This is really a very good book and though written some years ago is still available new in bookstores and with Amazon also. At the time of writing the author was an experienced counselor and psychotherapist living in Bristol. He had helped pioneer a training program to assist Christians in a Bible based ministry of counsel. He is committed to the view that a clear grasp of the Biblical teaching on human nature is vital to the foundation for Christian caring of any sort. Along with this is his contention that all help should be offered within the context of pastoral care in the local church. This is both biblical and refreshing to those aware of so many ministries operating as ‘para’ to the local church and disconnected from continuing pastoral care. In the light of these foundational concepts the author explores the relationship between counseling, spiritual direction and healing ministries, connecting them together as vital components of a full orbed pastoral counseling ministry. He outlines the various aims and methods of Christian counseling and examines the various schools of psychotherapy that have arisen in the secular context over the last one hundred and fifty years. He looks at these but not in great depth and connects their strengths to Biblical bases and shows how they can be of some help. However, the thrust of this book is not to promote techniques of counsel, there is a humility in his writing consonant with the truly pastoral approach of caring for those in need and helping them make both short term progress unto health in heart and mind as well as a more long time answer to their problems. At the end of each chapter are questions for discussion and personal reflection, some detailed notes and at the end of the book quite a wide-ranging bibliography on this subject. Those realizing the need to understand the human heart and to examine the subject scripturally whilst also considering the concepts promoted as techniques used by practitioners will find a valuable resource in obtaining this book, it will act as a kind of primer in to the subject and help ground their thinking solidly in God’s ways rather than methodologies rooted in humanistic thought.
