In the book, The Church as a Culture of Care, T. Dale Johnson Jr. seeks to reclaim the church as a culture of care. First, he acknowledges that the church has abdicated the pastoral role of soul care to secular psychology. Psychiatry and mental health experts separated the roles of mental health and spiritual matters, but this line was grey at best. Modern Christians have a spectrum of options of soul care from the secular to integrationist to biblical counselors and pastor soul care. Johnson seeks to challenge the assumption that the bible and soul care is an antiquated or too simplistic to address modern problems. Johnson right points out that the Bible offers a completely different approach and goal. We as Christians, especially church leaders, need to reclaim “the church as God’s agent to care for the souls of the people.
“This book is intended to be an admission of our failures and an exhortation to arise and reclaim the church as a culture of care.”
Page 4
Johnson argues that ruling authorities are right and good for a well-ordered society but should not be responsible for the care of souls. Just because the government has sanctioned, through licensing and regulation, licensed professional counselors and therapists do not mean they are best qualified to deal with the complex spiritual issues of soul care. The Bible is clear that the church is primarily given this role and responsibility. One of the primary ways we see this is through the various “one another” passages within the New Testament. As Christians we believe that the world’s problems are rooted in sin and the solution is found in the life and work of Christ. Our goal is Christlikeness, the better Adam, “true man.”
“The Bible does not provide the kind of methodological approach to soul care that appeases behavioral scientists, because the Bible reveals a different perspective on people and their struggles than the popular therapeutic philosophies.”
Page 3
The book profoundly points out that in all of the so-called modern advances in psychiatry and categorizing disfunctions within the DSM-V, they failed to define what normal is. There is no goal, no direction, no purpose. One can avoid all forms of dysfunction yet still be discontent and dissatisfied with this world. “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is one who keeps the Law” (Proverbs 29:18). Furthermore, disfunctions found in the DSM-V have a major disadvantage in the world of science since there are no biological tests and rely on subjective judgements. This places psychiatry more in the realm of scientism than as a science. “Scientism, the use of scientific language to propagate philosophy or theory” (Page 47).
“The DSM offers hundreds of diagnoses to categorize abnormal human behaviors and emotions, all without ever defining normal human experience.”
Page 33
Another danger Johnson rightly warns of is the tendency towards eclecticism. With all of the various counseling models and schools of thought, it may be tempting to see Biblical Counseling as just another tool in my tool belt. Care that is built on worldly systems will only achieve the world’s end (page 51). Embedded in every counseling methodology is a goal or idea of the “good life.” Every counselor who offers any counsel (admonition, guiding, approval, etc.) is operating out of a worldview that influences their counsel. There are no amoral counseling systems or theories.
“We must caution against the movement toward eclecticism among biblical counselors by thinking that we need to add different types of methodologies and techniques from different systems which will expand our toolbox and make us more well-rounded counselors.”
Page 51
“I would agree that Scripture is insufficient to address the problems as we have described them. but the problem is not the insufficiency of Scripture, but the insufficiency of the labels we have given to our human struggles.”
Page 57
The chapter on Shepherding is important but could have been more concise and to the point. It was meant to be the climax of the book and the foundation of the claim for soul care for the church, but it fell a little flat for me. There was nothing wrong with the substance or what was argued, I think it was just the style and specific wording.
The book does a great job exposing and advocating for the need for biblical soul care in the church. It could be stronger on the how-to build a culture of soul care in the church. This section is limited to the final chapters. Early in the book, there is mention of a series of books that will be released which may go into more application on the how-to do soul care within the church. I hope this is the intent and look forward to these future books!
I really loved this book. It stirred in me the conviction and desire for biblical soul care within the church. This book is directed towards pastors and church leaders, especially chapter 6, but is helpful for anyone desiring to know more about soul care. My hope would be that secular counselors and psychologist might read this to better understand Biblical Counseling. We might all disagree on the methodology but we all desire to help others navigate the complex world we find ourselves in. This book provides a great apologetic for the necessity of soul care within the Christian church.
 |
The Church as a Culture of Care: Finding Hope in Biblical Community By T.Dale Johnson Jr. |