The 20 Most Influential Books on Methods of Biblical Change

Kellemen’s Christian The Best Of Guide
The Best of Books on
Methods of Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation

Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide: Making your life easier by finding, summarizing, evaluating, and posting the best resources on a wide variety of topics from a Christian perspective.

The Twenty Most Influential Books on
Methods of Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation

Note: The following books focus on the methodology, practice, skills, relational competencies of biblical counseling and spiritual formation. They do not highlight theology/theory (see last week’s post for that: http://bit.ly/T75vO) (if it made last week’s list, it is not in this week’s list). The books on this week’s list focus broadly on methods of helping people to grow in Christ. They do not highlight how to help people with specific “issues” in living (such as depression treatment, anxiety treatment, etc.).

Note: For the sake of space, I have not reviewed each of these books. However, I do have a 55-page document that reviews over 125 books on Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation: http://bit.ly/sYx1U.

Note: That fuller document explains that I do not endorse everything in all the books below. That’s why my subtitle to this post is: “The Twenty Most Influential” rather than “The Best Of.”

Bibliography

Adams, Jay E. The Christian Counselor’s Manual: The Practice of Nouthetic Counseling. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973.

Adams, Jay E. Competent to Counsel: An Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970.

Clebsch, William A. and Charles R. Jaekle. Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective. New edition. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1994.

Clinton, Tim, Archibald D. Hart, George Ohlschlager, eds. Caring for People God’s Way: Personal and Emotional Issues, Addictions, Grief, and Trauma. Nashville: Nelson, 2006.

Collins, Gary. The Biblical Basis of Christian Counseling for People Helpers: Relating the Basic Teachings of Scripture to People's Problems. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1993.

Crabb, Larry. Soul Talk. Nashville: Integrity, 2005.

Crabb, Larry and Dan Allender. Encouragement: The Key to Caring. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.

Fitzpatrick, Elyse, and Dennis Johnson. Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2009.

Foster, Richard. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. Twenty-fifth anniversary edition. San Francisco, Harper, 2003.

Huggins, Kevin. Friendship Counseling. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2003.

Kellemen, Robert W. Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Revised Edition. Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2007.

MacArthur, John F., Jr. and Wayne A. Mack. Counseling: How to Counsel Biblically. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005.

Moon, Gary W. and David G. Benner, eds. Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls: A Guide to Christian Approaches and Practices. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity. 2004.

Ortberg, John. The Life You’ve Always Wanted. Expanded Edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

Peugh, Roger and Tammy Schultz. Transformed in His Presence: The Need for Prayer in Counseling. Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2005.

Powlison, David. Speaking Truth in Love: Counsel in Community. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2005.

Welch, Edward T. When People Are Big and God Is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 1997.

Whitney, Donald. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1991.

Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. San Francisco: Harper, 1998.

Willard, Dallas. The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives. Reprint edition. San Francisco: Harper, 1991.

Important Stuff

*Your Guide: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, is the Founder and CEO of RPM Ministries (www.rpmministries.org) through which he writes, speaks, and consults to equip God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. He blogs daily at http://rpmministries.blogspot.com.

*My Necessary Disclaimer: Of course, I don’t endorse everything in every article, book, or link that you’ll find in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide. I report, you decide.

*Your Suggestions Are Welcomed: Feel free to post comments and/or send emails (rpm.ministries@gmail.com) about resources that you think deserve attention in various categories covered in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide.

The Best of Books on Theology and Counseling

Kellemen’s Christian The Best Of Guide
The Best of Books on

The Theology of Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation

Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide: Making your life easier by finding, summarizing, evaluating, and posting the best resources on a wide variety of topics from a Christian perspective.

The Twenty Most Influential Books on

The Theology of Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation

Note: The following books focus on a theology/theory of biblical counseling and spiritual formation. They do not highlight methodology/practice. They focus on a broad theory of people, problems, and solutions, they do not highlight specific “issues” in counseling (such as depression, anxiety, etc.).

Note: For the sake of space, I have not reviewed each of these books. However, I do have a 55-page document that reviews over 125 books on Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation: http://bit.ly/sYx1U. That fuller document explains that I do not endorse everything in all the books below. The books below are the ones that you want to be aware because they have shaped the various perspectives on modern biblical/Christian counseling and spiritual formation.

Bibliography

Adams, Jay E. A Theology of Christian Counseling: More Than Redemption. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986.

