I don’t want to be one of those pastors that has a church full of eager people, but fails to give proper guidance in a timely manner. So consider the following my 1^st Year Discipleship Guide for New Followers of Christ. I’ve chosen books that are easy to read and steer clear of technical jargon.

1. English Standard Version -Study Bible

http://www.crossway.org/catalog/bibles#esv-study

2. Design for Discipleship Series by NavPress (Books 1 through 7)

http://www.christianbook.com/design-for-discipleship-7-leaders-guide/pd/060061?item_code=WW&netp_id=438326&event=ESRCN&view=details

3. A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul Miller

http://www.amazon.com/Praying-Life-Connecting-Distracting-World/dp/1600063004

 4. Psalms (A Worship Compilation of Worship Songs based on the Psalms, excellent for accompanying a personal devotion time of prayer and scripture reading.)

http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=M4235-00-21

5. What is a Healthy Church? By Mark Dever

http://www.crossway.org/product/9781581349375

6. Why Small Groups: Together Toward Maturity  edited by C.J. Mahaney

http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=B3150-00-11

7. Fifty Reasons Christ Came to Die by John Piper

http://www.crossway.org/product/158134788X

These books are the seven that I’d absolutely recommend for the new believer and follower of Jesus Christ for their first year of being a Christian. The new Christian needs two things: a good Bible and a great church that is faithful to preach the Bible. For those of you who have found Christ and are currently searching for a church to call home, my prayers are with you!

Allow me to expand on this promise for a moment.

1. God promises to give you shepherds. The first observation I have is this: shepherds must be rather important from God’s view of things, or else He wouldn’t have wasted His time promising them to us. Therefore, it is very important that you find a man to be your shepherd. God says so! Having a shepherd is critical to God’s eternal redemptive plan for your life, so you need to make it your top priority to find one. Some may say that this passage is teaching about Jesus being our shepherd. While that is certianly true, I dont think that’s what this passage is saying. The noun, “shepherds” is in the plural. While Jesus is our great Shepherd, this passage is clearly indicating that there will be multiple shepherds. I’m tempted to use this passage to argue for a plurality of elders in the church, but to be fair to the text I think I would be pushing it a little too far if I did that. I safely conclude, however, that God is talking about modern day pastors and elders -not Christ, and He promises that you need them, and that He will give them to you. What about those who have taken the time to look for one, but have come up empty handed? Good question. There are many, even now, who may be wandering around looking for a place to be cared for, looked after, and nourished –where they know they will be loved and taken care of. This may have been going on for years, and they just might be on the brink of despair. Don’t despair! God promises that He will give you a shepherd. Do you need to stress over whether or not such a man exists? No, because God has spoken and promised that He will provide such a shepherd for you. The man exists; you merely have to trust God and search for him. God says that He will give him to you. The man exists, and he is a gift from God. There’s nothing you need to do but love and trust in God. You don’t need to do the Christian equivalent of a rain dance to make the sky pour down rain, or a pastor-chant for a pastor to pop up out of nowhere. All you need to do is love God, trust God, and wait on God. Maybe you have already searched for a man to call Pastor and have not found him yet. Maybe you have been through all the churches in Kamloops, and still you have not found him. Be patient. God will keep His promise. He will give you a Shepherd.

2. God promises to give you a Shepherd. God has promised to give you a shepherd. Do you want a place to be loved and cared for? Do you want the gift of having a man in your life who will look after you? Do you want someone around that will offer counsel and guidance, a stirring and encouraging word in times of distress, a friend that will love you and take care of you no matter what mess you might inadvertently get yourself into? Do you really want that? Most people will say “Yes, I’d love to have a friend like that.” But, truthfully, they really don’t. A friend like that will love you in such a way that he will not be able to bear it when he sees that you are making decisions which have as their inevitable outcome the sure destruction of your life and the harm of many of those around you. A true friend will speak. He must speak if he loves you. Like a shepherd, he will use a rod and a staff (Psalm 23:4). What’s a rod for? It’s for whacking the sheep when they need some motivation. What’s the staff for? The staff usually has a crook on it so that the shepherd can loop it around the neck of the sheep from a distance and tug him in the right direction. The Psalmist says that the rod and staff are comforting to him. Here’s a modern day translation: “The whackings and neck-jerks that you give me are a comfort to me. Thank you for whacking me and jerking me by the neck on occasion.”  I find it incredibly odd that so many should pine away longingly for a shepherd convinced that God hasn’t provided one for them when clearly He promises that He will. Could it be possible that you’ve said “no” to God’s shepherd due to your hard and rebellious heart? Could it be that you’ve said “no” to God’s shepherd in your life because you refused to listen to the warnings and admonition that he gave you? Could it be possible that you’ve said “no” to God’s promised shepherd because you didn’t want to be shepherded?  God promises to give you a shepherd. If you really want to have a shepherd in your life, and you want to see God keep His promise of giving you a shepherd, then perhaps you should get busy being a submitted sheep. Perhaps you need to work on your humility a little bit, and try a little harder to being open to the gentle corrections and appropriate admonitions from a Godly shepherd.

