Note: Depending on your congregation, this ritual might be led by the minister, board chair, or the Pastoral Care Team’s supervisor. You may wish to introduce this ritual by describing the team’s role. If in person, begin by inviting team members to the front of the sanctuary.

Leader:
[Name each team member],
we come here today to commission you as pastoral caregivers.
As the [your role] of [name of church],
I am grateful for your willingness to serve in your role.

Congregation:
Today we call you forth from among us.
We place our trust in you,
asking you to sit with us in our pain
and celebrate with us in our joy.
We ask you to be our spiritual companions,
witnesses of our lives’ paths.

Leader:
I charge you, as members of the Pastoral Care Team,
to listen with compassion to your fellow congregants,
to care for yourselves and one another,
to tend to the sacred in your encounters,
and to ask for help when you need it.

May you know that your care is powerful.
May you know that I am here to guide and support you.
And may you know that you are enough.

Leader and Congregation:
As your [minister, board chair, team leader] and as your congregation,
we now commission you as our Pastoral Care Team
for this coming year.
Thank you for all you will give. Amen!