Outline: Principles of counselling ministry
Listening & Caring Skills by John Salvage
I. Thesis: It is important that any pastor attending to a counselee possess good listening skills and mannerisms. He or she should be caring by showing empathy when need be.
II. Story listening
• Essence of story listening
Why is story listening crucial? Does it have impact on the final solution? Yes it is has since one cannot provide a solution to a problem he is not fully aware of.
• Body language’s role in story listening
• The key points to note in the story
• How to react while listening to the story
• Ensuring one understands the story
One should be able to engage the counselee completely so as to get the full details of the problem, through even rephrasing. This allows the individual to confirm their thoughts.
III. Story polarization listening
What is story polarization?
Why does it happen?
How is story polarization handled?
a) Listening and responding to the polarities of the story
a) The nature and characteristics of a polarity
b) The essence of balance
c) Interpreting polarities
d) Story checking using polarities
e) Polarization as conflict parts
f) Importance of listening to polarities
IV. Life commandments
What are life commandments?
What impact do they have on the counselling process?
How does the belief system work?
a) Listening to the deep belief system that characterizes a person’s behavior
• Ways we obtain our belief systems
• Life commandments by interface
V. The linguistic bridge
• What creates the gap between the suffering individual and the rest of the surrounding?
• How to cope up with the bridge
• How to do away with the bridge

Solution Focused Pastoral Counseling by Charles Kollar chapters 1-7
I. Thesis: the book introduces pastors to a whole new method of counselling. The counselling method should be solution focused so as to allow for faster recovery of the counselee. Many a times, the solution lies within the holder of the problem.
II. Individual paradigms
• A question of focus
a. What is it that has stopped humans from acting on their own new ideas
III. Christian faith
How does the Christian faith aid or deter the process of counselling?
What if the counselee has no faith? How should the pastor tackle the situation?
• A story of change
a) The apostle Paul announced an anticipated total new beginning
• Subordination
• Mental health
• Truth
• Agreement with Gods intention
IV. Deficiency language
• The world of mental health
I. Issues regarding another person’s health in one way or the other affects us
• Symptoms or stuck?
• A Baby’s brain
• How do you see?
• Mind of Christ
• Counselling and the pastor
• The nature of psychopathology
• The expert
• Labelling
• Williams story
• Twelve steps
• A counter culture

V) Hidden presuppositions
• Old wine skins
a) Counseling has been categorized as either being directive of non-directive
• What is the root cause of the problem?
• Biblical counselling and the root cause
• Cognitive counselling and the root cause
• What is maintaining the problem?
• Becoming solution focused
• How do we create solutions?
VI) Meaning is perception
VII) Identity formation
VIII) Guiding assumptions