The Ministry of the Word: Public and Mutual 

As I’ve been enjoying the 2011 Gospel Coalition Conference in Chicago while representing the Biblical Counseling Coalition several “dual images” have come to mind.

• Preaching and Counseling

• The Public Ministry of the Word and the Mutual Ministry of the Word

• The Pulpit Ministry of the Word and the Personal Ministry of the Word

• Air Wars and Ground Wars

• Bombing the Shores and Hand-to-Hand Combat

Changing Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth

Each twin metaphor compares and contrasts how God’s Word changes lives with Christ’s changeless truth either through the public proclamation of the Word (preaching, teaching, corporate worship, etc.) or through the mutual ministry of the Word (counseling, one-another ministry, personal discipleship, small group ministry, spiritual friendship, soul care, etc.).

Both “types of ministries” should be ministries of the Word. Both should be based upon the conviction that God’s Word is authoritative, sufficient, relevant, and profound. That foundation should never change, although the “method” of communication/connecting is quite different in preaching than in personal counseling.

Here’s what excites me about the Gospel Coalition and the Biblical Counseling Coalition. We are both committed to the public ministry of the Word where expository, exegetical preaching relates God’s truth to people’s lives, and we don’t “jump ship” and change our commitment when it comes to the personal (or private/mutual) ministry of the Word (counseling). We see no dichotomy between the foundation for the public and the private ministry of the Word.

Gospel-Centered Commitment

In other words, as pastors and teachers, when we’re in the pulpit or at the lectern, we trust the power of God’s Word to change lives, and when we’re in our offices with a struggling parishioner or at Starbucks with a spiritual friend, we maintain that trust, rather than trusting instead in worldly wisdom. We are confident that God’s Word is profoundly relevant to change lives when shared from the pulpit, and we maintain that confidence in the personal/mutual ministry of the Word when sitting across from a parishioner.

Again, I’m not suggesting that counseling equals individual preaching. I am, however, suggesting that counseling (the personal/mutual ministry of the Word) equals spiritual conversations based upon biblical insights for living mutually explored in the context of a committed, caring relationship (Ephesians 4:15-16; Philippians 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 2:8). I am suggesting that the Word is powerful to change lives both when preached from the pulpit and when applied together in the relational context of one-another ministry.

Join the Conversation

Why do some Evangelicals seem to lose their confidence in the authority, sufficiency, and profound relevance of God’s Word when they move from preaching/teaching to personal counseling? How can we encourage and equip God’s people to minister the Word powerfully in all contexts?

Tags: Biblical Counseling, Biblical Counseling Coalition, Counseling, Gospel Coalition, Pastoral Counseling

Pastoral Ministry: Air Wars and Ground Wars

As I’ve been speaking at the Moody Bible Pastors’ Conference on topics related to equipping pastors for pastoral counseling and discipleship, some “dual images” have been coming to mind.

*Preaching and Counseling

*The Pulpit Ministry of the Word and the Personal Ministry of the Word

*Air Wars and Ground Wars

*Bombing the Shores and Hand-to-Hand Combat

Each twin metaphor seeks to compare and contrast how pastors change lives with Christ’s changeless truth either through preaching or through counseling. Both should be ministries of the Word. That foundation should never change, although the method of communication/connecting should be quite different in preaching from personal counseling.

Here’s the question I’ve been asking myself.

Why do some Evangelical pastors who are committed to expository, exegetical preaching where they relate God’s truth to their people’s lives, “jump ship” and change their commitment when it comes to the personal ministry of the Word (counseling)?

In other words, when we’re in the pulpit, why do we trust the power of God’s Word to change lives, but when we’re in our offices with a struggling parishioner we seem to lose that trust, trusting instead in worldly wisdom?

Why are we confident that God’s Word is profoundly relevant to change lives when shared from the pulpit, but then we seem to lose that confidence in the personal ministry of the Word when sitting across from a spiritual friend?

Again, I’m not suggesting that counseling equals individual preaching. I am, however, suggesting that counseling (the personal ministry of the Word) equals spiritual conversations based upon biblical insights for living mutually explored in the context of a committed relationship. I am suggesting that the Word is powerful to change lives both when preached from the pulpit and when applied together in the relational context of one another ministry.

Join the Conversation

Why do some Evangelical pastors seem to lose their confidence in the profound relevance of God’s Word when they move from preaching to personal counseling?

Tags: Counseling, Pastoral Ministry, Preaching

In response to my recent series on abuse and marriage, Elisabeth posted a passionate comment which I quote directly.

I respond to her comment below.

What are your thoughts?

Elisabeth’s Post:

“As I post my first comment, I must warn any potential readers that I have very strong views on this subject, which may offend a few people.”

