How Do We Counsel Children?
Editor’s Note: Given the fallen world in which we live, children often face issues that counseling is best suited to help. This book seems very promising in this regard!
About the Book:
Coming alongside struggling children can feel like an uphill battle. Yet children struggle with the same desires adults struggle with, are lured by the same lies adults fall prey to, and can find hope in the same source adults can find hope—in Jesus. This manual helps counselors share Christ—the way, the truth, and the life—while tailoring interactions and teachings to the understanding of children.
Caring for the Souls of Children equips counselors, parents, pastors, and other helpers who love children, to boldly trust in the sufficiency of Scripture for counseling. Edited by counselor and author Amy Baker, this in-depth resource begins with an overview of foundational principles for counseling children and addresses a different counseling topic in each subsequent chapter. Topics addressed include a wide variety of general and specific issues that children face including anxiety, anger, abuse, suicidal thoughts and actions, self-harm, shame, grief, disability, disease, sexual identity, and many others.
Articles are written by a wide range of biblical counselors, authors, and pastors who have worked with children for many years including:
- Amy Baker
- Julie Lowe
- Marty Machowski
- Jessica Thompson
- Jonathan Holmes
- Michael R. Emlet
- Garrett Higbee
- Edward T. Welch
- Kevin Carson
- Harvest USA
- Charles Hodges
- Joni and Friends
- Bob Kellemen
- Pam Bauer
About the Editor:
Amy Baker, PhD, Editor, is the ministry resource director at Faith Church (Lafayette, IN); director of counseling for Vision of Hope, a faith-based residential treatment program; instructor and counselor at Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries; a council member of the Biblical Counseling Coalition; and the author of Getting to the Heart of Friendships and Picture Perfect: When Life Doesn’t Line Up as well as several counseling minibooks. She is the editor of Caring for the Souls of Children: A Biblical Counselor’s Manual. She and her husband, Jeff, have two children.
Endorsements:
“Some books over-promise, but not this one. On all the most pressing issues in counseling (and parenting!) children, Caring for the Souls of Children delivers with grace and wisdom. I highly recommend this resource.”
Alasdair Groves
Executive Director, Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation(CCEF)
“Every child struggles to find his or her way in life, but for children dealing with a disability, finding the way can seem filled with dead ends. How do we shepherd a child through those difficult seasons? In Caring for the Souls of Children, you will find a rich resource of wise insights, seasoned advice, and solid biblical guidance to help children view their limitations from God’s point of view. I give this much-needed book a double thumbs-up!”
Joni Eareckson Tada
Founder and CEO, Joni and Friends International Disability Center
“This wonderful book about counseling children (and teens) fills an important gap in biblical counseling resources. We are reminded that children experience the same kinds of problems and fears that adults do and thus need our help. This book will be of great practical use as the authors present many realistic counseling situations in which they walk the reader through a wise, compassionate, and biblical way to help hurting children. This resource will be a of great help to pastors and counselors who work with children and teens. I plan to highly recommend it to all of my students.”
Jim Newheiser
Director of the Christian Counseling Program and Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary;Executive Director, The Institute for Biblical Counseling and DIscipleship (IBCD)
“As a longtime biblical counseling pastor and now professor, I have waited over thirty years for a book like this! Amy Baker and her team provide a one-stop shop of readable, gospel-centered, biblically-driven strategies to help counselors and caring adults minister to kids facing all sorts of struggles. Children need Jesus; this book helps us bring him to them.”
Robert D. Jones
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; author of Pursuing Peace and Anger: Calming Your Heart
“If you work with children, in any capacity, you need Caring for the Souls of Children. This counseling manual is a rich, robust resource addressing the vast array of issues related to child soul care. It provides introduction to methodology and theory, addresses common but often overlooked aspects of counseling children, and delves into the darkest challenges a counselor will face with instruction for counseling topics like self-harm, trauma, and post-suicide counseling.”
Curtis Solomon
Executive Director of the Biblical Counseling Coalition
“Dr. Amy Baker and her team of writers have greatly served the church of Jesus Christ by assembling this important book. The chapters are both practical and theologically robust. Surely the Lord is pleased when counselors give special care to ministering to children. These truths will also be helpful to parents, teachers, and children’s ministry leaders.”
Steve Viars
Senior Pastor, Faith Church, Lafayette, IN; author Loving Your Community
“Whether to counsel children and how to counsel children are some of the most common questions within the biblical counseling movement, yet there have been few resources available on this topic. Thankfully, a team of well-qualified counselors and trusted authors have worked together to fill a gap in the biblical counseling literature. If you counsel and you have struggled knowing how to serve the children in your community, then this resource is a must-read.”
Rob Green
Pastor of Counseling and Seminary Ministries, Faith Church, Lafayette, IN; author of Tying the Knot and Tying Their Shoes