Well said!

In our church, as our ordained leaders do their very best to lead and serve (and counsel!) well, I know that many of our leaders have the goal of NOT becoming "Joe Referral Pastors."

Makes me thank God for our presbytery and for great ministries like IX Marks, CCEF, and Peacemaker Ministries, to help our leaders to lead well (and we followers to follow well).

Thanks for this great blog!

Your sister in Christ,
Tara B.

I believe saying yes to tough counseling cases commends the gospel. What would I be saying as a pastor to church members if I said "I don't believe I can offer any help?"

I might just be saying that there aren't enough hours in the day. But I might also be saying something about the power of the gospel.

Indirectly, I might be undermining the confidence of the sheep in their shepherd (and potentially their Shepherd).

I wouldn't say it has to mean that in every case, but I think it has communicated that in some situations. If the gospel we preach is true, it is true for tough cases too.

Thanks for these encouraging words.

Nate

Some potential reasons why leaders in the church embrace or do not embrace biblical counseling within the local church...

Reasons for biblical counseling in the local church...
1. The leaders hold a high view of the gospel/Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation. The sufficiency of scripture is undermined when leaders trust other potentially pyschologized people outside the church to counsel.
2. Developing unity in the body through true biblical friendships. God wants a redemptive relationship with us and we should be modeling redemptive relationships with one another. If our relationships via one another ministries in the church are not such then our encounters together become no more significant than relationships between unbelievers.
3. Problems with sin in the church are not allowed to fester but the leaders keep current with the spiritual condition/sin struggles of the congregation. This leads to keeping current with solving problems in the church biblically and being able to minister the word effectively instead of one's time being consumed with unresolved problems from people who are weak in the faith.
4. The leaders see themselves as Paul did, a slave, and as such sacrifice for the sheep and their sanctification.
5. The leaders have a long term view of the church and pursue excellence in ministry through counseling. They see biblical counseling not as an extracurricular ministry but as discipleship. The next generation in the church is only one step away from spiritual decline. Biblical counseling or rather discipleship is a way to meet people where they are with their struggles with sin and help them with lasting change. The church over time is overflowing with those who are mature in the faith and can counsel as well.
6. The leaders in the church understand the need for counseling because they have been gripped by the doctrines of grace. They understand the total depravity of man and the seriousness of dying to sin daily. Protection of the sheep with respect to this is serious and continual business.
7. The leaders hearts have been regularly counseled in their study of the word (not just preparing a message for Sunday for others) and are then in turn better equipped to counsel the hearts of others to identify idols of the heart.
7. If in the church, people being counseled are held to be accountable to the leaders for true biblical change. Others can come along side that person and help with their struggles with sin.

Reasons why some leaders do not do biblical counseling in the local church...
1. They are lazy and have a problem with sacrifice. This is in terms of sacrifice of their time personally to counsel and with equipping the members of the church to learn how to counsel.
2. They do not know how to make connections between doctrine and applications effectively and address idols of the heart. This may be due to lack of good seminary training or a lack of spiritual growth in their own lives.
3. They may understand that sanctification of believers in the church is a process but do not take it seriously.
4. They do not see biblical counseling as discipleship.
5. They do not love others and God as they should. They are content with their spiritual growth and understanding but not as concerned about the spiritual growth of others to really go deeper into the idols of the heart.

It is important to remember that biblical counseling is a ministry of the Word and falls to responsible pastoral leaders. Here are three things I believe we should consider.
1. If it involves an issue of sin or spiritual maturity, then we have a responsibility to handle it in the church. We cannot pass these issues off to those outside the church. We must deal with them by applying the biblical teaching to the issue and then have accountability and edification within the body. It will weaken the body otherwise. Issues of a medical nature may be better handled by outside professionals. These are fewer than many think.
2. Our time as pastors should be taken up primarily with the ministry of the Word. If time is an issue, perhaps there are other things demanding our time besides this that could be better handled by deacons. I know it's easy for me to lose my time on administrative things.
3. We should consider biblical counseling in our leadership development. Developing biblical eldership should include men gifted in counseling.

Godspeed.

Another thought. Rather than refer out, consider calling in. I have pastor friends that are more gifted than I at counseling and in the past I've called them in to help with an issue. Consider befriending a competent counselor who may be willing to step into your situation rather than deal with issues apart from the body.
It may also be helpful to have associations of churches cooperate in different areas of giftedness like this.

At the recent NANC conference, Steve Cox led a great workshop session titled "Feeding Another Man's Sheep". I would recommend it to anyone who either believes they should refer out and for those who are on the other end of those referrals.

I'm really looking forward to more discussion re: restoring counseling to the local church. I do believe that there are times when a referral ought to be made, but as articulated by others in previous comments, I believe that counseling is largely viewed as something to be "outsourced." As Tara mentioned, Peacemaker Ministries and CCEF have truly Gospel-centered programs aimed at training laypersons to counsel. I wonder, however, if many congregants (as well as pastors) believe that counseling should be conducted solely by "liscensed professionals," and therefore, are reticent to seek counseling from individuals without specific degrees or secular training?

Except for the blog, the 9marks site is down: completely; I couldn't even get to "contact" to tell anyonoe. Just letting you know, as this was the only way to do it!