Ministering to the Sick and Dying
MBS 1st Semester 2025
Lecturer: Rev. Dr Tony Lim
As a Christian community, we need to learn how to take care of three categories of people who are not well. The first are those who are acutely ill. Acutely ill patients (suffering from heart attack, dengue fever, etc) need sudden, intensive but generally short-term care. By andlarge we have learnt to respond quickly, effectively and pastorally to those in our community who are acutely ill.
In contrast we still do not know how to care for those in our second category; those who are chronically ill. Their sicknesses are not immediately death threatening. But it may be painful, crippling and debilitating enough to keep them house bound for long periods of time. In the
same way we have no inkling how to come alongside someone suffering mental illnesses. Those suffering from Alzheimer for example. How do we walk alongside someone who remains unwell for months, for years? Someone who needs long term prolonged care? (KY n his bedridden parents – cost in financial, physical and emotional terms)
Finally, it is troubling that we seemed unable to minister holistically to those who are terminally ill. We get perplexed when we pray for healing but people do not get well. We have been conditioned by advances in medicine and science to expect that most diseases can be healed and many of our questions and problems can be answered and solved.
But as John Wyatt, Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics at University College, pointed out,
“Suffering is not a question which demands an answer, it is not a problem which requires a solution, it is a mystery which demands a presence. It is a call to be there.”
Art Lindsley, Ph.D, Senior Fellow, C.S. Lewis Institute, says,
“When we all experience pain, a little courage helps more (Lewis observes) than much knowledge, a little sympathy more than much courage, and the least amount of the love of God more than all”.
The church is called to be ‘there’ for those who are not well. In order for us to offer adequate pastoral care, we need to look at some important key issues affecting the lives of those who are sick and others who are terminally ill. These include questions of theology as well as matters of practical everyday care.
Finally, Marva Dawn a renown theologian who has suffered much physical infirmities tells us this remarkable truth, “Emotional, intellectual and spiritual wholeness don’t require physical wellness”.
May we learn to know this truth at the end of our course together.
Course outline
1. In the beginning God…
• Revisiting the attributes and character of God.
• Reaffirming God’s goodness, love mercy and faithfulness.
• Reaffirming a Divine purpose and meaning for living
2. A theology of healing: Signs, Wonders and Cancer
3. A theology of suffering:
• Absence of God
• Suffering as punishment (Ps 44)
• Suffering as a means of grace, redemptive possibilities in suffering
• A matter of response : living a life of faith with a clear calling and clear conviction
that “it is good for us to be, and to be who we are”
• Place of worship and praise
• See Marva Dawn’s Being Well When We’re ill, p 37
4. Caring for the chronically ill vs. caring for those acutely ill:
• Dealing with depression
• Honoring our father and mother (caring for our aged parents)
• ‘The long goodbye’.
• Addiction – special case of chronic illness or condition
Cycle of addiction, first thought wrong principle (Yancey, What Good is God, p
245) – temptations come in cycles, first thought of every cycle is wrong.
5. Caring for the caregiver
6. Hospital and home visitation:
• Do’s and Don’ts
• Scripture readings
• Sermons and worship
• Holy communion
• Church roster for visitation and practical care (home cooked food, etc.)
7. Caring for the terminally ill:
• Many swings from fear to faith
• Sense of crippling isolation
• Unresolved issues of those terminally ill – relationships, guilty conscience, making a will, etc
• Place of hospices
• The last chapter of life: Finishing Well.
• Bodily resurrection. Our final and lasting hope Euthanasia and suicides
8. Euthanasia and suicide
9. Questions of coping with death, making funeral arrangements
10. After care for the bereaved, remembering death anniversary, festive seasons.
Assignments
1. Do a book review on Marva Dawn’s Being Well When We’re Ill.
2. Reflect theologically and pastorally on a visit either at home or in the hospital to one of your members who is either chronically ill or terminally ill.
3. Write a paper on Caring for the chronically and terminally ill: What is the responsibility of the local church?
4. Ample opportunities for small group interactions and presentations will be given in class.
Select Bibliography
Augsburg Books,
Benner, David G. (1998), Free at Last, Bellevue: Essence
Boa, Kenneth, Conformed to His Image, Grand Rapids
Carson, D.A. (1990), How Long, O Lord?, Leicester: IVP
Crabb, Larry (1997), Connecting, Nashville: Word Publishing
Dawn, Marva (2008), Being Well When We’re Ill, Minneapolis
Dunn, Ron (1994), When Heaven is Silent, Denmark: Authentic
Fernando, Ajith (2002), Jesus Driven Ministry, Wheaton: Crossway Books
Frost, Henry, W. (1999) Miraculous Healing, Kent: OMF
Lewis, Alan E. (2003), Between the Cross Resurrection. A Theology of Holy Saturday, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans
Lim, Tony and Teresa (2005), Can Two Walk Together?, Kuala Lumpur: Kairos
Maxwell, Katie (1990), Bedside Manners, Grand Raids: Baker
Montgomery, Leslie (2006), Redemptive Suffering, Wheaton: Crossway Books
Motyer, J. Alec, The Message of Philippians, (1984), Leicester: Augsburg
Peterson, Eugene, H. (1997), Leap Over a Wall, New York: Harper San Francisco
Petty, David, L. (2003), Aging Gracefully, Nashville: Broadman and Holman
Tang, Alex (2005), A Good Day to Die, Singapore: Genesis
Vanderzee, T. John, Ministry to Persons with Chronic Illness: Augsburg
Willard, Dallas (1998), The Divine Conspiracy, Glasgow: Font
Wong, David W. F. (2006), Finishing Well, Singapore: BAC printers
Wyatt, John (1998), Matters of Life and Death, Leicester: IV