Christ Centered Biblical Counseling

Master the essentials of effective biblical counseling Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling is a comprehensive resource that will help you understand how to minister from God’s truth to change lives. With the cumulative wisdom of almost 40 contributors with exceptional credentials and experience, you’ll discover a valuable model for counseling that explains… The Why of Biblical Counseling Why the Bible is sufficient and relevant for addressing every issue we face Why biblical counseling is so effective in helping people face life’s struggles in Christ’s strength The How of Biblical Counseling How you can lead struggling, hurting people to the hope and strength available only in Christ How to counsel in a way that is Christ-centered and God-glorifying Every chapter provides a wonderful blend of theological wisdom and practical expertise, and is written to be accessible to everyone who wishes to extend Christ’s love to others—pastors, church leaders, counseling practitioners, instructors, lay people, and students. In this massively important new book…leading figures in the biblical counseling movement set forth a wealth of wisdom. We have needed this book for a long time. —Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling is warm, personal, gentle, always wanting to listen and know the person, confident in the Spirit’s working through the Word of Christ. —Dr. Ed Welch, CCEF faculty, author of Shame Interrupted

Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling is a comprehensive guide that will equip God’s people to use biblical truth to change lives. More than that, this book will increase people’s confidence in the sufficiency and relevancy of God’s Word to address real-life issues in a multitude of counseling situations. Readers of this book will: Understand clearly why they should embrace biblical counseling Be encouraged to trust God’s Word to provide rich insight for living in the midst of even the most difficult challenges Enjoy the relevant, pastoral, and theological teaching they have come to appreciate from such noted authors as James MacDonald, John Piper, Mark Dever, and Elyse Fitzpatrick The 28 chapters blend theological wisdom and practical expertise. The first half of the book emphasizes a practical theology of biblical counseling; the second half highlights a practical methodology of biblical counseling. Though accessible to all Christians, the book will especially appeal to pastors and church leaders, counseling practitioners, students, and educators.

Everyone talks about the personal ministry of the Word, but how do we make one-another ministry truly biblical? Gospel-Centered Counseling equips readers to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. It does so by examining life’s seven ultimate questions and then guiding readers on a journey that explores the biblical, gospel-centered narrative of: The Word: “What is truth?” “Where can I find answers?” The Trinity: “Who is God?” “Can I know Him personally?” Creation: “Who am I?” “What makes people tick?” Fall: “What went wrong?” “Why do we do the things we do?” Redemption: “Can I change?” “How do people change?” Glorification: “Where am I headed?” “How does our future destiny impact our present reality?” Sanctification: “How can I help?” “How can I change lives?" Bob Kellemen builds on the foundation of the written Word and provides a gospel-centered resource for understanding people, diagnosing problems, and prescribing biblically-based solutions. Gospel-Centered Counseling is the first volume in The Equipping Christian Counselors Series, a comprehensive relational training curriculum for the local church that provides a model for equipping God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. This two-volume series weaves together comprehensive biblical insight with compassionate Christian engagement.

Many Christian counselors and pastors want to bring Christ's Gospel and forgiveness into their soul care, but don't know how. Luther's very Christ-centered theology, based in his desire for care of souls, can provide us with that foundation. Various techniques flowing from that foundation are shared. "Martin Luther formulated his proclamation of the message of Scripture for his contemporaries between the poles of God's voice in the pages of the Bible and the needs and afflictions of his hearers and readers. Marrs brings twenty-first century readers into that exchange and demonstrates how Luther's insights into the gospel of Jesus Christ help bring healing and comfort to those struggling with guilt, shame, fear, loneliness, and other spiritual afflictions in our day. This volume provides those who are engaged in conversation with the troubled and distressed rich resources for fostering peace and joy in the midst of such trouble and distress." Robert Kolb, PhD, professor of systematic theology emeritus, Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis USA "If all good theology is pastoral in its orientation, then this groundbreaking, practical, biblical study is well worth careful consideration by any pastor or Christian counsellor. In it Marrs engages in a conversation with the teaching of Luther as a Christ-centered pastoral theologian and the practical insights of psychologists on the personal care of their clients, with a special emphasis on Luther's insistence on the need to distinguish between law and gospel in the proper application of God's gracious word with the delivery of soul care to God's people." John W. Kleinig, PhD Professor Emeritus, Australian Lutheran College University of Divinity, Adelaide, South Australia

