The Remedy for Secular Psychology

Remember to visit and bookmark my fresh new site: http://www.rpmministries.org/

I’ve added scores of new free resources, book reviews, videos, and more—all because I know you want to change lives.

The Remedy for Secular Psychology

A friend shares with you a set of emotional symptoms that leave the two of you stumped. Where do you turn for answers that make a real difference?

A parishioner tells you about a decade-old “besetting sin” that they just can’t find victory over. Where do you turn to discern root causes and robust cures?

Real Answers for Real People with Real Problems

Whether you’re a lay person or a pastor, where do you turn for real answers?

Unfortunately, too often, in our sincere desire to help our hurting friends, we race to the latest trends. We turn to secular psychology and find human-shaped answers for God-shaped problems. We discover human-sized solutions when what we really need are God-sized SOUL-u-tions.

There has to be a better way.

There is. It’s God’s way. It’s learning to be a soul physician from the ultimate Soul Physician—Christ. It’s Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

It’s the way the Apostle Paul spoke about and prayed about in Philippians. “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight” (Philippians 1:9).

Soul Physicians: The Remedy for Secular Psychology

It was in my first pastoral ministry that I began equipping lay people and pastors to become soul physicians. I longed for them to understand people, diagnose problems, and prescribe solutions—biblically. I long for you to do the same.

Twenty-five years later, I authored Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. It’s the remedy for secular psychology.

It’s also the remedy for “take two verses and call me in the morning.” It remedies “secular help” and “shallow help.”

Soul Physicians helps you to help your friends. It empowers you to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

Unique Focus: Life’s Seven Ultimate Questions

Soul Physicians explores from the Scriptures seven truths that shape the way we see life and ministry. These truths about life’s seven ultimate questions teach us what makes biblical counseling truly biblical.

• Question 1: “What is truth? Where do I find answers?” Answer 1—The Word: “God’s Word is sufficient, authoritative, profound, and relevant.”

• Question 2: “Who is God?” Answer 2—Community/The Creator: “God is Trinitarian.”

• Question 3: “Who am I”? Answer 3—Creation: “We are created with dignity by God in the image of Christ.”

• Question 4: “What went wrong?” Answer 4—Fall: “We sinfully and foolishly choose god-substitutes over God.”

• Question 5: “Can we change? How do people change?” Answer 5—Redemption: “We must apply our complete salvation to our daily sanctification.”

• Question 6—“Where am I headed? What is my destiny?” Answer 6—Consummation/Glorification: “Heaven is my final home.”

• Question 7—“Can I help? How can I help?” Answer 7—Sanctification/Ministry: “We dispense God’s cure for the soul—grace.”

Unique Features

• Soul Physicians includes a built-in personal application discussion guide to help develop the Christlike character of the biblical counselor.

• Soul Physicians includes a built-in ministry implication discussion guide to help develop the relational competence of the biblical counselor.

• Soul Physicians is written in the language of “theo-drama”—relating theology practically and powerfully to our calling to love God and to love one another.

• Soul Physicians is comprehensive and compassionate—blending robust biblical truth with caring one another application.

• Soul Physicians is perfect for individual and group work. Join the growing number of lay people, pastors, professional Christian counselors, and students who are using Soul Physicians as their twenty-first century manual for understanding people and ministering to them God’s way.

Learn More

To read what others are saying, to download a free sample chapter, and to order Soul Physicians at 40% off, visit my RPM Ministries (http://www.rpmministries.org/) Soul Physicians page: http://www.rpmministries.org/writing/soul-physicians/

Join the Conversation

Where are you turning to be equipped for one another ministry in the local church that trains you to understand people, diagnose problems, and prescribe solutions—biblically?

The Remedy for “Take Two Verses and Call Me in the Morning”

Remember to visit and bookmark my fresh new site: www.rpmministries.org

I've added scores of new free resources, book reviews, videos, and more--all because I know you want to change lives.

The Remedy for “Take Two Verses and Call Me in the Morning”

Your friend tells you, “My spouse just left me.” What do you say? How do you help?

A parishioner shares, “Pastor, I can’t deal with my bitterness and anger.” How do you respond?

What Do I Do After the Hug?

Whether you’re a lay person or a pastor, what do you do after the hug? How are you being trained for biblical one another ministry in the local church? Unfortunately, even the Christian world seems to recommend two extremes.

Extreme # 1: Secular Help.—“The World’s Way”

Someone comes to us with a life struggle, and in our panic we race to the self-help shelf at the local bookstore. Or we type the topic in an Amazon.com search and we find a boatload of the world’s answers.

There has to be a better way.

Extreme # 2: Shallow Help—“Take Two Verses and Call Me in the Morning”

Or, in our attempts to be biblical, we become shallow. We quote a verse and rub it on like a band-aid. We wave a passage of Scripture like a magic wand.

There has to be a better way.

How to Care Like Christ: Helping You to Help Your Friend

Of course there’s a better way. It’s caring like Christ. It’s speaking and living the truth in love. It’s Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

It’s caring like the Apostle Paul who said, “We loved you so much that we gave you not only the Scriptures, but our own souls, because you were dear to us’ (1 Thessalonians 2:8).

Spiritual Friends: The Remedy for “Take Two Verses and Call Me in the Morning”

It was in my first pastoral ministry that I began equipping lay people and pastors in spiritual friendship. I longed for them to combine truth and love, Scripture and soul, so they could help others with suffering and sin. I long for you to do the same.

Twenty-five years later, I authored Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. It’s the remedy for “take two verses and call me in the morning.” It’s the remedy to shallow help and to secular help.

Spiritual Friends helps you to help your friends. It equips you to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

Unique Focus

• Spiritual Friends trains you, step-by-step, in a relational model for dealing with suffering and with sin.
• Spiritual Friends equips you to develop five “GRACE” biblical counseling skills to offer sustaining help for suffering. “It’s Normal to Hurt.”
• Spiritual Friends equips you to develop five “RESTS” biblical counseling skills to offer healing hope for suffering. “It’s Possible to Hope”
• Spiritual Friends equips you to develop six “PEACEE” biblical counseling skills to offer reconciling care-fronting for sin and growth in grace. “It’s Horrible to Sin, but Wonderful to Be Forgiven.”
• Spiritual Friends equips you to develop six “FAITHH” biblical counseling skills to offer guiding wisdom for sin and growth in grace. “It’s Supernatural to Mature.”

Unique Features

• Spiritual Friends includes a built-in application guide to help you to grow in Christ-like character.
• Spiritual Friends is a biblically-relevant training manual with thousands of sample “spiritual conversations” that model how to speak the truth in love.
• Spiritual Friends is a relational practical workbook with hundreds of skill-building exercises to train you in the art of spiritual friendship/biblical counseling.
• With scores of role-plays, vignettes, life applications, and ministry implications—Spiritual Friends is perfect for individual and group work. A growing number of church small groups, church lay counseling training ministries, pastors, professional Christian counselors, and students are using Spiritual Friends as their twenty-first century manual for people helping.

