Encouragement: The Key to Caring

by Larry Crabb, Dan B. Allender, Allender, PLLC, Dan B.

Book Overview

Encouragement. It's more than a compliment or a pat on the back. According to Drs. Larry Crabb and Dan Allender, it is the most basic form of counseling -- a skill that can be mastered by laypeople as... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0310225914
• ISBN13: 9780310225911
• Release Date: June 1990
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.4" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Encouragement: Meaningful ministry for the Masses

This book has been sitting on my shelf for about four years. What a waste. I should have read it much sooner. This is a great little book and an excellent resource for every Christian. We are all called to encourage one another (Heb 10), but often we don't know how. Sometimes we are too caught up in our struggles to recognize the needs of others. Sometimes we are satisfied to never let our conversations pass beyond shallow words. If you want to minister to others in a meaningful way, then learn to encourage. If you don't know how to be an encourager, then read this book.

Spiritual Friendships

Some books age well. Normally that's because they present timeless truth in timeless ways. They avoid dating themselves by wedding themselves to the latest fad or passing fancy. Encouragement is just such a book. It describes the power of timely spiritual conversations motivated by grace and spoken heart-to-heart. This work is the most practical and immediately applicable of the many works by Crabb and Allender. Extremely useful for equipping lay counselors and caregivers. Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction, Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction, and Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction .

Encouragement is inspired by love and directed toward fear

"A few well-timed words suited perfectly to the need of a particular moment can yield enduring results in someone's life. When layered Christians meet together, their purpose is to protect themselves from each other or to use each other to enhance their own self-esteem. The basis of our fellowship is our shared life in Christ by promoting fuller appreciation of Christ through mirroring Christ to one another, treating each other as valuable bearers of the image of God, and accepting one another in spite of shortcomings. We are to understand the fears, defenses and needs of others and to become committed, not to sharing ourselves, but to sharing the Lord by ministering to those needs. We handle negative emotions three ways: repression, unrestrained expression or acknowledgement and proper expression to God. Change takes place when truth is presented in relationship. The essence of encouragement is exposure without rejection by conveying confidence to change. Encouragement is the fruit of a self-examined heart and a compassionate, discerning sensitivity to the needs of others. The work of restoration is to help self-centered, unbelieving, fearful people to become Christ-centered, trusting and bold."I read this book as an assignment for a Bible Counseling course and found it extremely helpful. One new idea I learned was "My desire is to be encouraged, but my goal will be to minister to others." I've been struggling with my own need for encouragement and Chapter 5 helped clarify it for me: I need to learn to trust God for my own encouragement and focus my attention on ministering to others - only then will I know true joy.

The title says it all

Wonderful book from the team of Crabb and Allender. It shows both the importance of encouragement and how one can do it. It is from a Christian point of view and is consistent with Scripture. This book changed my life by showing me that encouragement, not demandingness, is the most effective way to promote possitive change in others. Although that is a goal, it actually changes the encourager as much or more than the one they encourage. Highly recommended

Short but powerful!

A great book! Dr. Crabb shows us how to move beyond "surface community" and into true encouragement...first by confronting our own desires to be encouraged ourselves. He'll lead you to some surprising conclusions.