Anne-Louise Critchlow’s Slowing Down is a gentle call to rediscover the quiet power of pastoral care. With warmth and wisdom, she honours the often-overlooked ministry of supporting the elderly says Eliza Bailey.
Reading Anne-Louise Critchlow’s Slowing Down (Instant Apostle) is a genre-defying experience, containing elements of devotional Bible study, personal memoir, and instructive exhortation. Critchlow’s purpose is to support and encourage those in pastoral ministry, and, in particular recipients of the ‘gift of ‘helps’’.
By slowing down, believers visiting those who are ill or ageing will be less tempted to offer quick fixes and more likely to listen, resist ambition, and embrace the quiet kindness of doing small things for God in support of others. In short, for Critchlow, the act of slowing down is akin to learning humility, understanding that we are limited in this life, but ultimately that “we can rejoice in what God gives us to do”, even the inconspicuous, unglamorous things.
The shelves of Christian bookshops are hardly bursting with content on pastoral ministry, perhaps least of all ministry to the elderly, which makes this book feel all the more timely and necessary. At a time when headlines are filled with the struggles of unpaid carers in an often uncaring system, Slowing Down will feel like an oasis for those who have long served elderly loved ones and community members in quiet faithfulness. Better still, Critchlow’s style is simple and unpretentious, often conversational in tone, making her work easily digestible – something that will be appreciated by her target audience, who are notoriously time poor.
Slowing Down is brief and straightforward. But it isn’t light on content or lacking in depth. The topics tackled range from disappointment and discontent, to serious illness, to death - a range Critchlow is able to engage with due to her own rich and moving life experience. In a recent article for Premier Woman Alive, Critchlow writes about her initial reluctance to move from ministering to younger people to a focus on care of the elderly, and explains how she has learned through this work how: “an older person, who is wise in the faith, also has so much to give us”. Slowing Down gives a glimpse of what experiencing that wise faith firsthand has given Critchlow and there are times where the book feels like a kind of contemporary wisdom literature.
Critchlow’s deeply personal, often self-deprecating and always compassionate reflections on her time in pastoral ministry are woven throughout the book. At times, the sheer breadth of her experiences is striking and even a little confronting. We are invited to wonder: isn’t this what the Christian life should be about? While the book is primarily aimed at older believers - who are statistically more likely to be caring for elderly relatives or involved in pastoral ministry, Critchlow’s real-life experiences offer valuable insight for younger Christians, who are often shielded from, and unaware of, the struggles and wisdom of older generations.
Occasionally, however, Slowing Down feels a little unfocused, as Critchlow moves quickly between topics, biblical exposition, and anecdotes - at times diluting the impact and clarity of her key insights. While she uses subtitles to help guide the reader, clearer links between ideas and more consistent connection to the book’s central purpose, would aid comprehension. This isn’t a major flaw, as even the more tangential reflections (on physical courage or the challenges facing dual-parent households, for example) are full of wisdom, but some sections do feel slightly off track.
What Critchlow does admirably is restore dignity to the often-overlooked acts of mercy carried out quietly by ordinary Christians every day. By drawing back the curtain on this vital ministry, Slowing Down offers a quiet yet powerful challenge to believers who may not be engaging with the vulnerable around them - perhaps unaware such work is even happening and encourages them to step forward and serve with whatever they have. To use a common idiom, this work will “disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed”, and both will be the better for it.
Slowing Down by Anne-Louise Critchlow is out now
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