Chapter 6 Creating a Soul Care Plan

From Intention to Structure Good intentions do not constitute soul care. Structure does. The pastor who says he will tend his soul someday, when things slow down, will still be saying it twenty years from now — because things never slow down. Ministry will always fill whatever space you give it. A soul care plan is a simple, honest document that articulates the specific rhythms, practices, and commitments you are making to tend your own spiritual life. It is not a list of ideals. It is a description of what you are actually going to do. It should be short. It should be specific. It should be reviewed regularly and revised honestly. Elements of a Simple Soul Care Plan Daily practices: A specific time of prayer and Scripture reading. Even 30 minutes. What time? What location? What structure? Weekly Sabbath: What day? What boundaries protect it? What does it look like when you observe it well? Monthly extended time: When will it happen? What will you do with it? Annual retreat: When will you schedule it? Where will you go? Who will you tell so you are held accountable to actually doing it? Accountability: Who knows the state of your soul? When do you meet with them? What do they ask you? Reading: What are you reading for personal formation right now — not for sermon preparation? A soul care plan is not a spiritual achievement. It is a survival plan. Write it like your ministry depends on it — because it does. TRENCH WORK SERIES Volume 19 The Physical Body of the Pastor Health, Sleep, and the Body God Gave You PART 2: THE PASTOR'S SOUL Pastors Connection Network pastorsconnectionnetwork.com Your Body Is Part of Your Calling Ministry is a physical occupation. That is not a metaphor. You stand for hours, travel to hospitals, carry grief, show up at crises, and sustain a pace that would break most people in other professions. You do this with a body — the same body God gave you, the same one you will take with you into every hospital room and every pulpit for the rest of your ministry. Yet most pastoral training says virtually nothing about the body. How to care for it, how to sustain it, how to prevent the physical breakdown that has ended more ministries than most people know. This ebook is a conversation about the body — not as a distraction from spiritual ministry, but as the vehicle through which ministry happens. The body matters. Yours specifically.