Victoria Tayo Aja, DMin, is a chaplain and assistant professor of applied theology at the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies (AIIAS), Silang, Cavite, Philippines.

Clinical pastoral education (CPE) has been one of the most helpful programs in both my personal and professional life. It enables me to work on my issues, such as lack of self-confidence, fear of self-disclosure, and impatience. By teaching me how to reflect on who I am daily, it opened my eyes to the importance of self-care and self-growth for optimal ministry performance and personal well-being. Furthermore, it provides me with skills to offer pastoral, spiritual, and emotional support to those whom I work with—church members, students, and patients. It also reveals my areas of strength that can enhance my ministry.

What is CPE?

Clinical pastoral education is specialized training for professional chaplains. However, it is helpful in all pastoral fields.1 It also provides pastoral/spiritual care training for clergy and other interested individuals, especially those in the helping ministries. CPE focuses on teaching chaplaincy ministry skills (or, as often stated, pastoral/spiritual care skills).

The history of CPE dates back to the early twentieth century. Anton Boisen, one of the pioneer founders of the CPE movement, believed that exposing seminarians to real-life human experiences as part of their training would better prepare them for effective ministry.2 Such training is still the core of CPE today. Using real-life experience, CPE (1) helps its recipients develop an awareness of themselves and how their attitudes, values, assumptions, strengths, and weaknesses affect their pastoral/spiritual care;3 (2) trains its recipients to provide clients with quality pastoral/spiritual care; (3) helps build empathic relationships with their clients for the clients’ well-being; and (4) integrates both didactic and experiential learning to enable caregivers to develop their own helping strate­gies that they can apply to various pastoral issues, circumstances, and groups.

The Department of Chaplaincy and CPE at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center states that CPE employs “the clinical method of learning . . . that combines action (the actual practice of ministry to persons) and reflection (using resources such as written reports of visits, discussion and feedback from peers and a Certified Educator, and application and integration of didactic material). An ongoing learning cycle is formed which enables students to develop and expand their ministry skills and knowledge while also deepening their self-awareness and self-knowledge.”4

The relevance of CPE to local church pastors

Local church pastors would benefit in at least two ways from CPE:

Pastoral/spiritual skills acquisition. CPE (1) enhances pastoral care skills for the well-being of church members (caring for the whole being of each member can motivate them to be involved in the church’s mission); (2) promotes the pastors’ self-awareness, helping them realize that it can make or mar a pastor’s ministry and possibly damage the church’s reputation; and (3) can be used as a tool for the mission of the church.

Such benefits should encourage local church pastors to have at least a unit of CPE to help them address issues that affect their members’ well-being. Christians are not immune to crises, and pastors are expected to provide pastoral care and nurture church members as well as seekers outside the church fold. Clinical pastoral education further equips pastors with tools to perform such roles. It gives them the skills to journey with people in crisis for better outcomes.

The word pastoral takes its meaning from the word shepherd. Jesus told the apostle Peter to feed His sheep (John 21:15–17). Such “feeding” includes having concern for both the salvation and well-being of church members. Author Ellen G. White wrote, “The pastor is a shepherd of the sheep, guarding them, feeding them, warning them, reproving them, or encouraging them, as the case may require.”5

Pastors must address their church members’ real-life issues because whatever affects one aspect of human life will impact the other. “Every physical problem has emotional, spiritual, and social ramifications, and every emotional, spiritual, or social problem has physical impact.”6 Caring for the whole being of each church member can motivate that individual to participate in the mission of the church—to make disciples of all nations. We could draw a lesson from Christ’s method of ministry. Jesus “mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, minis­tered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’ ”7

Self-awareness benefits. Personality issues and other personal problems can create rifts between church pastors and their members. Personal issues such as workaholism, anger, and sexual problems are, unfortunately, not uncommon among clergy.

Because every individual has areas of weakness, CPE will make pastors aware of their character/behavior and provide them with continuous self-reflection and self-care skills. Understanding one’s personality type can help one become aware of how personality traits limit a person and then how to overcome them.8

Trends in pastors’ training

The benefits of CPE to pastoral work have motivated some theological seminaries in developed countries to include one unit of CPE in their curriculum, especially the Master of Divinity program. In addition, CPE can be taken at any point during one’s ministry career. During my CPE basic training at Loma Linda University’s CPE center, two of my peers were clergy sent by their parish to undergo CPE training because of its relevance to church ministry.

Thus, pastors who did not receive CPE as part of their theological education can still take it. Numerous accredited CPE centers exist around the world. Also, a significant increase in distance CPE has appeared online. Besides, organizations like the Asia Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (AACPE) and Adventist Chaplaincy Institute (ACI) are committed to going around the world when invited to run CPE programs in person. Thus, pastors can access CPE regardless of where they are.

CPE and mission

It is not uncommon to hear people talk about CPE tilting more toward psychology than spirituality. Not only that, some assume that CPE is antimission, but that is not so. One of the leaders behind CPE, at its conception, stated, “This movement has no new gospel to proclaim: we are not seeking to introduce anything into the theological curriculum beyond a new approach to some ancient problems. We are trying, rather, to call attention back to the central task of the church, that of saving souls, and to the central problem of theology, that of sin and salvation. What is new is the attempt to begin with the study of the living human document rather than with books and to focus attention upon those who are grappling desperately with the issues of spiritual life and death.”9

Clinical pastoral education is, therefore, an additional tool for mission work. Correctly applying the skills learned under the guardianship of the Holy Spirit will help church pastors retain their members and aid them in the work of soul winning.

If you are looking for ways to further equip yourself or pastors under your watch for increasing competence in soul/spiritual uplifting ministry, CPE is one area to consider. We must value the continuous education of our workers.

  1. G. S. Rey, Clinical Pastoral Education Students Handbook (Manila, Phillippines: Pastoral Care Services Department of Adventist Medical Center, n.d.).
  2. Glenn H. Asquith Jr., “The Case Study Method of Anton T. Boisen,” Journal of Pastoral Care 34, no. 2 (June 1980): 84–94, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002234098003400203?journalCode=pccb.
  3. See “Pastoral Formation,” Beaumont, https://www.beaumont.edu/other-education/clinical-pastoral-education/outcomes-objectives."
  4. “Clinical Pastoral Education at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center,” The Ohio State University, accessed February 1, 2024, https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/patient-and-visitor guide/clinical-pastoral-education.
  5. Ellen G. White, Pastoral Ministry (Silver Spring, MD: General Conference Ministerial Association, 1995), 224.
  6. Richard Rice, “Toward a Theology of Wholeness: A Tentative Model of Whole Person Care,” in Spirituality, Health, and Wholeness: An Introductory Guide, ed. Siroj Sorajjakool and Henry Lamberton (New York: Haworth, 2004), 17.
  7. Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1942), 143.
  8. David Daniels, The Essential Enneagram: The Definitive Personality Test and Self-Discovery Guide (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2000).
  9. Julia C. S. Vernon, “Is There Any Word From the Lord? The Role of the Bible in Pastoral Care and Chaplaincy Training,” Ministry, May 1993.
Victoria Tayo Aja, DMin, is a chaplain and assistant professor of applied theology at the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies (AIIAS), Silang, Cavite, Philippines.

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