3. God wants you to have a shepherd after His own Heart. This is where the Word of God begins to cut both ways. It’s easy from a pastor’s perspective to exhort people to find a place of worship and get involved in a local church, and it would be too easy for me to recommend that they come to the Bridge. Before any such recommendation can be made two pivotal questions must be asked: What does it mean to be a shepherd after God’s own heart?Are the pastors here at Bridge Church shepherds after God’s own heart?  I think I’ll save the previous questions for another post for another day. I think that the encouraging word that we can draw from this portion of the text is that God promises to give godly shepherds who are men after God’s own heart. I know that God has demonstrated Himself faithful in this regard. All throughout history the shadows of deception have threatened to plunge humanity into a dark age where there would be no understanding of God, yet God has always preserved a spokesman to speak to His people on His behalf. ALWAYS! So we can trust that if He did it once in the past, He will do it again in the future. He has, and He will! From my own personal experience, I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve seen the leadership from one church stray from God’s heart and suddenly another is lifted up to a position to speak truth to God’s people. God always begins a slow and tedious process (slow and tedious to us because it usually takes four or five years at a minimum, but five years is nothing from God’s perspective of eternity) of removing the offending shepherd and raising up a new shepherd in his place.  So if you find yourself in a church where it is apparent that the leadership has strayed from God’s heart, then take courage in the promise of God to provide a shepherd after His own heart and start searching for a man who follows God’s heart. He’s out there! And if you haven’t found him yet, then be patient because God will keep His promise. **For me, this is a special moment of introspection. Am I a man after God’s own heart? I hope and pray that this is the case. As Paul says, “I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted.” (1 Corinthians 4:4) Likewise, I am not aware of anything against myself. But what should I do if the day comes that I fall before the Lord in failure? What should I do if, after preaching to others, I myself become disqualified? (1 Corinthians 9:27) I have watched so many pastors, deceived by the allure of sin, insist in the middle of significant moral failure that they still deserve to shepherd God’s people. They have clearly fallen from the Heart of God, and they now insist on continuing in a position of leadership. These men only further compound the problem. The church is always harmed, and the advance of the gospel is always slowed down in such situations. Here’s what I’ve decided to do if I am ever caught in moral failure and it is necessary that I must resign my position (I pray that I will follow through with this plan if that day, God forbid, should ever come.): I will use what standing I have left to guide the church towards the shepherd that God has promised to raise up, the shepherd that is a man after God’s own heart. If I sense that God has departed from me and has chosen to raise up a new leader, I want to get on board with God’s plan. I don’t want to be consumed with murderous rage like King Saul. I hope that I will have the heart to trust in the promise of God which is to give a shepherd after His own heart. I pray that I will have the heart to believe this promise and to obey this promise by guiding others towards the shepherd that God lifts up. It is this desire that actually prompted me to put my morning devotion into writing via this blog post, because I would like others to be able to use this blog posting as a tool of reasoning with me should the day, God forbid, ever come that I need to step down. If I fall from being a good pastor, a shepherd after God’s own heart, then may I have grace enough to guide others towards the promised shepherd who will replace me. When you, the members of Bridge Church, pray for me, please pray that I will always strive to be a man after God’s heart, and pray that I will always have the grace to step aside, should the day come, but still use my God-given intellect and knowledge of scripture to guide us toward the promised Shepherd. This is what I want you to pray for me for.