Learn More

To read what others are saying, to download a free sample chapter, and to order Spiritual Friends at 40% off, please visit my RPM Ministries (http://www.rpmministries.org/) Spiritual Friends page (http://www.rpmministries.org/writing/spiritual-friends/).

Join the Conversation

How are you being equipped for biblical one another ministry in the local church?

How to Care Like Christ

How to Care Like Christ
Introduction: What to Do After the Hug

What do you do after the hug? Or, if you’re a guy, what do you do after the fist bump and the grunt!

Whether you’re a pastor in local church ministry or a lay person sipping coffee with a hurting friend at Starbucks or McDonalds, you know what I’m talking about. We can hug. We can care. We can sense our friend’s pain over ongoing suffering and their frustration over besetting sins. But sometimes we struggle, don’t we, to know what to do next? In fact, knowing what to do after the hug can feel like a maze, like we’re lost without a GPS.

That’s why we want to learn together what to do after the hug. We want to see how the Bible is our GPS: God’s Positioning System! We can learn how to use the Bible accurately, powerfully, and lovingly. We can learn how to speak the truth in love. We can learn how to change lives with Christ's changeless truth. We can learn how to care like Christ.

How do I know that we can? Because the Apostle Paul says so in Romans 15:14. Like him, I am convinced that you are full of goodness (Christlike character), complete in knowledge (biblical content), and competent to counsel (relational competency) one another (Christian community). Through How to Care Like Christ we will grow together in character, content, competency, and community.

In another letter to another group of struggling Christians, Paul provides our framework for people-helping. “I loved you so much that I gave you not only the Scripture but also my own soul because you were dear to me” (1 Thessalonians 2:8). Between saying he loves them and saying they were dear to him, Paul sandwiches Scripture and soul, truth and love. We wrap our purpose around these two themes: Scripture/truth and soul/love.

My Scripture/truth goal is to equip you to become a soul physician who offers your parishioners, your counselees, and your spiritual friends Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation that changes their lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

The world says, “All we need is love.” They downplay any need for absolute truth. They dismiss any thought that we need God-inspired insight for living. And in our day, even the church minimizes truth. I had a church ask me, “Could you just breeze through this truth part and focus almost all your time on the practical how-to part?” As if God’s Word is impractical? We must learn to think like Christ—to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

My soul/love goal is to equip you to become a spiritual friend who cares like Christ as you offer others sustaining empathy, healing encouragement, reconciling enlightenment, and guiding empowerment. Some Christians say, “All you need is truth. Just preach the Word.” But God’s Word says we are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). We must learn to love like Christ—to care like Christ.

Let the journey begin!

Be Equipped to Change Lives

Be Equipped to Change Lives: How to Care Like Christ

I know you are committed to changing lives. I know you care deeply for people and want to care like Christ.

I also realize that sometimes it is difficult to find relevant resources that equip you to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

That’s why I want to introduce you to five books that all share the same passion: to provide Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed ministry equipping to empower you to care like Christ.

Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction

Soul Physicians equips you to understand people, diagnose problems, and prescribe solutions—biblically! It empowers you to apply God’s Word to your own life so you grow in grace. It’s a comprehensive training manual for one another ministry and for growth in Christlikeness.

Its two built-in discussion guides—one for personal application and one for ministry implications—make Soul Physicians perfect for individual and group work.

Join the growing number of lay people, pastors, professional Christian counselors, and students who are using Soul Physicians as their twenty-first century manual for understanding people and ministering to them God’s way. Change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

*To read a boatload of testimonies about the power of Soul Physicians, please visit: http://bit.ly/1SszRo

*To read a sample chapter of Soul Physicians, please visit: http://bit.ly/3yNUGf

*To order your copy of Soul Physicians at 40% off, please visit: http://bit.ly/3WsKoX

Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction

Spiritual Friends equips you to relate Christ’s truth to human relationships—yours and others. It’s a biblically-relevant training manual and a relational practical workbook with thousands of illustrative interactions and hundreds of skill-building exercises.

Its built-in discussion guide—with role-plays, vignettes, life applications, and ministry implications—makes Spiritual Friends perfect for individual and group work.

Join the growing number of church small groups, church lay counseling training ministries, pastors, professional Christian counselors, and students who are using Spiritual Friends as their twenty-first century manual for people helping. Care like Christ.

*To read a boatload of testimonies about the power of Spiritual Friends, please visit: http://bit.ly/LvKul

*To read a sample chapter of Spiritual Friends, please visit: http://bit.ly/17vtyd

*To order your copy of Spiritual Friends at 40% off, please visit: http://bit.ly/JiOR5

Beyond the Suffering:
Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction

Do you long to learn from African American heroes of the faith how God uses suffering to move His people to a place of healing hope? Beyond the Suffering equips Christians of all races to be empowered by the heroes of Black Church to minister God’s healing hope to one another.

Its built-in discussion guide makes Beyond the Suffering ideal for celebrating the legacy of African American Christianity. Its amazing narratives are a gift to African Americans—validating their tremendous contribution to Christianity. Its powerful vignettes are a gift from African Americans—teaching all of us how to be powerful spiritual friends.

Join the growing number of individuals of all races, of churches of all races, of church small groups and Sunday School classes, of college and graduate school campuses, and of para-church groups using Beyond the Suffering as their twenty-first century manual for culturally-informed people helping. Build bridges of spiritual reconciliation.

*To read a boatload of testimonies, to read the Foreword by Dr. Tony Evans, to view the PowerPoint overview, and much more about Beyond the Suffering, please visit: http://bit.ly/XvsTu

*To read a sample chapter of Beyond the Suffering, please visit: http://bit.ly/MgQrB

*To order your copy of Beyond the Suffering at 40% off for just $9.99, please visit: http://bit.ly/WarAa

Sacred Friendships:
Celebrating the Legacy of Women Heroes of the Faith

Do you long to learn from godly women of the faith how to be a powerful spiritual friend? Sacred Friendships equips men and women to be Christlike mentors, coaches, ministers, and people helpers.

Its built-in discussion guide makes Sacred Friendships ideal for celebrating the legacy of women heroes of the faith. Its amazing narratives are a gift to women—giving voice to the voiceless. Its powerful vignettes are a gift from women—teaching men and women how to sustain, heal, reconcile, and guide one another for Christ’s glory.

Join the growing number of men and women, churches, Sunday School classes, church small groups, college and graduate school campuses, and para-church groups using Sacred Friendships as their twenty-first century manual for compassionate people helping. Learn from the great cloud of female Christian witnesses.

*To read a boatload of testimonies about the power of Sacred Friendships, please visit: http://bit.ly/6frbF

*To read a sample chapter of Sacred Friendships, please visit: http://bit.ly/1S1haj

*To order your copy of Sacred Friendships at 40% off, please visit: http://bit.ly/MG1l5

God’s Healing for Life’s Losses:
How to Find Hope When You’re Hurting

Have you experienced a loss and do you long to find God’s hope in your grief? Do you desire to minister God’s healing to your grieving friends? Then discover God’s healing for life’s losses.

God’s Healing for Life’s Losses equips you to apply eight scriptural stages in your response to life’s losses—helping you to find hope when you’re hurting. It also empowers you to minister healing hope to others so that they can face suffering face-to-face with God.

