DESCRIPTION: Pastoral counseling as a specialized ministry within the field of pastoral care will be explored didactically and practically in preparing persons who plan to do pastoral counseling and pastoral psychology. A survey of counseling theory from an integrative perspective, with attention to particular ministry issues, will be incorporated into a practical format in a community setting.

COURSE OBJECTIVES/LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students completing this course will have demonstrated (1) a better understanding of and an ability to interpret individual experience, family relationship patterns, culture, and congregational life; (2) skills in counseling individuals, families, and congregations; (3) the ability to more deeply empathize with people to whom they minister; (4) more motivation to engage in ministries of giving care, prevention education, and the healing of persons; and (5) more commitment to self-development and self-care.

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: To pastor effectively is to be available to people in crisis, in growth passages, and in change throughout the life cycle. The pastoral counselor is capable of both offering effectual therapeutic intervention and support as well as facilitating the pastoral care of the people of God surrounding the counselee.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture, discussion, audio-visuals, case studies, experiential exercises, triads utilizing counseling skill training processes, and practice in simulated counseling circumstances will integrate theory, theology, and practice. The course will meet weekly for four-hour sessions, including the required small group sessions.

REQUIRED READING: 1200 pp. minimum, including weekly assignments from required & recommended texts:

Miller, William and K. Jackson. Practical Psychology for Pastors. 2nd ed. Prentice-Hall, 1994.

Course Reader with expanded syllabus and readings.

Augsburger, David. Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures. Westminster, 1976.

_________. Helping People Forgive. Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.

Ciarrocchi, Joseph W. A Minister's Handbook of Mental Disorders. Paulist Press, 1993.

Cooper-White, P. Shared Wisdom: Use of the Self in Pastoral Care and Counseling. Augsburg, 2003.

Egan, Gerard. The Skilled Helper. 5th ed. and Exercises in Helping Skills. 5th ed. Brooks-Cole, 1994.

Gerkin, Charles. The Living Human Document. Abingdon, 1984.

Graham, Larry Kent. Care of Persons, Care of Worlds. Abingdon, 1992.

Hunsinger, Deborah van Duesen. Theology and Pastoral Counseling. Eerdmans, 1995.

Kornfield, Margaret. Cultivating Wholeness: A Guide to Care and Counseling in Faith Communities. Continuum, 1998.

McBride, J. LeBron. Spiritual Crisis: Surviving Trauma to the Soul, Haworth, 1998.

Oglesby, William. Biblical Themes for Pastoral Care. Abingdon, 1980.

Patton, John. Pastoral Counseling: A Ministry of the Church. Abingdon, 1983.

_________. Pastoral Counseling in Context. Westminster/John Knox, 1993.

Ramsay, Nancy. Pastoral Care and Counseling: Redefining The Paradigms. Abingdon, 2005.

Wicks, R., R. Parsons, & D. Capps, eds. Clinical Handbook of Pastoral Counseling. Integration, 1985.