Working with Spiritual Struggles

Continuing Education for Ministers and those Preparing for Ministry
Taught by Rev. Wayne E. Gustafson, DMin, LMHC
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Course Description

Parishioners frequently come to their pastors for help with particular spiritual struggles: how to recover a sense of meaning or purpose when life events have challenged their core beliefs and values; how to make difficult decisions that bring them into conflict with their personal beliefs or their religious community; how to recover when they have been harmed by a religious leader or a religious community.

Course Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Recognize and describe spiritual struggles.
2. Identify spiritual struggles commonly encountered in parishioners.
3. Identify and begin using helpful strategies for addressing spiritual struggles in ethical and effective ways.

The course provides 3 hours of continuing education for authorized ministers whose associations require it.

This curriculum is taken from “Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy,” a 30 hour training program for psychotherapists offered by “ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education.” Primary authors: Russell Siler Jones, ThD, LPCS and Jill Snodgrass, MDiv, MA, PhD.

This course has been modified by Dr. Gustafson for pastoral ministry with permission.

Technology:
This course uses the platform Zoom. You do not need to have a Zoom account to participate in the course. You do need to have a webcam. If you have questions about video-conferenced courses or would like to set up a test to see how Zoom works on your computer, please email Rev. Marjorie Purnine, Dean of the New York School of Ministry, at mpurnine@uccny.org.