Pastoral Care Course 2024
The long-awaited Pastoral Care Course is back for another run from 6-11 Aug! If you are currently a Ministry/Community Leader or active member and yearn to be empowered to journey with others in their woundedness and in the area of inner healing, do consider signing up. This Course is designed to help you develop an understanding of pastoral care and its effective use for building up the Body of Christ. Imagine the difference you could make in your Church by being a more effective ‘carer’ of others.
The Pastoral Care Course is a 6-day stay in programme where participants will have the space to explore inner work for themselves, encounter Christ the wounded Healer and be empowered to pass it on to others. Participants will be offered insights into psycho-spiritual integration through various teaching as well as communal ministry (prayer) sessions.
Topics that will be covered in the 6-days include:
- Christian anthropology in relation to healing
- Understanding human growth
- Family dynamics
- Relational needs
- Inner healing
- Wound healer
- Spirituality of imperfection
- Boundaries
- Pastoral leadership
- Reaching out from our true identity as God’s beloved child
- and much more
The first part of the course will focus on deepening participants’ own journey of healing, in order to learn how to be wounded healers. There will be time and space for participants to process and reflect. The second part will cover how we can pastorally journey with people and care for them.
Details
- Dates : 6 Aug, Tue (8am) – 11 Aug, Sun (7pm)
- Venue : LaSalle House, 490 E Coast Rd, Singapore 429058
- Pod (9 in one room – with aircon) S$740 per person (S$695 early bird till 1 May)
- Twin room (with air-con) S$1025 per person (S$975 early bird till 1 May)
- For any enquiries , please email icpe.pcc@gmail.com
- To register, go to: bit.ly/pcc2024
*Registration closes 1st June 2024
Testimonies from our past participants:
“The PCC provided a safe and healing environment for those in mission and ministry to grow in knowledge, understanding and love. This was in a significant part due to the openness and commitment of the organisers.”
“This course has been a good space where God is beginning to transform the way I see myself & others into the way He sees us.”
“Realizing the beautiful truth about oneself & where GOD (in all his love) is.”
“Powerful and life-changing. I can’t recommend it highly enough for all in Ministry.”
“This course taught me to be self aware and what it means to be a wounded healer.”
“This course helped me to see and feel in my heart that God not only loves me but likes me too! And that my sins are largely due to my woundedness/negative scripts from my childhood experiences. I felt the shame lifted off from me and I feel more hopeful, joyful and light. Praise God!”
“The PCC is a very powerful retreat where the participants are given a safe space to attend to and nurse their brokenness and embark on their healing journey before being the wounded healer to others.”
“Experienced God’s love and peace, the retreat has helped me to understand myself and except my past and that our wounds are for a higher purpose and having gone thru suffering I can be there for others.”
ABOUT THE PASTORAL CARE COURSE (PCC)
The ICPE Mission has years of experience in the area of Pastoral Care and Inner Healing. The Pastoral Care Course is a shortened version of the Pastoral Care School (PCS), which a 3 week live in programme.
Refresh Renew Restore
Are you desiring to rediscover your identity in God or deepen your spiritual journey or cultivate an intimacy with God? Our sister community, Earthen Vessel Catholic Community will be organizing an afternoon of prayer at Novena Church on every second Saturday of each month except for Feb, which will be on 4 Feb. The experience will include worship, reflection, interactive teaching, testimony and prayer. All are welcome! Do click https://tinyurl.com/evcc2024 to find out more and submit your interest!
A Journey from School of Mission till now
Mike Arents shares his missionary’s journey from his ICPE Mission’s School of Mission in Poland 25 years ago till now.
Formation Jul 2023 to May 2024
From 24 March to 19 May 2023, the ICPE Woman to Woman held a period of Come and See for women who desire to grow together in holiness, in love and in communion with Jesus, alongside with other ladies. We were privileged to have 7 ladies join us for our sessions.
On 7 July, we welcomed 4 ladies who began their formation by acknowledging their commitment to God and the ministry. Do keep us in prayer as we begin this time of formation that God will move us to grow in His light and will so that we will become His leaven, salt and light in our places of influence.
Discovery in the Disruption by Regina L.
3 Apr 2023
How do we see the unwanted twists and turns in life? To me, it is an unwelcome disruption to my plans and it would annoy me. But, School of Mission 2022 (SOM) started to change this perspective.
Attending SOM was a disruption in life. I knew I would eventually leave my previous job that I did not find satisfying. But leaving it without another job or concrete future plans was unnerving. The only visible path ahead was the 4.5 month SOM programme. Even so, I did not know what to expect since the activities for the week would only be made known on the week itself. As a person who prefers to have some certainty of what is to come, taking this journey was an unexpected decision.
However, where God calls, He provides sufficient graces. The discomfort of uncertainty dissipated during the teaching phase. My head and heart were occupied with re-discovering my faith that there was hardly room for uncertainty. What was certain was how God has been with me through life’s ups and downs. In the memories of these experiences, He revealed His love for me. SOM created a space of awareness, a time for reflection and allowed me to immerse in God’s love. It was God’s way of helping me grow to trust Him more. It was a time of coming to a place of security internally. It was a necessary disruption.