Its two built-in grief guides—one for your grief journal and one for your grief journey—make God’s Healing for Life’s Losses perfect for individual and group grief work.

Join the growing number of lay people, pastors, professional Christian counselors, recovery groups, grief groups, church small groups, Sunday School classes, and college and graduate school students using God’s Healing for Life’s Losses as their twenty-first century manual for Christian grief recovery. Find hope when you’re hurting.

*To read Pastor Steve Viars’ Foreword to God’s Healing for Life’s Losses, please visit: http://bit.ly/155J4r

*God’s Healing for Life’s Losses will be released in 2010. A sample chapter will be posted at that time at www.rpmministries.org

*When God’s Healing for Life’s Losses is released, you will be able to order it online at sale pricing at: www.rpmministries.org

Stimulate Your Soul with the RPM Stimulus Package

We have “bundled” our first four books in three combinations to offer you additional savings and additional resources.

The Biblical Counselor’s Library

Together, Soul Physicians and Spiritual Friends offer a unique Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed approach to biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

Purchase Soul Physicians and Spiritual Friends together, and save more—45% off. To order them together, please visit: http://bit.ly/3WsKoX

The Voice for the Voiceless Library

Together, Beyond the Suffering and Sacred Friendships offer a rarely heard multi-cultural and feminine perspective on one another ministry.

Purchase Beyond the Suffering and Sacred Friendships together, and save more—45% off. To order them together, please visit: http://bit.ly/MG1l5

The Soul Care and Spiritual Direction Library

Together, Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, and Sacred Friendships provide a Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed theology, methodology, and history of soul care and spiritual direction.

Purchase Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, and Sacred Friendships together, and save more—45% off. To order all four books together, please visit: http://bit.ly/JiOR5

Stimulate Your Soul with the RPM Stimulus Package!

Stimulate Your Soul with the RPM Stimulus Package!

Would you like to stimulate your heart, mind, and soul with an RPM Stimulus Package?

For the first time ever, I am able to "bundle" my books together for PayPal online credit card orders.

1. Be Empowered: You can own both Beyond the Suffering and Sacred Friendships for just $20.00 when you purchase them together.

They retail at $35 total, so you save almost 50%. Go here to order both together: http://bit.ly/MG1l5

Be empowered by these two books as you learn from African Americans and from women how to provide spiritual friendship to those you love.

2. Be Equipped: You can own both Soul Phyisicans and Spiritual Friends for $45 when you purchase together.

They retail at $80 total, so you save $35. By purchasing together you save an extra $5. Go here to order both together: http://bit.ly/3WsKoX

Be equipped to change lives with Christ's changeless truth with these two biblical counseling training manuals.

3. Be Enlightened: You can own all four books: Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, and Sacred Friendships for just $65 when you purchase all four together.

They retail at $115, so you save $50. Go here to order all four together: http://bit.ly/3WsKoX

Be enlightened to change lives with Christ's changeless truth through Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed RPM resources.

Stimulate your mind with the RPM Stimulus!

Not Conclusion, but Commencement

Why Some Biblical Counseling Is Only Half Biblical!
Part Thirteen: Not Conclusion, but Commencement

*Note: If you’re disappointed that I’m saying that some biblical counseling is only half biblical, then please read my comments at the end of my first post in this series: http://tinyurl.com/n8k799.

My Premise: Half Biblical Counseling

Some modern biblical counseling considers the seriousness of sin—sinning, but spends much less time equipping people to minister to the gravity of grinding affliction—suffering. When we provide counseling for sin, but fail to provide counseling and counselor training for suffering, then such biblical counseling is only half biblical.

My Premise Expanded: One-Quarter Biblical Counseling

Even when some biblical counselors do address suffering and sufferers, their focus seems to be upon “directive” counseling that exhorts the suffering Christian to be faithful. When we provide only or primarily directive exhortations to faithfulness, but fail to engage in biblical “sustaining” (empathy, compassionate commiseration, sustaining, weeping with those who weep, sharing Scripture and soul, “climbing in the casket”), and when we fail to engage in biblical “healing” (encouragement, collaborative exploration of biblical responses, trialogues, spiritual conversations, scriptural explorations, “celebrating the resurrection”), then such biblical counseling is only one-quarter biblical. (For a fuller development of biblical and historical sustaining and healing, please see Spiritual Friends: http://tinyurl.com/coh23r).

Not Conclusion, but Commencement

This thirteen-part series could easily be month-long. In fact, it could be book-long.

However, it’s time to conclude.

No. Not conclude, but commence.

Even in “final counseling sessions,” I’ve never liked the word “terminate”! It’s like we are dispensing with our spiritual friend.

I prefer the word “commencement” for the final official meeting, because we are celebrating with our spiritual friend his or her commencing a new beginning as he or she connects more deeply with Christ and the Body of Christ and more fully reflects the image of Christ.

So also, in this blog mini-series, I don’t like the word “conclude.” That could imply that I believe I have cornered the market on the right way to do biblical counseling. That’s not my mindset at all. In fact, you’ll note that in this series and throughout my speaking, writing, and consulting, I quote a great deal from “that great cloud of witnesses”—biblical and historical.

The ideas presented in this series are not “Kellemen’s concepts. I believe that soul care for suffering (sustaining and healing) and spiritual direction for sin (reconciling and guiding) combine to offer a biblically and historically-based Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed approach to biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

That leads to another reason I prefer “commencement” over “conclude” or “conclusion.” This is still just one person’s “take” on what Church history and the Bible have to say about “comprehensive” biblical counseling.

What Say Ye?

I’ve had many, many emails, Twitter messages, Facebook posts, etc., about this series. It’s been fantastic and fascinating.

Let the conversation continue; let it commence.

Let’s all “graduate” to a Berean-like discussion and application of truly comprehensive biblical counseling.

Let’s stir one another on to love and good deeds.

Let’s encourage one another as we see the day approaching.

Let’s sustain, heal, reconcile, and guide one another.

Let’s minister to those who are facing suffering and to those who are battling besetting sins.

Let’s equip pastors, lay people, and professional Christian biblical counselors with and for comprehensive ministry.

Let’s carefully define “biblical counseling” to nuance and represent what the Bible means when it talks about one another Body life ministry.

As I said, let the conversation continue; let it commence.

Why Some Biblical Counseling Is Only Half Biblical! Part Five

Why Some Biblical Counseling Is Only Half Biblical!
Part Five: What to Do After the Hug

*Note: If you’re disappointed that I’m saying that some biblical counseling is only half biblical, then please read my comments at the end of this post.

My Premise

Some modern biblical counseling considers the seriousness of sin—sinning, but spends much less time equipping people to minister to the gravity of grinding affliction—suffering. When we provide counseling for sin, but fail to provide counseling and counselor training for suffering, then such biblical counseling is only half biblical.

What To Do After the Hug

Some might conclude, “But there’s really no need to teach people how to comfort the suffering because they do that naturally.”

I’m sure Job would disagree with that as it relates to his “miserable counselors” who called his suffering “sin.”

So, today we ask and answer the question: “What might it look like to train pastors and lay people to be soul physicians and spiritual friends who deal with suffering?”

