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Achieving Consensus
Participants reviewed each of the draft core competencies presented to them at the start of the meeting, discussed them at length, made revisions, and voted on each item individually. They then developed several additional competencies, using the same process. Then they approved the list as a whole. (See p. 13)
Recommendations: Next Steps
Having delineated 12 core competencies for clergy and other pastoral ministers, meeting participants suggested both a series of strategies to communicate those competen- cies to organizations that might use and endorse them, and delineated a set of tools to be developed to help promote the integra- tion of the core competencies into the training of present and future religious leaders. Their ideas build on a series of suggestions made by the 1991 meeting. (See Appendix B, “Executive Summary and Recommendations for Next Steps,” and Appendix C, “Selective Tools for Seminary Training”.)
Participants recommended that a public awareness campaign be developed with an interdenominational voice to publicize the core competencies to religious, professional, and lay audiences in inviting language. Among other strategies, it could include –
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Placing articles in professional journals and in the national popular
press about the core competencies and their impor- tance to practicing
clergy and other pastoral ministers;
- Developing a press release announcing the achievement of consensus
with respect to the core competencies;
- Obtaining endorsements from leading denominations and from professional
and advocacy organizations. Participants could provide lists of the
organizations with which they are affiliated, take the core competencies
to those organiza- tions, and ask them to endorse or re- spond to them.
- Making presentations at denominational general assemblies, annual
conferences, and regional gatherings, explaining the core competencies,
and discussing their implications for seminary training and continuing education.
Participants also suggested developing the following educational tools based
on the core competencies:
- A continuing education curriculum addressing alcohol and drug dependence
and their impact on families, coupled with appropriate responses from the faith
community. This curriculum would include a “train the trainers” component.
- A pastoral care outline, lending advice to clergy and other pastoral ministers
on when, how, and to what extent to inter- vene with alcohol or drug dependent
individuals and their families, how to identify and evaluate community resources,
and how to help reintegrate recovering individuals into the community.
- A preaching and teaching guide, with sample sermons and appropriate religious texts.
- A bibliography of resources on addiction and spirituality.
Meeting participants recommended the potential development of several educational programs:
- An interdenominational summer training program on the subject for seminary students
and pastors. The Hebrew College in Boston already conducts such a session for Jewish students
and clergy; the course could be given more fre- quently if its student base were expanded
to include clergy from other denominations.
- Training events sponsored by individual seminaries for practicing clergy, including
efforts to encourage self-awareness on the issues of alcoholism and drug dependence.
Finally, meeting participants affirmed the 1991 recommendation that a program of “Mentors”
and “Fellows” be established to integrate training on alcohol and drug dependence into
seminary programs, enabling clergy in training to acquire the knowledge and skills
implicit in the core competencies. For each major denomination, a “Mentor” would be
identified to coordinate the project within that denomination by guiding professors
in their efforts to develop programs or courses. A “Fellow” would be identified in
each seminary, responsible for developing and implementing such a program. Multi-year
stipends would be considered for seminaries, Mentors, and Fellows.
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