You love people and you love God?s Word. How do you relate your two loves? Spiritual Friends provides a biblically relevant training manual and a relationally practical workbook for relating God?s truth to human relationships. Whether you?re a loving lay person, a caring pastor, a competent professional Christian counselor, or a student-in-training, Spiritual Friends will equip you to master the personal ministry of the Word. Enrich your spiritual friendships with thousands of illustrative interactions and hundreds of skill-building exercises that teach you how to: *Sustain people so they know that it?s normal to hurt.*Heal people so they know that it?s possible to hope.*Reconcile people so they know that it?s horrible to sin, but wonderful to be forgiven.*Guide people so they know that it?s supernatural to mature.?In Spiritual Friends, the second of a three-volume series on Christian counseling, Dr.
Kellemen continues to provide biblically based wisdom for lay, pastoral, and professional counselors. Focusing on how Christian friends can contribute to personal healing, he supplies a resource that skillfully equips his readers to think biblically, diagnose with wisdom, and intervene through relational interactions. His approach embodies the ?bear one another?s burdens? principle with great sensitivity and boldness.?--Dr. Archibald Hart, Executive Editor, American Association of Christian Counselors?I know of no other book that offers counselors, pastors, ministry leaders, and spiritual coaches such a comprehensive and biblical resource for learning and teaching the art of soul care as Spiritual Friends. It accomplishes what few books have ever attempted to do?lay out for us in very practical terms the Bible's marvelously rich, but complex, pathway for cultivating the art of being a true spiritual friend. It?s a book designed to give you an intense work-out, stretching your capacity to help others grow and change in ways that you probably have never imagined.? --Dr.
Kevin Huggins, Provost, Philadelphia Biblical University; Author, Friendship Counseling?Deeply rooted in the Holy Scriptures and in the best wisdom of pastoral theology, Spiritual Friends will bless and challenge everyone who reads it. Spiritual Friends reminds us that spiritual fitness requires more than introspection and private devotions. We live and grow in relationship to others, especially our friends. Friendship is a word Jesus used to describe his relationship to his disciples, and Dr. Kellemen shows why spiritual friendship is essential to a healthy and normal Christian life.? --Dr. Timothy George, Executive Editor, Christianity Today; Dean, Beeson Divinity School of Samford University?Spiritual Friends unveils a profound way of living within the Body of Christ. Dr.
Kellemen?s stimulating exercises will challenge you to examine yourself in light of a rich theology of relational ministry. His scriptural suggestions for doing the work of a spiritual friend will equip you to relate to others, perhaps in a way you never thought possible. Today?s Church needs to be reminded of these insights packaged in vivid examples, relevant application questions, and thorough scriptural reflection.? --Dr. Jeff Forrey, Chairman, Department of Biblical Counseling, Trinity Theological Seminary.