The Bible has a great deal to say not only about suffering, but also about how to comfort the suffering. Church history has highlighted two core biblical counseling competencies for suffering:

*Sustaining

*Healing

In Spiritual Friends (http://tinyurl.com/nxbxes), pages 39-214 teach lay people, pastors, and students the following ten biblical relational skills for sustaining and healing. Here’s your primer:

*Sustaining: “It’s Normal to Hurt.”

Using the acronym GRACE, we need to learn five biblical relational competencies if we are to be comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed soul care-givers who offer sustaining comfort:

1. G: Grace Connecting
2. R: Rich Soul Empathizing
3. A: Accurate/Active Spiritual Listening
4. C: Caring Spiritual Conversations
5. E: Empathetic Scriptural Explorations

*Healing: “It’s Possible to Hope.”

Using the acronym RESTS, we need to learn five biblical relational competencies if we are to be comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed soul care-givers who offer healing hope:

1. R: Relational Treatment Planning
2. E: Encouraging Communication
3. S: Story Reinterpreting
4. T: Thirsts Spiritual Conversations
5. S: Stretching Scriptural Explorations

How to Train Biblical “Sufferologists”

My point is not to say that I have cornered the market on equipping people how to offer biblical comfort for suffering. My point is that you can read many biblical counseling training manuals, attend many biblical counseling training seminars, and read many biblical counseling definitions, and find very little equipping for “sufferologists”—biblical counselors who offer sustaining empathy and healing encouragement.

Rather than assuming that we do this naturally, let’s do what the Bible and Church history do: let’s focus on biblical counseling and spiritual friendship equipping on how to train believers to deal both with sin and with suffering.

Where Do We Go From Here?

In my next post, I’ll share why I think biblical counseling lost its way. What historical, cultural, and personal realities help to explain why some modern biblical counseling is only half biblical?

*Note: Why I Am Addressing This Topic

All who have followed my ministry know that I am about bridge-building and not about wall-building. You might wonder then, “Bob, why blog about something that is surely to be controversial?”

Those who follow my ministry also know that I am about equipping God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth through comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

Biblical counseling that fails to deal with suffering, fails the test of comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling. I would be a hypocrite to my calling if I remained silent.

Others might wonder, “Are you talking about a particular ‘model’ of modern biblical counseling, or about a particular person or persons who are writing today?”

No. I am not. This is not an attack against. These blogs are not directed toward any one person or group.

These blogs are directed to all of us—myself included—who love biblical counseling. They are for all of us—myself included—who need good Bereans to help us to assess how biblical or unbiblical our approaches to biblical counseling truly are.

I write to help, not to hurt. I write to equip, not to attack. I write to start a conversation, not to finish one.

Please join the conversation.

Why Some Biblical Counseling Is Only Half Biblical, Part Four

Why Some Biblical Counseling Is Only Half Biblical!
Part Four: The Great Cloud of Biblical Counseling Witnesses

*Note: If you’re disappointed that I’m saying that some biblical counseling is only half biblical, then please read my comments at the end of this post.

My Premise

Some modern biblical counseling considers the seriousness of sin—sinning, but spends much less time equipping people to minister to the gravity of grinding affliction—suffering. When we provide counseling for sin, but fail to provide counseling and counselor training for suffering, then such biblical counseling is only half biblical.

The Great Cloud of Biblical Counseling Witnesses

The Bible exhorts us to honor and learn from those who have gone before us:

“Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you” (Deuteronomy 32:7).

“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for yours souls” (Jeremiah 6:16a).

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).

So, how did the great cloud of biblical counseling witnesses in Church history deal with suffering? Well, for the detailed answer, please refer to:

Soul Physicians (http://tinyurl.com/d96hc6),

Spiritual Friends (http://tinyurl.com/qh5tj4),

Beyond the Suffering (http://tinyurl.com/cm96x6),

Martin Luther’s Pastoral Counseling (http://tinyurl.com/ovw588),

Sacred Friendships (http://tinyurl.com/ql8fqc).

The Readers’ Digest Version

As Church historians have probed the history of personal ministry, they have categorized all “people-ministry” using the four tasks of sustaining and healing for suffering, and reconciling and guiding for sinning. Though different terms were used in different eras, these historians have found consistent categories, definitions, and descriptions. Historically, comprehensive biblical care of people always involved the twin functions of soul care for suffering and spiritual direction for sinning through the four ministries of sustaining, healing, reconciling, and guiding.

John McNeil’s A History of the Cure of Souls traces the art of soul care throughout Church history and shows that Christians always provided ministry for suffering and sin.

“Lying deep in the experience and culture of the early Christian communities are the closely related practices of mutual edification and fraternal correction.”

Speaking of the Apostle Paul, McNeil notes:

“In such passages we cannot fail to see the Apostle’s design to create an atmosphere in which the intimate exchange of spiritual help, the mutual guidance of souls, would be a normal feature of Christian behavior.”

Throughout his historical survey, McNeil explains that mutual edification involves soul care through the provision of sustaining (consolation, support, and comfort) and healing (encouragement and enlightenment) for suffering. Fraternal correction includes spiritual direction through the provision of reconciling (discipline, confession, and forgiveness) and guiding (direction and counsel) for sinning.

Historians of soul care, Clebsch and Jaekle, found that pastoral care has historically involved “helping acts, done by representative Christian persons, directed toward the healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling of troubled persons whose troubles arise in the context of ultimate meanings and concerns” (Clebsch and Jaekle, Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective, p. 4).

How extensive has the twin ministries of soul care for suffering and spiritual direction for sinning been?

“The Christian ministry of the cure of souls, or pastoral care, has been exercised on innumerable occasions and in every conceivable human circumstance, as it has aimed to relieve a plethora of perplexities besetting persons of every class and condition and mentality. Pastors rude and barely plucked from paganism, pastors sophisticated in the theory and practice of their profession, and pastors at every stage of adeptness between these extremes, have sought and wrought to help troubled people overcome their troubles. To view pastoral care in historical perspective is to survey a vast endeavor, to appreciate a noble profession, and to receive a grand tradition” (Clebsch and Jaekle, p. 1).

Have we in the biblical counseling movement received or ignored this grand tradition of biblical counseling both for suffering and for sin?

Where Do We Go from Here?

Tomorrow, I’ll address the question, “What might it look like to train pastors and lay people to be soul physicians and spiritual friends who deal with both suffering and sin?”

*Note: Why I Am Addressing This Topic

All who have followed my ministry know that I am a bridge-builder and not a wall-builder. You might wonder then, “Bob, why blog about something that is surely to be controversial?”

Those who follow my ministry also know that I equip God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth through comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

Biblical counseling that fails to deal with suffering, fails the test of comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling. I would be a hypocrite to my calling if I remained silent.

Others might wonder, “Are you talking about a particular ‘model’ of modern biblical counseling, or about a particular person or persons who are writing today?”

No. I am not. This is not an attack against. These blogs are not directed toward any one person or group.

