CCEF for Pastors

This article casts a vision for how counseling operates as one primary aspect of ministry. This article is written to pastors—but it is for anyone interested in counseling. Pastoral counseling is distinctively and refreshingly different from popular understandings of what “counselors” and “counseling” are all about. That difference has many implications for how all Christians should think about counseling.

This article provides a theological guide that identifies how things both come out of the heart and come at the heart. Too often we can miss critical influences that shape the person we want to help. The result is that people go unheard and we miss opportunities to offer God’s care and compassion.

Biblical counseling is premised on confidence that the living God works in people through what he has spoken. The Holy Spirit is not simply a wild card factor, and Scripture is not merely a good, old book. In this article, David Powlison offers two case studies showing how particular Scriptures rescripted particular lives.

Though we tend to avoid talking with others about their sin, God has called us to encourage one another by speaking the truth in love. Ed Welch prepares us to move toward fellow sinners graciously by examining ourselves, learning to see the good in others, and acknowledging hard circumstances. He then gets specific about how to engage with people directly and winsomely.

In this editorial, David Powlison asks the questions "What ought to be the social structure for counseling if we are to please the Shepherd of sheep?" and "How is the church doing in counseling?" The church, Powlison suggests, provides the ideal place for counseling with regard to sin and suffering. But, five needs must be met: wisdom in face-to-face cure of souls, creedal standards and educational institutions committed to a biblical approach to counseling, qualifying procedures for pastor and leaders, and pastoral supervision.

This article is for church leaders who are thinking about starting a counseling ministry. Rather than a “how to” guide, Powlison offers ten questions to help a church gain a better understanding of itself and its context. Each question is followed by a short discussion that further orients leaders as to what to consider before moving forward.