“I am including the following information not as any kind of evidence that my insights or opinions have stronger validation or importance over that of anyone else. I only wish to provide a background as to why my opinions on this subject are so especially strong. I have worked as a Domestic Violence Counselor, Outreach Court Advocate, and Shelter Crisis Counselor at a Domestic Violence Shelter/Center. I can honestly say that, during my work there, many women faced additional difficulties because of an unhealthy religious background. I intentionally use the term “unhealthy” to describe, in my opinion, an unfortunate, incorrect and even dangerous view of many comments by Paul in both Corinthians and Timothy.”

“Furthermore, although domestic violence comes in many forms and levels of extremes, for most habitual offenders/perpetrators, there is very little evidence that these people can be rehabilitated. In fact, most domestic violence centers will not counsel the perpetrators due to this fact and others. This will, I am sure, cause some strong feelings, but the success stories I have seen, usually involved a legal separation, followed by a divorce. However, I would be very interested in any information that would should programs that have a better probability of helping the perpetrators of these crimes to become non-violent, loving, truly God-lead spouses.”

Elisabeth,

Dr. Kellemen’s Response

Elisabeth, thank you for your comment and for your passion for protecting those who have been abused.

The Study Says

To be honest, I am often intrigued when I hear a generic statement that “studies show” or “there is very little evidence that” and then no footnotes or links are given. And even if the footnotes are given, we all know that with the plethora of info out there, anyone could “cherry pick” “studies” that support their view. I am not saying you are doing this, I just mention this for our readership. I’d like to read any specific studies you have. I’d like to see if the combined work of the Body of Christ, civil authorities, biblical counseling, group ministry, accountability, etc., were used.

Changing Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth

Further, and most importantly, the Bible says that through Christ’s resurrection power change can and does occur in any and all issues:

“Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanders nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:10-11).

Christ does change lives. Christ’s Gospel of grace not only saves from sin but also empowers us to be sanctified–to change, to grow, to mature. It is supernatural to mature.

As a counselor and pastor, if I only counseled people when the stats said it was highly likely that change would occur, then my job would be a lot easier. It is the “hard cases” that bring the tears and also the joy of victory. I have personally seen the Body of Christ work together to bring healing to marriages and change to abusive relationships many times.

I do think your post brings up an important point: biblical Christian counseling needs more outcome studies. It would be extremely amazing to an onlooking world to show the power of Christ’s Gospel of grace to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

I’d love to hear from other readers on this issue.

Bob

As I speak around the country on biblical counseling and spiritual formation, I’m frequently asked the question. “When you say ‘biblical counseling,’ you don’t mean ___________ do you?” Various people fill in that blank with different labels—all negative to them. What a shame that placing the word “biblical” in front of “counseling” causes so many in the church to recoil in fear. Something has gone terribly wrong.

But there’s good news—the tide is turning. Warped caricatures of biblical counseling are being replaced by scripturally and historically accurate portraits of counseling that are truly biblical—and attractive (Titus 2:10). While no one can provide the final, authoritative definition of biblical counseling, I offer for your consideration this summary understanding.

Biblical counseling depends upon the Holy Spirit to relate God’s inspired truth about people, problems, and solutions to human suffering (through the Christian soul care arts of sustaining and healing) and sin (through the Christian spiritual direction arts of reconciling and guiding) to empower people to exalt and enjoy God and to love others (Matthew 22:35-40) by cultivating conformity to Christ and communion with Christ and the Body of Christ.

Given this working definition, over the next twelve blogs, envision with me the nature and shape of the future of biblical counseling—twelve dreams of one possible future for biblical counseling as practiced by lay spiritual friends, pastors, and professional Christian counselors.

In our crisis economic times, it’s so easy to think of how big or small my slice of the pie is compared to the person down the street.

Unfortunately, we bring the same competitive, hoarding spirit into the work of the Spirit.

That’s true regarding the Spirit’s work in our marriages and it’s true regarding the Spirit’s work in our ministries.

An Inspired Question

James said it well (actually, he said it perfectly well since he said it under the Spirit’s inspiration) in James 4:1-4. James asks the age-old question, “What causes the fights and quarrels among you?”

What causes the fights and quarrels among husbands and wives?

What causes the fights and quarrels among church members?

What causes the fights and quarrels between various counseling “groups”?

James offers God’s answer to any with ears to hear; to any with the wisdom and humility to listen.

“Don’t they come out from the desires that battle (soldier) within you? You desire but you have not. When you don’t get what you want, you kill and covet—you retaliate and manipulate, and yet that still doesn’t get you what you want. So you quarrel and you fight some more—the vicious spiral spirals ever deeper.”

