Julian Rebera �1

WALES EVANGELICAL SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

COLEG DIWINYDDOL EFENGYLAIDD CYMRU

ACADEMIC YEAR - 2014/2015

CHURCH PLACEMENT ESSAY

Date: Tuesday 6th January 2015

Module: TH7810

Student Number: 1327501

Word Count: 5399

THE CURE OF SOULS AND THE LOCAL CHURCH

In this paper we will discuss Pastoral Counselling. Pastoral counselling takes place, at least

informally in every church as people speak to one another sharing problems and struggles they face,

and as they share their struggles, listeners naturally give comfort and advice. That it happens is not

in question, that it happens well and that is happens for all who need it at the point of need is. 1

This essay will consider, in light of recent scholarship, what the church, in particular, New Life

Brighton, must do to better minister for the cure of souls. 2

Concerning Pastors, “His choice is not between counselling or not counselling, but 1

between counselling in a disciplined and skilled way and counselling in an undisciplined and unskilled way.” Wayne E. Oates, An Introduction to Pastoral Counselling (Nashville: Broadman, 1959) n.p. Quote taken from Gary R. Collins, Christian Counselling, A Comprehensive Guide (Reading: Word UK Ltd, 1989). 15.

‘The cure of souls’ is the basic meaning of the term ‘psychotherapy.’2

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Terms

For the purposes of this essay, I will use the following terms:-

Pastoral Counselling to refer to secular psychiatry and psychology, and their Movement as ‘The

Pastoral Counselling Movement’ abbreviated PCM. Christian psychologists and Counsellors, who

have sought to adapt and integrate secular Psychology and psychotherapy insight with Christian

theology, doctrine and counselling practise, I refer to as ‘Integrationists’ and their movement,

‘Integrationist Counselling Movement’, abbreviated ‘ICM’, and ‘Biblical Counselling’ refers to

Nouthetics Counselling and the subsequent development of that movement into what today is called

The Biblical Counselling Movement (BCM).

The need for such a study has arisen on more than one occasion. The most recent will suffice to

illustrate the point.

A Case in Point

The need for effective pastoral counselling became evident in New Life Brighton as a number of 3

people, to varying degrees struggled with depression. One such member, pseudonym

‘Sam’ (intentionally gender neutral) withdrew from church, sought help from their GP who

prescribed anti-depressants. After initial, hopeful improvement Sam’s mood sank even lower. Sam’s

GP doubled the strength of anti-depressants while, Sam kept distance from the church, and would

not see any elders face to face. Communication was restricted to email. However, Sam did seek out

the help of a Christian Counsellor known to the church but outside of it. Sam saw the counsellor

once. Sam is engaging with people through Facebook, is socialising outside of the church, including

New Life Brighton is the Church I lead3

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some church members, and claims to be on the road to recovery. However, it seems that the last

place Sam will go is church - perhaps until a full recovery has been made.

It is easy to blame Sam for getting depressed and leaving. It is easy to assume that Sam was willing

to engage others in other contexts but not his church because of sin, or a situation Sam did not want

to face, but imagined church leaders would force the issue.

Whatever the reasons, the bottom line is, Sam did not believe the Church could help and withdrew.

This alone is cause for self examination. How, in the light of recent scholarship can New Life

Brighton become a place where its members find help with life’s struggles? Progress in answering

that question is the aim of this essay.

The Method

We begin with an historical survey, mapping the course of counselling in the church, beginning in

the gospels, skimming the surface of history and focussing particularly on the period covering the

mid nineteenth century to the present time.

The purpose of the survey is to help make sense of why the church, and particularly New Life

Brighton finds itself in the current situation of being ill equipped for helping people who struggle.

The second part is limited in scope. It is based on a small piece of quantitative research in the form

of a questionnaire (Appendix 1). A total of forty church members were invited to participate in the

questionnaire, eighteen from New Life Brighton and twenty-two from other churches. The reason

for this mix was to aid anonymity. It is much easier to speak negatively of your leaders if it might

be leaders from another church. Of the forty, thirty-six actually completed the questionnaire.

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The numbers within the questionnaire do not add up as respondents often gave multiple answers to

questions. This was intentional to make it easier for respondents to express themselves and give a

fuller picture.

The purpose of the questionnaire was to give a meaningful, though general idea of where church

and members are at.

I included seemingly unrelated questions, such as, questions about decision making. The reason

being, the answers indicate levels of general openness, trust and degrees of interdependence. All of

which have a bearing on the subject.

This essay is not intended to provide a program and strategy for implementation, but to make the

case for such, and to sign post the kind of action that needs to be taken.

All People Suffer

Beginning our survey with the Bible itself, though the term ‘depression’ is not used, it is described

throughout. Psalm 88 for example poignantly closes (verse 12) with the statement “You have taken

my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend”. In fact, around two

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thirds of the psalter are lamentations. Throughout both the Old and New Testament we see that all,

including God’s people suffer, and for a variety of reasons. 4

The Promise of, and Provision for Comfort

But Jesus does make the promise that though people might mourn, “they will be

comforted” (Matthew 5:4). This is a general teaching of the New Testament which is fleshed out to

teach that God’s means for helping his struggling people are the provision of the Holy Spirit, the

Right from the start of the Bible we see Adam and Eve struggling with guilt and shame 4

(Genesis 3:7-15). We see in the book of Job, Job, after suffering terrible affliction wrestle with a form of deep depression unaided by his so-called comforters. Moses struggling to lead God’s people (Numbers 11:11), Elijah famously plummets into depression after the great victory at Carmel when threatened by Jezebel (1 Kings 19:3,4). Jonah wishes he could die (Jonah 4:3). Even in the NT the great Apostle Paul hints at his own personal struggles resulting from his ministry (Romans 9:1,2; 2 Corinthians 2:1-4; 11:27,28). Then of course Jesus Himself was called ‘Man of Sorrows’ (Isaiah 53:3) and himself said “Blessed are the poor in spirit for their is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:3,4).

These and many other passages from the Bible illustrate the point that nobody is immune from such struggles though some are more prone to them than others.

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scriptures and his people. Therefore, suffering is to be expected among God’s people, but also, 5

through God’s provision, God’s people can be helped. It was this conviction that gave rise to the

nouthetic counselling movement pioneered by Jay Adams. 6

Between the Times

The scope of this essay does not permit a full historical survey so here I simply refer to Derek

Tidball’s helpful summaries of his analysis of history where he discusses pastoral theology through

the ages.

