Equipping Counselors for Your Church: The 4e Ministry Training Strategy

by Robert W. Kellemen

A revolution in one-another disciple-making, this manual mobilizes the priesthood of believers to turn churches into places of biblical counseling ministry. It provides best-practice tools for relating gospel truth to people's lives.

Genres: Counselling, Nonfiction, Church, Theology, Reference

448 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2011

About the author

My passion is to write, speak, and consult on Christ-centered comprehensive, compassioante, culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation that changes lives with Christ's changeless truth

My web site is: www.rpmministries.org

I have authored:

Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direciton

Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction

Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction

Sacred Friendships: Celebrating the Legacy of Women Heroes of the Faith

My wife, Shirley, and I have been married for 28 years. We have a married son, Josh (to Andi), and a young adult daughter, Marie, who is a college Senior.

Reviews

[Hopson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Kellemen wants to help pastors and leaders develop a biblical counseling ministry in their local church. Equipping Counselors for Your Church is a lengthy resource aimed to help churches do that. The book has a number of helpful tips and strategies (included a large appendix loaded with resources), but it’s style was a bit challenging for me. Kellemen relies heavily on acrostics, alliteration, and a process for seemingly everything related to biblical counseling. The content was good, but the presentation occasionally tested my patience. :)

[Chris Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confess - I had to give up reading this book. This was because of the style of writing, rather than the content. Consequently, I will make this short review one of two steps: what I liked about content; what I couldn't get past of style.

What I like.
This book has a fantastic purpose - helping everyone at church be equipped to care for fellow Christians. It has an entire church point of view for spiritual health and growth. Robert Kellemen knows that 'the minister' cannot do all 'the ministry'. He knows well two key facts that struggle against each other: the Bible would have all Christians counsel one another; church care tends to become centralised in the hands of a few. The second of these can be caused by the ministry staff, or by the expectations of those in the pews, but the outcome is the same. Kellemen sees that deep, structural change is needed in a church to move towards the biblical pattern. And he has helped many churches make that change. This book is all about ministry training. Fantastic!

What stopped me reading.
Jargon and a proliferation of acronyms. The first case of this, for me, is in the title. Why 'counselors'? This sounds a very specific, almost clinical word. There are plenty of options: carers, servants, ministers, etc. The problem was underlined by chapter one, More Than Counseling. It turns out that Kellemen's formal training is in counselling, and I have the feel that he didn't want to let go of the term despite its poor fit. More than this, though, I was put off by the confusing jargon and terminology. To complete this 4E ministry training strategy, we should develop a MVP-C statement so we can know how to employ LEAD biblical care. I guess that, if you implement this method, you will completely sink your head into the jargon. But as a reader trying to glean principles, I found myself constantly thrown off track. I had to re-learn the jargon so often that I forgot what it was all about.

So it's hard to pick a star rating for this book. Good and bad. I decided on 4/5, because the ministry training aim is so good. When I am thinking about how ministry training works in church, I think I will dip into this book once again.

[J. J.]

Like reading a manual for climbing Mt. Everest. This book is going to bear the main credit for our ability to launch a biblical counseling training school, if, by God's mercy, we are able to do so. I already feel like I owe Dr. Kelleman a great debt. After finishing the book, I have eight pages of mind maps. Let the games begin!

[Julie Bridges · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an detailed outline of how to build a counseling ministry within your church. Great information but written in an outline form so was sometimes difficult for me to follow. Good addition for my library though.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book to help start a counseling ministry in your church.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book on getting a counseling ministry started in a local church.

[Jacob Coldwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource to start/build a counseling/discipleship culture within a group of people. Doesn't back down from the importance of organization for an effective relationship in helping others.