Christian Counselling by Frank Hunting

Below  is an extract from a Churches of Christ provocative pamphlet from 1955 by Frank Hunting.Over the length of his lifetime and ministry Frank counselled and helped hundreds of people including myself.
The Church desparately needs people doing what Frank has suggested here.
If Frank were alive today he would also be endorsing that not Just Christian "Ministers" have the responsibility to counsel but also appropriately equipped lay people.
There are organisations which have developed programmes for equipping lay people.
Two that I recommend are Grace Fellowship International(Charles Solomon is the founder) and Freedom in Christ Ministries(Founded by Neil Anderson)

-->
"Spiritual Counselling.
      Spiritual counselling is not being seriously undertaken in our churches. It is still regarded as the work of specially trained or specially gifted men. It ought to be the normal thing in every congregation. For this work spiritual insight is more important than psychological training. Every minister, if he follows the practice of his Master, would give hours of his time every week to this important work, but the average minister is so overtaxed by the demands of organising a modern congregation that he completely throws out any suggestion that he may need five or six hours in any week to sit at leisure to give spiritual counselling to people who need it. Nor, do the deacons and members realise how important it is that their pastor should do this work.
      Homes are breaking or are in trouble, individuals carry, crushing personal problems, nervous breakdowns crop up here and there, good Christian people are developing neurotic tendencies, and all these should be receiving special spiritual counselling. There is need for guidance and counsel on all aspects of living which the minister out of his growing store of wisdom and experience should be giving, and in any church where the work of the Holy Spirit is in evidence there should be individuals becoming dissatisfied with their Christian experience who want to grow spiritually--these and other aspects of living demand that churches should see to it that their minister has adequate time to give all the spiritual counselling needed. People, whose problems have a spiritual origin are going to doctors and psychiatrists; they should be going to Christian ministers skilled in spiritual counselling.

The Equipment
      God can train a man in spiritual counselling and the following personal equipment is essential. A man must himself quite obviously have an increasingly growing experience living Saviour, He must know from first-hand personal experience the power of Christ to change men. To undertake spiritual counselling should be to enter into a secret compact with God to pray in faith for Christ's cleansing and delivering power in the life of the one we are counselling.
      The basic requirements of the spiritual counsellor are:
      * The counsellor must have faced all his own sin, failures, defeats and share these with another.
      * He should live in the open with others about his pride, sin, victories, prejudices, self--all that the Holy Spirit is showing him to be when measured against the life of Jesus.
      * He must obviously be finding Christ to be the answer to his own life, circumstances and situations.
      * He must be willing to share any part of his life with another as God directs him.
      * He must be practising God's guidance and leading in his own life and affairs. Only as God leads will some unravel the tangle of their lives. The spiritual counsellor to help such people must have complete confidence in the Holy Spirit's guidance and leadership in such matters.
      * He must have unbounded confidence in Christ's power to meet and solve the problems and needs in any person's life. There are no exceptions to this.
      * He must never take sides either for or against people, but always take God's side, God's part in every situation.
      * He must be an unfailing channel of love and patience.
      * He must give all the time needed even if this extends over years.
      * He must see more than the situation as presented to him; he must see origins, causes, reasons.
      * For this he will need deep penetration into motives and the self-deceptions we all deal in. This demands constant reliance upon the Holy Spirit for the insights which liberate.
      * We must learn not only to detect the causes of trouble and upset, we must also learn to help people build into their lives the positive power that lies in faith in God,
      This word from Oswald Chambers must be the conviction of the counsellor: "The Lord seems to come to us in every individual case we meet--'Believest thou that I am able to do this?' Whether it be a case of demon possession, bodily upset, mental twist, backsliding, indifference, difference of nationality and thought--the challenge is to me: Do I know my risen Lord? Am I wise enough in God's sight to bank on what Jesus told me? Am I foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world to do it? or am I abandoning the supernatural position, which is the only one for a missionary (or Christian), of boundless confidence in Jesus?"
      Let us not try to be psychologists. We come to offer men and women Christ. His cleansing for their sin. His all sufficient grace for their defeats and failures. His never failing presence for their confusion and frustration. His guidance and solution on all matters. Christ is Himself the answer and He alone has the answer. Many people want help but they don't want it in the only way they will ever get it. Till they want help in the way He can give, we may need to stand aside watching them try all the approved failures until they are willing to believe that Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life.

