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Grace-Based Counseling: An Effective New Biblical Model
You speak God’s truth when you counsel. But do you also communicate His grace?
The Christian counselor or pastor plays an important role in helping people process the trauma they’ve experienced. Too often, a client leaves the counselor’s office with feelings of guilt and shame. They feel the heavy burden of what they did wrong. But somehow, they’ve missed the grace of God that makes things right again.
A counseling model that stays true to a biblical worldview will overflow with grace . . . not cheap grace, but real grace that acknowledges sin while offering a hopeful path to redemption and healing. In Grace-Based Counseling, professional counselors Richard Fowler and Natalie Ford offer a model that blends the truths of Scripture, the science of psychology, and the everlasting hope of the gospel. In this book you will find:
New, grace-based counseling model
Detailed application of the model, with case studies
Practical toolbox with surveys, assessments, and counseling helps
A Christian counseling model can’t just be about admonishment. That approach only leads to shame and human efforts that are doomed to fail. But when the gospel is brought to bear in the counseling relationship, real life change is possible. Then the counselor becomes an instrument of divine grace in the hands of a faithful God.
The Christian counselor or pastor plays an important role in helping people process the trauma they’ve experienced. Too often, a client leaves the counselor’s office with feelings of guilt and shame. They feel the heavy burden of what they did wrong. But somehow, they’ve missed the grace of God that makes things right again.
A counseling model that stays true to a biblical worldview will overflow with grace . . . not cheap grace, but real grace that acknowledges sin while offering a hopeful path to redemption and healing. In Grace-Based Counseling, professional counselors Richard Fowler and Natalie Ford offer a model that blends the truths of Scripture, the science of psychology, and the everlasting hope of the gospel. In this book you will find:
New, grace-based counseling model
Detailed application of the model, with case studies
Practical toolbox with surveys, assessments, and counseling helps
A Christian counseling model can’t just be about admonishment. That approach only leads to shame and human efforts that are doomed to fail. But when the gospel is brought to bear in the counseling relationship, real life change is possible. Then the counselor becomes an instrument of divine grace in the hands of a faithful God.
256 pages, Paperback
Published August 3, 2021
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March 18, 2022
Grace-Based Counseling by Fowler and Ford addresses a much-needed void in the discipline of psychotherapy. Grace is a theological concept primarily discussed by Christian churches, pastors, and biblical counselors, but not as much by secular and integrationist practitioners.
I am grateful for this book in many ways. It clearly states that “Christians need to look to Scripture for discernment and guidance” (17) as a higher authority than psychology. They affirm the “inerrant sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures” (21), the power of the Holy Spirit for life change, and the necessity of a biblical worldview. Yet they also claim there are “issues where the Bible is silent, [and] Christian counselors must look to empirical science for guidance” (70). The authors also emphasize the importance of the counselor’s spiritual preparation (18) and the necessity of counseling with both grace and truth (19). I appreciate the doctrinal insights about all of us being made in God’s image (ch. 3) and flawed by human rebellion (ch. 4). In addition, the authors express how counseling unbelievers often overemphasizes behavioral change without genuine heart transformation: “The ultimate meaning in life is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ” (58) and “happiness is never the goal of counseling. . . . Rather, the goal is to be obedient to God” (76). This book affirms the basic tenets of the Christian faith and expresses doctrine acceptable in most Christian churches.
Part 1 explains the grace-based counseling model and Part 3 includes helpful tools for counseling, while Part 2 uses cases studies to demonstrate the model’s application. Here we begin to observe the distinctions in methodology. Chapter eight presents tremendous wisdom for counseling sinners, yet fails to explicitly apply the gospel. Chapter nine states many agreed-upon principles for helping someone through depression, but then implies that CBT or REBT can lead to heart renewal (96). We seem to have more similarities when it comes to counsel for suffering people (ch. 11) than for sinners (chs. 8-10).
