Effective Biblical Counseling

my effort to communicate a biblical model of counsel‍

If we combine these insights with the healing resources of a local body of caring, committed Christians by training people in the church to handle a good deal of the counseling load, we might witness a tremendous increase in spiritual and emotional maturity in our churches.

Although the Scriptures provide the only authoritative information on counseling, psychology and its specialized discipline of psychotherapy offer some valid insights about human behavior that in no way contradict Scripture.

Although the Scriptures provide the only authoritative information on counseling,

train gifted Christians in the local church to counsel and (

leaders we have trained to find biblical answers to their problems.

In dealing with distressed people, counselors who are part of the same local church and who therefore know the members will be able to mobilize resources of friendship, care, practical helps, and prayer in the service of their clients

Since effective counseling requires both a caring relationship and an understanding of human functioning, we need to find mature believers in our local churches who are filled with the love of Christ and train them in counseling insights and skills. This book is dedicated to the proposition that caring, mature Christian people (who can love because they know Christ’s love and who are mature because they desire above all else to know Him) can become capable counselors within their local church bodies

I believe that God has ordained the local church as His primary instrument to tend to our personal aches and pains.

Everyone has real and intense personal struggles that dedication to Christ does not eliminate.