Community living and outreach was an opportunity to exercise this re-discovered trust and internal security. Inconfident that I had anything to give of myself, I went with the flow without expectations. What stood out from the experience was how I was appreciated and accepted for who I am. Not what I could do, or if I were talented in any way. I found that my presence itself was a gift and continue to be a gift to others. If any of my being or service touched anyone, it has to be the Holy Spirit working through me. In those moments, I received both verbal and non-verbal affirmations. But none truly described my original intention. Instead, it affirmed an intention of goodness that surpassed me and could only come from God. It was a tangible experience of trusting God in everything and a reminder that I’m His instrument.
I became familiar with SOM’s momentum, its spontaneity. Unique to the 2022 SOM, was packing and traveling to a new place nearly every week in the last month of the programme. This had become a new routine and provided some form of certainty of what to expect. But the school had to eventually come to a close. A disruption to my routine once again. However, having experienced God’s goodness in disruptions, I attempted to embrace the uneasiness. Sure enough, I thoroughly enjoyed the few months after school ended. It was time meaningfully spent. It was also a reminder to me never to cling to earthly routines, because these routines will never be constant, only God is.
SOM was a time to centre myself and grow to trust God in his plans. It was a disruption that is very valuable in hindsight. Perhaps I may first feel annoyed when I meet with the next disruption in life. But when that happens, I’ll be looking out for goodness that come from it.
Landmarks 2022
From 18 February to 20 May 2022, we held our Fully Human Fully Alive Experience / Vision Therapy (focus is to change our lives by changing our vision) followed by an extended time till June for those who desire to deepen in the experience. Some participants have this to say about the programme:
Carolyn – The facilitation, the tools and the simplicity of the format have helped.
Bernadine – What helped is the mixture of sharing in small groups and big group.
Judy – It helped me to face the areas in my life where I have not included God.
Regina – The vulnerable sharings and facilitators who ask questions that help us dig deeper have helped.
Jacqueline – There was sufficient time for sharings.
Cassie – The homework/activities, the tools to counter the crippling statements
Karen – It has helped us to discover oneself more and gave us tools to work towards change
Bridget – The programme helps people to deepen their relationship with God. “God loves me for who I am.”
Joanna – I particularly like the session about the techniques which could be used.
Karolyn – It was useful and helpful.
Testimony by Celine Lau of her School of Mission in Sabah 2021
It is hard to choose to trust someone I don’t know well, much less entrust to them my entire life.
Through this testimony, I want to share how through the School of Mission Sabah in 2021, God transformed our relationship and gave me a new excitement for life in Him.
When I was first asked to discern for the School of Mission Sabah, I struggled with saying my ‘yes’ because I had imagined all the discomfort I might have to go through, and I wondered if it really was worth giving up the 4.5 months. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe God had my best intentions at heart, but that the process would be something I wouldn’t enjoy much. I had imagined the ways God would force me to face my darkest fears in order to show me the way out. I had imagined God would reveal to me how little my faith, and how far I had been from him, and that I would struggle to give up many things in order to come home.
In reality, none of it happened as I imagined.
Well firstly, I didn’t have to come home because I was already home. By grace of the covid-19 situation, the School was carried out virtually and I didn’t have to leave home physically for the first 2.5 months. From the comfort of my home, He allowed me to experience the creativity of an online encounter through the loving staff members and community that made up the school experience. I was amazed at the creative ways the staff and speakers brought across the teachings, each sharing their natural gifts to the fullest measure.
Through experiencing the school at home, I was able to process my everyday experience with the school and apply what I had received into my life. I felt like it gave me opportunity to respond and witness to the transformation I was experiencing to my family, to celebrate my story in this familiar place, and to receive healing in this family home where once I had experienced wounds.
I felt the transformation within me was subtle, as God lead me to discover more of who I was through the gentle correction of my images of Him. I remember several lightbulb moments go off when my sharing partner worked with me on my “I am” statements. I realised that because of my poor self-image, I had not been able to claim that God was truly for me. And so gradually He revealed through my memories, just how much I was loved and how He had always been present even when I felt nothing. I realised that the parts of myself I felt lacking were never missing but was within me all this time, I only had to discover them and claim them.
I realised it was impossible to be distant from God’s love, for it surrounds me, gives me life at every moment. As I gradually discovered this familiar love again through the time in school, I grew in trust and security to be myself. The theme this year was “Freedom”, and I was truly grateful for the ways I experienced freedom in the school. Something that was life-changing for me was the encouragement to practice a language of choice, where we avoided the ‘shoulds’ and ‘have tos’ and instead know that the voice of a loving God only invites, never imposes, never shames or blames. I am now able to better discern God’s voice in my life, and to hear more clearly the voice that affirms me and points me to life.
One of the highlights in school for me was the outreach phase. I was nervous going into it as I couldn’t see what I could bring to the table. But it was through the experience of outreaching, I experienced my own gifts with new eyes. And beyond that, I witnessed an amazing display of God’s gifts from the whole team, it felt exactly as Thomas Aquinas put it that grace only perfects nature. It was incredible to watch everyone becoming a perfect gift to the people that God sent to us simply by being ourselves. I received so much from the outreach, it felt more like I was being outreached to.
