With a blog title like “A Blog from a Counselor for the Church,” one of my goals is to produce resources that benefit the local church — pastors, elders, counselors, deacons, small groups, and one another life. This year I think there were four large projects that did this in a unique way.
A Church Addresses Sexual Abuse: Preparation
On the weekend of May 18-19 The Summit Church (Durham, NC) addressed the subject of sexual abuse in all of our weekend services. This series is a reflection of those services, the preparation that went into them, and the aftercare that was provided. We do not propose to have done this weekend perfectly, although we worked diligently to conduct each aspect with excellence. Our hope is that the resources produced will allow other churches to address this needed subject and improve upon our efforts. This is a subject that addresses 20% of our church, community, and world (1 in 4 women; 1 in 6 men). The church cannot be silent.
“If you preach the gospel in all aspects with the exception of the issues that deal specifically with your time, you are not preaching the gospel at all.” Martin Luther
Leveraging Your Professional Workplace
God has placed you in your workplace for a reason — to be salt and light to those you serve and your colleagues. The role of the church is to equip you to leverage your skills and relationships to make the gospel known as you care for people.
This is why The Summit Church was excited to launch Bridgehaven Counseling Associates as an independent non-profit ministry to catalyze more opportunities for Christian professionals in Raleigh-Durham to be more missional in their workplace.
Sex and the Church: 10 Resources for Families & Churches
For too long the church has allowed culture to own the discussion of sex. God created sex and declared it good. When we distort sex, God can redeem our guilt (if we have sinned) or our shame (if we have been abused). In a culture that is obsessed with sex – any honest assessment of modern marketing would have to concede we’re obsessed – the church must engage the conversation of sex and sexuality.
At this link are ten resources that seek to address the subjects of sex and sexuality from a highly practical and thoroughly Scriptural world-view. Some are full-length seminars designed to launch pre-marital mentoring or recovery group ministries; others are as brief as a few minute introduction to important conversations with your children.
138 Counseling Reflections on Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
It began with a playful Facebook question in June 2010, “Would anyone be interested in a series of blog posts on ‘A Counselor Reflects on Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis’?” The response was enthusiastic enough to persuade me to see where the idea led.
Those who know me well are doubtless laughing at my compulsive persistence. But has been an enjoyable exercise in slowly reading, reflecting on, and applying a classic Christian work. Here is the fruit of these three year’s worth of reflection.