Strategic Pastoral Counseling: A Short-Term Structured Model

by David G. Benner

Therapeutic counseling in a Christian context can be highly effective when it maintains narrowly focused goals in a time-limited setting. The details of this proven model of pastoral counseling are described in this practical guide.
This second edition of Strategic Pastoral Counseling has been thoroughly revised and includes two new chapters. Benner includes helpful case studies, a new appendix on contemporary ethical issues, and updated chapter bibliographies. His study will continue to serve clergy and students well as a valued practical handbook on pastoral care and counseling.

Genres: Counselling, Psychology, Christian, Theology, Christianity, Nonfiction, Faith

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1992

About the author

David G. Benner (PhD, York University; postdoctoral studies, Chicago Institute of Psychoanalysis) is an internationally known depth psychologist, author, spiritual guide, and personal transformation coach. He currently serves as Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Spirituality at the Psychological Studies Institute, Richmont Graduate University. He has authored or edited more than twenty books, including Soulful Spirituality and Strategic Pastoral Counseling

Reviews

[Anna Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this one. Short, sweet, significant. Foundational reading for any minister.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really helpful book in offering an approach to pastoral counseling that takes into account the uniqueness this type of counseling has when compared to other types. It will be a reference book for sure.

[Andrew K · Rating 3 out of 5]

helpful. not groundbreaking, but easy to read, straightforward, and practical.

[Jennifer Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It was required reading for a class and I had fairly low expectations as too often Christianity's response to life's struggles is either to blame it on sin and condemn the person or word vomit scripture and comfortless platitudes. Instead, Benner gives a great framework on how to counsel as a minister or pastor and when to refer to more in depth medical or psychological treatment. Benner tackles some of the ways collectively that religious leaders have caused harm as well as setting forth guidelines to help prevent emotional burnout.

"Everything we know about the dynamics of therapeutic conversation indicates that a non-judgmental attitude of accepting love is foundational to effective counseling. But this does not mean that the conviction of sin does not or should not take place. Rather, it means the conviction of sin is the work of the Spirit of God. Genuine conviction is always the inner accomplishment of God's Spirit. The best a pastor can accomplish by condemning sin is neurotic feelings of guilt, which are a poor substitute for genuine conviction of sin." (p. 69)

Imagine how Christianity would look today, if this was the primary lens through which pastors (and subsequently all Christians) engaged with those they felt were "sinning" for the last 20 years.

[Cody Westcott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers sound, practical advice for engaging in pastoral counseling. The first 100 pages are theory and practical strategies, while the last 50 pages present to case studies.

The writing is concise and clear, and the strategies presented are easily adapted to a real ministry setting.

[Robert Hasler · Rating 3 out of 5]

In recent years, seminaries have noticed increased demands from their graduates–young men in ministry–desperately seeking more education in one specific area: pastoral counseling.

Ours is a therapeutic age, so it is not at all surprising that folks in the pews are now willing to entertain psychiatric help for various situations and trials in their own lives. Still, modern psychology–and all its assumptions about personhood, spirituality, sexuality, and relationships–pushes many conservative Christians to seek help from a pastor before a therapist. What are pastors to do?

No doubt there is a kind of danger in the increased demand for pastoral counseling. On the one hand, pastoral counseling is taking up more and more time in the pastor’s week, leaving less time for preparing sermons and their duties as churchmen. Moreover, the seemingly endless church scandals suggest counseling dynamics within the church are ripe for abuse.

Still, there is a case, argues Benner, that pastors can meet the expectations and needs of their congregants without sacrificing the traditional role and functions of the pastoral office. One need only think of spiritual counseling as one, specific area of his pastoral obligations, bound and governed by particular rules. For Benner, these regulations include being short-term (ideally, no more than five sessions) and spiritually focused. In pastoral counseling, the pastor ‘stays in his lane,’ so to speak, addressing what he has been trained for and not trying to unravel messes he is not equipped to fix.

For example, a congregant may seek pastoral counseling for marital issues. A pastor may address the ways a failing marriage affects the parishioner’s thoughts about God, his character, and providence. He may point the parishioner to passages in Scripture that challenge distorted views of marriage and spousal relations and prepare us for what reconciliation and love may look like. Further issues, however, may best be resolved with a licensed and trained marriage counselor.

Benner is also right to address the specific setting of pastoral counseling, namely the church. Pastoral counseling can never be understood as something outside or separate from the regular patterns of the local body of Christ. It is a living, spiritual community where individuals receive the blessings of God together, in community, or not at all. Therefore, a pastor ought to consider whether God has prepared other members to assist a fellow believer’s concerns better than himself. Moreover, pastoral counseling must always fit within the confessed doctrines of the body of believers and can never contradict them. There is a danger of affirming the generalities while allowing exceptions in the counseling room. For example, we may find it easy to proclaim the Bible’s position on sexuality from the pulpit while trying to affirm the orientation of individuals in a counseling context. But truth is truth, wherever it is applied.

There is much that pastors will find helpful in Benner’s short manual, ensuring it will be a resource one turns to again and again.

[Stephen Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful structure for pastoral counseling

Strategic Pastoral counseling is a very organized and clear approach to pastoral counseling and offers many practical steps for the busy pastor to ensure that life is not consumed with counseling appointments while also being available to do counseling. I did different with several of the details of the approach which I felt was very light in the application of the Bible to a person’s life.