---

F. C. HUNTING--
      Graduated from the Federal College of the Bible in 1933. After graduating, he served the churches at Blackburn and Prahran, Victoria, then followed three years as Youth Director for our New South Wales churches. On the expiration of that term he served the church at Ann St., Brisbane, for a period, and has been with the Dawson St. church, Ballarat, Victoria, for the past six and a half years."

My footnote.
 In semi retirement Frank came to the Church of Christ at Grote Street in Adelaide as a colleaugue of Pastor Harold Long.They were in tandem ministry for 5 years.
He then moved to Noarlunga Centre Church of Christ in 1980 where he finished his official ministry.
Frank also gave considerable assistance to the Murray Bridge Church of Christ while in Aelaide.
He was a counsellor to many in Adelaide and Victoria and beyond in his lifetime.

See also the link below to an extract from Frank's booklet on Christmas about Jesus as Counsellor.

http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/his-name-is-counsellor.html

---

Rivers of Living Water

The Bible tells us that if we are Christians,Christians who make Jesus Lord, rivers of living water will flow from us.
But--Just as a river does  not know what life it is giving as it flows we may never know the life we have brought  to someone else.
Jesus is offering Living Water to all of us as He did to the woman at the well in John Chapter 4.
No matter what our circumstances He can give us Living Water.
Jesus says Come to the water you won't be denied.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmcHovNjZOg

Chapman River-Kangaroo Island  Copyright Geoff Thompson

My dear wife Lesley has sung this at Baptisms. We have been married 41 years today. God is good.

This song below is also an invitation to Jesus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGgEvGsZuM0&feature=related

IN TIMES OF TROUBLE AND TRIAL

-->

        

                      by    F.C. Hunting

It is  by God’s  will

         I am in this place today.

Accept the situation ,

         Don’t ignore it.

Make your mind up

 to face reality.

       God will keep me here

                  In His love and grace

                           In this trial-----

                  To behave as His child.

        No self pity, no self –sympathy.

                  To take control of the situation.

      God will teach me the lessons

                  He intends me to learn,

                           Work in me His grace.

       He can turn this trial

to victory

In God’s good time,

         He can bring me out again---

                  How and when He knows

Learn to say:

I am here-----------by God’s appointment

I am here ----------in His keeping.

I am here ----------under His training

I am here for His time.

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that

loved us.”  Romans 8:37 K.J.

Phototherapy

What is phototherapy?


I discovered there is a world wide movement of this.
Just google it.

Some programmes I would endorse and some I wouldn't.

For some people taking photos is a creative therapeutic  activity in itself.

How other people photograph us gives insight to our place in their world

How we photograph ourselves in a self portrait helps us to express how we feel.

Looking at our family albums can be helpful in reviewing our life so far.

What we like to photograph may reveal something of our goals and dreams and our view of our world.

For a person with a disability photography can be a way to open up a creative outlet and also to develop a feeling of purpose and connection  in life that may be missing

Modern technology means that most people have a possibilty of being a creative photographer
Even blindness does not prevent someone from being a photographer


Creating a relaxation slide show with music can have a very positive outcome
Share them with friends and help others

Phototherapy  with a counsellor can bring about new insights and possibilties of healing to a troubled life.

By viewing your family album(s) and perhaps a wedding album with a counsellor you can  use discussion about the photos to explore how you feel about the people in your photos and how you feel about your relationship to them.

An appreciation of the natural world through photography and your camera viewfinder can lead you to a faith in the Creator who loves you.

Some Australian Photographers who have partly found their faith while capturing the creation are photographers such as;
Ken Duncan
Pete Dobre
Jocelyn Burrt
Geoff Thompson

Byusing creative visualisation and photography you can bring the Creator into your life.