When we image life as a competition, then everyone else is, of course, our competitor. When our image of life is a war, then everyone else is, of course, our enemy. When we see life as a finite pie, then everyone else is racing against us for their slice of our pie.

A Supposedly Inspiring Answer

The world has a solution—compete smarter, fight better, race faster. To the victor goes the spoils. To the winner goes the crown.

Of course, the world’s solution is based upon the world’s angle. From the small angle of small minds looking at what seems to be a finite, small world, there’s only so much “stuff” out there. I have to demand my share of the finite stuff. The one with the most toys wins.

Some how this line of “reasoning” is supposed to inspire us. And inspire it does—it inspires a me-against-you, an us-against-them mentality.
If the “victor” gets the “spoils” in a marriage, then what does the “loser” get? If my “side” of the church squabble “wins,” then what does the “losing side” end up with? If my “camp” in the seemingly never-ending “counseling wars” “wins,” then what does that leave the other “camps” with?

I’m sorry, but even as fleshly as I can be, I am decreasingly inspired by this “hoard the wealth” mindset.

An Eternally and Daily Inspiring Answer

Forget the world’s answer to a worldly problem.

Consider God’s answer.

“You have not, because you do not humbly ask God. You have not, because even when you do ask, you ask with selfish motives—in order that in the pleasures of YOU, you may squander.”

When we assume that God is a Hoarder and that His universe has a finite supply of “stuff,” then even when we think to ask God for “stuff,” even “ministry stuff” (like a “better marriage,” a “bigger church,” a “ministry with larger impact”), then in God’s eyes (and His eyes are the only ones that matter), our motives are selfish.

God does not care about our agendas. God cares about our getting on board with His agenda. God does not focus on our kingdom building. God focuses on our building His Kingdom.

If God is a Hoarder and His universe has a finite supply of the stuff I think I need, then I demand my share (more than your share!) of His limited stuff.

In marriage, I demand my share of being “right,” my share of my “needs being met,” my share of “satisfaction.”

In church conflict, I demand my share of putting you “in your place,” my share of the “congregation’s trust.”

In counseling wars, I demand my “market share” of “followers,” I demand my slice of the people-pie saying, “I am of your group!”

How sick.

How immature.

How childish.

How sinful.

How worldly.

How adulterous!

“Adulteresses!” James labels us. “Don’t you know that loving the world’s way means hating God and God’s way? Anyone who chooses to befriend the mindset of the cosmos, chooses to be God’s enemy! Repent! Draw near to God! He gives ever more grace!”

God Is a Grace Rewarder, Not a Hoarder

God’s supply is never exhausted. His supply of grace is infinite. God is a grace Rewarder. Those who come to Him, the author of Hebrews reminds us, must believe that He exists, and that he generously, graciously rewards those who diligently, humbly seek Him.

In the beginning of our fallen cosmos, Satan schemed to deceive our spiritual parents into believing the unspiritual lie that God was a “Shalt-Not-God.”

“God,” Satan whispers then and now, “is a Hoarder and His supply is limited. Grab the fruit of the tree now before someone else exhausts His limited supply.”

“God,” the Spirit whispers in His still, small voice then and now, “so loves the world that He gave infinitely—He gave His only begotten Son that whosever believes shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.”

“God,” the Son whispers in His authoritative, loving voice then and now, “so loves the world that He gives infinitely. That’s why I came—to give you everlasting life and ever-expanding life—abundant life. Spoiling and spilling over life—not so you could consume it on your own lust, but so you could share it out of the overflow of my Father’s infinite supply!”

So?

So . . .

So what?

Since God is a generous grace Rewarder who showers us with everlasting life and ever-expanding life (eternal life and abundant life) . . . so . . . we give. So . . . we mimic His giving, His sharing.

So, in our marriages, we are not competing for a limited supply of who is right or who is satisfied or whose needs are met. We are working together to advance God’s Kingdom of giving to others out of the overflow of God’s infinite love working in and through us.

So, in our churches, we are not competing with the other “faction” for a finite supply of whose style of music or style of preaching or style of leadership or style of youth ministry or style of carpet wins the day. We are working together to win the lost and equip the found so that God’s eternal, expanding is advanced in and through us.

So, in our “counseling wars,” we are not contending against rivals to see who will shout, “I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas!” We are building bridges and working together to say, “We are of Christ—the infinite God who has generously graced us with forgiveness and with resources that are everlasting and ever-expanding so we minister in humble harmony learning from each other, empowering each other, respecting each other—so that the Body of Christ dances to the eternal song of the Trinity.”

What’s It About?

It’s not about market share.

It’s about sharing the mark of the Trinity—the eternal Community of mutual admiration and adoration. The everlasting Community of overflowing goodness and oneness. The infinite Community of equality and mutuality.