The picture is sketchy. The early centuries he eloquently describes thus; “In spite of mistakes,

however, there shine from these days rich jewels which sparkle in the gathering gloom and reflect a

He also promises that he will send the Holy Spirit who is called the counsellor, advocate, 5

comforter to be with his people (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7)

The apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:28,29 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” and in 15:14 that “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.” To Timothy he writes “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16,17). Again Paul describes in vivid metaphor how the ministry of the church works in Ephesians 4:15,16 “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

Peter writes in the first chapter of his second epistle (verse 3,4) “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Jay E. Adams, Competent to Counsel, Introduction to Nouthetic Counselling (Grand 6

Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1970) 20-22

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penetrating understanding of the life of the true pastor”. The middle ages he sums up as “a tragic 7

warning”. And the reformation he writes, did much to revive “something of the spirit it originally 8

had in the early church”. 9

The Puritans

The Cure of Souls - Pastoral Counselling

The conviction that God’s provision is sufficient for the cure of souls was held by many Puritans

too. Heath Lambert cites Richard Baxter, John Owen and William Bridge as Puritan examples of

men who knew how to counsel their flocks and taught others to do the same. Following the 10

Puritans but of the same tradition, the letter written by Henry Scougal as spiritual counsel to his

struggling friend (which was later published as a book) serves as a later example of good theology

and practise. 11

Pre 1850’s summary

The Cure of Souls within the church

From the Reformation through to the revivals of the sixteenth century, the cure of souls was the

particular interest and ministry of the Church. This can be seen for example in Wesleyan Revival

and the establishment of the Methodist church which sought to evangelise, convert and thoroughly

disciple believers. Expressions of mental illness and problems in human living were the domain of

Derek. Tidball, Skilful Shepherds, Explorations in Pastoral Theology ( Nottingham, 7

England: Apollos), 170

Ibid, 1788

Ibid , 2019

Heath. Lambert, The Biblical Counselling Movement After Adams (Wheaton, Illinois: 10

Crossway), 25

Henry. Scougal, The Life of God in the Souls of Man (USA: Codex Spiritualis Publication, 11

2012) n.p. n.d. Public Domain

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church. The Pastor was the professional when it came to guiding the flock through the various

challenges and crisis in life and the ‘problems in living’ that ensued. The Pastor was the local doctor

of the soul and it was to him a parishioner went for the cure. But things were changing and over 12

the next century the clergy would find the proverbial rug being pulled from under their feet. Their

jurisdiction would be overtaken.

Post 1850’s-1950’s

The Cure of Souls taken from the Church, Distraction, Neglect and Deference to External

Authorities

By the mid 1800s the Church was in crisis. Over the next hundred years the Enlightenment gave

way to modernism, the Church was reeling under the attacks of developing Darwinism and the

industrial revolution, all of which were exerting their impact on the church, which was finding itself

increasingly distracted, out of step with society and on the back foot, in short the church was in

crisis, and had been for some time. 13

Furthermore, Freud made his presence felt. Human life struggles came to be understood in newly

defined psychotherapeutic terms of illness, with the understanding that “Emotional and behavioural

ills of the soul that once registered dislocations in a moral agents’s relationships to God and

neighbour … [are in fact] symptomatic of a patients mental and emotional illness”. With this 14

For an historical survey of this time period see Derek. Tidball, Skillful Shepherds, 12

Explorations in Pastoral Theology (Nottingham, England: Aollos, 2009), 203-15

For analysis of the dynamics affecting the church and causing its crisis see Heath. 13

Lambert, The Biblical Counselling Movement After Adams, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 28-35

David. Powlison, The Biblical Counselling Movement (Greensboro, NC: New Growth), 14

22

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redefinition came the medicalisation of mental illness. This development had profound and far 15

reaching implications for pastoral care, because the medicalisation of mental health implied that

mental illness could be cured medically. The idea of personal responsibility was subsequently

diminished. The pastor as the professional for the cure of souls was replaced by other less

superstitious, less judgmental, more scientific and legitimate professionals; psychiatrists,

neurologists, social workers and clinical psychologists. The clergy were ill equipped to keep up

with the change and quickly lost their grip as the professionals assumed control. The proverbial

horse had bolted.

“The secular methods and assumptions gained ground from the clergy during the 19th

century, according to Abbot, chiefly because the "clergy analysis remained primitive .... The

clergy's failure to provide any academic foundation for their practice with personal

problems ultimately proved their undoing" 16

so that "By the 1920s the clergy had lost any vestige of cultural jurisdiction over personal

problems" 17

“For most of this century pastoral theology has been in the doldrums.” writes Derek Tidball, and 18

“The advent of the secular therapist and the explosion of the Social Services have been a profound

Ibid 2315

Andrew. Abbot, The System of Professions: an Essay on the Division of Expert Labor. 16

(Chicago: University of Chicago,1988),168

Ibid 308 17

Derek. Tidball, Skilful Shepherds, 1318

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threat to the minister who has so often been made to feel an amateur among professionals, with little

to contribute to the problems of the real world.” 19

People’s mental and emotional problems were taken out of the hands of the ‘amateur Clergy’, by

the professional's clinic, the hospital and counselling centres, and so emerged the PCM. The 20

clergy’s response, under pressure was to reluctantly “refer and defer” to the professionals. The 21

best they could do for themselves, was to be assimilated into the new PCM with their secular

methods. Again Derek Tidball writes

“The response of some has been to seek to equip themselves with just the sort of

professional expertise which has a market value and which would place them back in the

mainstream of society - even to the extent of leaving the ministry in order to fulfil their

ministries. … however, such an accommodation to modern society must prove

counterproductive.” 22

Indeed it has.

Ibid 1419

The Pastoral Counselling Movement was not a movement among ‘Pastors’ but the term 20

Pastoral was the contemporary currency of language for the practitioner of the cure of souls, and so was taken up by Freud and the rise of secular counsellors.

Jay. Adams writes “Mental health institutes are conducted in order to persuade ministers 21

that they cannot (more often the wording is “dare not”) help the “mentally ill”. Competent to Counsel, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1970),18

Tidball, Skilful Shepherds 1422

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But however reluctant the Church was in accepting the redefinition of mental disorder, it seemed

just as reluctant to let go of it, so when, late in the day challenges to the church, to take up its own

responsibility to counsel its own began to be issued, Mowrer wrote in 1961 …

“At first, slow to accept Freudianism, they [the theological seminaries] are today displaying an

astonishing reluctance to let go of it.” 23

1950’s

The Churches’ Deference to the Pastoral Counselling Movement Begins to be Challenged

By now secular counselling was hegemonic with two primary non-directive streams of counselling

holding sway, Freudian and Rogerian which were the main influences on the non-directive PCM. 24

However, around the 1950’s a number pioneers, saw what they considered to be the failings of the

hegemony and developed their own, new ’directive-interventive’ methodologies. Up to this point, 25

Pastoral Theology had been seriously neglected, according to Lambert, for one hundred years. It 26

appears, despite the mounting voices, there was no careful and comprehensive work being done

O. Hobart. Mowrer, The Crisis in Psychiatry and Religion, (New York: Van Nostrand 23

Reinhold Company, 1961), 60

For a more detailed history of counselling from the Puritans to the 1960’s see Heath 24

Lambert, The Biblical Counselling Movement After Adams, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012) 21-35 and a more general survey of pastoral theology can be found in Derek. Tidbal, Skilful Shepherds, Explorations in Pastoral Theology (Nottingham, England: Apollos), chapters 9 and 10.

Among such men were Albert Ellis, Eric Berne, O. Hobart Mowrer, William Glasser and 25

Salvador Minuchin. Powlison, The Biblical Counselling Movement, (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press), 23.

Heath Lambert, writes; “One of the last careful works was Ichabod Spencer’s ‘A Pastor’s 26

Sketches’ in the 1850’s… The next book after ‘A Pastor’s Sketches’ that would offer uniquely biblical insight into helping people with their problems was Jay Adam’s book Competent to Counsel, more than one hundred years later!” The Biblical Counselling Movement After Adams, (Wheaton: Crossway), 26-27

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regarding a robust, biblical theology for the cure of souls. That is not to say nothing was done, 27

rather, that a lot more needed to be done. 28

Early 1960’s

Meanwhile, in parallel to those stirrings during the early 1960’s “the institutional foundations for an

evangelical psychotherapy community were laid. [When] Fuller Theological Seminary started its

graduate course in psychology in 1965”. Fuller became the seedbed out of which grew the 29

integrationists. At a popular level, Integrationists tend to be known as ‘Christian Counsellors’.

It was Mowrer’s strong reaction against these integrationists that catalysed Jay Adams in a new

direction. Mowrer himself was influenced significantly by A T Boison who stated that mental

disorder is essentially spiritual, and wrote rather damningly in 1926 concerning the church's neglect

of mental disorders. 30

F. Greeves, recognising the need wrote that “all men, both as “sheep” and “shepherd” 27

need Christian doctrine, to a far greater extent than is now commonly recognised, even though that was not all they needed”. Theology and the Cure of Souls (London: Epworth,1960), 1

An example of some work that had been done is that of, E. Thurneysen’s, A Theology of 28

Pastoral Care (Richmond: John Knox, 1962), 31. which was published in English. According to Derek. Tidball, Skillful Shepherds, Explorations in Pastoral Theology (Nottingham: Apollos, 2009) 233 Eduard argued that the Bible is all that is needed for Pastoral Care. He argued that the difference between Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care is that the former is the word of God preached to a corporate group and the latter is the word of God spoken and applied personally to the individual.

Powlison, The Biblical Counselling Movement, 2729

Mowrer, The Crisis in Psychiatry and Religion, 61, quoting A. Boison,Challenge to our 30

Seminaries (n.p.:Christian Work, 1926), page 9 He wrote: “But of any such possibilities the Church is utterly oblivious. She takes no interest in cases of pronounced mental disorder … We have therefore the truly remarkable situation - a Church which has always been interested in the care of the sick, confining her efforts to types of cases [physical illness] in which religion has least concern, and least to contribute, while in those types in which it is impossible to tell where the domain of the medical worker leaves off and that of the religious worker begins, there the Church is doing nothing.”

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So while the directive intervention movement was stirring, the Integrationists found an institutional

home at Fuller.

Mowrer penned his book ‘The Crisis in Psychiatry and Religion’ in 1961. In 1965 Adams read

Mowrer’s works and took the opportunity to attend a lecture given by Mowrer and subsequently

enrolled on one of Mowrer’s six week intensive courses . Adams was not convinced of all that 31

Mowrer taught, but what Mowrer did succeed in doing for Adams was to debunk the credibility of

the non-directive secular approaches to mental health, which were being adopted and adapted by the

integrationists. Significantly, quite possibly with Fuller and the integrationists in mind, Mowrer,

asked:

"has Evangelical religion sold its birthright for a mess of psychological pottage? In

attempting to rectify their disastrous early neglect of pschopathology, have the churches and

seminaries assimilated a viewpoint and value system more destructive and deadly than the

evil they were attempting to eliminate? As a psychologist and churchman, I believe the

answer to these questions is in the affirmative.”” 32

Not only was that so, but "Adams answered yes to Mowrer's question, picked up the gauntlet, and

called on his fellow conservative pastors to join him in reclaiming their birthright" . 33

Powlison, The Biblical Counselling Movement, 3531

Mowrer, Crisis in psychiatry and Religion, 6032

Powlison, The Biblical Counselling Movement, 433

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The upshot of Adam’s reaction was the founding of the BCM which aimed to bring the cure of souls

back into the church under the jurisdiction of the Pastor and to develop a comprehensive, biblically

based theology for the cure of souls, Adams called it Nouthetic Counselling.

The Integrationists in part were reacting to earlier simplistic and crude approaches to what can

fairly be called ‘proof text counselling’, which was not only directive but even coercive and harsh,

taking almost no account of a person’s history, experiences or circumstances.

Chief among the integrationists was Seward Hiltner who did well to redress some of the current

imbalance. On the one hand, in contrast to the PCM, he understood that sin had to be included in 34

any equation when it came to the cure of souls, but also, in contrast to some of the crude directive

‘proof text counselling’, that sin is never the only factor since man is not only a spiritual being but

also a biological being living in a social context.

A person may have a very slow metabolism or a thyroid problem which makes them prone to

gaining weight very quickly and easily. Perhaps their work involves eating out with clients, perhaps

due to childhood neglect the person has learned to comfort eat - these factors have a real bearing in

terms of explaining the persons weight problem. But if that is all that is recognised, the whole

problem will not be dealt with. His own responsibility in the choices he makes every time he eats

cannot be ignored and failure to recognise the making of those wrong choices as sin is failure.

Hiltner argued that this element must also be addressed and that “only when a person deeply

recognises sin for what it is, and his own responsibility for it, can the healing begin.” 35

Rev Seward Hiltner (1910-1984) was formerly Professor at Princeton Theological 34

Seminary, and an influential Integrationist

Tidball, Skilful Shepherds, 225,635

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Tidball also notes that with Hiltner, guidance was not to be coercive but educative and that

traditional approaches and discipline are “too directional”. Although there is doubtless truth in his 36

thinking, Hiltner was too heavily influenced by the PCM to such a degree that he “let the

psychological tail wag the theological dog”. 37

1960’s - Adams and Early Attempts to Move Counselling Back into the Church and Under the

Jurisdiction of the Pastor.

The emergence of the BCM is a relatively recent phenomenon, sparked proper by Jay Adams, the

founding giant of the movement which began in the mid to late 1960’s. 38

Adams was well positioned to begin such a movement holding a teaching post at Westminster

Theological Seminary through which he became a prolific writer, trainer and advocate for his own

brand of biblical counselling, so-called ‘Nouthetic Counselling’. 39

In contrast to the Integrationists coming out of Fuller Theological Seminary, Adams aim was never

to integrate secular thought or techniques with biblical counselling. As he understood it, secular

thought and methods, and biblical counselling would mix like water and oil, which also explains

Ibid., 22736

Ibid., 22837

That is not to suggest it has never been done. As noted above, many puritans took a 38

Biblical Counselling approach to counselling. But the emergence in the sixties of biblical counselling was late compared with the integrationists who started out essentially as Pastors adopting secular psychotherapy counselling as their model.

Nouthetic comes from the Greek nouthesia and means counsel, admonish or confront. 39

Nouthetic counselling therefore included rebuking where necessary, certainly instructing, challenging and correcting. It is the confrontational or directive element that is an immediate and obvious distinctive of biblical counselling compared with Integrationist counselling and psychotherapy which tends to be non-directive.

Julian Rebera �16

why Adam’s rarely attempted to engage the secular institutions. He was persuaded that the two 40

were not compatible since each inhabited a worldview so different to the other. Rather he aimed to

develop biblical counselling and equip churches and Pastors for the task without feeling they must

“refer and defer” to secular modes and authorities. 41 42

Adams was persuaded that the vast majority of mental health issues boiled down to sin. That is the

sin by which the person was sinned against, but also the person’s own sin and sinful response to

being a victim of sin.

Adams BCM captured the minds of evangelical, conservative Protestants, particularly pastors when

he published his groundbreaking, best selling book ‘Competent to Counsel’. This book set out 43

Adams’ theology and methodology for his own brand of biblical counselling. More importantly to 44

the local pastor, it attempted to place the role of counselling back into the hands of the pastor, or in

Adams’, mind, “God’s Professional Counsellor”. Adams went on to write numerous other books, 45

pamphlets and articles on the subject. He became a prolific writer, trainer and, facilitator of training

for counselling. He Standardised and certificated his brand.

Powlison, The Biblical Counselling Movement, 440

Adams, Competent to Counsel, 1841

Powlison's writes, “In his [Jay Adams] story, an intellectual and institutional paradigm 42

attacked the dominant paradigm and created a parallel world of practice. Powlison, Biblical Counselling Movement, (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2010), 3

Competent to Counsel sold more than 250,000 in its first 10 years. Powlison, Biblical 43

Counselling Movement, (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2010), 52

Adams theology for counselling, though started, was, still in need of development, but at 44

this stage was at least committed to the scriptures as the sufficient foundation and authority for all human living and the cure of souls.

Jay. Adams, Teaching to observe: The Counsellor as Teacher (Woodruff, S.C.: Timeless 45

Texts, 1995), 12

Julian Rebera �17

But the implications of Adams ‘Competent to Counsel’ were not missed on others. Adams was

joined by other leaders who were also sold by Adams’ Biblical Counselling, John Bettler, who,

though had his own vision to professionalise Biblical Counselling and John Broger who was at the

other end of the spectrum with a vision to make it accessible not only to Professional Pastors but

also laymen. Their three strands of approach, if fully worked out and applied, would provide for a 46

comprehensive ministry within the church make various degrees of counselling available at all

levels.

Not withstanding the parallel institutions Adams set up for educating and training with standards

and certification, the counselling movement he founded sought to de-professionalise counselling

and to empower the local church. 47

1970’s

Meanwhile, the ICM continued to gain ground and professionalize through the 1970’s. Gary Collins

proved to be the leading light of the ICM for the next twenty years. The other key players were the

Narramores, child Psychologist James Dobson and Clinical Psychologist Larry Crabb. Together 48

Adam’s vision was primarily to equip the Pastor as counsellor. Better want to 46

‘Professionalise’ counselling but enable others to become expert counsellors too. Broger wanted to equip the ordinary person in the pew, in counselling. David Powlison, The Biblical Counselling Movement, (Greensboro, NC: New Growth, 2010),60-1

Powlison comments regarding Adam’s writings “It provides a case of relatively 47

deprofessionalized knowledge and practise, offering truths and techniques that the common person was intended to grasp and apply in self-care and are for family, friends and neighbours” Powlison, Biblical Counselling Movement, (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2010),10.

The Naramores were uncle and nephew, they established the Rosemead Graduate School 48

of Professional Psychology in 1970. Rosemead became a graduate school within Biola University in 1977. Bruce Narramore founded the first Integrationist Journal,The Journal of Psychology and Theology. For more on this and more on the development of the Integrationist Movement, Powlison, Biblical Counselling Movement, (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2010), 52

Julian Rebera �18

these men began to proliferate Evangelical Protestantism with their own brand of Integrationist

counselling, particularly in America.

At the same time Adams’ BCM was making waves. Many doors were opened for Adams to teach at

the major conservative theological institutions in America - which he did. However, he was not out

to win friends and alienated more of the institutions than he won. Though at a popular level 49

Adam's was having a greater impact. 50

1980’s

The future of both the BCM and the ICM unfolded in very different ways. Throughout the decade

BCM and its institutions all markedly waned and struggled while at the same time the ICM thrived,

establishing itself as a legitimate ministry for mainstream evangelical protestants to pursue.

Powlison writes concerning this period ““Bible-believing evangelical” had become one flesh with

“professional psychotherapist””. The BCM, including its three main strands pioneered by Broger, 51

Bettler and Adams faded from the counselling scene so much so that a book by Rosemead’s

Narramore and Carter that was started - its aim was to be a critique of Jay Adams, was never

finished because as Powlison writes “Adams no longer mattered enough”. 52

-111For helpful commentary and insight on the polemical and adversarial nature of 49

Adam’s relationship to the Integrationist Movement. Heath.Lambert, The Biblical Counselling Movement After Adams, (Greensboro, NC: New Growth, 2010) 102-11. For example, Heath explains the results of the Krisheim symposium, “The result of the Krisheim symposium was not the hoped-for bridge building but rather more sustained division. The integrationists were put off by Adam’s vociferous tone during the debate. … Adam’s, for his part, was also disgusted by the event and had no desire to speak again to the integrationists.” 104

Ibid, 43, 4450

Ibid, 20551

Ibid, 20752

Julian Rebera �19

Counselling was certainly back on the agenda of the church, but it was the ICM, which being more

professional was also more para-church and so arguably not helpful in bringing counselling back

into the church under the jurisdiction of the Pastor and Elders.

1990’s

Yet again, an unforeseeable development occurred on the counselling scene. With the runaway

success and particularly the popularisation of the ICM came growing concerns and fears that

protestant evangelicalism was in danger of being taken over and distorted by a movement, that had

taken root in evangelicalism and was in danger of growing out of control. This concern was not just

that of the enemies, but even its own founders and leaders. Gary Collins expressed the concern

when he gave the keynote address at Atlanta ’92 issuing two warnings “Number one, that we will

abandon the church. And the second danger is that our field will take over the church”. 53

What ensued was a growing of fragmentation, disillusion and disarray within the ICM. The upshot

being, the movement floundered and plateaued through the 1990’s. Meanwhile the BCM

experienced something of a resurgence of all three major strands so that it too made its presence felt

on the broader platform of evangelicalism. 54

During the late eighties and early nineties, a second generation of leaders emerged out of the

institutions Adams created, to succeed Adams in leading the movement on. The new names being

David Powlison, Paul Tripp, Ed Welch. Lambert plots several areas of key advancement for the 55

BCM under the next generation, areas in which progress is being made and through those

Ibid, 20653

For a survey of the 90’s describing ICM and the BCM David. Powlison, Biblical 54

Counselling Movement, (Greensboro, NC: New Growth, 2010), 201-23

Lambert, The Biblical Counselling Movement After Adams , 4455

Julian Rebera �20

advancements credibility is now being established among a broadening spectrum of evangelicalism

both in the US and UK.

Derek Tidball’s evaluation of the movement founded by Adams is initially well balanced in

acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of Adams. However, his survey of biblical counselling

starts and finishes with Adams. In his closing comments on biblical counselling Tidball writes of

Jay Adam’s Pastoral Theology, “It is a partial pastoral theology. And it is to be hoped that by

engaging in discussion with it, a more balanced and adequate pastoral evangelical theology may yet

emerge” 56

Tidball thus completely ignores the so-called second generation of Biblical counsellors. This is

unfortunate for two reasons. 1) Biblical counselling, though profoundly indebted to, is not

synonymous with Jay Adams and 2) the second generation of BCM leaders identify the same

weaknesses as Tidball and have sought to address those issues.

The Significance of History for the Church Today

The significance of this historical survey, serves to demonstrate that the cure of souls, was from the

start the work of the christian minister, be he pastor, paid leaders or layman. This can be seen from

Jesus’ own teaching in the gospels, the Pauline epistles and more generally in the New Testament.

Although Pastoral theology and and cure of souls had a shaky history through the early centuries,

true pastoral care never disappeared entirely, though seems to have come close it during the middles

ages. But from the Reformation onwards, the cure of souls was significantly rediscovered,

revitalised and restored to the church.

Tidball, Skilful Shepherds, 24156

Julian Rebera �21

It was the combination of distraction and neglect, caused by a range of social developments that

created a vacuum, void of credibly educated pastors, a vacuum which was confidently filled by the

PCM, with devastating effect to the churches role in the cure of souls. It was not a result of,

theologians deep in theological and biblical reflection that the PCM moved in. It was the neglect of

one hundred years, which meant that by the 1960’s, Jay Adam’s had an uphill struggle to, restore

what was effectively lost from the church, its birthright to care for struggling souls, and to reject the

pressure of the PCM to refer and defer to it.

The efforts of the ICM were understandable, even a natural reaction. We must remember, Pastors

had lost authority and credibility in their own right to minister for the cure of souls. The

professionals were now the secular PCM. The years of theological neglect had taken it’s toll on the

ever-weakening pastor. ‘If you can’t beat’em, join’em’ must have seemed to many, the only option

for regaining credibility.

However, the ICM are not entirely without legitimacy. A theology of creation means reality and

truth is discoverable by rational means. A theology of common grace means christians do not have a

monopoly on truth and reality and can expect secular scientists etc to be able to discover something

of God’s truth in the world too. This is what ICM has tried to do, but historically the ICM has too 57

often had an open mouth approach to the PCM that catches the flies as well as legitimate insights

and this has been its weakness. Nevertheless, Increasingly, integrationists have seen the need to

bring secular learning to the bar of scripture which is a welcome corrective within the movement. In

John. Calvin, wrote “Therefore, in reading profane authors, the admirable light of truth 57

displayed in them should remind us, that the human mind, however much fallen and perverted from its original integrity, is still adorned and invested with admirable gifts from its Creator. If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will be careful, as we would avoid offering insult to him, not to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears. In despising the gifts, we insult the Giver.” Institutes of the Christian Religion (Bellingham: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 2.2.15.

Julian Rebera �22

this way it has become increasingly biblical and directive, though not necessarily seeing itself as

bound by the Bible. This practise dominated up until the 1960’s. 58

Since then the integrationists have sought to help equip churches for counselling by forming

associations to help regulate training. Bible College institutions have incorporated the 59

integrationist model in their syllabus with a view, to train others for counselling within the church

or on the mission field. 60

For the ICM, the secular institutions are still the primary educators and conferrers of qualifications,

and even where bible colleges run integrationist courses there still seems to be a deference to

external secular bodies. 61

For a more detailed history of this process and the significant roles of A T Boison, 58

followed by Seward Hiltner. Derek, Tidball, Skilful Shepherds, Explorations in Pastoral Theology (Nottingham: Apollos, 2009) 223-8.

The best known in the UK being The Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC).59

The London School of Theology runs a degree program in Christian Counselling. On their 60

Website, under the heading, Who is it for? they answer “It is for people interested in training for pastoral ministry or mission with a strong individual focus, and for people interested in becoming professional Christian counsellors with a well-laid foundation in the Bible and theology.” n.a., n.p., cited 31 December 2014. http://www.lst.ac.uk/theology-and-counselling/theology-and-counselling

In their advertising, The London School of Theology makes the following telling 61

statement betraying their deference to secular authority as the real authority giving credibility to their course, they write,“The Theology and Counselling course is accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), the main professional body for counselling in the UK. This is the only Christian Counselling course to meet the standards of their full professional scrutiny – and to that we add theological studies with teachers of world renown, in an institution with a long track record of providing the church in the UK and around the world with its future leaders. What more could you want?” n.a., n.p., cited 31 December 2014. http://www.lst.ac.uk/theology-and-counselling/theology-and-counselling

Julian Rebera �23

The outworking of this is that the Pastor and Elders in the local church are often not considered

(even by themselves) to be the best equipped for counselling, but the trained church counsellor is. 62

The church counsellor will typically belong to an external association which will provide

professional oversight and supervision, ensure standards and best practise etc. The problem with

this is, it has the effect of moving pastoral authority outside of the local church. Often the Pastor

and Elders will not be aware of what is happening with the counselee, which makes their task of

‘overseeing’, particularly when it most counts, difficult.

From the 1960’s, Jay Adams founded the BCM as a remedy with the aim of buying back the

churches birthright. BCM came out of a comprehensive biblical worldview which sees God, his

people and the scriptures as sufficient for the cure of souls. The direct implication being the Pastor

is God’s Professional Counsellor. But there were glaring, though understandable weaknesses. The

second generation of Biblical Counsellors (David Powlison, Paul Tripp, Heath Lambert et al) have

sought to advance, develop, extend and broaden Jay Adam’s work up to the present day so that

Biblical counselling is considerably more balanced and continues to engage more broadly and

openly with other disciplines with a view at least in part, to learn from them. Like the ICM the 63

BCM have also established themselves in a UK institution, Oak Hill College in London, with Oak

In many, if not most churches (especially smaller ones) there is no professionally trained 62

Integrationists counsellors. Out of 36 respondents to the questionnaire (see appendix 2) 34 answers were given to question 2b ‘Who, in the following situations is the first person you contact in a crisis after next of kin and why? b) In depression? (when feeling low, bitter, angry, jealous, feelings of futility, hopelessness, despair, guilt, confusion, desire to escape, suicide, relational struggles with sponsor other significant other). Of 34 answers two said ‘Pastor’.

In arguing for dialogue with opposing counselling models, Heath Lambert writes “There 63

is much work to do. I do believe, however, that it is possible to demonstrate that as integrationists, for example, have interacted with biblical counsellors they have moved in a more biblical direction.” He goes on to write about how his own camp can learn from other; “As biblical counsellors engage with other models we can be provoked to consider areas we have overlooked … things we have done that are wrong and unwise. … [and so] becoming more biblical as we learn from the insights of others and so become more authentically scriptural in our thinking.” The Biblical Counselling Movement After Adams (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 118

Julian Rebera �24

Hill running a two year biblical counselling course, which is now located not only in London but

also Edinburgh, Liverpool and Nottingham.

So it seems both the BCM and ICM are progressing in parallel, and in many ways are progressing

like two builders building a bridge, each from opposite banks (world-views) of the same river See

figure 1). Perhaps in time they might meet in the middle?

The one being BCM which has its foundations in the biblical world-view but learning from ICM,

and the other being ICM which has its foundations in a secular world view, but learning from BCM

and seeking to filter its learning through the bar of christian doctrine and scripture.

Local Church

Until the wedge causing the gap is driven out so that the two can meet (figure 1 above), the local

church is hard pushed to straddle that gap and finds itself having to choose one of the two camps

Julian Rebera �25

which is invariably what happens. Happily this is not as bad a situation as it once was with both

approaches moving closer together anyway.

But what does this mean for the local church, particularly New Life Brighton? How does this help

the Sam’s of the church? It is clear that, access to help, is neither clear nor easy. A systematic

approach to equipping and educating the church is essential so that better care is taken of those who

struggle, when they struggle.

To begin with, respondents from the questionnaire revealed that, though there is an awareness and

preference for Christian counsellors (8 out of 36), none showed any awareness of Integrationist or

biblical categories. This means the ability to make informed choices is diminished. Five preferred

the pastor or church leaders, but twelve did not know at all. 64

The fact that most who do have an idea of who they would go to, would go to a trained counsellor

suggests, understandably, a confidence in Christians who are trained as, or by secular psychologist.

This in turn suggests the deference to the PCM has permeated the church, and is clearly still an

issue we must now address. Of greater concern is that only 2 out of 33 answers given said they 65

would go to the pastor in depression, two put ‘a christian friend’.

The above alone suggests work needs to be done in the following areas.

None of the 36 were aware of the distinctions between either integrationist or biblical 64

counselling.

In answer to question 2b one answered “I regard the pastor as a friend and would not want 65

to share concerns with a friend. There is an ex-pastor I would talk to but at present his problems outweigh mine!! I struggle to respect our elders. They are nice people but they lack leadership skills, intelligence and vision. I doubt they would understand the issues that concern me. The only time I have needed support I went to the GP with whom I get on very well.”

Julian Rebera �26

1) Establish among the leaders of the church and mature key members a united vision for helping

people among the congregation when they struggle. 66

2) Train and equip at least two people in counselling through CCEF who will then be able to

effectively counsel others, but also to train others within the church at a lower level. 67

3) Run low-level training courses in the Church on a regular basis. 68

4) Include practical teaching on ‘what to do?’ and ‘Who to go to’ and ‘Why?’ in our discipleship

training - teaching why it is good to turn to the church at early stages of a struggle.

Conclusion

This analysis of relevant history brings clarity and understanding to the situation of the church

regarding counselling. The educators of ICM are mainly secular institutions which means Pastors

tend not to be educated in that discipline. Those Christians who are, are not educated by those

institutions in Christian counselling and usually not in theology either. They need to undertake

further training for that to happen. When they do it is outside of the local church and so are the

accountability and regulatory bodies. This has the effect of placing integrationist counselling

outside of local church jurisdiction.

This will need to include teaching regarding the distinctives of integrationist and biblical 66

counselling. The process will need to be both informative and consultative.

Although as Pastor I myself would want to have further training in biblical counselling, to 67

begin I imagine we will train one other man (an Elder) and one woman. Investigation as to what is available and in what format will need to be undertaken. Those trained will have already had at least foundational biblical, theological training.

Using training series produced by CCEF: Timothy. S. Lane, Paul David. Tripp, How 68

Christ Changes Us by His Grace, How People Change, (Greensboro, NC: New Growth, 2010) and Paul David. Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemers Hands, How to Help Others Change, (Greensboro, NC: New Growth, 2010)

Julian Rebera �27

It also helps provide clarity as to why there is the deference to secular authorities. They are the ones

who have had the recognised, professional training.

Biblical counselling is in many ways, of a different order. It has had to effectively pull itself up by

its own bootstraps. This has taken enormous energy which was supplied chiefly by Jay Adam’s.

With his energy and zeal, came a brashness which alienated the BCM from ICM and PCM. Though

not necessarily bad in itself (it enabled it to grow separately), it has had the negative affect of

impeding broader credibility. It is not unreasonable to suggest it has battled to survive and take

ground and develop.

However, the second generation leading the BCM are of a different nature to Adams. They have not

needed to battle in the same way, as a place has been established among a growing number of

institutions. Their books have proliferated some of the main book suppliers for the conservative

evangelical and their positive influence is being felt in a growing number of churches and church

circles. With a UK base at Oak Hill and training centres around the country, it seems the plant is

well potted, has taken root in healthy soil and is set to keep on growing.

However, being recent, the benefits are only just beginning to filter down to the local church, and to

New Life Brighton.

Exactly how we, as a local church will achieve what needs to be done is beyond the scope of this

paper and so remains to be seen, but we are not in the company of the clueless. With training

becoming more available and books and local church course materials, it seems all is at hand to

establish a much better, informed, trained and prepared church for the curing of souls. The future

seems brighter.

Julian Rebera �28

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Appendix 1

Questionnaire without answers

Dealing with Deep Struggles, Crisis and Depression.

We all struggle at times in life, sometimes because of obvious challenges we are facing, sometimes there is a complex combination of factors that we find ourselves struggling with, sometimes we don’t know why we are struggling. But struggle we all do. Sometimes those struggles get us down to such a point we can no longer think clearly, we lose motivation, feel a sense of despair and hopelessness, we may find ourselves wanting to escape. Those feelings can even become disabling so that we cannot function properly anymore.

All the above are symptoms of what we often call depression. As noted, we all struggle with these symptoms to varying degrees at various times, and we all will, from time to time know others who are struggling.

As a Church, New Life would like to become much better at providing the very best help and support available to believers as they struggle, whatever the reason.

Please take the time to answer the following questions and return them to us with any additional comments you may have. Your answers will help us to make informed decisions.

Also, if you would like to speak face to face about any issues this raises at all please get in touch.

1) Have you ever struggled with depression?

2) Who, in the following situations is the first person you contact in a crisis after next of kin and why?

a) In family sickness? (such as a family member being taking to hospital with unexpected condition).

b) In depression? (when feeling low, bitter, angry, jealous, feelings of futility, hopelessness, despair, guilt, confusion, desire to escape, suicide, relational struggles with sponsor other significant other)

Julian Rebera �29

c) In practical need? (financial, help with overgrown garden, getting stuff to the tip, broken washing machine, a lift, diy etc)

d) Other spiritual crisis? (Loss of assurance, spiritual dryness, weariness, prayerlessness, disconnectedness from God, spiritual questions such as ‘why does God let this happen?’, temptation)

3) At what stage would you speak to someone with your problems?

a) Only when they are really bad and I really need to b) I speak to ‘x’ all the time about everything c) Somewhere in between those ends of the spectrum.

If (c), which end of the scale, 1 being (a) and 10 being (b)

4)When you have significant decisions to make, do you consult others? If so who and why?

5) When making decisions, do you look for guidance in the scriptures? Do you seek help from others to help you make biblically informed choices?

6) How important is it to you to pray and have others praying for you in making decisions?

7) Some people tend to … a) Make decisions and then inform the church or church leaders. b) Inform leaders and or the church they have a decision to make and ask them to pray for

them. c) Actively seek the thoughts, advice of others to help in making a decision.

Which of the above - (a), (b) or (c) most describes you best?

9) There are many varieties of counselling, If you was to go for counselling, is there a specific type of counselling you are aware of that you would prefer?

Julian Rebera �30

10) Do you feel New Life Church needs to improve in the area of helping people who struggle? If 69

‘yes’ then can you share your thoughts, view, feelings. (eg, “there's no-one I feel I could speak to who could help” etc)

11) Please add any other comments below. (use back if more space is needed).

Thank you for completing this questionnaire!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Appendix 2

Questionnaire with answer

To avoid the power of suggestion, the answers given were not ‘options’ but categorical terms added

to represent respondent’s answers. Categories suggested are those found in the question itself.

Dealing with Deep Struggles, Crisis and Depression.

We all struggle at times in life, sometimes because of obvious challenges we are facing, sometimes there is a complex combination of factors that we find ourselves struggling with, sometimes we don’t know why we are struggling. But struggle we all do. Sometimes those struggles get us down to such a point we can no longer think clearly, we lose motivation, feel a sense of despair and hopelessness, we may find ourselves wanting to escape. Those feelings can even become disabling so that we cannot function properly anymore.

All the above are symptoms of what we often call depression. As noted, we all struggle with these symptoms to varying degrees at various times, and we all will, from time to time know others who are struggling.

If you are not a member / attender of New Life just skip this question69

Julian Rebera �31

As a Church, New Life would like to become much better at providing the very best help and support available to believers as they struggle, whatever the reason.

Please take the time to answer the following questions and return them to us with any additional comments you may have. Your answers will help us to make informed decisions.

Also, if you would like to speak face to face about any issues this raises at all please get in touch.

1) Have you ever struggled with depression? 24 out of 36 respondents answered ‘yes’.

2) Who, in the following situations is the first person you contact in a crisis after next of kin and why?

a) In family sickness? (such as a family member being taking to hospital with unexpected condition).

Nobody 2 Doctor 2 Pastor 5 Friend 6 Jesus 2 Family 11 Mature believer 2 Christian friend 5

b) In depression? (when feeling low, bitter, angry, jealous, feelings of futility, hopelessness, despair, guilt, confusion, desire to escape, suicide, relational struggles with sponsor other significant other)

Nobody 3 Pastor 2 Friend 11 Jesus 3 Family 12 Christian friend 2

c) In practical need? (financial, help with overgrown garden, getting stuff to the tip, broken washing machine, a lift, diy etc)

Nobody 3 Family 9 Christian friend 2

Julian Rebera �32

Bank Loan 1 Council 2

d) Other spiritual crisis? (Loss of assurance, spiritual dryness, weariness, prayerlessness, disconnectedness from God, spiritual questions such as ‘why does God let this happen?’, temptation)

Nobody 3 Pastor 12 Elders 3 Family 6 Christian friend 12

3) At what stage would you speak to someone with your problems?

a) Only when they are really bad and I really need to b) I speak to ‘x’ all the time about everything c) Somewhere in between those ends of the spectrum.

If (c), which end of the scale, 1 being (a) and 10 being (b)

a - 6 b - 6 c - 10 2 8 2 5 6

4)When you have significant decisions to make, do you consult others? If so who and why?

Pastor 6 Jesus 2 Family 10 Mature believer 2 Christian friend 8 Yes 6 Sometimes 2 No 2

To get a balanced view Yes, because it could affect me in the long run and God gave us others to help as they may see things we don’t. Yes, ‘X’ would talk to our Pastor who we trust the most his opinion & he knows our situation the best & would give us an answer that reflects faith not just practicalities. Would also talk to parents, maybe cousin & I would speak to his wife. Also I would talk to my friend from CCK.

Julian Rebera �33

5) When making decisions, do you look for guidance in the scriptures? Do you seek help from others to help you make biblically informed choices?

Family 2 Mature believer 2 Yes 10 Sometimes 10 Bible 2 No 4

6) How important is it to you to pray and have others praying for you in making decisions?

Very Important 14 Important 2 Quite important 6 Not very important 4

7) Some people tend to … a) Make decisions and then inform the church or church leaders. b) Inform leaders and or the church they have a decision to make and ask them to pray for

them. c) Actively seek the thoughts, advice of others to help in making a decision.

Which of the above - (a), (b) or (c) most describes you best?

a - 6 b - 6 c - 12

9) There are many varieties of counselling, If you was to go for counselling, is there a specific type of counselling you are aware of that you would prefer?

(The four who wrote down Pastor have all be counselled by biblical counselling)

No 12 1-2-1 2 Pastor 3 Church Leader 2 Christian Counselling CBT 6 Christian Counselling Psychodynamic 2

10) Do you feel New Life Church needs to improve in the area of helping people who struggle? If 70

‘yes’ then can you share your thoughts, view, feelings. (eg, “there's no-one I feel I could speak to who could help” etc)

If you are not a member / attender of New Life just skip this question70

Julian Rebera �34

“It does need to improve - talk about being family at times it feels very disjointed”

“No, the Pastor has helped me a lot”

“I think we could be more active if we see someone who may be struggling. To offer help & prayer, before being asked if we feel they may be in difficulty.” “Always felt very cared for by the whole church family. Sometimes I don’t think the Pastor is very approachable on Sundays because you seem quite busy & sometimes stressed. This is ok for us because we have other times to see you - but it might make it difficult for others who would like to speak to you.”

