Event Content

Pastoral Seminar

Date: Monday, June 23, 2025

Time: 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM

Venue: Grace Community Baptist Church (6825 Kerr St, Vancouver, BC, V5S 3C7)

Pastoral Retreat

Dates: Tuesday to Wednesday, June 24–25, 2025

Time: 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM (each day)

Venue: Epiphany Chapel, Vancouver School of Theology (6015 Walter Gage Road)

In times of rapid social change, trauma has quietly made its way into the depths of church communities and the lives of pastors. Whether due to migration stress, the pandemic, generational conflicts, or internal church tensions, both congregants and pastors may carry unspoken wounds. How can the church become a safe, healing, and renewing space? And when pastors themselves are hurting, how can they continue to serve without being crushed?

In this seminar and retreat, Dr. Andres Tang, Professor of Christian Thought (Theology and Culture) at Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary, Hong Kong, will bring together theological insights and pastoral experience to explore trauma-informed pastoral care and its theological grounding. Together, we will reflect on:

Why is trauma not just a psychological issue, but also a deeply spiritual and theological one?

How can pastors identify and walk alongside trauma survivors?

When pastors themselves are wounded, how can theology support rather than burden them?

Interview with Dr. Andres Tang: Introduction to the Pastoral Seminar on Trauma-Informed Care 1/4

Interviewer: Dr. Tang, in recent years, the topic of psychological trauma has been widely discussed in society. As a Christian theologian, what draws you to this particular subject?

Interview with Dr. Andres Tang: Introduction to the Pastoral Seminar on Trauma-Informed Care 2/4

Interviewer: In recent years, churches in North America have begun to explore the concept of trauma-informed pastoral care. What kind of pastoral approach is this? And why is it a topic that Chinese pastors should pay close attention to?

Interview with Dr. Andres Tang: Introduction to the Pastoral Seminar on Trauma-Informed Care 3/4

Interviewer: Dr. Tang, over the past decade, many social changes have deeply impacted the church. In your observation, what kind of trauma has this caused in pastoral ministry? How do these traumas challenge our pastoral work, and how should we respond?

Interview with Dr. Andres Tang: Introduction to the Pastoral Seminar on Trauma-Informed Care 4/4

Interviewer: When pastors themselves experience trauma, how does it affect their personal lives and their ministry communities? Why do those who are wounded not only need counseling, but perhaps even more so, theology?

We warmly invite pastors and ministry workers to join us.

To find renewed strength and hope for pastoral care through reflection, rest, and shared journeying.