4. Who will feed you knowledge and understanding. This is where the Word makes things easy for both of us. What should you look for in a pastor? What should I try to do as a pastor? There are a lot of different items involved with the job description of a shepherd, but first and foremost is this: a shepherd after God’s own heart should always strive to preach the Word!!! A godly shepherd’s first order of business is to always be ready to proclaim the truth of God’s Word! This passage of text reveals to us that a sheep who loves God and wants to be a sheep after God’s own heart is going to be a sheep that searches diligently for a shepherd who preaches the word and seeks to give knowledge and understanding of the text. A good sheep is hungry for God’s Word. A good shepherd will find a way to deliver a tasty morsel of Word for the sheep to eat. Both the sheep and the shepherd are intricately bound to God at this point because as the one is, after God’s own heart, striving to feed knowledge and understanding of God through His Word, so the other should be striving to consume and digest knowledge and understanding of God. What a wonderful way to arrive at an understanding of godly shepherds and godly sheep: both the shepherd and the sheep, if they share a passion for God and can be described as individuals with a heart after God’s own heart, will be consumed with a love for the text of Scripture, for knowledge of the text, and for understanding of the text. Wow!  This passage makes me want to study scripture even more, and helps me pray that the members of the Bridge would have an ever increasing and insatiable appetite for knowledge and understanding of God!

 I want to close with an exhortation. For those of you who have not found a church home, I’m not exactly recommending us, but I know our church will love and care for you. For those of you who are searching for a pastor after God’s own heart, I’m not saying that I am that man, but I do strive to be that man every day. But here’s my real exhortation: you must be hungry for God’s word. You must have a soul craving for it! If you lack a soul craving for knowledge and understanding of God, then you need to get busy cultivating a healthy appetite, and you need to be in the hunt searching for a shepherd who can feed you. So get hungry, and then get busy looking for a good shepherd.

Without a signed membership covenant it would be hard for any church to do two things: 1.) hold individual members to any standard of accountability, and 2.) hold the church congregation to a standard of accountability in seeking to be reconciled with any wayward members.

In the Western Church, average church goer Joe and Sally live in blatant and unrepentant sin. They believe, erroneously, that they can do whatever they want with a subtle disregard for the interests of the church and the interests of Jesus Christ. They often make decisions that lead to subtle forms of idolatry – the most blatant and obvious being the inherent belief that they can leave the church whenever there is any disagreement and seek out a church that cators to their personal whims. Joe and Sally leave the church, abandon their family in Christ, and selfishly pursue whatever tickles their fancy. They should be held accountable for their decisions. A signed membership covenant PROVES that there was a clear understanding between various parties at the beginning of the relationship BEFORE there was any conflict. A church that utilizes a signed membership covenant can honestly say that Joe and Sally fully knew what they were doing when they joined the church. A signed membership covenant becomes a piece of evidence in a court of law when members violate the other members of the church and selfishly pursue their own interests. It helps to establish a baseline and the church can hold people accountable to that baseline because the church can prove that they explained that baseline of behavior to Joe and Sally before they joined the church. 

It also helps to hold the church to a standard of accountability. Many in the church may not know Joe or Sally or do not have a  relationship with them. As a result, many members in the church may be reluctant to pursue reconciliation with Joe and Sally. In the beginning, there was a tempting desire to allow Joe and Sally to go in peace without confrontation over their subtle idolatry. But every member will know that this is not an option that will carry water with the leadership. Why? Because they also signed a covenant that clearly articulated certain responsibilities that were incumbent upon them in moments of crises. The church KNOWS that they have a responsibility to Joe and Sally, to reach out to them and to love and care for them during this moment of crises. And so the church steps out in obedience and can call Joe and Sally back to church attendance and begin to appeal to Joe and Sally via the membership covenant to resolve their differences amicably. The church leadership is effectively able to hold the church to a standard of accountability to engage Joe and Sally in an act of reconciliation and redemption when few really want to. And this is very helpful. Because it further compounds Joe and Sally’s guilt for so flippantly disregarding their church. They have had a loving family reach out to them and appeal to them to repent and come back to the church. Any insistance upon departure is, in cold-hearted fashion, a rejection of the loving appeals of their fellow brothers and sisters. This makes church discipline really really easy at this point.

