Council of Counselors: Women’s Discipleship / “The Talk” / Biblical Counselors / Aging Parents / Boring Bible

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.

Six Ways Men Can Support Women’s Discipleship by Trillia Newbell

My experience reflects a larger, more widespread challenge inside the church: Male clergy and lay leaders have the power to impact and support women’s discipleship, but many of them (by their own account) fall short. “When you consider how many ministries and committees depend upon the genius, generosity and sweat of our sisters,” writes pastor Thabiti Anyabwile, “it’s almost criminal that most any pastor you meet has no plan for discipling the women of his church apart from outsourcing to a women’s ministry staff person or committee.”

• From Trillia’s first point, a few of my favorite women authors are Diane Langberg, Leslie Vernick, and Elyse Fitzpatrick.

How to Teach Your Kids About Sex by Dennis Rainey

Of all the discussions we have had in our family about sex, probably 95 percent of them have concerned character issues. We’ve had discussions about God’s purposes for sex, the importance of sex and marriage, and why you should wait for marriage before you have sex. We talked about how to avoid situations in which you are tempted, how different types of media shape our thoughts in this area, the types of movies to see and avoid, how to respond when someone challenges your convictions, and many other topics. We have found that the issues surrounding human sexuality, such as self-control and obedience to God, are the foundational character qualities every parent wants to build into his teenager.

• If you benefited from this post, consider my blog “The Pre-Sex Talks with Adolescents.“

Five Biblical Portraits of the Biblical Counselor by Bob Kellemen

In my previous post, Truth and Love: Sharing Scripture and Soul, I addressed the question, “Does the Bible teach that in biblical counseling relationships are tertiary?” I was responding, in part, to a blog post I had read by a fellow biblical counselor, Donn Arms, that stated that relationships are secondary or perhaps tertiary in biblical counseling. I based my response upon numerous biblical passages including Romans 15:14; Ephesians 4:15; Philippians 1:9-11; and 1 Thessalonians 2:8.

• In you enjoyed this post, consider my collection of posts on “Counseling Theory.”

Caring for Aging Parents: 6 Ways to Prepare Your People Well by Michele Howe

With such a large group of Baby Boomers getting older, there is also a larger number of middle-aged adults caring for aging parents. Many times, this is entered into with little forethought: a parent needs care, so the adult children are the ones to give it. And while most adult children anticipate a period of adjustment, few realize the true difficulties that caring for aging parents can bring.

One Reason Your Bible Reading Might Feel Boring by Mike Leake

I wonder if we sometimes have a similar experience with Scripture. Psalm 119:103 says, “How sweet are your words to my taste! yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth”. Yet, there are times when God’s Word tastes bland to me. Is it because I’m expecting the wrong thing? Am I not savoring God’s Word because I’m treating it like something it is not?

• If you benefited from this post, consider my post “Four Ways to Read the Bible” with a video discussion from David Powlison.

What I’m Reading

Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Given the evermore apparent failure of modern psychotherapies and a growing discomfort with pharmacological strategies, many churches are reaffirming the sufficiency and power of the Scriptures to change lives.

To aid churches in ministering to broken and hurting people, the authors of Counsel from the Cross present a counseling model based on Scripture and powered by the work of the wonderful counselor, Jesus Christ. Through careful exegesis and helpful case studies, they demonstrate how to provide consistently biblical, gospel-centered counseling and explain why it is important to do so.

The authors’ combined backgrounds—one, a woman trained in biblical counseling and the other, a male professor of practical theology—bring balance to this work, making it relevant for those who counsel as part of pastoral ministry and for all involved in mentoring or discipleship.

Tweets of the Week

Meaningful Meme

On the Lighter Side

Because, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones,” Proverbs 17:22.