Counseling & Psychotherapy with Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians equips counseling professionals, researchers, and graduate students with a clear, research-grounded framework for understanding one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the world. Designed for courses addressing religion and spirituality in counseling, this book offers a culturally informed lens for working competently and ethically with Pentecostal and Charismatic (P/C) clients. Drawing on surveys, interviews, and decades of clinical and scholarly engagement, Geoffrey W. Sutton provides:
A comprehensive cultural and theological overview of Pentecostal and Charismatic beliefs, practices, and lived experiences
Research-based insights into the diversity, strengths, and challenges within P/C communities
Clinically useful assessment tools, including questionnaires and structured approaches for case conceptualization
Evidence-informed counseling and psychotherapy interventions tailored to P/C worldviews, spiritual struggles, and help-seeking patterns
"Geoffrey W. Sutton has created THE authoritative source to help mental health professionals, lay helpers, and basically anyone understand people who adhere to Pentecostal and Charismatic practice, values, and beliefs. Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christians constitute the fastest growth in worldwide Christianity. The first part of the book can help all readers--regardless of profession or religious identity--understand people who live into that religion. The second part of the book is a practical and insightful guide to effective helping for psychological difficulties. I highly recommend this book to anyone who seeks to understand and help Pentecostals and Charismatics." -- Everett L. Worthington, Jr., Commonwealth Professor Emeritus
"Counseling and Psychotherapy with Pentecostal Charismatic Christians by Geoffrey Sutton is a well written, comprehensive, and very helpful guide to understanding and counseling Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians. It is a substantial and unique contribution to Christian counseling and also to the field of counseling and psychotherapy. I highly recommend it as essential reading for everyone interested or involved in counseling Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians."
-Rev. Siang-Yang Tan, PhD, Senior Professor of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary and author of Counseling and Psychotherapy: A Christian Perspective, and Shepherding God's People.
"As a Pentecostal theologian, I find Geoff Sutton's
Counseling and Psychotherapy with Pentecostal Charismatic Christians an exciting, interesting work. Moving beyond a facile integration of Pentecostal and Charismatic identity with the latest counseling theory and practice, it relates them in ways that respect the spirituality and worldview of this historic, unprecedented movement. Further, it offers concrete, informed guidance for clinicians ministering to the mental health needs of clients from this distinctive background. I would think it is a must read not only for Pentecostal and Charismatic counselors but for anyone in the mental health field."
-Tony Richie, D. Min., Ph. D., Associate Professor of Theology Pentecostal Theological Seminary, Cleveland, TN
Chapters:
1. Introduction
2. Religious and Spiritual Studies
3. Religion, Spirituality, and Christianity: An Overview
4 & 5. Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity: Introduction & Culture
6. Studies of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians
7 & 8: Discrimination and Abuse Part 1 & 2
9. Pentecostal Cultures: The Battles of Faith and Psychology
10 & 11. Pentecostal and Charismatic Clients & Clinicians
12. Assessment
13. Counseling
14. Devils, Demons, Deliverance
15. Spiritual Struggles
16. Conclusion
