“The Pastor as Counselor” by David Powlison. A Review

 

This is an area that is tricky for me. I find pastoral counseling hard, especially after seasons of disappointment and discouraging results. But then I stumbled on “The Pastor as Counselor: The Call for Soul Care” by David Powlison and was encouraged, at the least, to reassess what I do and why. It’s a teeny little booklet some 76 pages all told, in softback. Written in the typical Powlison style of thoughtfulness, understanding, and challenge, it’s ideal for every minister, whether newbie or well seasoned.


The premise of the book is very simple. Pastors fulfilling their commission of prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4) are to spend time counseling, administering the Word in more one-to-one situations. In fact, ministers do this informally all the time. But we need to do this with clearer intention. “The whole nature of ministry is to “impose” light into darkness, to induce sanity, to form Christ’s life-nourishing values within us” (22). And the author gently encourages - fills with renewed courage - the disillusioned and disappointed all the way through the book. “God uses your ministry to cure (care for-MWP) souls. Human beings are idiosyncratic in every detail, yet there is no temptation that is not common to all; you can comfort others in any affliction with the comfort that you receive in your particular affliction” (34).


This little manual will bring you to rethink why you should counsel and what you are about in pastoral ministry. “In the presence of a psychiatrist I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother I can dare to be a sinner” (35). Realigning our ministry helps our churches to “become a community in which substantial conversations predominate” (16). Written primarily for pastors, I think it would also be useful for congregational elders of all stripes. I highly recommend the book. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“The Shift” - 2023 Movie. A Review

Image
  What do you get when you cross a dark dystopian storyline with sci-fi, alternative dimensions, theological and philosophical questions, and the biblical book of Job? You get The Shift , written and directed by Brock Heasley, produced by Ken Carpenter, and distributed by Angel Studios. This roughly one hour and 45 minute tale swirls around Kevin (Kristoffer Polaha) as he moves from one realm of life, with it’s happiness and heartbreak, to another dimension that is a dismal existence clearly governed by The Benefactor (masterfully played by Neal McDonough). A viewer will be asking questions all the way through, and picking up clues and answers that pull the story together bit-by-bit. The story bumps up against an infinite set of alternative possibilities, of time, space, and versions of one’s self that will likely stoke a viewer’s imagination. But the heart of the narrative - besides love, grief, loss, trust/distrust - is around the place of evil, specifically, personal or human evil.
Read more

"On Getting Out of Bed" by Alan Noble. A Review

Image
  When it comes to family members or friends going through a significant mental crisis, or suffering, we often can feel like we’re fumbling about to help them. Sometimes, we can become like Job’s friends, whom he had to call “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2). But very recently Alan Noble, assistant professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee Oklahoma, and cofounder and editor-in-chief of “Christ and Pop Culture” penned a deeply beautiful 120-page hardback that addresses mental affliction. “On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living” is written for those who struggle with mental affliction, but also pastors, teachers, parents, and loved ones, to “help them understand their loved one’s suffering. It is for anyone who ever struggles to get out of bed” (3). I finished this book earlier this week, and kept finding myself saying, “Finally! Someone gets it!” Eight chapters fill up this handy manual. They run through several subjects, like not sounding like Job’s f
Read more

Community?

Image
  (This is from my letter to my congregation I sent out today, 30 August 2023) As one of my elders was leading us through Carl Trueman’s Strange New World in our adult class , I appreciated Trueman’s emphasis on community. And our discussions, especially the last two Sundays, were very fruitful as we thought out loud together about this subject. Therefore, I thought I would share something from David Brooks, an Op-ed columnist that leans into this discussion.   Brooks published a book in 2019 titled, “The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life”. In that work he was taking a gentle punch at destructive trends he has been seeing, and giving some helpful correctives. And so, he notes that “Individualism, taken too far, leads to tribalism” (34). He then shows how the loneliness and spiritual emptiness of individualism taken too far have become more prevalent in our time and the ways that they lead to very dark social consequences. These darker social consequences foster the need t
Read more