Anderson, Neil T., Terry Zuehlke, and Julianne S. Zuehlke. Christ-Centered Therapy: The Practical Integration of Psychology and Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000.

Bredfeldt, Gary J. and Harry Shields. Caring for Souls: Counseling Under the Authority of Scripture. Chicago: Moody, 2001.

Clinton, Tim and George Ohlschlager, eds. Competent Christian Counseling, Volume One: Foundations and Practice of Compassionate Soul Care. Colorado Springs: Waterbrook, 2002.

Collins, Gary. Christian Counseling: A Comprehensive Guide. Revised edition. Nashville: Nelson, 1988.

Crabb, Larry. Understanding People. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987.

Eyrich, Howard A. and William L. Hines. Curing the Heart: A Model for Biblical Counseling. Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 2002.

Fitzpatrick, Elyse. Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2001.

Johnson, Eric. Foundations for Soul Care: A Christian Psychology Proposal. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2007.

Jones, Ian. The Counsel of Heaven on Earth: Foundations for Biblical Christian Counseling. Nashville: B&H, 2006.

Jones, Stanton and Eric Johnson, eds. Psychology and Christianity. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000.

Kellemen, Robert W. Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Revised Edition. Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2007.

Lake, Frank. Clinical Theology. Lexington, KY: Emeth Press, 2006.

Lane, Tim, and Paul Tripp. How People Change. Second Edition. Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2008.

MacArthur, John F., Jr. and Wayne A. Mack. Introduction to Biblical Counseling. Nashville: W Publishing Group, 1994.

McMinn, Mark. Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 1996.

Peterson, Eugene. Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005.

Powlison, David. Seeing with New Eyes: Counseling and the Human Condition through the Lens of Scripture. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2003.

Pugh, John. Christian Formational Counseling: The Work of the Spirit in the Human Race. Mustang, OK: Tate Publishing, 2008.

Tripp, Paul David. Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2002.

Important Stuff

*Your Guide: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, is the Founder and CEO of RPM Ministries (www.rpmministries.org) through which he writes, speaks, and consults to equip God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. He blogs daily at http://rpmministries.blogspot.com.

*My Necessary Disclaimer: Of course, I don’t endorse everything in every article, book, or link that you’ll find in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide. I report, you decide.

*Your Suggestions Are Welcomed: Feel free to post comments and/or send emails (rpm.ministries@gmail.com) about resources that you think deserve attention in various categories covered in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide.

The Best of Books on Women in Church History

Kellemen’s Christian The Best Of Guide
The Best of Books on Women in Church History

*Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide: Making your life easier by finding, summarizing, evaluating, and posting the best resources on a wide variety of topics from a Christian perspective.

Giving Voice to the Voiceless!

When we think of church history, unfortunately, it is often “the history of a bunch of dead white guys!” We talk about the “church fathers,” but we omit the “church mothers”—many of whom discipled the church fathers! It is well past time to give “voice to the voiceless.”

Having studied the legacy of women heroes of the faith in my book, Sacred Friendships (http://bit.ly/YmaM1), I’ve collated a lengthy bibliography of relevant books. But what I’m posting below is just the tip of the iceberg—the best of the best. If you want to hear the voices of godly Christian women, the following books give the big picture. They survey either all of church history, or large segments of church history. Enjoy!

The Best of Books on Women in Church History

Bainton, Roland. Women of the Reformation in France and England. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1973.

Bainton, Roland. Women of the Reformation in Germany and Italy. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1971.

Bainton, Roland. Women of the Reformation from Spain to Scandinavia. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1977.

Chittister, Joan. The Friendship of Women: A Spiritual Tradition. Franklin, WI: Sheed and Ward, 2000.

Clark, Elizabeth. Women in the Early Church. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1990.

Clark, Elizabeth, and Herbert Richardson, eds. Women and Religion: The Original Sourcebook of Women in Christian Thought. Revised and expanded edition. San Francisco: Harper, 1996.

Forbes, Cheryl. Women of Devotion through the Centuries. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2001.

Grant, Myrna. Sacred Legacy: Ancient Writings from Nine Women of Strength and Honor. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003.

Gryson, Roger. The Ministry of Women in the Early Church. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1976.

Kellemen, Robert, and Karole Edwards. Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007.