We agree on much of the same biblical doctrine, but disagree on how to practically apply those truths in counseling. Some of their insights also appear to be based on proof texts. For example, they claim that “the counselee sets the goals for counseling” from 1 Corinthians 9:22. Other doctrinal points are unclear, such as a deficient view of biblical repentance (89) or the need for the counselee to “forgive himself” (90). It would have also helped to explain the research or biblical basis for the 1-4-16 formula (61-66). Most concerning, this book falsely caricatures the biblical counselor as one who claims “there are no applicable truths within psychological theories” (16), who “focus solely on sin and admonishment” (18), or who treat “clinical depression with the spiritual disciplines” (47) because “all depressive responses are a result of sin” (93). The authors imply that biblical counselors lack grace and that secular counselors lack truth (ch. 6).
In summary, this is not a new model as the book claims, but more a merging of helpful insights from both psychology and biblical counseling. It states the goal of biblical counselors to help hurting people with both grace and truth, while incorporating the research-based methodologies of secular and Christian integrationists. This new voice in the conversation offers many practical helps, but could benefit from being more grounded in the Scriptures. For a model based on grace, it also lacked sufficient gospel application (ch. 8) and not enough of a clear distinction was made between how to counsel believers and unbelievers (ch. 5). I recommend readers to evaluate this model based on Scripture and to extract what is good.
* Moody Press has provided a complimentary copy of this book and this is my honest review.
I am grateful for this book in many ways. It clearly states that “Christians need to look to Scripture for discernment and guidance” (17) as a higher authority than psychology. They affirm the “inerrant sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures” (21), the power of the Holy Spirit for life change, and the necessity of a biblical worldview. Yet they also claim there are “issues where the Bible is silent, [and] Christian counselors must look to empirical science for guidance” (70). The authors also emphasize the importance of the counselor’s spiritual preparation (18) and the necessity of counseling with both grace and truth (19). I appreciate the doctrinal insights about all of us being made in God’s image (ch. 3) and flawed by human rebellion (ch. 4). In addition, the authors express how counseling unbelievers often overemphasizes behavioral change without genuine heart transformation: “The ultimate meaning in life is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ” (58) and “happiness is never the goal of counseling. . . . Rather, the goal is to be obedient to God” (76). This book affirms the basic tenets of the Christian faith and expresses doctrine acceptable in most Christian churches.
Part 1 explains the grace-based counseling model and Part 3 includes helpful tools for counseling, while Part 2 uses cases studies to demonstrate the model’s application. Here we begin to observe the distinctions in methodology. Chapter eight presents tremendous wisdom for counseling sinners, yet fails to explicitly apply the gospel. Chapter nine states many agreed-upon principles for helping someone through depression, but then implies that CBT or REBT can lead to heart renewal (96). We seem to have more similarities when it comes to counsel for suffering people (ch. 11) than for sinners (chs. 8-10).
We agree on much of the same biblical doctrine, but disagree on how to practically apply those truths in counseling. Some of their insights also appear to be based on proof texts. For example, they claim that “the counselee sets the goals for counseling” from 1 Corinthians 9:22. Other doctrinal points are unclear, such as a deficient view of biblical repentance (89) or the need for the counselee to “forgive himself” (90). It would have also helped to explain the research or biblical basis for the 1-4-16 formula (61-66). Most concerning, this book falsely caricatures the biblical counselor as one who claims “there are no applicable truths within psychological theories” (16), who “focus solely on sin and admonishment” (18), or who treat “clinical depression with the spiritual disciplines” (47) because “all depressive responses are a result of sin” (93). The authors imply that biblical counselors lack grace and that secular counselors lack truth (ch. 6).
In summary, this is not a new model as the book claims, but more a merging of helpful insights from both psychology and biblical counseling. It states the goal of biblical counselors to help hurting people with both grace and truth, while incorporating the research-based methodologies of secular and Christian integrationists. This new voice in the conversation offers many practical helps, but could benefit from being more grounded in the Scriptures. For a model based on grace, it also lacked sufficient gospel application (ch. 8) and not enough of a clear distinction was made between how to counsel believers and unbelievers (ch. 5). I recommend readers to evaluate this model based on Scripture and to extract what is good.
* Moody Press has provided a complimentary copy of this book and this is my honest review.
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