Caring for Families Caught in Domestic Abuse: A Guide toward Protection, Refuge, and Hope

So many churches struggle to understand the dynamics of abuse and how to properly address it. This book, written by experts in helping the Church, is a resource that should be on every pastor's, elder's, women's ministry leader, and counseling minister's shelves. If churches truly love their congregants they will both hold abusers accountable and protect the oppressed.

Baker, et al., does an excellent job delving into the different areas biblical counselors can help children struggling in various situations. AN impressive book that is much needed in our current time.

An incredible resource for those impacted by a destructive domestic relationship—and the people trying to help. Godly, practical, clear guidance.

This is another excellent resource, but one we all wish didn’t need to exist. Sadly, the stain of domestic abuse (or intimate partner violence, or family violence) spreads throughout families, and Christian homes are not untouched. It is edited by Chris Moles, who is a pastor, biblical counsellor, and works with perpetrators. He has brought together experienced people in this field, providing a guide to care for families caught in domestic violence. It is comprehensive, covering numerous aspects: church response, victim care, perpetrator accountability & counselling, and the impact on children. A very worthwhile resource for anyone in Christian churches who is counselling or working with families affected by domestic violence, or looking to establish a ministry to do so.

This book shows the complexity of Domestic Abuse. Too often, we want things to return to normal so we can tie it up with a pretty bow. But what about recurring abuse? If an abuser makes apologies and promises, is that enough?

The authors alert us to the brain-altering thoughts and subsequent behaviors. How often is a wife expected to simply "submit?" God values the Sanctity of Life at an even higher level than the Sanctity of Marriage.

I was particularly intrigued by the pervasive "entitlement" of the abuser.

Seeing both abuser and victim as made in the Image of God encourages us to hold both to high standards, expecting God's best for both. This includes a guide for discerning true repentance in the abuser.

In this book, Moles calls us to great patience and humility in dealing with abuse. He calls us to benefit from the years of wisdom and experience of his contributors so we don’t have to make unnecessary mistakes when dealing with real lives. The book covers important topics such as how to recognize abuse, how to recognize trauma and prioritize the safety of victims, how the church can respond using a team approach and church discipline, and how to assess for repentance in perpetrators. There are specific chapters on how to counsel victims, oppressors, and even children.

While dealing with abuse is a daunting task, the church has a great privilege and responsibility to call perpetrators of oppression to repentance and to work with the oppressed within their own congregations. This book shows us that domestic abuse is a matter of gospel witness and integrity, demonstrating how Christ loves his bride and showing that God cares about doing justice and loving mercy. To paraphrase Dr. Diane Langberg, if we open our eyes to see those that are suffering, we may begin to realize that trauma is perhaps the greatest mission field of the 21st century.

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I work with at-risk youth. This book has been extremely helpful. Recently, the church went through a crisis, and I used the information in the book to help the kids to understand how to respond biblically.
I'd say that if you minister to children, you should have this book on hand.

You can’t go wrong with this one. Author does a great job

I have a degree in Pastoral Counseling and look for books that will help me in my ministry with children. This book is by far the very best that I've ever read on ministering and counseling children. This book gives real-life solutions to complex problems. This isn't a "theory" book. It deals with many of the problems that children, adolescence and parents face. If you are a Pastor, teacher, counselor, children's worker, etc. you ability to understand and counsel will be greatly enhanced.

This book was recommended by our learning team. It is wonderful! The subjects include many subjects children and dealing with. What makes this book worth the money is that different authors give a detailed explanation of of a "case." They then share how they counseled the first couple o f weeks with both mother and child (and father if appropriate). The stories hit on many subjects, and gives learners a basis when preparing for a case . The suggestions and bible verses are great, and the authors explain why they are using certain verses. They also include how the child and mother should be treat ed and homework suggestions for both. I have studied this book for hours since receiving it, and feel more confident if I do get assigned a child.

What a great and insightful book! Navigating difficult trials are hard for adults and even more so for children. As a teacher, I can feel lost at times when helping my students process big emotions and sinful reactions that often appear in the classroom. I'm thankful to work at a small classical Christian school where the Gospel's good news is woven throughout our curriculum and everyday practices. But some situations are more severe than others, and the fear of the unknown often leaves me paralyzed.

Caring for the Souls of Children: A Biblical Counselor's Manuel (New Growth Press) is an engaging and practical resource for counselors, pastors, ministry leaders, teachers, and the like to help children process and work through their specific struggles with the help of the Bible. This in-depth resource begins with a summary of foundational principles for counseling and working with children and addresses a different topical situation in each chapter.