A signed covenant is a piece of evidence that can show to a watching world that there was a clear-cut understanding among various parties involved. As evidence, it cannot be denied! Therefore, it is useful in holding people to a standard of accountability.

It is true that obedience is the result of a heart that loves God. If you love God you will keep His commandments. But obedience is not the same as love. So how do we cultivate a heart that loves God? Because if we can find out how to cultivate a genuine love for God then obedience will be easy. I am persuaded that 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 gives us instruction on how to begin cultivating our heart for a genuine experiencing and expressing of love both to God and our fellow man.

How to cultivate a Heart for Love:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 teaches that there are a series of actions that you can do which will help to cultivate an emotional affection in your heart which is known as love. Let me be clear here. Doing the following does not equal love. To have love in your heart requires that your soul be healed and helped after years of spiritual malformation which is the result of a lifestyle of sin. Ultiumately, the following disciplines do not produce love in your heart. But by doing the following, Love can be cultivated and grown:

Step 1: Always be patient.

Step 2: Always be kind.

Step 3: Do not envy others.

Step 4: Do not brag about yourself.

Step 5: Do not think highly of yourself.

Step 6: Do not be rude.

Step 7:  Do not be self-willed. Do not insist that it’s “your way or the highway!”

Step 8: Don’t be easily offended. Don’t be offended at all!

Step 9: Don’t hold grudges against others for any reason. Be forgiving.

Step 10: Always be learning what is right and what is wrong.

Step 11: Do not be pleased or happy when someone does something that is wrong. Be extremely dissatisfied and express your dissatisfaction.

Step 12: Be happy at knowing and doing the truth! Seek contentment in Honor and Integrity.

Step 13: Bear difficult things. Carry them on your shoulders so others don’t have to. Be Noble in service to others. But the moment you think you are noble, return to step 4!

Step 14: Trust everything in the Bible, and believe in it! Be sound in your faith.

Step 15: Hope in the promises of the Bible. Have a confident expectation that they will come true!

Step 16: Trust in God’s sovereign control over every situation knowing that no matter what He allows you to go through, He is using it to refine your character for a greater purpose! Be glad in it, for this is the day that the Lord has made!

If you follow that outline as you interact with people and situations in life, you will find that you love those people and you are happy in those situations. Though certain individuals may annoy you and grate on you, you will find that at the end of the day something interesting happens in your heart. You will find God is slowly growing a heart-felt affection in your heart for those people. It’s surprising to behold.

So let’s return to John 14. Obedience to God is not the same as love for God. However, obedience to God will help cultivate a heart that loves God. Only God can change a person’s heart. However, God doesn’t force Himself on anyone. A person’s heart can only be changed when a person yields his heart to God and cooperatively steps out in basic obedience to God to allow God to reform his spiritual character.

The membership class begins. Everyone is smiling. Discussions of baptism and communion abound. Food is shared around the table. Everyone is having a good time. Then one of the Elders clears their throat, and says, “Let’s talk about how we’re going to maintain purity here at The Bridge Church.”

“Oh, how delightful!” many say in response to this news. But then follows a conversation that -despite best efforts to clearly articulate the issue at hand- always raises the question, “Isn’t that a little condemning?” But it isn’t condemnation. It’s wisdom bound inside of a careful warning.

Bridge Church is convinced that if we talk about church discipline from the beginning, we will be following the example that Jesus gives us. If we all agree that Jesus is the ultimate pastor, then we should all try to model our ministry on His, and if we decide to do that- then we will sooner or later realize that Jesus talked about church discipline the very moment that He began to talk about the church. When Jesus first begins to talk about Church, He does so in Matthew 16:13-19. This is the FIRST time “church” is mentioned, and it’s the FIRST time that Jesus begins to talk about the church.