These blogs are directed to all of us—myself included—who love biblical counseling. They are for all of us—myself included—who need good Bereans to help us to assess how biblical or unbiblical our approaches to biblical counseling truly are. I write to help, not to hurt. I write to equip, not to attack. I write to start a conversation, not to finish one.

Please join the conversation.

Why Some Biblical Counseling Is Only Half Biblical, Part Three

Why Some Biblical Counseling Is Only Half Biblical!
Part Three: Embracing the Legacy of Comforting Biblical Counseling

*Note: If you find yourself upset that I am saying that some biblical counseling is only half biblical, then I would ask you to be sure to read my comments at the end of this blog post. Thanks!

My Premise

Some modern biblical counseling considers the seriousness of sin—sinning, but spends much less time equipping people to minister to the gravity of grinding affliction—suffering. When we provide counseling for sin, but fail to provide counseling and counselor training for suffering, then I am of the conviction that such biblical counseling is only half biblical!

The Myth: Dealing with “Suffering” Is Surely “Secular”

Here’s the myth we face when we say that we must deal with suffering as well as with sin:

“Oh, that’s just modern secular psychotherapy.” Or, “That’s obviously influenced by Freudianism.” Or, “No one ever said biblical counseling was about suffering until after the advent of modern humanism.”

Those are each myths.

Our first post in this series highlighted the theological necessity for dealing with suffering—failing to care for the suffering actually minimizes the universal impact of sin.

Our second post pondered just a few of many of the biblical mandates for dealing with suffering—such as Job; John 9:1-3; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Romans 12:15; and the occurrence of parakaleo over 100 times in the New Testament.

We could also add the Lament Psalms, the very character of God as the Father of the fatherless, David, Jeremiah, Jesus, Paul. Elsewhere (see Soul Physicians http://tinyurl.com/npfwsh) I have addressed an entire biblical theology of suffering—sufferology). Elsewhere I have spent over 100 pages outlining the Bible’s approach to helping the hurting (see Spiritual Friends http://tinyurl.com/nxbxes).

The Reality: Dealing with Suffering Is Certainly Biblical

Dealing with suffering is certainly biblical.

Of course, one could say, “That’s just your flawed interpretation of Scripture.”

Could be. While God’s Word is inspired, perfect, and inerrant, none of our interpretations are.

So I’ve also spent over a quarter-century studying Church history: the Church Fathers, the Reformers, the Puritans, African American believers (http://tinyurl.com/nykc3h), women in Church history (http://tinyurl.com/ql8fqc), etc.

Then again, we could run into yet another false accusation:

“So, you are saying that tradition is on the same par as inspired Scripture!”

No. Not at all.

I am simply saying that since all our interpretations of Scripture are errant, and since some claim that those who deal with suffering are unknowingly influenced by modern secular psychology, that turning to conservative believers pre-Freud could be a good reality check.

Church History Samplers of Comforting Biblical Counseling for Suffering

I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation (http://tinyurl.com/ovw588) on the great Reformer, Martin Luther. What many do not know is that Luther was also a master pastor. He left us 1000s of letters of spiritual consolation where he comforted his world-wide parishioners so they could face suffering face-to-face with God.

In my 359-page dissertation, 104 pages explore Luther’s work focused on suffering and sanctification. By comparison, 71 pages examine Luther’s work dealing with sin and sanctification. Luther, unlike some modern Christian counselors, accurately and adequately blended counseling for suffering and for sin.

In my book Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction (http://tinyurl.com/nykc3h), we learn from the amazing legacy of Black heroes of the faith. As the title suggests, our brothers and sisters understood that biblical counseling must include comforting the suffering. Yes, they certainly care-fronted the sinning, also. Like we should, our African American great cloud of witnesses did both.

In my forthcoming book Sacred Friendships: Celebrating the Legacy of Women Heroes of the Faith (http://tinyurl.com/ql8fqc), we see women like Margaret Baxter, Susanna Wesley, Sarah Edwards, Susannah Spurgeon, and 47 others, consistently integrating comfort for the suffering and care-fronting for the sinning.

Since this blog is long enough already, rather than quoting them, I have left links above to my works on Luther, African Americans believers, and women believers. Together this great cloud of witnesses insists that:

true, comprehensive biblical counseling has always been about the business of helping both hurting and hardened people through comforting and care-fronting with the goal of increased Christlikeness.

Where Do We Go from Here?

Tomorrow, I’ll provide an even broader Church history study, sharing briefly the works of Clebsch and Jaekle, McNeil, Oden, and other Church historians—who each conclude that comprehensive pastoral care has always dealt with both sin and suffering.

The next day I will address the question, “What then might it look like to train pastors and lay people to be soul physicians and spiritual friends who deal with both suffering and sin?”

*Note: Why I Am Addressing This Topic

All who have followed my ministry know that I am about bridge-building and not about wall-building. You might wonder then, “Bob, why blog about something that is surely to be controversial?”

Those who follow my ministry also know that I am about equipping God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth through comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

Biblical counseling that fails to deal with suffering, fails the test of comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling. I would be a hypocrite to my calling if I remained silent.

Others might wonder, “Are you talking about a particular ‘model’ of modern biblical counseling, or about a particular person or persons who are writing today?”

No. I am not. This is not an attack against. These blogs are not directed toward any one person or group.

These blogs are directed to all of us—myself included—who love biblical counseling. They are for all of us—myself included—who need good Bereans to help us to assess how biblical or unbiblical our approaches to biblical counseling truly are.

I write to help, not to hurt. I write to equip, not to attack. I write to start a conversation, not to finish one.

Please join the conversation.

Why Some Biblical Counseling Is Only Half Biblical

Why Some Biblical Counseling Is Only Half Biblical
Part One: The Gravity of Grinding Affliction

*Note: If you find yourself upset that I am saying that some biblical counseling is only half biblical, then I would ask you to be sure to read my comments at the end of this blog post. Thanks!

Thankful for Modern Biblical Counseling

I thank God for modern biblical counseling and biblical counselors. I consider myself one of them. That’s why I direct the Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation Network (http://www.bcsfn.com/). And it is why I speak, write, and consult on Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation (http://www.rpmministries.com/).

I also know that any human “movement” is imperfect and that all human beings are finite and are born fallen. Thus, we need to and are called to learn from one another.

My Premise: Half Biblical Counseling

Having said that, here’s my premise:

Some modern biblical counseling considers the seriousness of sin—sinning, but spends much less time equipping people to minister to the gravity of grinding affliction—suffering.

When we provide counseling for sin, but fail to provide counseling and counselor training for suffering, then I am of the conviction that such biblical counseling is only half biblical!

My Premise Expanded: One-Quarter Biblical Counseling

Throughout this blog post mini-series (first run from June 1 to June 18, 2009), I will develop a further premise:

Even when some biblical counselors do address suffering and sufferers, their focus seems to be upon “directive” counseling that exhorts the suffering Christian to be faithful. When we provide only or primarily directive exhortations to faithfulness, but fail to engage in biblical “sustaining” (empathy, compassionate commiseration, weeping with those who weep, sharing Scripture and soul, “climbing in the casket”), and when we fail to engage in biblical “healing” (encouragement, collaborative exploration of biblical responses, trialogues, spiritual conversations, scriptural explorations, “celebrating the resurrection”), then such biblical counseling is only one-quarter biblical. (For a fuller development of biblical and historical sustaining and healing, please see Spiritual Friends: http://tinyurl.com/coh23r).

