Facilitating Counseling Groups

A Leader's Guide for Group-Based Counseling Ministry

John Chapman, III, Brad Hambrick

• Publisher: New Growth Press
• Year: 2023
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781645073321
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Leading a counseling group is different from leading a general discipleship group, even if both exist at the same church. A counseling group focuses on a specific need, garners heightened levels of vulnerability about matters of greater sensitivity, and requires more skill and intentionality from its leader. When a layperson is well-equipped, this kind of ministry is tremendously rewarding, as they see God multiply the work he did in their life with people walking a similar journey.

Brad Hambrick and John Chapman equip lay leaders to be effective in a group-based counseling ministry within the church. By learning how to use their life experiences and a group curriculum to help others overcome a life-dominating struggle of sin or suffering, leaders will learn to share the comfort and hope for change that can only come from God.

• Part of the Church-Based Counseling series designed to help churches mobilize and utilize levels of care from friendship to mentoring to counseling groups.
• Introduces readers to the G4 model of group-based counseling.
• Outlines the dynamics of leading a topic-specific peer counseling group and underscores the importance of ongoing support and training for group facilitators.
• Includes foreword by J. D. Greear

Table of contents

• Foreword
• A Word to the Reader: Don’t Skip This
• An Introduction to G4
• 1. Thank You for Embodying 2 Corinthians 1:3–5
• 2. Introducing the Three Life Cycles of Groups-Based Counseling
• 3. How G4 Groups Differ from Your Church’s Small Groups
• 4. Seven Core Values of G4
• 5. Learning G4 Roles and Terms
• Section One: Understanding the Life Cycle of a Night of G4
• 6. Creating Awareness and Clarifying Expectations
• 7. Welcome: From the Parking Lot to “Hello”
• 8. Large Group: Reinforcing the Culture of G4
• 9. Subject-Specific Groups: Working on Life Struggles
• 10. Debrief: Caring for Your G4 Leaders
• 11. Job Description of a G4 Director
• Section Two: Supporting the Life Cycle of Group Participants
• 12. From Attendance to Commitment
• 13. Working the Nine Steps for Sin-Based Struggles
• 14. Working the Nine Steps for Suffering-Based Struggles
• 15. Using a Non-Nine-Step Curriculum Without Confusion
• 16. Working with “That” Participant
• Section Three: Facilitating the Life Cycle of a Group
• 17. G4 as an Open Group Model
• 18. Stage One: Creating a Sense of “Us”
• 19. Stage Two: Navigating Resistance to Change
• 20. Stage Three: Creating a Shared Culture
• 21. Stage Four: Doing the Hard Work of Change
• 22. Stage Five: Graduating and Celebrating Friends
• 23. Job Description of a G4 Facilitator
• Appendix A: G4 Series Nine-Step Curriculums
• Appendix B: What to Do When Something Goes Bad-Bad
• Appendix C: The Ten Commandments of G4 Self-Care for Sustainable Leadership