It’s funny that before school I wondered if I would enjoy the 4.5 months at all but I can confidently say now that it had been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. There is no dull moment with God, in fact I struggle to select my highlights for this sharing simply because there were just too many. I am grateful that now I can claim that God is truly and totally for me, His dearly beloved daughter. I am excited for the unique mission He has called me to only because it is one that will lead me to know His heart. I am free to be who He has called me to be, and to let my light shine for all to see.
Boundaries 2021
The Woman to Woman Ministry dedicated 2021 to Boundaries, based on the book authored by Dr Henry Cloud and Dr John Townsend. Here are some reflection from some of our participants of what was most helpful to them:
Fabiola – Letting the good in and the bad out. The 10 Laws.
Claudine – The maturity and non-judgmental attitude of the facilitators.
Melissa – Mature Boundaries
Amelia – Role playing and facilitators’ sharings.
Imelda – It feels like a safe space to explore my thoughts and feelings.
Serene – Having adequate time for sharing and listening to each other’s testimony was helpful to learn from one another and to encourage each other on our journey in setting boundaries.
Testimony by Adeline of her School of Mission in Sabah 2020
Introduction of myself
Baptised a Catholic when I was only 12 days old, I have gone to church and fulfilled all its obligations all my life, serving in church as a catechist and minister for the sick and am a part of the ICPE Companions in Singapore. I thought I have known all there is to know of Him until I came to the School of Mission (SOM) together with my husband, Michael. I saw that God has been patient with me all this while and it took Him many decades to break through to me. Before coming to the school, I worked as an accountant; I am superb at counting money and am now counting the blessings from God. And I would like to share some of those blessings/highlights with you.
(1) Highlights
RADICAL LEADERS
When I first received the notification from Derek & Nick that our school will proceed via zoom, I was thinking: IS THIS POSSIBLE??? I remember one advice given to us by Anna, our ICPE founder, at the start of our school was “God, surprise me.” I was amazed and moved by all the testimonies of the school staff and participants that showed me how our God is full of surprises and creativity and how He moves in our lives. To see how each person in the school loves God madly, moves me to love Him madly too.
TRUE IMAGE OF GOD
I never knew that I had a wrong image of God. I always thought I had a perfect image of Him. During SOM, we were given examples of different false images of God and I was surprised that I could identify one of them as mine. It was the false image of a performance-driven God who rewards me when I do well. The lie of “I am not good enough” influenced the way I live my life (doubting my own capabilities), how I see my relationships with others (comparing myself with others).
The message that “God is love” is now ingrained in me. I learned that because God is love, He cannot give us some love. What He gives is Himself. (Rom 5:5 God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.) The accountant in me will probably think of equations like God is 50% Love + 30% Compassionate + 20% Generous = 100%. But the God I now know is 100% of everything!!! God is simple!!! God is simply beyond my imagination of how I see Him!
DREAM BIG
I am often commented on that I think in a box. But God has a bigger box. He lives outside of time (I am trapped in time but not God). In one of our sessions, we were given the question what would I do if I had USD1 billion and I said my dream is to get an ICPE House in Singapore. I discovered that my dreams can grow bigger if I bring God into them and not be constrained by my mind, and now I am dreaming of an ICPE Village just like how the apostles live their lives in Acts of the Apostles.
5 LOAVES & 2 FISH
In the school, I was encouraged to lead praise & worship, prayers, sharing groups and give testimony-teachings even though I am an introvert by nature. What touched me was how the staff of the school kept guiding and encouraging me. I never thought that I could be creative in arts/drama. Yet, God could multiply the little that I have, allowing me to give ideas to creating skits and even be part of these skits and sign dances.
(2) What has helped me to be a missionary disciple
Just when Michael & I thought our meals will be just the two of us, we had people who blessed us by bringing food to our house and we were very touched by 2 months of Sunday community lunches hosted by many people in ICPE SG and friends. I experienced how they loved, blessed and honoured us through beautifully planned meals and meaningful, life-giving conversations and prayers. It taught me that being a missionary disciple is about sharing God’s love in the ordinary living in extraordinary ways.
I didn’t think I would dare to go around Singapore doing prayer walks, street outreaches, telling people that I am a Catholic missionary, sharing my testimony of God, or simply, hand out a bible quote. On certain nights, we went around seeking out the homeless bearing gifts and messages of hope. One of them, whom I encountered, was an old lady who shared her story, life circumstances and challenges of living in the public area. It stirred my missionary zeal as I listened to her and offered her scripture notes to bring her hope.
(3) What are you bring with you and your hope for the next step
This is the first virtual SOM in the history of ICPE and I am the “finished product” of it but I have only just started living – a lifestyle that is set apart, that I am unique and I can live uniquely, and stop copying.
I celebrate that God is my loving father, my identity that I am worthy and loved, and my mission now is to bring His love to others wherever He leads me. While conversion of hearts is God’s work, I wish to make a difference in the lives of others by being God’s connector in building relationships so that others can see Him in me and come closer to Him.
ICPE Mission Singapore 