The Evils We Have Suffered and the Sins We Have Committed

Over a quarter-century ago, when I was a seminary student, “counsel wars” erupted over two “competing models” of counseling. As I watched the wounded souls strewn across this Christian battlefield, I kept saying to myself:

“Surely the Church has always been about the business of helping hardened and hurting people.”

After over twenty-five years of biblical and historical research, I can assure you that the Church has always been about the business of helping hardened people to deal with their sin and helping hurting people to deal with their suffering.

When we fail to deal with both, then our biblical counseling is, at best, only half biblical. Frank Lake says it well,

“Pastoral care is defective unless it can deal thoroughly with the evils we have suffered and with the sins we have committed. The maladies of the human spirit in its deprivation and in its depravity are matters of common pastoral concern.”

When the Rubber Meets the Road

Of course, every Christian biblical counselor is loving. As bearers of God’s image and as renewed image bearers because of our redemption in Christ, we all love the people we minister to.

And, of course, every Christian biblical counselor spends time at the bedside of a cancer victim, or at the gravesite of grieving loved ones.

But please hear this. That does not mean that our focused approach to biblical counseling comprehensively emphasizes suffering and sin.

I’d ask you to do this. Browse through some of the comprehensive biblical counseling texts. Review your notes from a biblical counseling training seminar. Read the typical definitions of “biblical counseling.” How much time is spent on how to deal with sinning counselees versus how to help suffering counselees? How often is “suffering/hurting” included in definitions of what makes biblical counseling biblical?

In my book, Soul Physicians (http://tinyurl.com/d8grf6), I attempt to address both sin and suffering throughout, and I add two core chapters on biblical sufferology. In my book, Spiritual Friends, half of this biblical counseling training manual focuses on equipping counselors to provide sustaining and healing care for suffering counselees (pages 39 to 214).

Now, let me be clear—my works are just as imperfect as any other books. I am not saying that I’ve cornered the market on the perfect balance.

I am simply saying, when the rubber hits the road, when we train people in our books and in our seminars, when we offer definitions, when we launch lay counseling ministries in our local churches, are we dealing both with the evils we have suffered and with the sins we have committed?

Where Do We Go From Here?

I know, you have a million or even a bazillion questions. I’m glad. So do I!

This is just one post in a series of blog posts. In future posts I’ll try to address some of the questions that I imagine that you have. Questions like:

1. So, are you watering down sin?

2. So, are you saying that Christ came to heal our suffering and not to save us from our sin?

3. So, are you saying that our primary problem is our suffering rather than our sin?

4. So, has anyone else in Church history ever said we must focus on both sin and suffering?

5. So, what would it look like to focus on both sin and suffering?

6. So, what’s your definition/description of truly biblical counseling?

7. So, why do you think this “imbalance” exists?

8. So, how can we equip people for comprehensive biblical counseling?

9. So, how can we shape biblical counseling so that it deals comprehensively with real life issues?

10. So, how can biblical counseling become a natural part of one another ministry in the local church?

I’ll address questions like these and quite a few more.

As I do, please feel free to post comments on my blog http://rpmministries.blogspot.com/), or to email me (bob.kellemen@gmail.com) with your questions and thoughts.

*Note: Why I Am Addressing This Topic

All who have followed my ministry know that I am about bridge-building and not about wall-building. You might wonder then, “Bob, why blog about something that is surely to be controversial?”

Those who follow my ministry also know that I am about equipping God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth through Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

Biblical counseling that fails to deal with suffering, fails the test of Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling. I would be a hypocrite to my calling if I remained silent.

Others might wonder, “Are you talking about a particular ‘model’ of modern biblical counseling, or about a particular person or persons who are writing today?”

No. I am not. This is not an attack against. These blogs are not directed toward any one person or group.

These blogs are directed to all of us—myself included—who love biblical counseling. They are for all of us—myself included—who need good Bereans to help us to assess how biblical or unbiblical our approaches to biblical counseling truly are.

Still others might wonder, “But why not at least name names?” Frankly, I am not called to be part of the growing blog movement known as the “Discernment Movement.” Their calling seems to be to call out publicly those they feel are psycho-heretics. I have no desire to engage in such tactics.

If my blog posts were an “academic” tome, then for scholarly purposes I would quote some people directly. But these are simply blog posts and I am not attempting to demean any person or group.

Additionally, some pastors, students, lay people, and counselors who may practice “half biblical counseling,” are “nameless” to me. I have had numerous godly, mature Christians tell me of pastors and others who have confronted their sin but never comforted their suffering. It would be neither possible nor wise for me to try to name names.

I write to help, not to hurt. I write to equip, not to attack. I write to start a conversation, not to finish one.

Please join the conversation (http://tinyurl.com/n8k799).

Seven Questions Every Biblical Counselor Must Answer

Seven Questions Every Biblical Counselor Must Answer

In yesterday’s blog (http://tinyurl.com/o8cmq8) (Whatever Happened to Truth?), I included a section on Seven Questions Every Biblical Counselor Must Answer.

Many of my readers asked, “Where do you address each of those seven questions in Soul Physicians (http://tinyurl.com/d8grf6)?”

Glad you asked!

Seven Biblical Counseling Questions Addressed in Soul Physicians

1. Do I know how to use God’s Word to change lives?

I address this question everywhere in the book. I also provide concentrated focus on it in pages 1-58.

2. Do I comprehend how the Trinity serves as the foundation for how I relate to others?

Pages 59-116.

3. Do I understand people—biblically?

Pages 117-214.

4. Can I diagnose problems—biblically?

Pages 215-322.

5. Can I prescribe God’s solutions—biblically?

Pages 323-500.

6. Do I grasp how our eternal future makes all the difference in how we live today?

Pages 501-540.

7. Am I able to dispense God’s grace and care for others competently?

I cover this throughout the book, including in the two personal application/ministry implication discussion guides at the end of each chapter. Additionally, in my second book, Spiritual Friends (http://tinyurl.com/coh23r), I spend the entire book equipping pastors, counselors, and lay people how to develop twenty-two biblical counseling relational competencies.

*Quick Link to Your Copy of Soul Physicians on RPM Ministries: http://tinyurl.com/d96hc6

*Quick Link to Your Copy of Spiritual Friends: http://tinyurl.com/qh5tj4

PS:

Of course, the idea is not that I have “cornered the market” on the right answers. As I tell my students frequently, “Be a Berean and take these content areas and test what I teach against the inspired, inerrant Word of God.”