Kellemen, Robert, and Susan Ellis. Sacred Friendships: Celebrating the Legacy of Women Heroes of the Faith. Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2009.

Kraemer, Ross, ed. Maenads, Martyrs, Matrons, Monastics: A Sourcebook on Women’s Religions in the Greco-Roman World. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988.

MacHaffie, Barbara. Her Story: Women in Christian Tradition. Second edition. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2006.

Oden, Amy, ed. In Her Words: Women’s Writings in the History of Christian Thought. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994.

Peterson, William. 25 Surprising Marriages: Faith-Building Stories from the Lives of Famous Christians. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997.

Ranft, Patricia. A Woman’s Way: The Forgotten History of Women Spiritual Directors. New York: Palgrave, 2000.

Sawyer, Deborah. Women and Religion in the First Christian Centuries. London: Routledge, 1996.

Stewart, Dorothy, ed. Women of Prayer: An Anthology of Everyday Prayers from Women around the World. Chicago: Loyola Press, 1999.

Swan, Laura. The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives, and Stories of Early Christian Women. New York: Paulist Press, 2001.

Thiebauz, Marcelle. The Writings of Medieval Women: An Anthology. Second edition. New York: Garland Publishing, 1994.

Tucker, Ruth. Private Lives of Pastor’s Wives. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988.

Tucker, Ruth, and Walter Liefeld. Daughters of the Church: Women and Ministry from New Testament Times to the Present. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987.

Wilson, Katherine, ed. Medieval Women Writers. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1984.

Wilson, Katherine, ed. Women Writers of the Renaissance and Reformation. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1987.

Wilson-Kastner, Patricia, Ronald Kastner, Ann Millin, Rosemary Rader, and Jeremiah Reedy, eds. A Lost Tradition: Women Writers of the Early Church. Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1981.

Important Stuff

*Your Guide: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, is the Founder and CEO of RPM Ministries (http://www.rpmministries.org/) through which he writes, speaks, and consults to equip God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. He blogs daily at http://rpmministries.blogspot.com/.

*My Necessary Disclaimer: Of course, I don’t endorse everything in every article, book, or link that you’ll find in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide. I report, you decide.

*Your Suggestions Are Welcomed: Feel free to post comments and/or send emails (rpm.ministries@gmail.com) about resources that you think deserve attention in various categories covered in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide.

The Best of Multicultural Ministry and Intercultural Relationships, Part Two

Kellemen’s Christian The Best Of Guide
The Best of Multicultural Ministry and Intercultural Relationships
Part Two

Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide: Making your life easier by finding, summarizing, evaluating, and posting the best resources on a wide variety of topics from a Christian perspective. Posted each Monday on my blog at http://bit.ly/h0XGH

Note: Today's post is excerpted from African American History, Life, Christianity, and Ministry: An Annotated Resource Guide, By Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC. For information on the full version: http://bit.ly/f1AvT

*Note: For Part One, please visit: http://bit.ly/2BXt0

*Esterline, David, ed. Shaping Beloved Community: Multicultural Theological Education. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2006.

Many Christians talk about multicultural ministry. Esterline and his team outline how to teach, train, and equip ministers in a multicultural seminary setting. Personally, teaching in a seminary with no majority culture in the Washington, D. C. area, I found Esterline’s views practical, helpful, and realistic.

*Gilbreath, Edward. Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical’s Inside View of White Christianity. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006.

Edward Gilbreath has written a powerful and priceless book on reconciliation in Evangelical circles—or the sad, disappointing lack thereof. Writing with openness and candor, Gilbreath shares his own experiences in Evangelicalism and the process and progress of his journey. He then narrates the wider Evangelical scene historically and today, especially in para-church and church life. His book combines hope and realism, human action and trust in God’s direction. The practical examples of churches that do it and barriers that hinder reconciliation are worth the price of the book.

*Griffin, John. Black Like Me. Reprint Edition. New York: NAL Trade, 2003.

In 1959, John Howard Griffin temporarily abandoned his privileged life as a Southern White male, medically darkened his skin, and posed as a Black man in the deep South. Some rightly question whether a short period of immersion such as this can allow the pain of racism to etch onto and penetrate into one’s soul. Of course it cannot. It cannot allow for the decade after decade after decade build-up of racist attitudes and history. Nor can it allow for the day after day after day of soul-numbing hatred. Still, for its time, this book was revolutionary. And even for our time today, Black Like Me can at least provide Whites with some small slice of the horrors of racism.

