Scripture and Counseling: God’s Word for Life in a Broken World 

If you wonder where my daily blog posts have been…well…between two weeks away on ministry and the final edits for the second Biblical Counseling Coalition book, I’ve not had a spare blogging moment. 

I’m thrilled to let you know that yesterday I sent the complete manuscript to Zondervan of Scripture and Counseling: God’s Word for Life in a Broken World. It is a twenty-chapter, twenty-two author book produced by the Biblical Counseling Coalition and published by Zondervan. The anticipated publication date is summer/fall of 2014. 

So…would you like to know a little about the book? 

Here’s the Preface (not edited yet…first draft). After the Preface you’ll find the Table of Contents along with the chapter authors. Chapter titles are still “working titles” at this point. 

Preface: Our Prayer for You

We face a tremendous weakening of confidence in the Bible as central to life. This is true for the pastor ministering to struggling people in the congregation, for the counselor in the counseling office, for the person in the pew talking with a struggling friend at Starbucks, and for the small group leader unsure of what to say to a hurting group member. Scripture and Counseling encourages these individuals—people like you—to regain their confidence in God’s Word for real life issues and equips them to grow in their competence in using God’s Word to tackle the complex issues of life. 

Is God’s Word profoundly sufficient, necessary, authoritative, and relevant to equip God’s people to address specific, complex issues in today’s broken world? Scripture and Counseling does more than answer with a resounding “Yes!” It communicates a way of viewing God’s Word to address life in a broken world—a robust theology of the personal ministry of the Word. And it presents a way of using God’s Word to minister to broken people—a practical methodology of the personal ministry of the Word. 

The “sufficiency of Scripture” has become an oft-debated buzz word in academic circles. However, this issue has vital ramifications well beyond academic debates. The failure to understand, develop, and implement a wise and practical approach to the sufficiency and necessity of God’s Word for the personal ministry of the Word has weakened the Church’s ministry of the Word and the Church’s impact in the world. 

Scripture and Counseling focuses on a positive and practical presentation of scriptural authority, relevancy, necessity, profundity, and sufficiency for daily life. With real-life seriousness it addresses the vital question: 

How do we view and use the Bible to help one another to deal biblically with the complex issues of suffering and sin? 

Scripture and Counseling does not simply communicate, “Please stop going to the self-help section of Amazon to find answers for your problems.” Instead, Scripture and Counseling communicates, “Here’s why and how to develop a robust biblical approach to the personal ministry of the Word.” 

The subtitle—God’s Word for Life in a Broken World—guides every chapter contributor. With every word they penned, they have asked, “How can my chapter encourage and equip pastors, small group leaders, biblical counselors, one-another ministers, and spiritual friends to trust God’s Word and to use God’s Word to minister to broken people?” 

Our prayer for you as you read Scripture and Counseling is the same as Paul’s prayer for the believers in Philippi. Persecuted because of their faith (1:29-30), struggling with fears and anxiety (1:28; 4:6), experiencing relational conflicts (4:2), and battling against temptations toward selfishness (2:2-4) and self-sufficiency (3:1-11), they needed to hear the same Christ-centered message we need to hear today: 

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God (1:9-11). 

We pray that Scripture and Counseling will encourage you to trust God’s Word to provide rich insight for living in the midst of even the most difficult times of suffering and the most distressing battles against besetting sins. We pray that Scripture and Counseling will provide you with a robust, loving, best-practice guide so you will gain competence in using God’s Word to address the real-life issues of people in a broken world. And we pray that the result will be the Bride of Christ growing in Christlikeness to the glory and praise of God. 

Table of Contents 

Preface: Our Prayer for You 

Part 1: How We View the Bible for Life in a Broken World 

Introduction: The Preacher, the Counselor, and the Congregation—Kevin DeYoung and Pat Quinn 

Chapter 1: The Richness and Relevance of God’s Word—Kevin Carson 

Chapter 2: Sufficient for Life and Godliness—Paul Tautges and Steve Viars 

Chapter 3: Where Do We Find Truth? Jeff Forrey 

Chapter 4: What Is Psychology?—Jeff Forrey

Chapter 5: Scripture Is Sufficient, But to Do What?—Jeremy Pierre 

Chapter 6: The Christ-Centeredness of Biblical Counseling—Robert Jones 

Chapter 7: A Counseling Primer from the Great Cloud of Witnesses—Bob Kellemen

Chapter 8: What about the Body?—Sam Williams

Chapter 9: Caution: Counseling Systems Are Belief Systems—Ernie Baker and Howard Eyrich 

Chapter 10: The Bible Is Relevant for That?—Bob Kellemen 

Part 2: How We Use the Bible for Life in a Broken World 

Chapter 11: The Rich Relevance of God’s Word—Bob Kellemen

Chapter 12: The Practicality of the Bible for Becoming a Church of Biblical Counseling—Garrett Higbee 

Chapter 13: Uncommon Community: Biblical Counseling in Small Groups—Garrett Higbee 

Chapter 14: Speaking the Truth in Love—Jonathan Holmes and Lilly Park 

Chapter 15: The Competency of the Biblical Counselor—Brad Hambrick 

Chapter 16: Relating Truth to Life: Gospel-Centered Counseling for Depression—Jeremy Lelek 

Chapter 17: Using Biblical Narrative in the Personal Ministry of the Word—John Henderson 

Chapter 18: Using Wisdom Literature in the Personal Ministry of the Word—Deepak Reju 

Chapter 19: Using the Gospels in the Personal Ministry of the Word—Rob Green 

Chapter 20: Using the Epistles in the Personal Ministry of the Word—Heath Lambert 

Conclusion: What Now?: Impacting the World for Christ—Randy Patten 

Note: If you just can’t wait to get your copy, then perhaps you’ll want to consider getting a copy of the BCC’s first book, Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling. You can learn more about the book and purchase at the BCC’s Store here. Or you can learn more about the book at my RPM Ministries Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling page here and purchase it at the RPM Ministry Store here.  

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