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Summary Of Pros And Cons By Gary R. Collins

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The author of this book, Gary R. Collins, has done an amazing job of covering almost every conceivable topic that would be of relevance in the ministry. Simply looking over the table of content will make this point clear. Of course one might suggest other topics that were not covered, but again Mr. Collins has done a masterful job covering as many topics as he has. The book is broken down into nine parts, each dealing with a central topic. For example part one is titled, “Introductory Issues” and is broken up into seven chapters. These chapters deal with issues such as “The Changes in Counseling, The Church and Counseling,” and “The Legal, Ethical, and Moral Issues, in Christian Counseling”, to name just a few. I really liked this format because…show more content…
In this chapter the author asks a very important set of related questions. He asks, “Why do people come for counseling? What do they want to accomplish? What are your goals in trying to help people through counseling?” The author makes the point that most people who seek out Christian Counseling don’t do it because they need help with prayer or spiritual growth. They come to counseling because of issues such as marriage problems or some major crisis. The author states that, “These people need counseling that involves something other than evangelism, one-to-one preaching, or traditional Christian education.” To complement this statement of the goal of Christian Counseling the author says this in chapter forty-two, “Christian counseling can have a variety of goals, but at its core is the effort to help people find peace with God, peace with others, and peace with themselves. Sometimes, this peace comes closer when people admit their problems and talk about their feelings, acquire better interpersonal and communication skills, change their attitudes and control harmful thought patterns, get insights into their own actions, and learn how to change their ways of doing things. All of these are ways in which counselors help people to face and cope with the conflicts that block or disrupt peace.” In many ways these goals are the goals of the preacher. Preachers are seeking to lead people to Christ that they might have peace with God, others, and themselves, as they are forgiven of their sins by being baptized into Christ. They are at that point reconciled with God and Jesus also brings peace between them and others that is the church, the new humanity. Certainly the Christian counselor and the preacher are working to bring about peace with God in the lives of individuals in different ways and no man will have peace with God without first being immersed into Christ, but the counselor and the
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