Using your imagination you can create:

A slide show featuring scripture illustrating our place in the world and God’s purpose for us.

A slide show using images and audio tapes  to help free bound up people. (or just
 watch some of the great wildlife documentaries like "Travelling Birds" )

A prayer photo gallery for the use of photography in interceding prayer.
By regularly viewing such a gallery and praying for the people pictured.
Frank Laubach in his book "Prayer, the Mightiest Force in the World" floats the idea of putting pictures of people you need to pray for on a wall and in a darkened room shine a torch on them one at a time and pray for them.
My idea is just an extension of that.

Over the last two and a bit years I suffered a serious bout of Depression.
It is now behind me.

Spinifex Pigeon Central Australiia

Wedge tailed Eagle  Central Australia

During the initial stages I could not even look at family photos or pick up a camera.
But God in part used my passion for Photography, birds in particular, to help lift me out of the depression.

Wedge tailed Eagle  Central Australia

Zebra Finch Central Australia

There was a lot more to it than that but in the early stages of the dreaded "black cloud" I only had relief from symptoms through being occupied with photography.

I had asked God to give me some Eagle shots on a trip to Central Australia. I couldn't believe the opportunities that presented to me.

Part of the solution of why I think photography has an impact is that we are told in the Bible to think on things that are pure,wholesome and many other virtues.
By concentrating on His creation through a lens we are doing just that.
That sense of wonder helps us to realise there is a God watching over us who even is concerned when a sparrow falls to the ground.

So God gave us light and photography for our pleasure and more than that.

The Ins and Outs of Rejection

a book and Christian teacher that I have found very helpful in my own life and in counselling others is "The Ins and Outs of Rejection" by Charles R. Solomon and also "Handbook to Happiness".
In them the author shows us how our responses to rejection plays such a big part in our lives as we are growing up.

The most interesting concept is the fact that there are 2 basic types of rejection. Overt and Covert. The Overt ones are quite obvious, (physical and sexual abuse) but the Covert are a bit more subtle.
Things like being an adopted child, or an unwanted child or children with Divorced parents( we think we caused the split) can cause us big problems as we search for our identity.

.
Charles  Solomon is a Christian who worked in engineering in America  when

his own personal crisis in his life  caused him to find out about the deeper meaning of the cross in his

life.  He subsequently went on to found a Christian Counselling ministry called Grace Fellowship

International.The organization is still active today in training people to become Christian Counsellors

that is what he calls Christian Disciplers.

In the book Hand Book to Happiness he outlines that the secret of the abundant or happy Christian life is a total entering into the

life of Jesus as a co crucifixion experience as outlined in Galatians 2:20.

“ I have been crucified with Christ; and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the real life

I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God,  who loved and gave himself

for me”

When we reckon ourselves dead to self but alive in Christ all sorts of freedom become ours.

We no longer eg need to worry what people think about us because if we are crucified with Christ we

can experience his resurrection power and know that our worth is based in him loving us not anything

else. Also he experienced that rejection on the cross in our place because he loves us.

It is possible for all of us  to  know Peace with God, if we are Christians,

ie forgiveness of sin,escape from judgement and assurance of heaven,

but we may not know the peace of God. The peace that passes all understanding.

 Phillipians 4:6,7.:

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God ,which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”

It is the peace of God that the neurotic or depressed person or psychologically disturbed person is

desperate  to know.

It is likewise this peace that the seemingly well adjusted person needs even though they may not

understand they have a problem until their comfortable world starts to come apart at the seams.

A big part of our need to know God’s peace and experience the abundant life is tied up in our need to be accepted and loved.




Listen to this verse from a poem by Dr Solomon.


“ Oh to know acceptance
 in a feeling sort of way;
To be known for what I am-
Not what I do or say
It’s nice to be loved and wanted
For the person I seem to be,
But my heart cries out to be loved
For the person who is really me!”

If we are in Christ, we have been crucified with him (Romans 6),
We can know

“ I am accepted”

“ I am secure”

“I am significant”

We can know the deep Love of God through Jesus and be set free.

