The Association of Certified Biblical Counselors has chosen the 2022 biblical counseling book of the year. The winner was selected by a vote of our certified counselors.
Winner: Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God [1] by Tim Challies
On November 3, 2020, Tim and Aileen Challies received the shocking news that their son Nick had died. A twenty-year-old student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, he had been participating in a school activity with his fiancée, sister, and friends, when he fell unconscious and collapsed to the ground.
Neither students nor a passing doctor nor paramedics were able to revive him. His parents received the news at their home in Toronto and immediately departed for Louisville to be together as a family. While on the plane, Tim, an author and blogger, began to process his loss through writing. In Seasons of Sorrow, Tim shares real-time reflections from the first year of grief—through the seasons from fall to summer—introducing readers to what he describes as the “ministry of sorrow.”
Seasons of Sorrow will benefit both those that are working through sorrow or those comforting others:
See how God is sovereign over loss and that he is good in loss
Discover how you can pass through times of grief while keeping your faith
Learn how biblical doctrine can work itself out even in life’s most difficult situations
Understand how it is possible to love God more after loss than you loved him before
Second Place (Two Winners):
Legal Issues in Biblical Counseling: Direction and Help for Churches and Counselors [2] by T. Dale Johnson Jr. and Edward Charles Wilde
Is the church vulnerable to the pressures of governmental regulations regarding moral issues in counseling? How should biblical counselors navigate their responsibilities before God and government requirements? And what exactly are those requirements? In Legal Issues in Biblical Counseling, pastors and biblical counselors who are seeking to faithfully lead, mentor, and guide their flocks in a rapidly changing cultural landscape will find clear direction and guidance from a team of Christian lawyers.
Dale Johnson Jr. and Edward Wilde, along with a host of experienced lawyers and biblical counselors, set out to encourage the church to engage responsibly in the ministry of biblical counseling while seeking to comply with governmental regulations. They explain the importance of involving legal counsel in creating ministry documents, setting up liability insurance, and counseling those involved in the legal system.
Learn how to communicate about your counseling ministry with clarity, protect yourself and your counselees from litigation, and what to do in the face of a potential lawsuit. You will also find encouragement to press on in ministry with full trust in the Lord, knowing that he will care for his church and that the gospel will continue to move forward.
Do You Believe What God Says About You?: How a Right View of Your Identity in Christ Changes Everything [3] by Steve Viars
Who are you? You carry your answer to that question around your home, community, workplace, and church. But how does your self-image compare to God’s perfect understanding of you?
In Do You Believe What God Says About You?, pastor and biblical counselor Stephen Viars encourages you to trade misgivings about your identity for the Bible’s life-changing affirmations of who you were made to be. You will
- let go of the painful thoughts and feelings that accompany a broken self-image
- develop positive habits for your mind and body that empower you to daily put God’s truths about your worth into practice
- grow in your love for Jesus as you realize how His death, burial, and resurrection have eternally changed who you are able to be
Perfect for personal use or group study, and an ideal resource for biblical counselors, this book offers 31 chapters that feature inspiring insights, practical illustrations, helpful journaling questions, and guided prayers that will help you define your identity as God does.
Third Place: Unmet Expectations: Reshaping Our Thinking in Disappointments, Trials, and Delays [4] by Lisa Hughes
Plain and simple, life doesn’t always turn out the way we imagined. Yet, we can respond in God-glorifying ways even when circumstances fall short of our desired hopes and expectations. With practical, biblical counsel from the Scriptures, we have the tools we need to put away sinful responses and be women who smile at the future (Proverbs 31:25). In reshaping how we think about disappointments, trials, and delays, we can grow in contentment, trust, and hope in the unexpected parts of life. In each chapter we’ll look to the Scriptures for the life-transforming help only God can give. This book is designed to be an aid to growth, which is why inductive Bible study questions accompany each chapter, providing even more treasures from God’s Word for hope and encouragement.
If you would like to purchase any of these books, please use ACBC’s AmazonSmile [5] page. A small portion of every sale will go towards ACBC when purchases are made through this link.