Change Lives with Christ's Changeless Truth

More Praise for Soul Physicians

To Order Your Copy at 40% Off, Please Visit: http://tinyurl.com/d96hc6

“Soul Physicians is no naїve verse-to-issue, sin-to-solution, mix-and-match biblical counseling reference. This is rich theology relayed in readable terms for grace-based care as shared by a stellar scholar-teacher. Soul care worthy of the title ‘Christian’ must address the core of shalom, the cancer of shame, and the destiny of the sacred. Soul Physicians passionately brings that holistic biblical redemptive story line to bear on the everyday life stories common in the practice of discipleship, Christian counseling, and spiritual formation.”
—Stephen P. Greggo, PhD., Professor of Counseling, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

“Dr. Kellemen’s book came as a great refreshment to me. It was both clear and comprehensive, elucidating a theological foundation for counseling ministry based on a solid biblical hermeneutic. This book is beneficial for a multitude of audiences: from the lay counselor, to the pastor, to the licensed clinician. Its impact is to clarify the need, mandate, and roots of personal ministry taken from the Word of the One who created all. Soul Physicians addresses all the imperative issues of our fallen and redeemed state without trying to simplify the complexities of sanctification. It should not be considered merely a textbook contribution to the literature on biblical counseling, but instead a foundation for a curriculum. I require it for all my biblical counseling students.”
—Lynelle Buchanan, Professor of Counseling, Baptist Bible College

“Soul Physicians swaps shop-worn theology for biblically sound, compassionate soul care. Dr. Bob Kellemen skillfully invites readers into the huddle where academic theology is spelled out and onto the field where practical theology is lived out. It’s a privilege to endorse such a fine work.”
—Tammy Schultz, Ph.D., LMHC; Department Chair, Graduate School in Counseling, Grace College

“Soul Physicians is an excellent resource for counselors, pastors and students who believe that knowing and loving people in our world begins with knowing and loving God and His Word. The confluence of Dr. Kellemen’s comprehensive grasp of the story of redemption in Scripture and his practical wisdom about people with problems makes this book a unique and important contribution for those that want to counsel from a distinctively Christian perspective.”
—Sam R. Williams, Ph.D., Professor of Counseling, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“The tremendous issues that people face today call for a work that skillfully guides those who labor in helping Christians reach maturity in Christ. Soul Physicians meets that need and will be of great value to pastors, professional Christian counselors, students, and lay people. Dr. Kellemen’s credentials both in the theological world and the world of counseling make him uniquely qualified to produce a work like Soul Physicians. His work will prove to be invaluable in the field of Christian counseling.”
—Dr. Homer Heater, Jr., President Emeritus, Washington Bible College

“Soul Physicians is a ‘theological breath of fresh air.’ This comprehensive guide offers a wealth of knowledge that translates theology into everyday human relationships. It catapults the reader into confidently connecting with people soul-to-soul. My life and ministry will never be the same after reading Soul Physicians.”
—Pastor Dwayne Bond, Senior Pastor, Wellsprings Church

“Soul Physicians captures the essence of Christian soul care and spiritual direction. A unique balance of biblical theology and compassionate spiritual friendship makes Soul Physicians vital for the pastor, Christian counselor, or student of counseling. Soul Physicians will revolutionize the study of counseling at higher learning institutions that embrace the Christian worldview in their counseling programs.”
—Douglas McCracken, Professional Christian Counselor, Safe Harbor Counseling

“Personally, I can attest to the challenge of facing deep hurts and overcoming them through the use and application of Soul Physicians’ principles. Professionally, as a biblical counselor, pastor’s wife, and teacher, God has allowed me to use Soul Physicians as an equipping tool to mentor women. My classes using these concepts have now included over 500 women who testify that Soul Physicians deepened their personal maturity and equipped them to more powerfully minister to others.”
—Sister Ellen Barney, Women’s Ministry Director, New Antioch Baptist Church

“Soul Physicians revives the timeless tradition of soul care in the Christian community. If you are longing for a deeper relationship with the Lord and others, read on. If you desire to see others as God sees them, keep reading. If you want to relate God’s Word to suffering and sinning as you interact with image bearers, Soul Physicians is for you. If you’re willing to allow God to pierce your heart with His holiness and grace, then Soul Physicians will transform you and those you encounter.”
—Susan Ellis, Author of Sacred Friendships

“Soul Physicians offers theological depth leading to personal maturity. It unlocks a systematic, exhilarating understanding of how God created us to relate, think, choose, and feel in an imperfect world as redeemed Christians. Providing a myriad of scriptural tools, Soul Physicians equipped me to understand suffering and sin, enabling me to connect with people who are impacted by the evils of suffering and with those who are dealing with personal sin issues. In Soul Physicians, Dr. Kellemen shares his years of experience, diligent research, and dependence on the Spirit to endow counselors, pastors, students, and lay people with a scriptural blueprint to become more soul aware and, in turn, empower others with God’s profound grace.”
—Robin Shell, Graduate Counseling Student

“As a pastor and a church planter, I resonate with the major theme found in Soul Physicians—how to change lives with God’s changeless truth. The principles found in Soul Physicians are so practical and life-giving that I am using them in the foundation of our church plant. Solidly biblical and refreshingly relational, Bob combines his wealth of experience as a pastor, shepherd, coach, and counselor with his strong exegetical skills to outline an easily understandable theology of counseling that masterfully addresses the human soul’s need for healing from both suffering and sin.”
—Pastor Tom Gill, Church Planter, Life in the Balance Ministries

“Not only is Soul Physicians based upon solid exegesis and deep theological convictions, it is also presented creatively and insightfully. God will use these truths to transform readers into greater lovers of God and better lovers of God’s people. Personally, I ‘understood’ truth before I was introduced to these concepts, but now God is giving me His heart through Soul Physicians. Undoubtedly, I am more like Jesus and better equipped to minister for Jesus because of Soul Physicians.”
—Chris Boucher, Counseling Professor, Capital Bible Seminary

To Order Your Copy at 40% Off, Please Visit: http://tinyurl.com/d96hc6

Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction

Understand People, Diagnose Problems, and Prescribe Solutions—Biblically!

Join the growing number of lay people, pastors, professional counselors, and students who are using Soul Physicians as the twenty-first-century theology manual for Christian counseling. Learn our Great Physician’s authoritative truth about:

Nourishing the Hunger of the Soul: Preventative Medicine—God’s Word

Knowing the Creator of the Soul: The Great Physician—The Trinity

Examining the Spiritual Anatomy of the Soul: People—Creation

Diagnosing the Fallen Condition of the Soul: Problems—Fall

Prescribing God’s Cure for the Soul: Solutions—Redemption

Envisioning the Final Healing of the Soul: Home—Glorification

Dispensing God’s Care for the Soul: Spiritual Friends—Sanctification

Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D. LCPC, is Chairman of the Master of Arts in Christian Counseling and Discipleship Department at Capital Bible Seminary where he has field-tested Soul Physicians for a decade. In his three pastoral ministries, Bob has trained hundreds of lay people as soul physicians. As a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, he brings a practitioner’s sensitivity to his writing. Bob is also the author of Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, and Sacred Friendships.