*June, Lee, Sabrina Black, and Willie Richardson. Counseling in African-American Communities: Biblical Perspectives on Tough Issues. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

Counseling in African-American Communities: Biblical Perspectives on Tough Issues presents a well-researched, practically-developed, biblical methodology for pastors, lay people, and counselors working from a Christian perspective and/or working with the Christian client. Though focused on African-Americans, the material can quite effectively be used cross-culturally.

The editors, June and Black, divide the book into four parts. Part I delves into various addictions, their nature, development, and treatment. Part II focuses upon family issues. Part III highlights mental health matters. Part IV is entitled, “Confronting Other Critical Issues,” and includes matters such as conflict, faith, demonology, unemployment, and research in clinical practice.

In each chapter within each section, the research is presented in easy-to-digest form, almost always with helpful charts. Interspersed within each chapter, the reader finds real-life vignettes that bring the material to life. The foundation of every chapter is the biblical counseling diagnosis and treatment plan. The authors use theological concepts as well as specific principles from pertinent passages to build a biblical approach to the topic. Finally, every chapter includes a brief, helpful bibliography for further research.

The book’s audience is clearly the helper—the professional counselor, pastor, or lay care-giver. The lay person himself/herself, struggling with a particular issue, could benefit through reading the pertinent chapter(s). However, the intent of the book is not primarily to be a “self-help” manual. Counseling in African-American Communities provides a comprehensive introduction to a biblical perspective on a wide-range of issues facing counselors, pastors, and spiritual friends.

*Kellemen, Robert W. and Karole A. Edwards. Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007.

Beyond the Suffering is a one-of-a-kind African American narrative. It is not simply a history of America, not simply a history of African Americans, not simply a history of African American Christianity, but a narrative of how African American Christians ministered to one another. As the title suggests, the book tells how African American believers helped one another to move beyond their horrific suffering to a place of healing and hope.

The characters are the African American believers themselves. The plot is their real-life battles told in their empowering words. The authors are a co-authoring team, one an African American female, the other a Caucasian male. Together, they embrace the legacy of how African Americans sustained, healed, reconciled, and guided one another in the faith.

Written in an engaging style that allows African Americans to tell their own story, Beyond the Suffering reads like a novel. It empowers African Americans and all people of all races and nationalities to love like Christ loved even in the worst of circumstances. Readers not only are riveted by the powerful historical chronicles, but are also equipped to apply soul care and spiritual direction principles to their own lives and ministries.

*McNeil, Brenda Salter. The Heart of Racial Justice: How Soul Change Leads to Societal Change. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2004.

Brenda Salter McNeil has written a ground-breaking book on racial reconciliation. The subtitle alone speaks volumes about the core change needed: soul change. Only when the individual is changed by the infinite love of Christ can society then even begin to be changed. Writing with wit and wisdom, experience and truth, and speaking the truth in love, The Heart of Racial Justice offers a stirring, practical model for positive racial change and reconciliation.
*Ortiz, Manuel. One New People: Models for Developing Multiethnic Churches. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

Manuel Ortiz has written a very practical “why and how to” book on developing multicultural congregations. He provides transcultural and time-tested models for moving a church (change management) culture from monolithic to multicultural. Though dated (and thus the demographics tend to be outdated), the principles and practices are timeless.

*Sande, Ken. The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict. Third revised updated edition. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004.

Ken Sande has spent a lifetime studying, teaching, and applying biblical principles of conflict resolution. His credentials as a lawyer and student of the Bible combine to make him eminently qualify to write this work. Though the subtitle emphasizes the resolution of personal conflict, The Peacemaker and its principles can be used in corporate/church conflict resolution situations, also. With each principle, Sande presents the biblical foundation as well as practical applications.

*Steele, Shelby. White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 2006.

Shelby Steele writes about race in the style and substance of Bill Cosby. Both men speak as successful Black men who have lived their “up-by-the-boot-straps” philosophy. Both men also insist that African Americans must maintain personal responsibility for their present condition, while recognizing that White Americans were responsible for the horrors of the Black past.

Steele’s basic premise concludes that, yes, African Americans were horribly treated and that at the onset of the 60s Civil Rights movement, a “balancing act” was necessary to provide disenfranchised Blacks with a “fair start.” However, Steele affirms that along the way, something went wrong. This something, he calls “White Guilt.” Liberal Whites, in particular, attempted, in Steele’s view, to gain the moral high ground by punishing current White Americans for the past guilt of White America.

