COUNSEL YOUR FLOCK

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PAUL TAUTGES

“One of the surest signs of the blessing of God upon His people is the gift of spiritual shepherds who faithfully care for His flock,” writes Paul Tautges. Sadly, pastors today have become business professionals who are no longer content to shepherd their flocks by teaching the Word of God and caring for their souls, but instead farm their people out to psychological counselors, who are incapable of meeting the real needs of people.

Here is an urgent appeal for teaching shepherds to return to authentic biblical ministry: to be tenacious in their study and preaching of the whole counsel of God, and tender in their application of its demands to the lives of God’s sheep through the personal and pastoral ministry of counseling. In his companion book, Counsel One Another, Paul defended the role of every believer in the discipleship process; here he concentrates on the specific ministry of pastors and elders, particularly their role in leading God’s flock to spiritual maturity and equipping it for effective service. He reminds ministers that they have a privileged responsibility to function as undershepherds for Christ, the Chief Shepherd, but those who are faithful will receive an eternal reward.

Dr. Paul Tautges has served Immanuel Bible Church in Sheboygan, Wisconsin as pastor-teacher since 1992. His preaching and teaching ministry takes him overseas for the equipping of national pastors for the work of church-based ministry. He is also the author of Delight in the WORD: Biblical Counsel for Everyday Issues and is a biblical counselor certified with the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC) and the International Association of Biblical Counselors (IABC). Paul and his wife Karen have nine children.

This book gets it right! Comprehensive and convincing, Counsel Your Flock shows how true biblical counseling and preaching fit hand-in-glove. Those who preach, teach, or counsel regularly are sure to benefit greatly from this helpful resource.
—Dr. John MacArthur, pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California

The ministry of counseling has for too long been relegated to the professional counselor. Paul Tautges brings the biblical command for discipleship right back to the local church and to all believers. Rather than send people who are struggling spiritually, socially, and emotionally to a limited group of professionals, Tautges makes the case theologically that the responsibility for all church members is to disciple one another and to restore hurting people. In this companion to his previous book, Counsel One Another, he makes it clear that for this one-another ministry to take place it is essential that pastors understand the key role that they play in the discipleship process. Believers need a way to measure their pastor’s discipleship philosophy and skills and pastors need a way to teach them to be involved in the counseling, discipleship, restoring-one-another ministry. This is a book about local church discipleship, of which leadership is a big part. Counsel Your Flock addresses an important need. This is a must read!
—Dr. Ron Allchin, Executive Director of the Biblical Counseling Center in Arlington Heights, Illinois

A gathering storm surrounds the day in which we live, a dark hour in which the absolute sufficiency of the Scripture has come under attack. But how refreshing–and rare–to see a book like this that asserts the irresistible power of God’s Word to develop true discipleship by the sovereign working of His Spirit. This is not a ‘trendy book’ like so many, blown about by the prevailing evangelical winds. Rather, here is an anchor for authentic ministry that will stimulate real spiritual growth in God’s people. May the Lord set an open door before this book and use it to affect the lives of many.
—Dr. Steven J. Lawson, Senior Pastor, Christ Fellowship Baptist Church, Mobile, Alabama