[Taylor Diehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really helpful for working out a structure for pastoral care and counseling. I found it to be well balanced, both affirming the unique spiritual perspective that a pastor can give, while also acknowledging the wealth of resources and information available in the professional counseling world. Benner works to create a short, simple, and effective model that gleans from both of those spaces. The case studies in the final two chapters were also very helpful examples.

[Chad Wilham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives a good structured model for the pastor to base his counseling ministry off of. I disagree with some points and his suggested use of scripture seems a bit lacking. Also, I found the book to be a little outdated for today. My reason for reading was as a textbook in a basic pastoral counseling class.

[Daniel Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this OK. It seemed a bit feely which kind of gives me the screaming willies. But I very much appreciated his focus on setting and maintaining goals in the counseling process, an element which is often lacking in other similar treatments of Christian counseling.

[Tyler Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a valuable resource for pastors that offers clear, simple steps for counseling. It is comprehensive in both theory and practicality without being long-winded, and it’s structured in a way that makes it easy to reference later.
A good book for pastors to keep on the shelf.

[Mike Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks for the guidelines

I appreciate the additional reading and reference material. Thank you for the case studies and commentaries. This book is very helpful in describing to others the strategies for pastoral counseling and soul care.

[David Martin Hanke · Rating 3 out of 5]

helpful structure for counseling within the church

Great case study. Helpful examples. I like the commentary on how other people used the model. Would recommend to any pastor trying to incorporate counseling in his/her weekly rhythm.

[David Blanchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good manual for pastors to engage in short term but effective counseling.

[Bob Wolniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

A model for 1 session to 5 sessions short-term pastoral counseling, with examples.

[Brett Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly insightful and useful book for any ministry worker that does not have counseling credentials but still finds themselves in counseling dynamics.

[Caroline Abbott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this. A good model for pastoral counseling, easy to read, with some good examples

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful resource and practical model for pastoral counseling. Does a good job identifying the uniqueness, objectives, and structure of pastoral counseling.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Balanced and helpful. Appreciate the boundaries drawn between counseling by pastors and counseling by psychologists/therapists/etc.

[Mike Juday · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely practical especially with setting boundaries and expectations in pastoral counseling.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a helpful book. Several takeaways for practical counseling.

[Frank Gil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful and practical. Loved how it gives structure to a short term pastoral counseling sessions.

[Michael McGee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkably simple and sincere with practical guidance

[John Vatcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow

The most helpful book I have read thus far on chaplaincy. It has a depth and lived experience about it that resonates with the reader. Would highly recommend.

[Josh Parsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good idea and outline about how to develop a pastoral counseling model

[Will Lyles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for my Pastoral Counseling and Ethics class. Much more practical than the other Benner book I had to read. Helpful overall

[Muhammad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Demilitarian was a good choices. We considered friend. Peace be upon him. There is no God, but Allah SWT. Ahlussunnah wal jama'ah.

[munetsi zowa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Read

Very interesting and enriching book. Very current on subject matter. Enjoyed reading this book. It was worth the time. Good.

[Joshua Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful guide to give structure and purpose to a pastor's counseling. Of course, it needs to be put into practice to actually be of any help, but I found it to be instructive and clarifying. Recommended if counseling is or will be part of your ministry to some extent.

[Darryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benner's first edition (1992) of this book was written in response to a need as he saw it for a practical guide to short-term counselling aimed at Pastors who counsel. This up dated edition (2003) has benefitted from a more general acceptance of the short-term counselling model and has been rewritten to reflect lessons learned in the intervening eleven years between editions.

The target audience of Benner's work is pastors who counsel as part of the broad scope of their pastoral duties. To a lesser extent he also hopes that this book will also appeal to those preparing for pastoral ministry and lay counsellors operating in the congregational context. Beyond these audiences he has identified non-congregation-based counsellors as potentially benefitting from the content too.

The principle assumption for this book is that given the volume and diversity of demands on the average pastors time, a workable alternative to the traditional long-term counselling model needs be proposed. In response, Beener here outlines a single-issue, focused, 5-session (based on his research) counselling approach. Following a three stage process: encounter, engagement, and disengagement, the "goal is to help people understand their problems— and their lives— in the light of their relationship with God and then to live more fully in the light of this understanding".

With Benner's model there is a distinctive perspective in that it is specifically Christian and pastoral. These qualifiers could limit the appeal and application of Benner's model. However, within this context, having experienced the pressures of the pastoral care role, his argument broadly fits well. He uses frequent citations to reinforce his argument and in some cases such as explaining the restriction to 5 counselling sessions, appears to be research based.

On the Baker Publishing Group website, this book receives 5 reviews/endorsements, the authors of which I am unfamiliar. However it appears having co-authored "Sacred Companions: Spiritual Friendship Direction" (2004) with Dr Larry Crabb, Benner has received by implication, tacit endorsement by a popular, well known author and peer.

The highly defined nature of Benner's counselling model initially frustrated me because in my experience, counselling was more organic and open ended. However, in the context of pastoral counselling, considering for the many demands on time, I can see the benefit of defined time and focus boundaries. The scenarios included near the end of the book gave weight and support to the workability of the model.

This model is particularly relevant to my ministry. Like most people I have have demands placed on my time from within the church, family and other civic organisations and ministries I am involved in. Using this model as the basis of future pastoral counselling situations will help better achieve a more desirable work/life balance.

There is no doubt that from this book I have learned of the potential benefits of better focus and taking a more strategic approach to pastoral counselling. The specificity of time defined boundaries are also very useful. I have also appreciated the focus of bringing the counselling back to a God, helpful.