In that passage he immediately begins talking about “binding & loosing.” Jesus, from the very moment that He first begins to teach about the church, begins to teach that the church’s primary function is to provide a positive identification of authentic believers in a fallen and lost world. The church as  a “called-out community” is given the responsibility for calling-out others from the world, and distinguishing those truly called-out from those who are still of the world. Jesus begins teaching this ministry of binding and loosing from the very first mention of the word “church.” The second time he mentions the church, and the second time that the church is ever mentioned in the New Testament is in Matthew 18. This passage further unpacks the idea of “binding & loosing,” and explicitly talks about church discipline. So if any good pastor wants to base his ministry on the example that Christ modeled for us, then we must conclude that if Jesus talked about church discipline from the very first moment that He talked about the church –we should talk about church discipline the very first moment that we begin to talk about church. By refusing to make church discipline a part of the discussion from the very beginning, you are basically saying that you have more wisdom on the appropriate timing of such teaching than Jesus did.

And there are, unfortunately, too many who do this. When folks come to join with the church and decide to take the church membership class they are almost never approached with the concept of accountability and never told that they may be removed from the fellowship of the church. This is a sad tragedy that rejects the ministry that Christ modeled for us.

1. I see that others don’t always delight in doing good. I can recall a time at Life Group (our church’s small group ministry comparable to Sunday School) when we were sharing about the right thing to do. One gentleman made the comment that he used to always get free car washes at the expense of the company that he worked for. Now that he was a Christian, he knew that it was wrong to get free car washes, so he made the right decision to refuse to get free car washes at the expense of the company. He decided he would no longer steal! As he was sharing this godly lifestyle choice with us, it became apparent that it had been a struggle for him. He did not delight in the choice he had made to do good and to refuse evil. He still looked at his other colleagues and co-workers who stole free car washes from the company they worked for, and he still longed and desired to be in that position. It was challenging for me as a pastor to be able to speak to the issue. I know that a person should delight in doing good, but I just might be the world’s biggest hypocrite in this regard.
2. I do not always have the right attitude towards people in my life. Being a pastor is a job that necessarily involves conflict and tension. In a world that is dominated by sin, the man whose job description involves watching after and taking care of the souls of his friends naturally finds himself in hard positions. Or should it be such a hard position? Actually, fear of confrontation stems from love of self and fear of man. I desire the approval and admiration of others especially those that I am close to, so I naturally tend to shy away from things that may result in conflict, tension, or ill will towards ME! Think about that for a second. I am more concerned with people honoring me, than I am with them honoring God. I’d rather people be happy with me, than with people being happy and satisfied in God, and more importantly with God’s happiness and satisfaction in their lives. This results in a series of compromises that ultimately end in me dishonoring God, and not merely allowing or tolerating others to dishonor God. I am able to critically process this, and most of the time I can understand what God wants me to do. But the emotion that drives my action is not love for God, it is fear of man and love for self. My emotions are in direct conflict with my beliefs. At the end of the day, I may still do the right thing, but it will often be at the expense of my emotions. I find that I may do good most of the time if I know what the good is and what the right thing to do is. But I cannot always delight in doing good. The reason for this is because my emotions are wrong. How do I correct this situation? I’ve long known that it is possible to cultivate and correct a person’s emotions, and I’ve long considered doing a Bible Study on it. But now a very critically acclaimed book is on the way, and I look forward to reading it.

I want to help those who struggle with emotions and feelings that dishonor God. I want to help people cultivate Godly emotions, and especially to delight in doing good. I want to be able to teach the children in our church to take great joy in telling the truth and delight in being people with Honor and integrity, but to delight in that lifestyle in such a way that it is not prideful but a humble delight in their honor and integrity. How can I do this when I myself don’t know how to do live such a lifestyle? So I’m looking forward to this book. It’s going to be released in January 2010, but you can get it now for Kindle through Amazon, if you have Kindle, which I don’t because I believe in old fashioned paper books. Here’s the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Feelings-Faith-Cultivating-Christian-ebook/dp/B00295AID8

What is psychotherapy? Here’s a brief definition:

“Psychotherapy is a formal process of interaction between two parties, each party usually consisting of one person but with the possibility that there may be two or more people in each party, for the purpose of amelioration of distress in one of two parties relative to any or all of the following areas of disability or malfunction: cognitive functions (disorders of thinking), affective functions (suffering or emotional discomforts), or behavoiral functions (inadequacy of behavior). The therapist who takes part in this interaction has some theory of personality’s origins, development, maintenance, and change, applies some method of treatment logically related to theory, and has professional and legal approval to act as a therapist.”[1]