In the process, and as a result, Blacks who now, according to Steele, had a more or less level playing field, were re-classified as an entire race of people in need of a White hand up and a White hand out. Thus, liberal White guilt was still White racism: “We are better than you and you need our help to survive.” When African Americans accepted this Faustian bargain, they wandered off the path of meritocracy (you earn success) to mediocrity (you are given an easy way toward success), according to Steele.

Being raised in Gary, Indiana in the 60s and 70s, and living in the 90s and early 00s in D.C., and now having returned to the Gary region, I have, as a White male, witnessed the eras of which Steele speaks. Much of what he says resonates with me. In fact, I would give him five stars for White Guilt except for a few issues.

First, I don’t see the end of racism of which he seems to speak. I still hear it and see it, albeit, in subtle ways, and even more subtle policy-making. Additionally, I’m not convinced that the playing field is always level. Certainly, I am convinced that African Americans have total equality of ability. I’m simply not sure that everywhere in America they have total equality of opportunity. One final point of departure: by his definition of White guile, we may take away from the historical reality that there was true White guilt. False guilty feelings and faulty guilt-driven policies may mask the reality that there was (and is) true guilt. European Americans did indeed despicably mistreat and literally beat down African Americans. I would be saddened if Steele’s title caused anyone to minimize the suffering. In fact, it is in admitting and facing the suffering that we see the true resilience and character of individual and corporate African Americans who rose above and went beyond the suffering.

*Walker, Clarence. Biblical Counseling with African Americans. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992.

Biblical Counseling with African Americans is an excellent contribution to multicultural counseling from a Christian perspective. Walker integrates biblical theology, research on African American culture, and his own extensive counseling practice to weave together a very practical and thorough book. Some books of this genre tend to be heavy on theory or on methodology. Walker nicely balances the two, linking understanding to practice. The book is now a little dated in terms of research works quoted (most coming from the 70s and 80s), but besides that it has withstood the test of time.

*Wimberly, Edward. African American Pastoral Care. Nashville: Abingdon, 1991.

African American Pastoral Care is Wimberly’s 1991 “sequel” to his 1979 Pastoral Care in the Black Church. In his newer work, Wimberly continues his important focus on sustaining, healing, reconciling, and guiding, while highlighting a new emphasis: pastoral care through narrative. Narrative therapy has been a growing model for at least two decades. Wimberly nicely blends the historical African American use of oral tradition with the insights of post-modern narrative therapy.

In his introduction and first chapter, Wimberly concisely explains the nature of narrative story-telling in African American pastoral care. In each subsequent chapter, he demonstrates how this model can be used in various counseling issues such as addiction, bereavement, life stages, marriage, and family matters.

Important Stuff

*Your Guide: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, is the Founder and CEO of RPM Ministries (www.rpmministries.org) through which he writes, speaks, and consults to equip God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. He blogs daily at http://rpmministries.blogspot.com.

*My Necessary Disclaimer: Of course, I don’t endorse everything in every article, book, or link that you’ll find in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide. I report, you decide.

*Your Suggestions Are Welcomed: Feel free to post comments and/or send emails (rpm.ministries@gmail.com) about resources that you think deserve attention in various categories covered in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide.

The Best of Books on Multicultural Ministry

Kellemen’s Christian The Best Of Guide
The Best of Books on Multicultural Ministry and Intercultural Relationships

Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide: Making your life easier by finding, summarizing, evaluating, and posting the best resources on a wide variety of topics from a Christian perspective.

The Best of Books on
Multicultural Ministry and Intercultural Relationships
Part One

Note: Excerpted from African American History, Life, Christianity, and Ministry: An Annotated Resource Guide, By Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC. For information on the full version: http://bit.ly/f1AvT

*Anderson, David. Gracism: The Art of Inclusion. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2007.

Pastor David Anderson builds a thoughtful, practical, balanced Christian approach to multiculturalism. He avoids the extremes of color-blindness and of affirmative action. Skillfully he explains the biblical injunction to care for the marginalized. Gracism is a must read for anyone who longs to build bridges leading to racial healing, harmony, and reconciliation. Its balance between theology, philosophy, and methodology makes it a uniquely practical manual.

