Helping the Helper

There are many complexities associated with ministering to another person. Where does a helper begin? What's important to notice? Is there an overall ministry strategy that's beneficial? Saints, Sufferers, and Sinners by author and counselor Michael R. Emlet outlines a model of one-another ministry based on how God sees and loves his people. Emlet helps readers use Scripture to find foundational categories for understanding and approaching one another, which serve as guideposts for wise care. Filled with everyday illustrations as well as counseling examples, Emlet demonstrates what it looks like to approach fellow believers simultaneously as saints, sufferers, and sinners. As part of CCEF's Helping the Helper series, this guide for ministry provides an overall framework for wisely helping any person, balancing all three aspects of our experience as Christians.

OCD, ADHD, PTSD, Bipolar Disorder . . . these are no longer just technical terms and medical diagnoses, they are part of our common vocabulary and culture. As Christians, we shouldn't isolate ourselves from this discussion or dismiss these important issues. But we also should be careful not to accept the entire secular psychiatric diagnostic and treatment enterprise without question. What we need is a balanced, biblically (and scientifically) informed approach that neither blindly accepts nor harshly dismisses psychiatric labels, diagnoses, and medicines that are prescribed to help those who are suffering. As both a Biblical counselor and medical doctor, Michael R. Emlet, MD, gives readers a Christ-centered approach to psychiatry and guides both lay and professional helpers through the thicket of mental health labels and treatments with a biblical lens. In a clear and thoughtful way that puts the person experiencing mental health issues at the forefront, Emlet uses Scripture to show how the Bible engages in the discussion of psychiatric labels and the medications that are often recommended based on those labels. The first book in the "Helping the Helper" series, Descriptions and Prescriptions will give readers a biblical, gospel-formed perspective to help them understand and minister to those struggling with mental health issues.

Knowing how to approach children and teens in counseling can be a challenge. Learning to enter into their world and draw them out can sometimes feel impossible. But with Julie Lowe's Building Bridges-a practical workbook of expressive activities to do with kids and teens in counseling-you will find the biblical tools you're looking for. There are thoughtful, biblically wise, and creative ways we can engage young people. The responsibility lies on us as adults to work hard at drawing kids out. Thankfully, there are helpful, practical ways to speak the gospel into their lives, and by building bridges with young people, we can build bridges with them to the Lord. With over fifteen years of counseling experience and by working as a registered play therapist supervisor, Julie Lowe understands there is a need to speak truth and hope into the lives of children and teens in a hands-on, meaningful way. That's why the activities in Building Bridges can be used over and over in multiple contexts. This workbook walks men and women through the rationale for expressive activities, provides examples, and then shows counselors how to do it themselves. By pointing to the Lord through expressive mediums, counselors and youth workers will be able to reach kids and teens in a unique, biblical way.

What makes counseling biblical? What does the biblical counseling process entail? What is the focus of each stage of the process? Lauren Whitman, an experienced CCEF counselor, addresses these questions and more in A Biblical Counseling Process, sharing a process from start to finish that will help guide counselors in reaching the hearts of their counselees and connecting them to Jesus, who brings hope and change. Although there is not a one-size-fits-all formula for biblical counseling, Whitman captures the scope of a counseling process and identifies two major tasks for the beginning, middle, and the end. Each of the chapters works together to explain, describe, support, and illustrate these tasks. The author also provides a case study that continues throughout the book, providing readers with an example of how to implement the process. As part of CCEF's Helping the Helper series, A Biblical Counseling Process will equip counselors, pastors, and lay leaders to approach their counseling ministry intentionally so that their work faithfully points people to the Lord, considers who he is, his heart, and what he calls us to. Useful for new and seasoned counselors alike, this resource will equip helpers with a vision for what a progression of counseling looks like.

Safe and Sound by best-selling author David Powlison guides readers to see the normality of their struggles with themselves, the world around them, and the powers of darkness. Counselors tend to be interested in what they can easily describe: psychological dynamics, social influences, and physiological givens. But how does the uncanny power of darkness fit in with the more accessible factors in a person's life? By carefully unpacking Ephesians 6 with vivid case studies and biblical wisdom, Powlison helps readers humanize those struggles and bear the relevance of the love of God in Christ for those struggles. In this helpful guide, Powlison addresses many questions with gospel answers regarding the reality of spiritual warfare, including "What is spiritual warfare?" and "How does Ephesians disciple us in spiritual warfare?" Safe and Sound presents Ephesians as a book about our conflict with darkness-within ourselves, with other people, and with the spiritual forces of evil. Powlison demonstrates how the message of Christ's triumph over all that is evil, dark, and deadly rings true, and how spiritual warfare is our participation in the Lord's cosmic war with darkness. To stand up against evil, Powlison encourages readers to pray pointedly and listen to Scripture intently, standing with other brothers and sisters in Christ and relying on the strength God himself gives.