Some of you may be wondering where I obtained this definition from. I found this definition in “Current Psychotherapies, 8th Edition”by Raymond Corsini and Danny Wedding. Here’s another good question to ask: what kind of a book is this, and why are there an amazing 8 editions? Good question. Allow me to explain: Current Psychotherapies is a desk reference for individuals participating in any form of psychotherapy or treatment. Why do individuals engaging in psychotherapy need such a book? In the practice of Psychotherapy, it is a frequent and common occurrence that individuals seeking the “amelioration of distress,” will switch psychotherapists a number of times until they find a psychotherapist that comforts them and makes them feel better, sufficiently addressing their psychological distress. Simply stated, the first guy wasn’t able to help. So the suffering party went somewhere else. This is a very common occurrence, and it even happens in the regular medical community. You go to one doctor; he doesn’t seem to be able to understand your ailment, so you go to a different doctor.

But here’s the kicker- though I’ve occasionally switched medical doctors for a variety of reasons, none of them have ever had a desk reference which they consulted upon our first visit entitled, “Current ways of Doctoring.” It seemed that they already knew what it meant to be a doctor. They already had a scientific process for understanding my physical condition, making a diagnosis, and then suggesting a course of treatment. None of them ever asked me what my former doctor’s “Theory of treatment,” or “Philosophy of Medicine” was. None of them ever asked.

So why a book entitled, “Current Psychotherapies, 8th Edition?” Because, the book’s first edition listed, “250 different systems of psychotherapy, but currently there are probably more than 400 such systems of treatment.” [2]. The author’s themselves acknowledge the reason for writing 8 different editions in 8 years- the growing number of theories pertaining to the treatment of the human heart! Ifyou visit twenty different psychiatrists in your city, you are likely to get twenty different theories of whatever your problem may be, be it depression, anxiety, anger management, stress, ect. Psychotherapists don’t have any consensus on what causes people to suffer, and so they don’t have any consensus on how to help people change. So it is not uncommon for them to ask which doctor you visited, and then to ask how you were treated, and then to begin consulting a desk reference to try and understand what your former doctor’s mode of treatment involved.

Wedding and Corsini openly admit, “There was not then, [referring to a debate on what causes change in the client that occurred in the 1950's] and there is not now, any consensus about what constitutes the basis for change in psychotherapy.” [3] (Italics are my own). Corsini even admits that he started as a Rogerian therapist, but after ten years switched his technique to a different form out of simple preference. Have you ever encountered a medical doctor who admitted that though he had used anti-biotics for ten years to treat infection, he just randomly decided to switch to a different form of treatment?

Yet this is what one of the leading experts (if you can call anyone in the field of psychotherapy an expert on the human soul), of psychotherapy claims:

“It does mean that technique and method are always secondary to the clinician’s personal sense of what is the right thing to do with a given client at a given moment in time, irrespective of theory. Put more simply, psychotherapy remains an art. Thus, if formal eclecticism is on the rise, it is all to the good: it shows the maturing of psychotherapy.” [4]

I value Corsini and Wedding as truly “experts” in their field of psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy. Why? Because they are honest practitioners. They say point blank: “We’ve been doing this for years, and we really have no idea what we’re doing, none of us really agree about what’s going on inside your heart and head, but we really hope that we can help you, or at the very least distract you from the real issues that you’re facing.” Granted, I may be ad libbing a bit too freely, but my point is essentially the same. I appreciate such candor. Fortunately, Wedding and Corsini can afford to speak about their profession with such blatant honesty, because it creates an avenue for them to publish a widely accepted desk reference that is commonly used throughout the field by a number of professionals. They profit from their candor. The fact that they profit also shows how much truth they speak. Why else would this book be so common and so widely distributed if so many “professionals” in the field of psychotherapy did not agree with them? Why else would this book be the leading introductory text book to psychiatry used in so many colleges and universities? Why else would there be so many well received8 full editions of the same essential text? Because they are telling the truth.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, we encounter individuals in the counseling arena who are not so lucky as to be so honest. For them to tell you once you sat upon their couch or sofa, “Here we go again- another shot in the dark! So… tell me what’s bothering you today,” would be a basic end to their business. They would have to find a different line of work, because they would cease to profit from the hundreds who are seeking true relief from spiritual affliction.

