His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains that the priest’s ministry is not only spiritual care, but a comprehensive care that includes psychological, social, practical, and pastoral service. He affirms that the priest is responsible for the spiritual growth of his children, their service, and reaching the neglected and marginalized, especially the scattered areas that “have no one to remember them.”

1. Deep spiritual care

• Spiritual care is not only confession and removing sins (the negative side), but also spiritual growth and acquiring virtues (the positive side).

• Growth includes prayer, fasting, communion, Bible reading, loving God and people, and bearing the fruits of the Spirit such as peace, humility, and meekness.

• Few priests provide positive spiritual exercises that help people reach holiness and discover themselves.

2. Care through service

• The priest helps his children grow in service: serving the poor, social needs, consecration, and preparing truly dedicated servants.

• Importance of training servants for field ministry and forming active service teams.

3. Preparing specialized and effective servants

• He gives examples of priests who formed “evangelism teams” active everywhere, teaching their youth responsibility and leadership.

• Using educational tools such as pictures, slides, media, and attractive activities.

4. Serving remote and impoverished areas

• He warns against neglecting scattered or poor districts, for if ignored, other groups may draw them away.

• These areas must be visited consistently, with thorough “pastoral surveying” to know every soul living there.

• He offers various examples of places that require special pastoral attention.

5. A wide heart and an expanding ministry

• The priest should not limit himself to the “streets of his church,” but extend his heart to every soul in need.

• The verse: “You shall be My witnesses… to the ends of the earth” is a call to limitless outreach.

6. Building new churches

• Whenever many Copts settle in a new area, the church must quickly buy land and prepare for building before opportunities disappear.

7. Cooperation between priest and servants

• True servants do not compete with the priest but assist him, forming a bond of love and unity.

• The priest guides and corrects, as Christ trained His disciples.

8. A call to a broad pastoral vision

• Pastoral ministry is not a form nor a geographical limit, but a heart extending like Christ’s heart, seeking the salvation of every soul.

• “Those who have no one to remember them” refers not only to the poor but to every distant soul that needs someone to seek it.

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