Something big is starting to happen with the counseling training that I am teaching (two groups at present). Even from such small groups, God has given me access to people who in turn have access to new circles of influence. The personal transformation that they are experiencing and witnessing in others is so profound that word of mouth is traveling fast. One example is a Lutheran pastor whose wife has been attending. She has been in counseling for years, but, as she says, they usually end up telling her that that they can’t help her. Now she is finding new freedom from fear that has gripped her her entire life. As a result, the pastor wants me to offer training for pastors on a national level. Now mind you there are barely 100 churches in this denomination, but to the extent that we can figure this out it expands the reach of this ministry dramatically.
More to the point, two of the women who have participated in our training are psychologists and asked me to speak to a group of Christian psychologists they are a part of. This is an inter-denominational group that meets monthly for – well, I don’t really know what. One of them told me they just sit around and talk. So when they told them about me, apparently they all got very interested and told me to talk about anything I wanted to.
I chose to speak on “What is Christian psychology.” It’s a topic I’ve thought about for years, but the closer I got to having to put it all on paper, the more expansive and intimidating the subject got. Sometimes this can be an indication to me that I’m not going the right direction, but I felt assurance somehow from the Father that I was on the right path. I won’t give you details, but I covered topics like:
- is psychology a bad word (the whole subject gets really bad press in most churches)
- stages in the historical development of Christian counseling
- what is a biblical view of man, the source of our problems, and their resolution
- worldview issues in secular methodologies
- positive and negative aspects of various schools
- how to speak to pastors about counseling
- how to minister to non-Christians without offending, yet not watering down your goals