*Anderson, David. Multicultural Ministry: Finding Your Church’s Unique Rhythm. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004.

Pastor David Anderson has “been there, done that.” As a seasoned pastor of a multi-cultural church in a multi-cultural community, Pastor Anderson writes both with biblical insight and personal experience. A well-written, practical, and hopeful book, Multicultural Ministry is a foundational book for everyone interested in racial harmony and mutual ministry.

*Anderson, David, and Brent Zuercher. Letters Across the Divide: Two Friends Explore Racism, Friendship, and Faith. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001.

Pastor David Anderson and author Brent Zuercher have penned a groundbreaking and distinctive book. What happens when two friends of different races explore racism and faith? Letters across the Divide happens. For a firsthand account of what honest, open, bold, and loving multicultural relationships could look like, read this book.

*Breckenridge, James, and Lillian Breckenridge. What Color Is Your God?: Multicultural Education in the Church. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995.

As the subtitle suggests, What Color Is Your God educates pastors in foundational cultural understanding. Covering ethnic groups in America, this primer shows church leaders how to value cultural differences. It also highlights transcultural biblical principles and probes how various cultures apply or misapply these eternal principles in daily life.

*Conde-Frazier, Elizabeth, Steve Kang, and Gary Parrett. A Many Colored Kingdom: Multicultural Dynamics for Spiritual Formation. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004.

A Many Colored Kingdom provides ground breaking insight into the theology and methodology of spiritual formation from and in a multicultural perspective. The co-authors themselves live and breathe what they write, researching and writing with passion and precision. This book richly celebrates the diverse contributions to Christian spirituality necessary to fully engage and embrace the infinite, multifaceted beauty and glory of Christ.

*Cooper, Rodney. We Stand Together: Reconciling Men of Different Color. Chicago: Moody, 1995.

We Stand Together would be a five-star book if it were not now somewhat dated. Editor Rodney Cooper is a leading Black Evangelical educator. Active in the 90s in the Promise Keepers’ movement, he surrounded himself with men of diverse ethnic groups to edit this primer on how men of different races can understand, forgive, reconcile with one another, and minister together.

*Emerson, Michael. Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Please, don’t read this book without reading the “sequel” (see below): United by Faith. Divided by Faith outlines the problem, as understood through a dissertation research project, of race relations in Evangelicalism in America in the 1990s. The results are troubling and at times could even produce hopelessness. However, facts are facts, and this sort of detailed quantitative and qualitative study is all-too-rare in Evangelical circles.

Emerson’s premise is that much of what White Evangelicals do to unite across racial lines end up being counter-productive. He does so by showing a concise history of Evangelical thought about racism from Colonial times to the Civil Rights movement. His core thesis is that most work done is too individualistic—one person trying alone to cross racial boundaries. His basic suggestion is the cross-cultural congregation. Unfortunately, until one reads United by Faith, how to accomplish this goal is left to the reader’s imagination—which may by now have been stunted by all the piles of statistics suggesting that Evangelical racial reconciliation is futile. However, the power of God, starting with one person’s commitment to cross-cultural relationships, can start a chain reaction—and lead to hope.

*Emerson, Michael. United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation as an Answer to the Problem of Race. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Emerson has convened a multicultural team of co-authors to follow-up his earlier work Divided by Faith. In this work, Emerson argues that Evangelicals, when they have done anything at all to work toward racial reconciliation, have been to individualistic in their approach.

Emerson then argues that the biblical and effective approach is the multicultural congregation in which no one race makes up more than 80% of the congregation. The authors explain the biblical and social need for such congregations. They then follow with hope-giving success stories which provide the philosophy, principles, and practices necessary to obtain the biblical social vision of the multicultural people of God.

Implied, but not highlighted or extracted in detail, is the truth that such congregations can and should then do two things: 1.) Be a visible testimony exhorting the world to “go and do likewise.” 2.) Take a stand against societal racism and promote racial reconciliation and justice.

*Kellemen, Robert W. and Karole A. Edwards. Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007.

Beyond the Suffering is a one-of-a-kind African American narrative. It is not simply a history of America, not simply a history of African Americans, not simply a history of African American Christianity, but a narrative of how African American Christians ministered to one another. As the title suggests, the book tells how African American believers helped one another to move beyond their horrific suffering to a place of healing and hope.

