Below is a post by Pastor Ron Gerl, who directs spiritual care at Ecumen’s Parmly LifePointes community. Pastor Ron recently celebrated his 35th year of ordination. He is a graduate of Luther Seminary, where he received his master’s degree in divinity:‘Spirituality’ is a frequently used phrase. But whose job is it to nurture our customers’ spirituality? The easy answer is ‘the chaplain or the ‘spiritual care’ team.’ But when we look at what we’re striving to do across Ecumen, spirituality and spiritual care are integral to serving and empowering our customers. Spirituality is about all of us.In our Mission, Vision and Values, we define the value of spirituality as honoring our faith-based heritage by creating welcoming, inclusive communities that nurture and support the spiritual needs of the people we serve.What that says is that spirituality is not tactical. It’s not a policy, nor a procedure or a goal. And it’s definitely not one-size-fits-all. In a person-centric profession such as ours, it means we are listening with the ear of our heart and learning what brings meaning and purpose in each and every customer’s life and helping nurture and support that person’s search for higher meaning.One’s higher meaning is often sought in God or religion, but it can be expressed in other ways, too, such as family, nature, friendships, vocation, art or other relationships or interests. Just as a person can change over time, so can one’s spirituality.Spirituality emphasizes that people are not merely physical beings requiring mechanical, tactical care. Learning what gives a person a higher purpose and then helping nurture it, helps people continue to grow and also cope better with illness, trauma, and life transitions.Our approach to care must always be the ‘human’ approach, not a ‘mechanical’ approach. Honoring and empowering a person’s individuality, being and multiple dimensions by embracing and supporting one’s spirituality is essential to being a senior services provider that people ‘want’ rather than ‘need.’