Soul Physicians, Part I

Praise for Soul Physicians

To Order Your Copy at 40% Off, Please Visit: http://tinyurl.com/d96hc6

“Soul Physicians is a great and unique book: deeply shaped by Scripture; promoting of a personal engagement with biblical teaching and with Christ; challenging and focused against sin; but practical, gentle in spirit, and discerning in method and counseling skill. The book itself exemplifies what a biblical counselor should be like. Its use of a redemptive-historical structure (creation-fall-redemption-consummation) alone is worth the price of the book, since the value of this framework has not yet been fully realized in Christian counseling. It should be widely used in counseling programs and local churches that value the Bible.”
—Eric Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Pastoral Theology and Biblical Psychology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“The Puritan writers were excellent counselors because they were also excellent theologians. Dr. Kellemen follows in that rich tradition; his quality leadership in counselor education flows from the depth of his theological underpinnings. Few books on counseling today are true to biblical hermeneutics; Soul Physicians is one significant exception, which is why I am using it as a required text for our course exploring Methods of Biblical Change.”
—Dr. Dow Pursley, Director of Counseling Programs, Baptist Bible College Graduate School

“Soul Physicians is an outstanding contribution to the fields of counseling and pastoral theology. It has succeeded remarkably in uniting counseling theory and the authority of Scripture. I know of no other work that is so insightful and equally practical. I strongly recommend Soul Physicians to pastors, educators, and everyone who is interested in intensifying practical sanctification.”

—Dr. Don Fowler, Professor of Biblical Studies, Liberty University

“Unlike many other books currently available, Soul Physicians can easily serve as a primary and comprehensive resource for those studying the theology of soul care. Dr. Kellemen’s innovative approach places the theology of soul care in the appropriate context of the Christian’s spiritual formation and discipleship. The text provides the vital addition of significant questions for the reader’s study and reflection, thus providing further options for classroom use in plenary or small group discussion.”

—Dr. Mara Crabtree, Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation and Christian Spirituality, Regent University School of Divinity

“Soul Physicians is a truly meaningful and valuable treatment of the theological, spiritual, and psychological dimensions of counseling, soul care, spiritual formation, and the relationships between them. It can serve as a textbook, a personal study guide, or a resource handbook for those desiring to approach people-helping from a thoroughly Christian and biblical viewpoint.”

—Dr. Richard Averbeck, Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; Director of the Spiritual Formation Forum

“In Soul Physicians, Robert W. Kellemen explores seven key biblical categories for developing a theology of soul care and spiritual direction. The result is a thoroughly biblical systematic theology written with the insights and illustrations of a mental health professional—appropriately constructed against the backdrop of a relational emphasis. I highly recommend this book as an important reference for evangelical pastors, counselors (both professional and lay), and other soul care providers.”
—Gary W. Moon, M.Div., Ph.D., Vice President and Chair of Integration, Psychological Studies Institute, Author of Falling for God

“In Soul Physicians, Dr. Kellemen captures the essence of delivering practical ministry in the real world. His teachings are applicable to the ‘every member a minister’ approach to caring for others, as well as being foundational for the professional Christian counselor. This material has enabled me to incorporate solid biblical principles into my counseling practice.”
—Melvin Pride, Director of Strategic Planning, Southern Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware

“The information in Soul Physicians, the perspective it gives on life, and the passion with which it is written has been the catalyst for my walk with Christ soaring to an entirely new level. The framework for life it presents has deepened my understanding of who Jesus is and provided me a clearer picture of God’s plan for my personal life and pastoral ministry. It has greatly enhanced my understanding of people and equipped me to powerfully minister to them.”
—Pastor John Heater, Youth Pastor, Forcey Memorial Church

“I read Soul Physicians expecting to learn many facts that I would need to become an excellent Christian counselor. God’s plans were that and so much more. He used Soul Physicians to speak truth into the deepest regions of my heart. It is naїve of us to plan to make an impact on those who are hurting, and hurting others, without first dealing with those parts of ourselves. Soul Physicians gave me a thorough knowledge of the subject, an increased self-awareness, and a realization of the many sensitive areas I face as I minister to God’s people. Soul Physicians is an apt title for a work that so eloquently presents the application of the Word of God to human suffering and sin.”
—Terri Polm, Lay Counselor

To Order Your Copy at 40% Off, Please Visit:

http://tinyurl.com/d96hc6

Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction

Understand People, Diagnose Problems, and Prescribe Solutions—Biblically!

Join the growing number of lay people, pastors, professional counselors, and students who are using Soul Physicians as the twenty-first-century theology manual for Christian counseling. Learn our Great Physician’s authoritative truth about:

Nourishing the Hunger of the Soul: Preventative Medicine—God’s Word

Knowing the Creator of the Soul: The Great Physician—The Trinity

Examining the Spiritual Anatomy of the Soul: People—Creation

Diagnosing the Fallen Condition of the Soul: Problems—Fall

Prescribing God’s Cure for the Soul: Solutions—Redemption

Envisioning the Final Healing of the Soul: Home—Glorification

Dispensing God’s Care for the Soul: Spiritual Friends—Sanctification

Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D. LCPC, is Chairman of the Master of Arts in Christian Counseling and Discipleship Department at Capital Bible Seminary where he has field-tested Soul Physicians for a decade. In his three pastoral ministries, Bob has trained hundreds of lay people as soul physicians. As a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, he brings a practitioner’s sensitivity to his writing. Bob is also the author of Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, and Sacred Friendships.

Are You Ready to Learn What to Do After the Hug?

Are You Ready to Learn What to Do after the Hug?

You care deeply. But perhaps sometimes you struggle to know what to do after the hug. Learn how to care like Christ--how to change lives with Christ's changeless truth.

In What to Do After the Hug, I've condensed all of Soul Physicians and all of Spiritual Friends in fifty pages. In fact, for good measure, I wove in and condensed Beyond the Suffering, too! In fifty pages, you gain my entire approach to biblical counseling and spiritual formation in miniature!

Think of it as your own refresher course on biblical counseling.

What a great way to equip those you minister to.

The Cost

The cost?

For just $7.50 you receive the fifty-page Word Document What to Do After the Hug as an e-document. It summarizes a Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed model of biblical counseling and spiritual formation to equip you to change lives with Christ's changless truth.

To Order

It’s simple. Order here by PayPal or with Visa or Master Card:

http://www.rpmbooks.org/credit_card_orders.html#hug

Or, phone order with Visa or Master Card to: 219-662-8138.

Or, send a check to RPM Ministries, PO Box 270, Crown Point, IN 46308, for $7.50. (Be sure to include your email address so we can send you your copy of the e-document: What to Do After the Hug.)

Enjoy!

Learn How to Change Lives

Are You Ready to Learn How to Change Lives

with Christ's Changeless Truth?

Do you sometimes struggle to know how to use God's Word powerfully, effectively, and lovingly to change lives?

Change that with:

Changing Lives: What to Do After the Hug.

In fifty pages, I have creatively condensed a lifetime of ministry equipping.

Learn how to care like Christ through comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

For just $7.50 you can order your E-Document as a Word document at:

http://www.rpmbooks.org/credit_card_orders.html#hug

You will learn how to view the Bible as the foundation for one another ministry through six practical spiritual life principles from God's Word.

You will learn how to use the Bible in your personal ministry through four practical relational competencies for biblical counseling.

Twelve built-in application sections make this the ideal equipping manual.

Be equipped to care like Christ and to change lives with Christ's changeless truth through comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation.