Resources for Equipping Counselors in the Church
For my upcoming book Equipping Counselors for the Local Church, I invited two dozen best-practice churches to complete a 4E Ministry Training Strategy Questionnaire. As part of the questionnaire, they responded to the question, “What outside materials (books, articles, manuals, resources, videos) do you use in your biblical counseling equipping?”
The following list collates in order of usage the most commonly used materials. The number after the resource denotes how many of the twenty-four best practice churches use that resource as required reading/viewing.
• Spiritual Friends by Bob Kellemen: 9
• Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hand by Paul Tripp: 7
• How People Change by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp: 7
• Soul Physicians by Bob Kellemen: 7
• Equipped to Counsel by John Henderson: 6
• Various Books by Jay Adams: 6
• Various Articles from The Journal of Biblical Counseling: 5
• Various Booklets from the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation: 4
• Counseling Video Observation Series from Faith Baptist Church, Lafayette, Indiana: 4
• Various Booklets from Faith Baptist Church, Lafayette, Indiana: 4
• Idols of the Heart by Elyse Fitzpatrick: 4
• Counsel from the Cross by Elyse Fitzpatrick: 4
• God’s Healing for Life’s Losses by Bob Kellemen: 4
• Observation Videos by the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors: 3
• The Peacemaker by Ken Sande: 3
• The Self-Confrontation Manual by John Broger: 3
• Seeing with New Eyes by David Powlison: 3
• Speaking Truth in Love by David Powlison: 3
• CrossTalk by Mike Emlet: 3
• Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem: 3
• Caring for God’s People Video by the American Association of Christian Counselors: 2
• Beyond the Suffering by Bob Kellemen: 2
• Sacred Friendships by Bob Kellemen: 2
• Counseling by John MacArthur: 2
• The Heart of Anger by Lou Priolo: 2
• Disciplines of a Godly Man by Kent Hughes: 2
• Other Books or Video Resources Noted Just One Time Each: 12
Join the Conversation
What resources do you use to equip biblical counselors for the local church?
In addition to the ones noted, for my Introduction to Biblical Counseling class, I use 1) Why Christians Can’t Trust Psychology, by Ed Bulkley; 2) I Really Want To Change, So Help Me God, by James MacDonald, 3) From Pride to Humility (booklet) by Stuart Scott, 4) Counseling: How To Counsel Biblically, by John MacArthur, 5) Is It Real (booklet) by John MacArthur; For Problems In Procedures class, I have also used: 1) Our Sufficiency In Christ by MacArthur, and 2) Psychological Terms for Christian Counselors, by Ashers; For Marriage and Family Counseling, I also use, The Divorce Dilemma by John MacArthur.
I love the list you have provided. Very good books and articles indeed.