This is a weekly post that highlights resources from other counselors that I have found helpful. The counselors may be from the biblical counseling, Christian psychology, integration, or secular counseling traditions. By linking to a post, I am not giving it my full endorsement, I am merely indicating that I believe it made a unique contribution or raised an important subject for consideration.
Depression in Children and Teens…A Primer for Pastors, Church Staff and Christian Parents by Steven Grcevich, M.D.
Stephen Grcevich, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and Key Ministry Board Chairman, developed this series of blog posts for a teaching series conducted from January 16-February 24, 2013. Links to the posts in the series are presented here, along with a list of recommended resources for pastors, church staff, volunteers and parents seeking to serve kids and teens with depression and their families.
- If you benefited from this post, you might also like “12 Ways Depression-Anxiety Impacts Family and Relationships“
Moms Who Miscarry Benefit from Going to Church, Research Shows by David Briggs
In a new study analyzing six waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, sociologist Richard Petts of Ball State University found that religion may increase mental health and be an important coping mechanism for women dealing with pregnancy loss.
- If you want to know more about how a church can minister well to a family that experienced the loss of a child miscarriage, consider “Memorial Ceremony of an Unborn Child“
10 Things the Woman Married to Your Pastor Wants You to Know by Shari Thomas
Women married to pastors face unique challenges. Keeping the following in mind (along with a commitment to regularly pray for her and her marriage) could affect your church more than you realize.
- A longing for many women married to pastors is to be truly known. Consider this post “You Don’t Know “The Real Me”
8 Biblical Counseling Resources on Anger by Bob Kellemen
Today’s post provides links and a brief summary description for 8 Biblical Counseling Resources on Anger.
- If you are interested in anger, consider this 9 part podcast series that provides a sanctification model for overcoming anger.
What I’m Reading
Caring for One Another: 8 Ways to Cultivate Meaningful Relationships by Ed Welch. Imagine . . . an interconnected group of people who entrust themselves to each other. You can speak of your pain, and someone responds with compassion and prayer. You can speak of your joys, and someone rejoices with you. You can ask for help with sinful struggles, and someone prays with you.
The goal of this book is that these meaningful relationships will become a natural part of daily life in your church. With short chapters and discussion questions meant to be read in a group setting, Ed Welch guides small groups through eight lessons that show what it looks like when ordinary, needy people care for other ordinary, needy people in everyday life.
Tweets of the Week
There are (at least) two healthy kinds of disappointment: the kind that warns that your expectations were perhaps too high, and the kind that reassures you that you haven't lost your optimism. I'm doing my best to be a student of both.
— Jen Wilkin (@jenniferwilkin) August 7, 2018
We are our brother’s keeper.
Not our brother’s slanderer or enabler. Not his nitpicker or sycophant. Not his foil, nor his foe, nor his thorn. We are not the beneficiary of clickbait at his expense, nor the opportunist profiting from his weakness or error.
We are his keeper.
— Karen Swallow Prior (@KSPrior) July 29, 2018
“Without a heart transformed by the grace of Christ, we just continue to manage external and internal darkness.” @MattChandler74
— Walter Strickland (@w_strickland) August 9, 2018
Meaningful Meme
On the Lighter Side
Because, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones,” Proverbs 17:22.
You have to have read Lord of the Rings in order to get this one; if you haven’t, don’t subtweet me for posting this one.
I don't subtweet half of you half as well as I should like; and I like to subtweet less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
— Luke Stamps (@lukestamps) May 31, 2018