“No. I think we’re quite open and unjudgmental. I feel I could speak to a leader, if I needed to.”

“Yes, but I think it is down to the individuals we need to be more open about things”.

“I think people need to help to understand the Bible better and to feel they would be prayed for if they needed it.”

“not sure”

“I feel comfortable talking to anyone within our church - I like how we regularly pray for one another.”

“I feel we are open and honest with each other and i can talk to people.”

11) Please add any other comments below. (use back if more space is needed.

“We should do the “Battlefield of the mind” curse.”

Thank you for completing this questionnaire!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Appendix 3

Julian Rebera �35

Skeletal action plan for creating a Church culture where believers feel confident in turning to the

church for help in their struggles.

I will initiate a strategy and vision within the church but will commission others to do the most of

the work. This will enable work to begin within the next 8 weeks rather than having to with up to 18

months.

Establish unity of vision among leadership for biblical counselling

It cannot not be taken as ‘given’ that the other church leaders are even aware of the difference

between BCM and ICM. Neither is it a given that the other leaders and key people believe the cure

of souls should be the domain of the church . Therefore the following needs to be actioned… 71

A) Identify key people. Elders, mature believers who counsel naturally.

B) Identify the information and knowledge to be shared.

C) Determine how best to share the information and knowledge.

This can be done with the elders quite easily but due to time constraints and other demands will be

more problematic for other key people. Ideally I will work through some material with all the key

people together. However, it is first wise to meet with the elders first and share my own convictions

broadly. Their feedback will help me to gauge if I first need to work this through with the Elders

first.

The idea here is not that there are not serious mental illness that requires medical intervention, but 71

that most of what is called depression can and should be helped through biblical church ministry that is biblical counselling.

Julian Rebera �36

If so, I will then work through some material with those Elders to clearly establish unity of vision

and values.

Emphasis will be given to the nature of biblical counselling as word ministry, a kind of personalised

extension of preaching bringing specific and life changing conviction and application to the

individual. 72

Once we have come to a place of unity, I will go through the same process with the other mature

believers. This way I will be working from a solid basis within the church.

Material: I will reproduce a small section of ‘Skillful Shepherds’ and rework elements of this

assignment for the Elders to read and then meet to discuss the contents and how they view

counselling, its place, mental illness etc. Next I will ask them both to read particular chapters of the

primary books used in this assignment. David Powlison’s The Biblical Counselling Movement and

Lambert Heath’s book ‘The Biblical Counselling Movement after Adams. This will furnish them

with an historical context to work from.

In the past I have run the course, ‘How People Change’, I will ask them to look through the course

material to discuss it.

Derek Tidball summarising Eduard Thurneysen’s position “The core of pastoral theology then, 72

was the communication of the word of God, which was primarily achieved through preaching. Pastoral care [including biblical counselling] differs in that it is the communication of the word of God to an individual rather than a corporate level and is aimed at reducing the distance between the preacher and the hearer”. Derek. Tidball, Skilful Shepherds, Explorations in Pastoral Theology, (Nottingham: Apollos, 2009), 233

Julian Rebera �37

My aim at this stage is not to convince and persuade so much as to share relevant information, and

together work through a process so that, together we come to shared conclusions about Biblical and

Integrationist counselling. I am confident the other leadership will be persuaded by biblical

counselling. My aim will be for the leadership to be as clear and united as possible on the strengths

and weaknesses of both. Why it is we choose to go with one over the other.

Once this process has run it’s course with the elders and other key people I will encourage

interested persons to join me in some training as and when it becomes available, and in the

meantime to subscribe to the JBC and to continue to read on the subject.

Phase 2: Run the course ‘How People Change’ on a regular basis. It may be possible to dispense

with phase 1 and ‘get away with’ persuading the elders and key people by simply running the

course. The reason for phase one however, is to help establish a solid foundation in the church for a

particular type of counselling. Without phase one, it may occur later down the line that others want

to introduce other counselling courses to the church without understanding the differences between

the BCM and the ICM and why it matters.

Before running the course I will identify two key people to see their participation in the course as

preparing to run it themselves.This way the training will be devolved and run regularly by others

rather than just myself.

Phase 3: Incorporate a couple of sessions into our discipleship material addressing the sufficiency of

the scriptures for Biblical counselling on most matters of ‘mental health’ and using a simple tool

Julian Rebera �38

like Paul Tripp and Timothy Lanes Heat, Thorns, Cross, Fruit analogy . Also to be included in the 73

churches discipleship material will be a session on the inevitability of struggle and what to do with

struggles, who to turn to, at what stage, when and why.

My aim will be to build on a culture of speaking truth in love at a very low level, building up to

create a community that understands how to counsel one another . Again, I will probably use the 74

Heat, Thorns, Cross, Fruit model as a tool to equip the church with. This will be an ongoing project

for the next year.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………

Bibliography

Abbot, Andrew. The System of Professions: an Essay on the Division of Expert Labor. Chicago, University of Chicago, 1988

Adams, Jay. Teaching to observe: The Counsellor as Teacher. Woodruff, S.C.: Timeless Texts, 1995

Adams, Jay. Competent to Counsel, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1970

Depledge, David. Ethics and Practise. (n.p.2004) cited 6 January 2015 http://www.acc-uk.org/pdfs/EandPractice.pdf

Boison, Anton T. Challenge to our Seminaries. Christian Work, n.d., n.p. 1926120, 110-112 [61,62,72]. 1936.

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Bellingham: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997

Timoth S. Lane, Paul David. Tripp, How People Change (Greensboro, NC: New Growth, 2008), 73

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As a local church our aim is to develop Family Groups within the church. That is family-sized 74

house based groups that aim to relate as Christian family. Similar to ‘Community Groups’ but smaller and with the emphasis on ‘family’ rather than ‘community’. These groups will provide the context through which to develop relationships where ‘truth in love’ relating can grow.

Julian Rebera �39

Collins, Gary. R. Christian Counselling, A Comprehensive Guide. England: Word UK Ltd, 1989

Collins, Gary. R. The Biblical Basis of Christian Counselling for People Helpers. Colarado Springs:

NavPress, 1993

Greeves, F. Theology and the Cure of Souls. London: Epworth, 1960

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2012

Lloyd-Jones, DM. Darkness and Light. An Exposition of Ephesians Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1982

Mower, O. Hobart. The Crisis in Psychiatry and Religion. Princeton: Van Nostrand Co., 1961

Oates, Wayne. E. ed., An Introduction to Pastoral Counselling Nashville: Broadman, 1959

Powlison, David. The Biblical Counselling Movement, History and Context. Greensboro: New Growth, 2010

Thurneysen, E. A. Theology of Pastoral Care. Richmond: John Knox, 1962

Tidball, Derek. Skillful Shepherds, Explorations in pastoral theology. Nottingham, England: Aplollos, 2009