Effective Biblical Counseling: A Model for Helping Caring Christians Become Capable Counselors [Hardcover]

Larry Crabb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 14, 1977

In Effective Biblical Counseling, Gold Medallion Award-winning author Dr. Larry Crabb presents a model of counseling that can be gracefully integrated into the functioning of the local church. He asserts that counseling is simply a relationship between people who care and that its goal is to free people to better worship and serve God. This book will show you how to help people achieve obedience and character growth in their lives, and establish a sense of personal worth and security along the way. Dr. Crabb says, 'I believe that God has ordained the local church to be his primary instrument to tend to his people's aches and pains. In writing this book I have tried to be of practical help to Christians who want to be more effective in ministering to their suffering brothers and sisters.'

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

In Effective Biblical Counseling, Gold Medallion Award-winning author Dr. Larry Crabb presents a model of counseling that can be gracefully integrated into the functioning of the local church. He asserts that counseling is simply a relationship between people who care and that its goal is to free people to better worship and serve God. This book will show you how to help people achieve obedience and character growth in their lives, and establish a sense of personal worth and security along the way. Dr. Crabb says, "I believe that God has ordained the local church to be his primary instrument to tend to his people's aches and pains. In writing this book I have tried to be of practical help to Christians who want to be more effective in ministering to their suffering brothers and sisters."

About the Author

Dr. Lawrence J. Crabb Jr. (Ph.D., University of Illinois) is a well-known speaker, author of numerous bestselling books including Finding God, and Men and Women, and distinguished scholar-in-residence at Colorado Christian University in Morrison, Colorado.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan; 1ST edition (June 14, 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310225701
• ISBN-13: 978-0310225706
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Evangelism > Preaching
  • #39 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Ministry & Church Leadership > Church Administration
  • #51 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Ministry & Church Leadership > Pastoral Counseling

More About the Author

Dr. Lawrence J. Crabb Jr. (Ph.D., University of Illinois) is a well-known speaker, author of numerous bestselling books including Finding God, and Men and Women, and distinguished scholar-in-residence at Colorado Christian University in Morrison, Colorado.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Has some strong points, August 10, 2003

By 

Robert Wynkoop (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Effective Biblical Counseling: A Model for Helping Caring Christians Become Capable Counselors (Hardcover)

Crabb believes that the local church should assume the responsibility for restoring people who are in need of healing. For too long the church has abdicated this biblical role. He states that there are three levels of counseling. Level I is counseling by encouragement which every member of the church can do by helping hurting people focus on establishing biblical feelings. Level II is counseling by exhortation. This level of counseling requires a good biblical background, it can be done by elders, Sunday School teachers and pastors. Level III is counseling by enlightenment that tries to establish godly behavior through changed thinking.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Larry Crabb's charts give clarity and meaning to his writing. While having a strong biblical basis, Crabb does not ignore the contributions of secular systems of psychology, rather, he puts them thorough the sieve of biblical truth to find practical helpful advise. I appreciate his thoughtful critique of competing systems of psychology. He gives the reader a general introduction to the different schools of counseling, both secular and Christian. Rather than bashing the non-Christian viewpoints he notes their strengths and exposes their humanistic presuppositions. The discussion of Transactional Analysis on pg. 39 demonstrates a model of secular psychology adopted by the evangelical church. While Transactional Analysis can be a helpful tool for the pastor, Crabb looks at its humanistic presuppositions and warns of its misuse. He sees man's basic need as significance and security. People need to know that they have worth and that they are loved. Crabb has a gift to communicate in a clear way some rather technical stuff. Also worthy of note is Crabb's discussion how problems develop in chapters six and seven.

I really enjoyed this book but I felt as if I were duped. The church is to have three levels of counseling, yet, it is not until pg. 165 that Mr. Crabb states that Level II counseling (counseling by encouragement) is for "elders, pastors, deacons . . . other spiritually mature." The bulk of the book is about Level III counseling which requires specialized training of six months to a year to learn. Mr. Crabb admits to not having develop a teaching curriculum for it. Clearly, Level III counseling requires a time commitment that few pastors and lay people can afford to make.

The book gave me hope that we can do Level I and II counseling with very little training. I am afraid, however that Level III counseling is out of reach most churches. The time, expertise and expense in trading are beyond the means of most small churches. Personally, this book helped me order my thinking on pastoral counseling. In seminary, I was taught an eclectic model of counseling with no biblical worldview. It left me drifting in a mass of psychobabble. I highly recommend this book because if its excellent survey of competing schools of thought and its thorough analysis of them.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very readable - powerful concepts, January 20, 2006

By 

David S. Rhodes (Scottsdale, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Effective Biblical Counseling: A Model for Helping Caring Christians Become Capable Counselors (Hardcover)

Dr. Crabb does a good job a presenting his case for powerful Christian counseling. Readers should remember that this is Dr. Crabb's opinion and observation - not the Bible itself.

He does a wonderful job of crafting the structures of counseling and how the church should (and is obligated) to participate fully in the healing needs of its members.

Congratulations and thanks for a job well done!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Renewing your mind in a world that tries to fill it with garbage, April 2, 2010

By 

M. Brinkley (Eure, North Carolina) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Effective Biblical Counseling: A Model for Helping Caring Christians Become Capable Counselors (Hardcover)

A lot of counselors have the wrong goal in trying to help people. This is reinforced by counselees coming to them seeking the wrong thing. Happiness should not be the goal in life. Crabb gets it right that "happiness must be seen as a by-product, not a goal" (22). It is only when we follow the shepherding of the Lord that we find goodness and mercy following us all the days of our life. With this said, Christ-like maturity is the true and right goal of biblical counseling.
Christ-like maturity is not automatic but a life-long process in the right direction. Obedience to God is one of the key elements that work toward it. As one actively, presently, and consistently obeys Christ-like character begins to develop which is the second element needed for maturity (23).
Many counselors focus on feelings. Though feelings are indicators and motivators, they can be led by a deceived or sin-tainted heart that pursues only personal happiness. Other counselors focus on changing behavior, but that misses the heart issue. Crabb agrees with Romans 12:2 that the main target in counseling should be the mind. When the mind is renewed by replacing wrong beliefs with biblical truth a chain reaction occurs where false assumptions are challenged, goals are adjusted to God's will, godly behavior is acted out on, and mature feelings follow.