Written by a new generation of recognized experts in pastoral care, these brief, foundational books offer practical advice to pastors on the most frequent dilemmas of pastoral care and counseling.

Adultery, divorce, racism, teen pregnancy, white-collar crime, living wills-these are among the many complex moral issues that Christians face and for which they often seek guidance from their pastors. This book is designed to assist pastors in developing their skills in providing moral guidance to their parishioners in a culture characterized by both ethical confusion and increasingly complex moral choices. Rebekah Miles, a gifted thinker and writer, guides the reader through the landscape of the moral life and offers a simple but profound map of the moral terrain along with practical tools...

Clergy, students of pastoral care, and lay visitation volunteers will find Nancy Gorsuch an effective guide in developing an intentional, proactive program of pastoral visitation in the local church. To increase the pastoral visitor's positive experiences of effectiveness, the author presents basic how to information in a straightforward manner characterized by vivid illustrations and case studies. The book provides a theological basis for pastoral visitation and goes on to explore the types and purposes of visitation, preparation and resources, training and basic helping skills, assessment...

David K. Switzer presents a clear, illustrative and practical manual for pastoral caregivers that covers the entire range of pastoral care emergencies typically faced by clergy, pastoral counselors, and lay caregivers such as Stephen Ministers and Befrienders. The chapters deal with issues such as situational crises, hospital emergencies, ministry to the dying, bereavement, suicide, divorce, domestic violence, substance abuse, and psychiatric emergencies. The question of when and how to refer is discussed in the final chapter. The book is highly practical in approach, but still extremely...

More and more professionals in ministry realized the benefits of brief pastoral counseling-typically three sessions-for addressing the real-life dilemmas of their congregants. In this very helpful resource, eleven leaders in pastoral counseling-both established leaders and new thinkers in the field-offer a convincing rationale. Based on reserach, case studies, and the latest thinking, they lay out (1) the dynamics of the pastor- parishioner relationship, including the need for collaborative, hospitable, future-oriented, and wholistic counseling, and (2) specific strategies, including brief...

- Authoritative resource for addressing clergy wellness
- Popular and illuminating method for aiding congregational leadership
- Helps professionals in ministry assess and improve their effectiveness

Bidwell's book represents a significant departure from most contemporary writing about spiritual direction. While most writers focus on long-term relationships of guidance, and specifically envision long listening sessions, Bidwell changes focus. Spiritual direction, he insists, typically requires intervention in a specific crisis or situation or question, is not formal, lasts fewer than five sessions, and must be actively and intentionally focused on the person's growth. Bidwell's work shows what spiritual directors can learn from the short-term therapy model, especially about enabling...

Based on her twenty years of teaching and on her own experience in pastoral care, Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner has written a basic pastoral-care text to assist in the emotional and spiritual preparation of pastoral caregivers. Stevenson-Moessner sees pastoral care as the interconnection and interplay of love of God, love of neighbor, and love of self. Her brief book engenders confidence and caring in the initiate, and assuages the fear and anxiety that naturally occur when one accompanies people in life-changing pain and travail. Through bibical parables - especially the Good Samaritan and the...

The Latino population is a pastorally challenging polyculture. This diversity requires spiritual caregivers to approach every Hispanic individual with humbleness. "Cada persona es un mundo," "every person is a world," says Montilla. To equip professionals in ministry for their ministry with and for Latino/as, Montilla centers his presentation on families and rituals at the heart and soul of the Hispanic community as the key to caregiving. In that context he unfolds a variegated picture of the particular cultural guideposts for Latinas and Latinos in the U.S. today, especially their symbols...

Crisis Counseling unites the skills of pastoral care and counseling with current methods of crisis intervention from the fields of psychology and psychotherapy. This book is written for ministersboth clergy and laywho are called upon to care for those in crisis. Its concepts and methods will be of value to mental health professionals and crisis hot-line volunteers. Crisis Counseling discusses the ministers role as a crisis intervener, incorporating the understanding of recent crisis intervention theory and exploring how the dynamics of crisis is vital for effective crisis management.