The gospel of Jesus Christ—the heartbeat of the Bible—brings life-changing hope and power to real people with real problems. Inspired by that conviction, The Gospel for Disordered Lives provides an introductory guide to the theory and practice of Christ-centered biblical counseling. Intended to serve as a foundational textbook for students in Christian colleges, universities, seminaries, and graduate schools, the book also provides a useful overview that working counselors can reference in their ministry contexts. Additionally, it can serve pastors and current counseling practitioners as a helpful refresher and a resource for common counseling problems.

What role does Scripture play in counseling? Today, we face a weakening of confidence in the Bible. This is just as true for the pastor offering counsel in his office as it is for the person in the pew talking with a struggling friend. We need to regain our confidence in God's living Word as sufficient to address the real-life issues we face today. Scripture and Counseling will help you understand how the Bible equips us to grow in counseling competence as we use it to tackle the complex issues of life. Divided into two sections, Part One develops a robust biblical view of Scripture’s sufficiency for "life and godliness" leading to increased confidence in God's Word. Part Two teaches how to use Scripture in the counseling process. This section demonstrates how a firm grasp of the sufficiency of Scripture leads to increased competence in the ancient art of personally ministering God's Word to others. Part of the Biblical Counseling Coalition series, Scripture and Counseling brings you the wisdom of twenty ministry leaders who write so you can have confidence that God’s Word is sufficient, necessary, and relevant to equip God’s people to address the complex issues of life in a broken world. It blends theological wisdom with practical expertise and is accessible to pastors, church leaders, counseling practitioners, and students, equipping them to minister the truth and power of God’s word in the context of biblical counseling, soul care, spiritual direction, pastoral care, and small group facilitation.

Many Christian counselors and pastors want to bring Christ's Gospel and forgiveness into their soul care, but don't know how. Luther's very Christ-centered theology, based in his desire for care of souls, can provide us with that foundation. Various techniques flowing from that foundation are shared. "Martin Luther formulated his proclamation of the message of Scripture for his contemporaries between the poles of God's voice in the pages of the Bible and the needs and afflictions of his hearers and readers. Marrs brings twenty-first century readers into that exchange and demonstrates how Luther's insights into the gospel of Jesus Christ help bring healing and comfort to those struggling with guilt, shame, fear, loneliness, and other spiritual afflictions in our day. This volume provides those who are engaged in conversation with the troubled and distressed rich resources for fostering peace and joy in the midst of such trouble and distress." Robert Kolb, PhD, professor of systematic theology emeritus, Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis USA "If all good theology is pastoral in its orientation, then this groundbreaking, practical, biblical study is well worth careful consideration by any pastor or Christian counsellor. In it Marrs engages in a conversation with the teaching of Luther as a Christ-centered pastoral theologian and the practical insights of psychologists on the personal care of their clients, with a special emphasis on Luther's insistence on the need to distinguish between law and gospel in the proper application of God's gracious word with the delivery of soul care to God's people." John W. Kleinig, PhD Professor Emeritus, Australian Lutheran College University of Divinity, Adelaide, South Australia

How does a person learn to counsel others with the truth of God’s Word? Bob Kellemen believes that the best way to learn counseling is by doing it—by giving and receiving biblical counseling in the context of real, raw Christian community. Gospel Conversations explores the four compass-points of biblical counseling: Sustaining: “It’s Normal to Hurt.” Healing: “It’s Possible to Hope.” Reconciling: “It’s Horrible to Sin, but Wonderful to Be Forgiven.” Guiding: “It’s Supernatural to Mature.” These four compass points combine to equip readers to develop twenty-two ministry relational competencies—the “how to” of caring like Christ. This book serves as a practical training manual that can be used for lab and small group interaction. Gospel Conversations is the second volume in The Equipping Biblical Counselors Series, a comprehensive relational training curriculum for the local church that provides a model for equipping God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. This two-volume series weaves together comprehensive biblical insight with compassionate Christian engagement.