{Book Review} Gospel-Centered Marriage Counseling

Baker Books has published Gospel-Centered Marriage Counseling: An Equipping Guide for Pastors and Counselors by Robert Kellemen. This is a book that fills a big void in the biblical counseling world.

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Gospel-Centered Marriage Counseling: An Equipping Guide for Pastors and Counselors

Though there are surely many books in general on marriage and counseling, there are few that are written for the purpose of equipping counselors to do the counseling. In Gospel-Centered Marriage Counseling, Bob Kellemen gives the church an incredible resource to help in the specific area of marital counseling. 

Kellemen mentions in the introduction that he wrote this book for trained biblical counselors, laypersons, and educators. This is a “hands-on training in biblical marriage counseling.”

Part One: A Theological Primer for Biblical Marriage Counseling

Part one of the book is called “A Theological Primer for Biblical Marriage Counseling”. As expected, this is where Kellemen provides the foundational teaching of marriage from God’s Word. Part two then is “Practical Training for Biblical Marriage Counselors”, and this is indeed the bulk of the book. 

Part Two: Practical Training for Biblical Marriage Counselors

Part two of the book helps the reader to develop 22 relational competencies that can be divided into three main topics:

1. Infusing Hope
2. Parakeletic Biblical Marriage Counseling for Suffering Spouses
3. Nouthetic Biblical Marriage Counseling for Sinning Spouses

Kellemen uses the “Sustaining, Healing, Reconciling, and Guiding” paradigm that he uses in most of his other counseling books. 

This book is super helpful for the counselor! Not only is the main material very instructive, but there are many figures in this book that are likewise valuable. There are “Maturing as a Biblical Marriage Counselor” sections that are practical and interactive. These sections are all over the book, and they are definitely worth spending time in. 

There are many excellent books out there on biblical counseling, but this is the type of book that will be cherished by those involved in the task of biblical counseling. It is truly a book for anybody interested in helping to minister God’s Word to struggling marriages. I hope that many will learn from Dr. Kellemen’s wonderful work. I highly recommend this! 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Baker Books for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The opinions expressed are my own.