BARNABAS
CHURCH COUNSELING
AND CONSULTATION
BARNABAS FOR CHURCH COUNSELING AND CONSULTATION - strives to encourage, counsel, consult, mediate and/or advise church entities and systems - particularly clergy and leaders - and how they interact with one another, their families, their staff, their congregation, their denomination, and/or personal-professional problems or life difficulties - as to how to live a more effective, productive, accordant, successful and Godly life utilizing biblically based, Barnabas principles and philosophy integrated with consistent psychological and pastoral knowledge and experience. It is our aim to detect, avoid or mitigate a potential host of clergy-church differences or difficulties before they begin OR to repair any such problems upon recognition of them. It is our further goal to preserve the purity of the church while maintaining the mutual respect and dignity of the parties involved.
We have seen too many clergy and church situations unnecessarily implode and self-destruct with varying degrees of ancillary harm - none of which have been Godly or God honoring - and much of which went unrecognized and inadequately addressed. In such experiences it is often unwise to have parties from within the organization handle the problem (exclusively) for a variety of reasons including subjectivism and bias; lack of professional training and /or decorum; lack of knowledge concerning problem, policy or relational difficulty encountered; breached trust or potential breach of trust; emotional, psychological or spiritual immaturity or dysfunction; emotional reactivity; delicate nature of problem and/or person(s) affected; etc.- and the list goes on.
A partial list of such potential problems includes:
- personal, relational or familial problems of clergy or church leader or church member
- suspected unbiblical or inappropriate behavior
- hidden or unknown agendas that cause- or lead to - conflict
- unresolved conflict; hidden harm or hurt feelings
- lack of repentance and/or forgiveness
- poor communication; not really knowing needs and assuming all is well
- lack of ability to work with others
- personality and/or leadership differences
- (potential) problems/differences among leaders; between clergy and leadership
Courses of intervention and services provided:
....an ounce of prevention...
ASSESSMENT - clinical interviews and psychological testing can provide a wealth of information depending upon the needs of the situation. Such assessment can determine how well leaders fit with one another and how to work with one another more effectively ensuring best fit for the individuals, personalities and situations involved.. It can also detect or predict personal or relational problems. Obviously with this kind of information - the sooner it is known, the better and quicker the results will be. Unfortunately many times this kind of information is never even considered at all leading to potential, unnecessary misunderstanding, lack of awareness, lack of respect, division and/or conflict which may be stated openly or, more often, felt inwardly and subsequently creating a negative impact upon others in compounded ways. Such kinds of assessment should be embraced as useful tools for personal understanding and success OR for success in working or professional relationships.
Interventions: Interventions mean doing something about a problematic situation or potentially problematic situation (whether or not fully realized). It can also mean the wise application of psychological and relational knowledge to make things go better and function more efficiently - even if they appear to be satisfactory already. In God's work there is never cause, nor satisfaction, in settling for unrecognized mediocrity or status quo.
Preemptive Interventions - in servicing an automobile the concept of preventive maintenance is good policy. In the same way preemptive interventions are designed to prevent problems or harm before they can make the first strike.
216-0850