CREATIVE BIBLICAL COUNSELING

 

As a pastor I found counseling to be one of my greatest challenges. I did my best to provide biblical foundations for life through preaching but struggled at times conducting one-on-one sessions with those who sought specific answers to emotional experiences.

A resource to help pastors with the matter of counseling has recently been published by Kress Biblical Resources. Several of the authors are professors at Central Baptist Theological Seminary where I received my training many years ago. Brett Williams, Matthew Shrader, Jonathan Pratt, Nicholas Ellen, Preston Mayes, and Josh Stephens have all contributed chapters to the book.

The theme of the entire book is biblical soul care. Dr. Brett Williams, for example, has written a chapter titled “Biblical Soul Care and the Doctrine of God.” That is only one of many chapters which lay doctrinal foundations for counseling. After several of those doctrinal chapters, authors address specific counseling situations such as “Addressing Depression” or “Working Through Forgiveness.”

A Theology of Soul Care: Essays in Biblical Counseling will provide a much-needed resource for the pastor who seeks to provide personal counsel for those to whom he ministers. I only wish it had been available to me when still serving in a church before retirement.