CC 702: Contemporary Counseling Techniques Assignment 1 Book Analysis

This assignment is a critical analysis of three books related to contemporary counseling techniques for Christian counselors. The student reviews "Listening & Caring Skills" by Savage, focusing on communication techniques; "Strategic Pastoral Counseling" by Benner, exploring the role of the pastor-counselor; and "Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling" by McMinn, which emphasizes integrating spirituality. For each book, the student identifies key concepts, strengths, and weaknesses, and reflects on the books' impact on their personal life, work, and ministry. The assignment highlights the importance of effective communication, pastoral care, and the integration of faith in the counseling process, emphasizing personal growth and practical application within a Christian context. The student also provides a bibliography of the cited sources.

1st class of doctoral program
CC 702 contemporary counseling techniques
for
The Christian counselor
Assignment 1

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Savage, John S. 1996. Listening& Caring Skills. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Key concepts in the book
The primary objective of the book is to develop an ability to decode the language by
using several techniques. Different techniques help the Christian counselor in observing the
differences between external communication and internal communication1. The identification of
the differences between both communications allows making effective interpersonal
communication.
Strengths and weaknesses of the text
One of the strengths of the text is the proposed methods that enable the meeting between
counselee and counselor to be more efficient2. The communication includes noises which lead to
incomprehension frequently and thus, adjusted. Another significant strength of the book is that it
taught or influence the readers to read the behavior of the client. The book described the client’s
behavior by determining the various factors that make differences such as voice as well as body
language. The major weakness of the text is that it lacks research as well as scientific studies in
the proposed methods used for the development of communication skills. The book emphasized
only the personal experience of the author and presented empirically.
Issues or concerns raised in relationship to life, work or ministry
The text provided a positive impact on the personal life of mine. It has opened various
possibilities for my personal development regarding the way I speak to the people. I speak
individually and allow others to take or understand the meaning of my words. The book also
raised the concern in relationship to my work. It is directly connected to the ministry. The text
was influential to my work because it allows me to understand the words that the others want to
1 Anthony Isacco and Jay C. Wade, Religion, Spirituality, And Masculinity, 2019, 173.
2 John S. Savage, Listening& Caring Skills TN: Abingdon Press, 1996, 236.

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speak even though they deny knowledge. An essential point from the book for my ministry was
that asking of correct questions could open windows for helping the communication effectively.

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Benner, David G. 2013. Strategic Pastoral Counseling: A Short-term Structured Model. 2nd ed.
Grand Rapids, Backer Academic.
Key concepts in the text
The primary purpose of the book is to formulate the pastor in counseling. It also aims to
make the counselor understand the soul, strategies, self, and need care3. With the preparation of
the pastor, the counselor could bring healing as well as reconciliation to the people who are in
need. It also explained that most of the pastors have experience in counseling as well as in
pastoral care.
Strengths and weaknesses of the book
The significant strength of the book is revealed by the suggestion provided by the author
to the counselor that the counselor is not limited to "being," but rather "being with." The term
‘being’ involves a significant meaning when presented at the level of the profession4. Similarly,
the term ‘being with’ is efficient for counseling level. One of the weaknesses of the book is that
it presented a view of the only short-term counseling process. The text consists of several tasks
of ministry which reduced the number of meetings, but it also involves the essential things of
pastoral ministry. The book has discussed several issues but failed to discuss the depth of the
emotional assessment as well as the impact of involvement of counselor in the spiritual life of the
people in some meetings.
Issues or concerns raised in relationship to life, work or ministry
The book signifies the main purpose of pastoral counseling that is to solve the various
issues and to teach the counselee how to contract with the obstacles of life as well as seek
confidence from God. The text impacts my personal life positively as it helps me to learn the
3 David G. Benner, Strategic Pastoral Counseling: A Short-Term Structured Model, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids,
Backer Academic, 2013, 199
4 Keith J. Edwards and Edward B. Davis, Evidence-Based Principles From Psychodynamic And Process-
Experiential Psychotherapies Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2016, 250

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way of counseling in solving many problems. The main focus of my counseling was to reduce
conflict as well as pain without seeking intimacy with God even in the most difficult times of my
life. This is the reason that the text has a great influence on my life as well as my ministry.

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McMinn, Mark R. 1996. Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling.
Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale.
Key concepts in the book
The fundamental objective of the book is to evaluate the need for integration for
counseling. It states the requirement of integration between both theology and psychology, which
is done by adding spirituality that is to be considered as the significant point of counseling5. The
text also denotes that spirituality is recognized as the personal intimacy of counselor with God,
which bring differences in their integration.
Strengths and weaknesses of the book
One of the major strength of the book is that it described the significance of the spiritual
life of the Christian counselor. Each section of the book has prepared the minister so that the
counselor could make use of the spiritual resources, which are the base for counseling6. Another
strength is that the book reports various problems like sin, redemption, prayer, forgiveness, and
confession reflectively. The issues are addressed within the session of counseling without
detracting the counselor from theological as well as psychological ideas. The major weakness of
the book is that it failed to include the chapters that will reveal the importance of both
psychology and theology with spirituality. The understanding of the readers gets weaken due to
the absence of the chapters.
Issues or concerns raised in relationship to work, life or ministry
The book has opened the door to my personal as well as professional life. The book
taught various lessons regarding issues like prayer, confession, sin, redemption, or forgiveness. It
makes me understood that feeling guilty is sometimes to be positive or sometime be negative.
5 Mark R. McMinn, Psychology, Theology, And Spirituality In Christian Counseling Carol Stream, IL:
Tyndale, 1996, 177.
6 Siang-Yang Tan and Eric T. Scalise, Lay Counseling, Revised And Updated: Equipping Christians For A
Helping Ministry Zondervan, 2016, 273.

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The idea transformed me as an individual and took the way I interact with the other in counseling
to a different level. In my counseling, I set aside both the issues such as guilt and sin so that it
will not cause too much pain in my life, but that was a mistake which I learned from the book.

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Bibliography
Benner, David G. Strategic Pastoral Counseling: A Short-Term Structured Model. 2nd ed. Grand
Rapids, Backer Academic, 2013.
Edwards, Keith J. and Edward B. Davis. Evidence-Based Principles From Psychodynamic And
Process-Experiential Psychotherapies. Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2016.
Isacco, Anthony and Jay C. Wade. Religion, Spirituality, And Masculinity, 2019.
McMinn, Mark R. Psychology, Theology, And Spirituality In Christian Counseling. Carol
Stream, IL: Tyndale, 1996.
Savage, John S. Listening& Caring Skills. TN: Abingdon Press, 1996.
Tan, Siang-Yang and Eric T. Scalise. Lay Counseling, Revised And Updated: Equipping
Christians For A Helping Ministry. Zondervan, 2016.