David Powlison’s essay “The Pastor as Counselor”
(available free online) is far and away the best thing I have ever read
on the role of pastor-elders in counseling God’s people. It was
originally published in For the Fame of God’s Name and is reprinted in CCEF’s The Journal of Biblical Counseling.
At our church we have read through it together as an elder council, and
I’d encourage other churches to do the same. I also wish every
seminarian could read through this at least once.
Here is one section directed to pastors on their unique role in counseling:
The uniqueness of your message is easy to see. But you
already know this. I won’t rehearse the unsearchable riches of Christ,
or the 10,000 pertinent implications.
But I do want to note the uniqueness of your message by contrast.
Every counselor brings a “message”: an interpretation of problems, a
theory that weighs causalities and context, a proposal for cure, a goal
that defines thriving humanness. How does your message compare with
their messages? Simply consider what our culture’s other counselors do not say.
- They never mention the God who has a name: YHWH, Father, Jesus, Spirit, Almighty, Savior, Comforter.
- They never mention that God searches every heart, that every human being will bow to give final account for each thought, word, deed, choice, emotion, belief, and attitude.
- They never mention sinfulness and sin, that humankind obsessively and compulsively transgress against God.
- They never mention that suffering is meaningful within God’s purposes of mercy and judgment.
- They never mention Jesus Christ. He is a standing insult to self-esteem and self-confidence, to self-reliance, to self-salvation schemes, to self-righteousness, to believing in myself. Continue at Justin Taylor
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