2018-2019 Catalog
2018-2019 Catalog > Courses > PCNS - Pastoral Counseling
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This course is designed for students preparing for pastoral ministries within a community of faith or other para-church institutions, as well as students preparing for pastoral counseling. The course is about pastoral care in at least two senses. First, the ability of pastors to care for their own lives is foundational. Second, the ability to provide spiritual and wholeperson care for other persons is no less essential and linked to the first.
This course is designed to equip students to address occurrences of crisis in people's lives where the stakes are very high for either disintegration or growth. It offers students the opportunity to learn and practice pastoral crisis intervention techniques for various types of crisis. It examines theological and faith issues that arise during crisis events.
This course uses family systems theory as a framework to expose students to basic concepts in pre-marital, marriage and family therapy, as well as, basic pastoral counseling skills and techniques. A theological and biblical foundation for marriage and family processes will provide the lenses through which the relational realities of marriages and families will be approached.
This course examines multicultural issues in counseling and pastoral care and to explore the dynamics and complexities of culture, race, and religiosity in counseling conversations as it relates to individuals and families.