Thank you Matt. I do have one comment. YEARS AGO "someone told me of a sin, they trusted me. I was a mentor to this person. I asked if they would like to see one of our pastors and they said "YES but I do not want to go alone." I went with them. Once into the office of the pastor, I asked precisely.. "Will THIS what is spoken about be told to ANYONE else?" He said it would not . So this person shared "the" sin. Just a short while after, people in the church had heard about it and some confronted my friend. I never ever had shared it , not even with my husband.. so because the Pastor told the other pastor and the word got out, she left the church . Thankfully this person never left the Lord. So truly, I pray that our Pastors are aware of even sharing with another Pastor ruins fellowship and trust. God's continued blessings to you both. Lord, open the shut doors for Matt & Christine that Your precious Word will be told .. "Go tell it on the mountain". Onward Christian Soldier. You are loved and prayed over. Love, Ann Tolly
Thank you so much for writing this article! I think pastors can benefit greatly from learning some of basics of professional counseling, such as, having a positive regard towards the counselee, avoiding closed questions, avoiding "why" questions that immediately put the person on the defensive, learning to reflect feelings back to the client, and learning to help the client see the contrast between their Christian values and their present thoughts, feelings, and actions. None of these skills necessarily mean you are digging deep into a person's past in a freudian way. However, when a pastor/mentor uses these skill he/she might be able to draw more insight out of the person they are working with. Thank you for writing these posts!
Hey brother, I would love to hear more from you on this subject, especially as you study counseling in more detail. We could use a guest author here, if you have time.
Thank you Matt. I do have one comment. YEARS AGO "someone told me of a sin, they trusted me. I was a mentor to this person. I asked if they would like to see one of our pastors and they said "YES but I do not want to go alone." I went with them. Once into the office of the pastor, I asked precisely.. "Will THIS what is spoken about be told to ANYONE else?" He said it would not . So this person shared "the" sin. Just a short while after, people in the church had heard about it and some confronted my friend. I never ever had shared it , not even with my husband.. so because the Pastor told the other pastor and the word got out, she left the church . Thankfully this person never left the Lord. So truly, I pray that our Pastors are aware of even sharing with another Pastor ruins fellowship and trust. God's continued blessings to you both. Lord, open the shut doors for Matt & Christine that Your precious Word will be told .. "Go tell it on the mountain". Onward Christian Soldier. You are loved and prayed over. Love, Ann Tolly
Thank you so much for writing this article! I think pastors can benefit greatly from learning some of basics of professional counseling, such as, having a positive regard towards the counselee, avoiding closed questions, avoiding "why" questions that immediately put the person on the defensive, learning to reflect feelings back to the client, and learning to help the client see the contrast between their Christian values and their present thoughts, feelings, and actions. None of these skills necessarily mean you are digging deep into a person's past in a freudian way. However, when a pastor/mentor uses these skill he/she might be able to draw more insight out of the person they are working with. Thank you for writing these posts!
Hey brother, I would love to hear more from you on this subject, especially as you study counseling in more detail. We could use a guest author here, if you have time.