One chapter I found extremely helpful was the section on helping children with friendship. Children usually expect friendship to come and remain easy. They view friendship from an "all about me" lens. Many of their friends enjoy the same hobbies and think as they do. But how do we help our children go beyond their friendship comfort zone? How do we help them think of friendship more sacrificially? Caring for the Soul of Children helps lay a scriptural foundation for viewing friendship in the light of the Gospel. Christ was our friend when we were still dead in our sins with nothing to offer him, and yet he chose to draw us to his side (John 1:14). Sharing and modeling this with our children helps them see how the Gospel permeates how we view companionship. This chapter also had helpful sections on dealing with peer pressure and bullying, which are very prevalent in today's society, whether in person or online.

Two other helpful chapters included working with anxious children and children dealing with death and grief. Because of COVID-19, many of our children have experienced the loss of loved ones, seen parents go through immense stress because of job loss and decreased finances, and shared the overnight, abrupt changes of a world in a pandemic. Caring for the Souls of Children provides excellent activities and questions to help children process their fearful emotions while being reminded through scripture of God's great care for them. By reminding them of God's unchanging promises, we help lay a framework they can carry into adulthood regardless if life brings joy or sorrow.

I'm abundantly thankful for the "Word to Parents" section in each individual chapter, as well. Partnering well with parents is an important part of classical education and I appreciate the helpful tools to help bring parents into the daily conversations about our sin and struggles that are happening at school.

This is a book I'd love to have when I was studying counseling. And is a book I will recommend to all my classmates from now on. Edward T. Welch, and Joni Eareckson Tadda are authors that I have enjoyed through the years, so when I saw they were contributors and I had Rob Green as professor years ago, so I wanted to read the whole book. I have taken some courses that focus on children counseling before, the common drawings and figures you show to children, as usual interpretation is very subjective with some methods, in some courses I have taken I didn't find the ideas/methods very legit or scientific to get to a children's heart, they just consider behavior or were truly boring (treating children, pre-teens and teens as very immature creatures). Don't get me wrong, children are indeed immature, but we don't have to underestimate them, we can communicate and deal with hard issues with good communication, just as we do with grownups it is what Amy also explains. The wisdom and practical ideas this book have to approach a children's heart, their attention, and what I loved the most: how to help their own parents to help them and involve in the healing/improvement process, I totally agree with that approach (obviously when the parents have mental health and are not toxic. I found that a very valuable approach in this book.

"For children, the struggles, desires, and hopes are no different than for those of us who are adults. Therefore, the counsel we provide for them should lead them to the same place—the good news of Jesus Christ".

I absolutely recommend this material and can't way to see how these practices are going to improve future counseling sessions. I'm grateful for all the serious and devoted authors of these chapters. It is a good idea to keep this manual handy.

Several things about Caring for the Souls of Children encouraged me.

First, I loved how practical it is. Throughout the book, each contributor provides activities and questions that will help a counselor to hear and understand a child’s struggles and also to communicate biblical truth. I particularly liked Julie Lowe’s “boat and refuge” activity (pp. 98–100) that can be used to help an anxious child name their fears and find refuge in God. Second, I was thoroughly encouraged by the intentional ways each contributor included the child’s parents into the discussion. Contributors were careful to say that many children don’t need counseling, they simply need godly parenting. So the best approach is often to give counsel to moms and dads on how to parent their kids. Every chapter in part 2 ended with a section titled “A Word to Parents.” These closing paragraphs give mom and dads wise instruction on how to further engage their kids outside of a counseling session.

Third, I was deeply impressed with the contributors’ awareness of how both sin and suffering impact children. Biblical counselors can sometimes put uneven emphasis on personal agency, but the contributors to this volume—without denying a child’s responsibility—demonstrated a conviction that brokenness is bigger than sin. In Charles Hodges chapter on self-harm, for example, he describes how the endorphin rush that comes when cutting is part of what draws those who self-harm back to it (p. 197). In Pam Bauer’s chapter on children who are not living with their biological parents, she unpacks at length the trauma of loss, confusion, grief, and fear children experience when removed from their homes or given up for adoption (pp. 280–87) These are just two examples, but nuanced discussions of various struggles abound. Other favorites of mine are Jessica Thompson’s treatment of the parent-child relationship (chapter 5), Tim Geiger’s approach to talking with kids about sexual identity (chapter 12), and the Joni and Friends team’s chapter on counseling children with disability (chapter 15).

Often, in Q & A sessions, Jay Adams would be asked, "What subjects still need to be written about for biblical counselors?" His answer was always, "counseling youth." With this book, Amy Baker and company have taken a huge bite out of that need. As with any book written by many contributors, some chapters are more helpful than others, but the sections of the book written by the editor are gold. If any part of your counseling ministry includes working with children, you must read this book!

Great resource to help counsel children and teens!