This course on equipping the church to be a caring community will provide an overview of a biblical approach to lay pastoral care and helping ministries in the church, and will cover models developed by Dr. Tan for training and using lay Christian counselors and caregivers in the church to extend compassion. Other lay training models and programs in Christian counseling, and relevant literature on lay pastoral care in general, including the Lay Pastors Ministry by Dr. Mel Steinbron will be briefly reviewed. 

Course Project:   

Students will describe how they would go about setting up a lay counseling ministry in a local church context.  They will focus on the model of lay counseling to be used and how such a lay counseling ministry fits in the overall or bigger picture of a local church.    

Sample Readings From This Course May Include:   

Collins, Gary R. Christian Counseling: A Comprehensive Guide (3rd ed.). Thomas Nelson, 2007.    

Ogden, Greg. The New Reformation: Returning The Ministry to the People of God. Zondervan, 1990. 

Tan, Siang-Yang. Counseling and Psychotherapy: A Christian Perspective. Baker Academic, 2011.    

Tan, Siang-Yang, & Ortberg, J. Coping With Depression (2nd ed). Baker, 2004.
   

If you would like more information about this course please email the DMIN office at dmin@fuller.edu 

For a sample course description please click here.  NOTE: This is not to be used as a source for course preparation.