Are you a more concrete or abstract thinker? And what does that have to do with effective psychotherapy? Or what about the theological concepts of monotheism versus polytheism? Which is a projection of a more integrated psychological perspective? What are you grieving? What you lost? Or wanted/needed but didn’t get? What do moral and spiritual have to do with what is psychological? Or counseling with the golf swing? Are you a more positive, a more thankful person, or perhaps more negative, even resentful of whatever the circumstances? Are you more of a worrier or a delighter, more skeptical or encouraging? These and other human characteristics, Monty Knight speaks to in this book of short essays, three sermons—even a hymn—written out of conversations with patients, students, and parishioners over his many years of ministry as a pastoral counselor.
In the contemporary church, pastors take on many roles. One of the most important roles a pastor must play is that of counselor. However, this isn't always a natural fit for every pastor. In this creative and readable book, Wayne Oates offers a definitive argument for the history and future necessity of pastoral counseling.
In Balanced Living: Don't Let Your Strength Become Your Weakness, Robert Knight develops the theme of balance as central to good mental health, to moral and spiritual health, to emotional well-being, and to social functioning. This theme emerges from his more than thirty years of experience as a Christian minister, as a counselor, as a teacher and clinical supervisor of counselors, as well as from experience as a management and human-relations consultant. According to Knight, when we are failing or falling, it isn't always because of some inadequacy or limitation; it is rather because we have taken a strength (or it has taken us) too far--a strength that has become a weakness. The signature chapter, "Balanced Living," addresses such common tensions as success and failure. It asks: How seriously do you take yourself? What time is it in your life? Following chapters cover balanced families, balance and personality type (using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), and balanced religion (achieving healthy moral and spiritual balance). Based on common questions, the chapter on "Counseling and Psychotherapy" guides consumers of professional counseling services. Topics include the various types of mental health service providers and theoretical approaches to counseling. The final chapter discusses human developmental models (in particular that of Erik Erikson), addresses certain values implicit in the counseling process, and treats certain theological assumptions from a Hebrew-Christian perspective. Mental health professionals, pastors, and others involved in helping people (as well as students preparing for such vocations) will find this book informative and challenging, perhaps even confirming. The book also engages laypersons--consumers of professional counseling and related mental, emotional, moral, spiritual, and relational health services. Of particular value are the case studies, examples, and illustrations presented in Balanced Living: Don't Let Your Strength Become Your Weakness.
Since the beginning of the biblical counseling movement in 1970, biblical counselors have argued that counseling is a ministry of the Word, just like preaching or missions. As a ministry, counseling must be defined according to sound biblical theology rather than secular principles of psychology. For over four decades, biblical theology has been at the core of the biblical counseling movement. Leaders in biblical counseling have emphasized a commitment to teaching doctrine in their counseling courses out of the conviction that good theology leads to good counseling…and bad theology leads to bad counseling. A Theology of Biblical Counseling is a landmark new book that covers the history of the biblical counseling movement, the core convictions that underlie sound counseling, and practical wisdom for counseling today. Dr. Heath Lambert shows how biblical counseling is rooted in the Scriptures while illustrating the real challenges counselors face today through true stories from the counseling room. A substantive textbook written in accessible language, it is an ideal resource for use in training biblical counselors at colleges, seminaries, and training institutes. In each chapter, doctrine comes to life in real ministry to real people, dramatically demonstrating how theology intersects with the lives of actual counselees.
In this book David Augsburger discusses the dynamics of pastoral care and counseling across cultural lines. Augsburger combines theology with global perspective and cultural sensitivity to posit an inclusive understanding of pastoral care. This book will be of great interest to pastoral counselors in both academic and practical contexts.
This groundbreaking book, now updated and expanded, furthers its original, effective, time-saving approach that benefits pastors overtaxed by counseling demands. Dr. Charles Kollar presents a departure in pastoral counseling, showing that counseling need not be long-term or depend on psychological manipulation to produce dramatic results. In most cases, the solution lies with the counselees themselves. Using the tested methods found in Solution-Focused Pastoral Counseling, pastors, apart from counselors, will be well equipped to help their counselees discover a solution and put it in motion speedily and productively.SFPC is short-term—typically one to five sessions, in which the counselor seeks to create solutions with—not for—the counselee. The focus is on the possibility of life without the problem through an understanding of what is different when the problem does not occur or is less intrusive. The goal is healthy change, sooner rather than later, by helping the counselee see and work on the solution with God’s activity already present in his or her life.The solution-focused approach does not require the counselor to be a highly trained psychological expert. It requires biblically based sensitivity and common sense. Yet this approach also recognizes its limitations and understands that there are situations in which other professional and/or medical help is required.
A classic in the field of Christian counseling, Competent to Counsel is one of the first works to fully articulate a vision of "nouthetic" counseling—a strictly biblical approach to behavioral counseling and therapy. Dr. Jay Adams defends the idea that the Bible itself, as God's Word, provides all the principles needed for understanding and engaging in holistic counseling. Using biblically directed discussion, nouthetic counseling works by means of the Holy Spirit to bring about change—both immediate and long-term—in the personality and behavior of the counselee. As he points out in his introduction, "I have been engrossed in the project of developing biblical counseling and have uncovered what I consider to be a number of important scriptural principles. . . There have been dramatic results. . . Not only have people's immediate problems been resolved, but there have also been solutions to all sorts of long-term problems as well." Competent to Counsel has helped thousands of pastors, students, laypersons, and Christian counselors develop: A general approach to (and theology of) Christian counseling. Specific, practical responses to particular problems useful for teaching, study, and personal application. Since its first publication in 1970, this book has gone through over thirty printings. It establishes the basis for and an introduction to a counseling approach that is being used in pastors' studies, in counseling centers, and across dining room tables throughout the country and around the world.