Creating A Church Counseling Ministry: Providing Affordable, Biblically-based, Professional Christian Counseling as a Ministry of the Local Church - Paperback

by Mark W. Weston (Author)

Spiritual counsel is always concerned above all else with faith - nurturing, strengthening, establishing, practicing faith - and the Word of God occupies a central place. Such is biblical worldview counseling. It addresses the emotional and spiritual dimensions of every client. The concepts of human nature, life struggles, health, and treatment modality in psychology span a broad spectrum. Those who practice biblical worldview counseling do so with an integrated philosophical origin. Counselors often adopt certain psychological theories in part, but they do not embrace any underlying philosophies that deny God or biblical truths. Well trained Christian counselors are able to integrate their faith with their education, remaining faithful to biblical standards while availing themselves of the science of psychology. Creating an effective counseling ministry is the church establishing a relationship with its members and community that conveys the message of hope and healing in Christ. Having a professionally trained counseling staff in the church brings benefit to the pastoral staff, not the least of which is a deep level of trust and confidence that challenging situations are being addressed in an effective and spiritual way. This manual will help a church of any size create an effective new ministry whose purpose is to strengthen the body of Christ whose members are suffering or struggling with emotional and spiritual issues that go beyond the constraints of pastoral care. Your church is one step closer to having a new and effectual ministry that will bring the hope and healing of Jesus Christ to those who are hurting; setting free the captives, and bring healing to the brokenhearted.

Author Biography

Mark Weston is Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor (LPC-S) and Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). Dr. Weston holds two masters degrees: a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Master of Arts in Psychology and Counseling from the University of Colorado at Denver. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology and Counseling from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors and the American Counseling Association. Dr. Weston is the supervisor of The Counseling Center at NorthWood Church, serving Northwood as their Counselor in Residence. Dr. Weston also oversees the church counselor plant ministries through the Association of Christian Counselor Plants, a non-profit ministry he established in 2015 along with his colleague, Mr. Steve Galloway, LPC. The call of God upon Dr. Weston's life is to bring the hope and healing of the Holy Spirit to those who are struggling with emotional and relational issues through the use of biblical worldview counseling. His desire is to see all who are seeking out counseling being able to receive affordable, psychologically integrated, biblically sound counseling through the local church. Many hundreds of clients have been able to see professionally trained, Christian counselors at no cost, low cost, or reduced rate fees through the local church. Many of these clients would have otherwise not been able to afford counseling services for themselves or their loved ones. A native of Colorado, Dr. Weston currently resides in Keller, Texas with his wife of thirty-one years and their 15 year-old son.