steadfast in the centrality of the Word, without neglecting the formation of a community where everyone is cared for and everyone cares.
Christ is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11), and His Spirit forms a body in which each member is called to care for the others.
“that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” (1 Corinthians 12:25, ESV).
Scripture abounds with the “one another” of the Christian life: encourage, admonish, bear with, forgive, confess, teach, love. Mutual care is an expression of union with Christ and of the presence of the Holy Spirit among us. At the same time, Christ gave His church elders and pastors for the diligent and responsible care of the flock (Ephesians 4:11–12; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2–4). Pastoral care does not replace mutual care but strengthens, guides, and oversees it. Both dimensions are inseparable and complementary.
Mutual care is a responsibility shared by all believers. It takes place in small groups, in homes, in informal conversations, and in everyday friendships. It is spontaneous, but it must also be cultivated intentionally. It includes comfort, intercession, presence, and practical help. Pastoral care, exercised by elders, is a vocational ministry, with doctrinal foundations and well-defined responsibilities: teaching, visiting, overseeing, exhorting, restoring, encouraging. The Christian tradition calls this dimension poimenics, that is, the theologically guided care of God’s flock.
Both forms of care must be in dialogue. Mutual care flourishes where pastoral care is faithful and present. Pastoral care bears lasting fruit when there is a community culture of sensitivity, presence, and solidarity.
It is important, however, to avoid idealizations. The church remains a community of sinners — redeemed, but still in process. Therefore, a culture of care does not emerge without tensions and resistances. In the reality of IBG, certain patterns are evident: among women, care tends to be more spontaneous, with greater openness to listening, prayer, and sharing. Among men, cultural obstacles hinder the cultivation of care: individualism, fear of vulnerability, lack of habit in listening and mutual support. This requires intentionality, humility, and training. Among adolescents, the challenge involves fragile bonds of trust between peers. Face-to-face interactions have been largely replaced by digital communication. Many teenagers spend more time with their parents than with friends. Creating safe, relational, non-digital environments is an urgent need for care to occur among them.
Care manifests itself in concrete ways within the life of the church. Biblical counseling is one of them. Many think counseling is simply giving answers or telling someone what to do. Yet Christian counseling is, above all, providing support, biblical wisdom, and hope. It is listening with patience, applying Scripture with discernment, and praying with faith. Another mode of care is pastoral and fraternal visitation: presence in the home, in the hospital, in grief or in crisis communicates comfort and reminds us that no one is alone. Chaplaincy, in turn, is care carried out in the name of the church within institutional settings — such as hospitals, schools, and prisons — where representatives of the church bring comfort, listening, intercession, and proclamation.
We must recognize that such care comes at a cost. In Scripture, God is described as “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows” (Psalm 68:5, ESV). This description is theological: orphans and widows represent the fragile, the helpless, and the invisible. And the covenant God declares Himself personally committed to them. But He also calls His people to be the concrete instrument of such care. From Genesis to James, Scripture summons us to practical mercy. “Pure religion” visits orphans and widows in their affliction. This requires time, resources, patience, sacrifice, and effort. Caring for the weak is not romantic — it is demanding. And perhaps for this reason, families and churches have increasingly outsourced this calling to the State.
The problem is that when we transfer the burden of love, we enlarge the State. Rightly we complain that the State has become oversized, heavy, and invasive. But we forget that it was our omission that gave it space. When the family fails to care, the State assumes. When the church withholds, the government steps in. And the more the State does, the more it controls — and the higher the price it exacts. We live a contradiction: we want a small State, but we entrust it with heavy burdens. We want freedom, but we refuse responsibility. We complain of interference, but remain silent in omission.
The way back is not merely through criticism of the system, but through repentance. The church must recover its compassionate vocation. Families must reclaim concrete care. The light of Christ shines where there is compassion with form, love with presence, and mercy with sacrifice. This is the care that reflects the Father of the fatherless and the Judge of the widows.
Charter of Principles
Central Principle
The culture of care is a visible expression of communion with Christ and of the love the Holy Spirit pours out upon the body of the church. To care is to participate in the shepherding of Christ, both through the specific vocation of some and through the shared responsibility of all members of the body.
Complementary Principles
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Mutual care is an essential part of the Christian vocation, grounded in the “one another” commands of Scripture, and must be intentionally cultivated in every sphere of church life.
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Pastoral care is a ministry entrusted to elders and pastors, with the responsibility to guide, comfort, exhort, protect, and oversee the flock under the model of the Good Shepherd.
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Christian counseling is more than providing ready-made answers: it is offering wise presence, compassionate listening, and faithful application of Scripture, with a view to restoration and edification.
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Visitation is a concrete expression of pastoral and fraternal love, communicating comfort, fellowship, and encouragement, especially in times of fragility and sorrow.
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Chaplaincy extends the church’s care to the frontiers of human suffering, being a missionary expression of comfort, intercession, and proclamation in institutional contexts.
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A true culture of care requires an environment of trust, vulnerability, relational presence, and biblical wisdom, being built with perseverance and prayer over time.
Summary of Class Taught by Pastor Gilson Santos
Church: Igreja Batista da Graça – São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil
Date: May 25, 2025
This class, led by Pastor Gilson Santos, was part of the ongoing biblical and theological formation of the congregation of Igreja Batista da Graça. It emphasized the calling of the church to cultivate a true culture of care, rooted both in mutual responsibility among believers and in the pastoral vocation entrusted to elders. The lesson highlighted that care must be a shared practice throughout the community, sustained by a biblical theology of mutuality and shepherding, while also being guided and strengthened by faithful pastoral oversight. Practical applications were addressed, including mutual support in daily life, pastoral visitation, biblical counseling, and chaplaincy as expressions of Christian compassion. The class also stressed the challenges of cultivating care across different groups within the church, the cost involved in caring for the weak and vulnerable, and the need for families and congregations to reclaim this vocation, rather than outsourcing it to the State. Ultimately, the teaching underscored that to care for one another is to participate in the shepherding of Christ, reflecting the Father of the fatherless and the Judge of the widows.