Some may object: “I have found relief from my counselor!” I’m completely convinced that you have indeed found ”amelioration from [your] distress.” I would never suggest anything to the contrary. If counselors can’t provide some appearance of actually helping the patient, then why should the patient pay for the counselor’s services?

And what’s more: you’re getting what you paid for. You are getting your money’s worth. You are paying a man or woman counselor to “ameliorate.” Do you know what that means? The basic definition of ameliorate is, “to make more tolerable.” Counselors are not attempting to solve your problems, but merely to alleviate the symptoms. Their method of treatment is similar to a doctor who has just discovered that you have cancer and it is terminal. Rather than trying to cure you, they are trying to make you more comfortable for the soon approaching end.

There is a cure (2 Peter 1:3-4). You don’t have to settle for being made more comfortable till the end. There is a solution (2 Timothy 3:16-17). I’ve met Him. He is the true physician (Luke 8:43-48). He is the wonderful counselor (Isaiah 9:6). He can heal the deep sickness of your heart (John 6:63). And He promises to heal you when you seek Him with all your heart (2 Chronicles 7:14; Jeremiah 29:13).  

If God claims that He can heal you, the question becomes this: do you trust God’s healing, or do you trust in man?

__________________________

[1] Corsinie, Raymond & Danny Wedding. Current Psychotherapies, Eighth Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson, Brooks, & Cole, 2008. (pg. 1.)

[2] Ibid., pg. 9.

[3] Ibid., pg. 8.

[4] Ibid., pg. 10.

At the heart of that encounter was a passage from Ephesians 4:11-16. In verse 11 Paul mentions several individuals in the church, including the Pastor-Teacher, whom he goes on in verses 12 and following to describe as being given the task of equipping the saints for ministry, for building the body, until all of us attain to mature manhood. I remember the joy that filled my heart that evening. I remember the ideas that began to race through my head about what spiritual maturity looked like, what it would mean to take personal responsibility for guiding the hearts and souls of people in growth towards spiritual maturity, until we all attained to the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” (Ephesians 4:13). I was thrilled at this responsibility. As I pondered this passing anniversary in my life, I realized that we are soon approaching another anniversary. Almost fifty years ago, the former president of the American Psychological Association (APA), O.Hobart Mowrer (1961) wrote these words:

Challenge a parish minister or seminary professor to stay with, rather than “refer”, a person suffering from a severe personality crisis, and what is the typical rejoinder: “But I’m not qualified for that sort of thing!” The fact is, such a minister is not qualified. Because the church does not concern itself with the one genuinely lost sheep, the whole congregation is eventually lost; and the minister himself goes into “therapy” with the same would-be secular healers to whom he has been referring others. Today’s clergyman can, I maintain, save himself only by the radical expedient of returning to the full-fledged business of saving, rescuing, and redeeming others. And when he does this, pulpit “theology” will recover the substance and stability which are today so conspicuously lacking. Here is one function which cannot be secularized, without calamity to all concerned (p. 171).

 Mowrer’s assessment is prophetic. Most pastors in Mowrer’s day were either spiritually lazy… or cowards.  And Mowrer concurs with the self-condemnation of those pastors who refuse to “stay with” a person experiencing crisis: “The fact is, such a minister is not qualified.” He goes on to blast the entire church in light of the pastor’s failure: because one is lost, soon -all are lost.

 The second part of what Mowrer claims is also essential to the business of soul care: caring for people’s souls. Pulpit speeching can only become God’s proclamation when the man of God has taken the time in the trenches with the people of God to understand the monsters which afflict their souls, the monsters with whom he is contending. Pastors are not only essential to the work of “redeeming soul care”, but the Creator of the universe gives this task exclusively to those cited in Ephesians 4:11 for this task. Many pastors have ignored the decree of the God they claim to serve. They have ignored his decree to care for the souls of the flock, and to encourage these wonderful people to grow into spiritual maturity. Too many ministers have subjected themselves and their flock, whom God has entrusted to their specific care, to the confused and chaotic ministrations of secular healers who are really little better than witch doctors masquerading as professionals.

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Mowrer, O.H. (1961). The crisis in psychiatry and religion. Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand Insight Books.

The Holy Bible. (2002). English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bible.