This course is designed to help you care for others by developing an effective pastoral care and counseling ministry. Consider the biblical foundation of counseling as it’s expressed in the book of Genesis, as God first engages Adam and Eve after the fall. Observe how God performs crisis counseling intervention. Discover how the Messiah, Jesus, was perfectly equipped to bring salvation to mankind. Explore how Jesus provides a model for the biblical Christian counselor and apply biblical models to counseling.
“The ultimate goal of pastoral counseling, however, is to help counselees experience healing, learning, and personal spiritual growth. It is about understanding the counsel of God and loving our neighbor.” (source)
“as ‘counseling or psychotherapy that is Christ centered, biblically based, and Spirit filled.’” (source)
“Clebsch and Jaekle, in their book Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective, argue that there are four primary ministries of pastoral care that we find in church history. Those are the ministries of healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling people to God and to one another. These ministries include preaching, teaching, discipline, administering the ordinances or sacraments, visitation, nurturing people, and caring for people in times of need, such as in times of sickness or dying or grieving. Counseling is a regular part of a pastor’s ministry of caregiving, and in fact, I’m going to argue in this course that it is an essential part of ministry.” (source)
“Pastoral counseling has been defined by the Association of Pastoral Counselors as ‘a process in which a pastoral counselor utilizes insights and principles derived from the disciplines of theology and the behavioral sciences in working with individuals, couples, families, groups, and social systems toward the achievement of wholeness and health.’” (source)
“So there is a warning that we find in theology as well: Be careful. Study theology and study Scripture well, lest you abuse it. But again, if you’re yearning to be a Christian counselor—a pastoral counselor—you need to have an understanding of the Word of God and a strong theology.” (source)