“I PLANTED, APOLLOS WATERED BUT GOD GAVE THE INCREASE†(1COR. 3:6): TOWARDS COLLABORATION IN PASTORAL MINISTRY

Abstract

The care of souls remains central in any Christian religion worthy of the name. That impliesan inclination towards the transcendence. That is however founded on the fact that man iscomposed of two natures - body and soul, reminiscent of the hylemorphic composition ofman. This viewpoint however led to a dualistic metaphysics, which views the body and soulas two substances really distinct even if they are united in the formation of man. However,Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy sought for the concrete unity of these two realities,because though man is a corporeal being composed of the material stuff of the inorganicworld, still, he cannot be completely explained in terms of his corporeal life alone for healso possesses a spiritual-intellectual life, which is intrinsically independent of everythingmaterial. Consequently, if man is a being that can perform both immaterial and spiritualacts like thinking, deciding and knowing, ipso facto he is a spiritual being. By dint of thisfact he enjoys spiritual existence. However the two dimensions complement each other. Allin all, this natural inclination to God is the fulcrum of our faith, which is based on God’srevelation of Himself and man’s response. Consequently, faith requires human agents andhuman response. Faith needs nourishment through collaborative pastoral ministry in whichevery plays his/her part reasonably well. The researcher therefore will expose how pastoralministry has to be aimed at drawing people to God and not to the person of the pastor. Theresearch will use descriptive methodology aimed at unveiling exegetical implication of thisverse under consideration and analytic approach that will delineate its implication tocollaborative pastoral ministry. In the end, the research will recommend the necessity ofgiving God a central place in every pastoral ministry.