The characters are the African American believers themselves. The plot is their real-life battles told in their empowering words. The authors are a co-authoring team, one an African American female, the other a Caucasian male. Together, they embrace the legacy of how African Americans sustained, healed, reconciled, and guided one another in the faith.

Written in an engaging style that allows African Americans to tell their own story, Beyond the Suffering reads like a novel. It empowers African Americans and all people of all races and nationalities to love like Christ loved even in the worst of circumstances. Readers not only are riveted by the powerful historical chronicles, but are also equipped to apply soul care and spiritual direction principles to their own lives and ministries.

Important Stuff

*Your Guide: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, is the Founder and CEO of RPM Ministries (www.rpmministries.org) through which he writes, speaks, and consults to equip God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. He blogs daily at http://rpmministries.blogspot.com.

*My Necessary Disclaimer: Of course, I don’t endorse everything in every article, book, or link that you’ll find in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide. I report, you decide.

*Your Suggestions Are Welcomed: Feel free to post comments and/or send emails (rpm.ministries@gmail.com) about resources that you think deserve attention in various categories covered in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide.

The Best of Christian Biblical Counseling

Kellemen’s Christian The Best Of Guide
The Best of Christian Biblical Counseling Associations

Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide: Making your life easier by finding, summarizing, evaluating, and posting the best resources on a wide variety of topics from a Christian perspective.

The Best of Christian Biblical Counseling Associations

*American Association of Christian Counseling: http://www.aacc.net/

The AACC is the largest counseling association of any type, any where in the world with nearly 50,000 members. Their web site offers links to resources, conferences, articles, links to counselors and counseling agencies, and much more.

*The Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation Network: http://bcsfn.aacc.net/

The BCSFN is a division of the AACC (I am a co-director). The web site provides resources for pastors, lay people, and Christian/biblical counselors including a daily blog, free resources, conferences, book reviews, and much more. The BCSFN seeks to build bridges of connection through positive presentations of biblical counseling that leads to formation into the image of Christ.

*Black African American Christian Counselors: http://www.aacc.net/divisions/baacc/

The BAACC is a division of the AACC. It seeks to equip counselors to understand intercultural issues that impact ministry and to suggest ways to enrich services for our ethnically diverse society from a Christian perspective.

*The Society for Christian Psychology: http://christianpsych.org/

The SCP is a division of the AACC. It seeks to equip believers to understand psychology from a thoroughly Christian perspective. Their web site offers resources, a weekly blog, articles, conferences, and more.

*Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries: http://www.faithlafayette.org/ministry4.aspx

FBCM is a ministry of Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, Indiana. For over three decades, Faith has been leading the way in equipping lay people and pastors to be biblical counselors. Their web site offers information on numerous conferences around the country, plus resources for biblical counseling.

*The Christian Counseling and Education Foundation: http://www.ccef.org/

The CCEF seeks to restore Christ to counseling and to restore counseling to the church. Their web site includes numerous books and conferences, along with frequently updated articles on life issues.

*The Association of Biblical Counselors: http://www.christiancounseling.com/

The ABC is the “new kid on the block,” having been launched five years ago to provide equipping in biblical counseling. Their web site offers resources, articles, links to certified counselors, links to blogs, and much more. Their national and regional conferences equip lay people and pastors to speak the truth in love.

*National Association of Nouthetic Counseling: http://www.nanc.org/

The NANC provides training and certification for nouthetic (from a Greek word used in the New Testament meaning to confront out of concern for change) biblical counselors. They host conferences around the country to equip pastors and lay people. Their web site lists certified counselors and provides resources and links for biblical counseling.

*RPM Ministries: www.rpmministries.org

RPM Ministries is my ministry. I seek to equip God’s people to change lives with Christ changeless truth through Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation. The web site includes links, free resources, articles, book reviews, a blog, quotes of notes, and much more.

Important Stuff

*Your Guide: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, is the Founder and CEO of RPM Ministries (www.rpmministries.org) through which he writes, speaks, and consults to equip God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. He blogs daily at http://rpmministries.blogspot.com.

*My Necessary Disclaimer: Of course, I don’t endorse everything in every article, book, or link that you’ll find in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide. I report, you decide.

*Your Suggestions Are Welcomed: Feel free to post comments and/or send emails (rpm.ministries@gmail.com) about resources that you think deserve attention in various categories covered in Kellemen’s Christian The Best of Guide.