Pray without Ceasing: Revitalizing Pastoral Care

by Deborah Van Deusen Hunsinger

Taking seriously Paul’s exhortation in 1 Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing,” Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger challenges pastors and congregations to put prayer at the center of their Christian practice and theological reflection. In this thought-provoking book Hunsinger reclaims spiritual practices from token use and unites them in a dynamic network of interdependent caring traditions. The book begins with the three foundational disciplines of spiritual reading, careful listening, and self-reflection. Hunsinger then explores prayers of petition, intercession, confession, lament, and thanksgiving. Finally she offers practical, workable suggestions for developing pastoral care groups and teaching care-giving skills at the congregational level. Clergy and laity alike will reap the benefits of this revitalizing look at the spiritual disciplines as dynamic forces in the life of the church.

Genres: Prayer, Religion, Nonfiction, Theology, Spirituality

264 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2006

Reviews

[Brother Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 of the 9 chapters in this book were assigned for me in a seminary class. It was such rich and insightful material that I had to read the rest. Van Deusen Hunsinger's heart for prayer in the context of pastoral ministry—and for her, everyone is a "pastor" via the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers—is gripping and profound. I love that she draws wisdom from psychology and counselling fields. It was beautifully interwoven with a theology of prayer. I'd say this is essential reading for church leaders and highly recommended for lay people.

[Becky Philo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not sure how I found this book but I’m so glad I did. This book focuses on how the church can equip members to care for one another. So much of the information applies to counseling. It contains a wealth of information and refers to other sources that may be beneficial for those in helping roles. I will keep this one on my bookshelf and definitely reread!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this for a Caregiving class this semester. It has helped me immensely as I think about my role as a caregiver and ministry leader with an element of pastoral care wrapped up in it: how do I preach and pray with and for those who are hurting, healing, searching, and rejoicing? Love Hunsinger’s Theology & her critiques/encouragements when it comes to different schools of psychology & how to use/NOT use them in different situations.

[William Burr]

This is a book filled with energy and devotion, and care. The chapter on listening to others is filled with interesting real-life pastoral situations, fascinating and rich with common-sense solutions for really hearing what someone else is going through. The chapter on listening to oneself, I also found really helpful, and gave new ways of tuning into what I'm really experiencing. A lot of the other chapters are about the title of the book - praying without ceasing - a lovely idea. And a good aspiration, surely, that I have for myself, too. But there is a risk that an instruction to pray without ceasing becomes frozen, loses its dynamic quality. It is a reminder for me of the need to enter into prayer freely. Sometimes I think I felt, while reading, that prayer was no longer a choice. Nevertheless, a rich book with much wisdom to offer.

For example is this not a little strong? "There will be no renewal of pastoral care if practices of devotional reading and meditation on Scripture cannot be recovered."

"Contemporary forms of feminism, for example, have helped the church become aware of its sinful sexist practices, but its insights would have no moral authority if it could not also be shown that the Gospel itself understands such patriarchalism and sexism to be contrary to God's purposes for human life." No moral authority without the Gospel - really?

On the other hand, here are some quotes that I found inspiring:
"Human beings need one another in order to be human. Isolation is a sign of human misery. To deny our need of others is a defense against the pain of isolation. Human flourishing requires human community - people bonded together in mutual giving and receiving."

'Ordained ministers, he argues, should consider their task to be more nearly one of facilitating "natural patterns of care" that already exist than of seeing themselves as providing all the pastoral care needed. Especially since loneliness was the greatest single problem cited, it would be much more valuable for pastors to use whatever skills they might have to build bridges between people rather than to try to be "all things to all people" themselves.'

[Jeremy Manuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you start reading Pray Without Ceasing you're not be sure why that's the title. The main focus of the first few chapters is not obviously on prayer. It is more on the idea that pastoral care is for everyone to be a part of, not just the pastor or staff of the church, and on listening to God, yourself, and others. It is only about halfway through the book that you get to the prayers.

I thought that Pray Without Ceasing was a solid book. I really like that her focus is on the idea of pastoral care as a function for all Christians to be a part of, not just the "official" clergy. I think that's an important function of the church that continually gets lost in the church in one way or the other whether it is due to clericalism, professionalism, or celebrity.

I feel that her look at listening is valuable, but I do think that Adam McHugh's The Listening Life does a bit of a better job of going into these topics. Her chapters on different types of prayers are also well done and while not exhaustive necessarily provide a good overview of different types of prayer.

The thing that held this book back a little was that it is a little heavy on quotes. I like books that include quotes, but there is a point where it can get to be a bit much. It felt at some points more like a research paper than a book. It did really make me want to read more of Karl Barth though, so that could be a good thing perhaps.

Overall, I enjoyed Pray Without Ceasing I think it does a good job of showing that everyone should be in the role of pastoral care and that prayer is important to fulfilling that role. It feels a bit wooden at times, like it was more of a research paper than a book, but that doesn't really detract from the overall message much. I think I would have liked it even more if I hadn't just read a phenomenal book about listening not too long ago, but I still think this book is well worth your time.

[Chesna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book started out a little slow, but stick with it. There is real and good practical advice, analysis of pastoral conversations, and a theological richness throughout that taught me and preached to me. Not many books pack a punch like this one. Really excellent.

[Ferrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book, not a great one.