HIS NAME IS : COUNSELLOR

“ His name shall be called: Counsellor.”  Isaiah 9:6 Be careful when you look at the word : Counsellor. I would suggest as you apply that word to Jesus you divest your mind of all the humanistic counselling we are often advised to seek. Counselling is the “in” thing today.Everyone needs counselling. Flood victims, bushfire victims, accident victims, mothers, fathers, children, all need counselling for one reason or another. Life is simply too much, too overwhelming for most of us without the help of a counsellor of some sort or another. Look at that word: counsellor. Who or what is a counsellor? A short answer is : A counsellor is someone who is trained to give advice, expert advice in some area of mal adjustment in human behaviour.  We are placing more and more dependence on such counselling advice for people with all sorts of need. However, counselling such as is everywhere being offered to people in need or in crisis has, no matter how good and wise it may be , an inbuilt weakness. It is humanistically based. It is the study of man by man. It is man trying to help man. This follows the advice given by Alexander Pope: “Know then  thyself, presume not God to scan. The proper study of man is man.” The proper study of man is man ,and that confines us to all the limitations and inadequacies of human beings. And this is not good enough. Counsellor when applied to Jesus has connotations above and beyond all that is human. It introduces  the limitless ability of God. As Counsellor we are able to call on Jesus and all whom He is and can do to our side. We have Jesus who is coming to our side not to blame, find fault, criticise or judge, but to aid us , to help us. Jesus comes to aid us , to make good our  insufficiencies, to make us complete and whole. And no one else can do this. Sin can and literally does ravage  a man or woman’s life. In the region of the soul sin can leave sores that never heal until they are healed by the atoning death of Jesus. Some trail memories  along with them from their past that cripple and crush their personalities and which make the beginning of each day a nightmare. There are areas of the soul which only Jesus does , when called to our side , heal and make whole and restore. His name shall be called Counsellor and fulfilling this role by being called to our side, Jesus guides us with the wisdom of God. He can heal and restore , and finally adjust the deepest regions of our being. He makes the wounded spirit whole. He sets the prisoner free. Why?          Because His Name is called Counsellor. Taken from the booklet “Is this the real Christmas? The way it really was.”    By Frank Hunting

The Light of God-Walking in the Light

                        The Light of God-Walking in the Light

By Geoff Thompson

As a Photographer I love light. The various effects it can produce in a photograph are wonderfully pleasing to the eye.

One of the best exponents of using light creatively was around long before photography was invented.

He was the painter, Rembrandt. His use of light in his paintings has long been  recommended as a study for portrait photographers to see what can be achieved.

I don’t understand the theory of light other than the basics about the spectrum and a little bit about how we see colour and the different effects of colour temperature.

I don’t even pretend to understand how this actually happens.

 I do know enough about the properties of light and have developed an ability to “see” the potential in a photograph to create what I and some others think are beautiful photographs or digital images in today’s language. I am always looking at the visual things before me with a photographer’s eye.

I know God is the Author and Creator of  light.

So when I am taking a photograph I am harnessing one of His greatest Gifts to Mankind.

The Bible talks a lot about light.

It also talks a lot about the Human condition and I believe it is a workshop manual given to us by God to enable us to live as He intended when He created us.

It, the Bible, is the story  of  Jesus who is the Light of the world.

I have a good enough  understanding of the Bible and it's teachings  to enable me and others to know the freedom and healing of life’s hurts and pain and the comfort and assurance  of what lies ahead for us when we die.

To understand how Jesus dying on a cross, effects my salvation is beyond me. I accept it however by Faith.

I accept the laws that govern photography by Faith. I don’t understand them but I know how to apply them.

We don’t have to know everything this side of Heaven.

But the Bible says “if we walk in the light then the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.”

On this blog I share my passion and so far developed skills with others about photography.

But I believe it is far more important to share what I know about Jesus.

A good photograph will eventually fade. We all eventually die.

Sometimes sooner than we would like.

But the Love of God goes on forever and we can share in that Love in Eternity and never die.

We can begin that journey before we die.

We can know God’s healing and Wholeness now for the most part.

If…. we walk in the Light.