Mobilizing and Equipping the Church for Soul Care and Counseling: A Classic Resource Updated and Revised

Abstract

Lay Counseling: Equipping Christians for a Helping Ministry (Revised Edition) by Siang-Yang Tan and Eric T. Scalise, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016. 318 pp. ISBN 978-0-310-52427-4, $19.99. Many years back, my inspiration willingly subject myself the five years of deprivation and torture associated with doctoral studies in professional psychology came from a relatively short stint as a college pastor. I had sensed a call shepherd souls, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ ... (Ephesians 4:12, English Standard Version). And yet as I walked alongside this small group of college students, I grew painfully aware of my own inadequacies and deficits in my shepherding efforts, especially as they applied the care of the many mental health concerns that arose in these students' lives. Now, as a licensed psychologist and a pastor, I still haven't forgotten that call. While the state psychology licensing board may have commissioned me practice mental health counseling within the state of California, the lack of an ecclesial body commissioning me practice pastoral counseling activities within the church troubled me. My intention in becoming a psychologist was not corner the market on counseling and soul care within the church--far from it; from my perspective, doing so would have been ask the church abdicate one of its most crucial responsibilities. In line with the Reformation principle of the priesthood of all believers, Paul Stevens (2002) asserted that the work of the pastor was not do all the work of the ministry himself/herself, but rather equip all the saints do this work. Extending this point, I believe that it is not the role of mental health professionals (even Christian ones) perform all the care and counseling work of the church; in fact, part of the important role that such individuals play is equip the church body for this kind of work. I don't think it will take much convincing for Christian therapists agree on the point that the church needs equipping in this regard, for it is commonplace hear sentiments like the one expressed by one of my colleagues not too long ago, Sadly, it's the church that keeps me in business. If the training and equipping of the church body for care and counseling work is indeed an important priority of Christian mental health professionals, a body of knowledge needs exist that outlines best practices, common approaches or models training, ethical considerations, and biblical foundations for such activities. The development of this body of knowledge and literature is crucial given how many Christian mental health professionals (such as myself) were trained in non-religious public institutions and never had opportunities incorporate church ministry into their professional development; moreover, it is unfortunately unlikely even for clinicians (at the masters-level or doctoral-level) trained in Christian institutions receive dedicated instruction in this regard either. Accordingly, when Dr. Siang-Yang Tan (Professor of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary and Senior Pastor of First Evangelical Church Glendale) published the first edition of his book, Lay Counseling: Equipping Christians for a Helping Ministry back in 1991, it addressed this very important gap and eventually established itself as the classic text on the subject. Now, 25 years later, Lay Counseling has been revised and updated for the first time include new chapters on ethical and legal concerns for lay counseling ministries as well as chapters on stress, burnout, and self-care among lay counselors. The remaining chapters have been revamped include new examples and illustrations as well as recent theoretical and empirical research. In all, this revised text represents a comprehensive, definitive, up-to-date resource for individuals interested in developing a new church-based lay counseling ministry or already actively engaged in an existing ministry. …