Faith community nurses are currently registered nurses who provide holistic care to individuals and whanau/families using nursing knowledge combined with spiritual care. They practice within a church pastoral setting and provide an outreach ministry to their local community.
How can a Faith Community Nurse support the Pastor/Priest
God commands that we ‘love our neighbour’ (Mark 12: 30-31) and when we do ‘love one another’ it is a powerful witness of God’s love and grace to the world we live in (John 13:35).
The Church is commanded by Christ ‘to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick’ (Luke 9:2). Healing activities made up a large part of Jesus’ ministry. He healed people from various conditions and that healing was physical, mental and spiritual in nature (Matthew 15: 30), enabling people to be restored to their communities, to resume their role within whanau/family and community, thus glorifying God and achieving their potential.
In New Zealand society today, we have an ageing population, a high suicide rate, loneliness and a rising level of anxiety and depression. The health system has greater demands due the high incidence of chronic conditions its geographical challenge and the impact of the Covid pandemic which has also stretched its resources.