Deepak Reju
Articles by Deepak Reju:Book Review: Wired for Intimacy
Reviewed by Deepak Reju
Talk to ten males, and you shouldn’t be surprised to discover that a strong majority of them struggle with internet pornography.
Sex seduces. Sex sells. And sex powerfully affects the male brain. Now William Struthers, associate professor of psychology at Wheaton College, has helped us to better understand why sexual images so powerfully affect men in particular with his book Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain.
HOW PORNOGRAPHY REWIRES THE BRAIN
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Book Review: Counsel from the Cross
Reviewed by Deepak Reju
“My counselor never prays or uses his Bible.”
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard a variation of that sentence, I’d be a rich man. Sadly, many evangelical Christian counselors buy too heavily into secular thinking, while they too sparingly apply their faith to counseling.
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Discipling Men vs. Discipling Women
By Deepak RejuDebbie called me on Friday because she’s having a hard time in her marriage. Like many pastors, I regularly put out fires like this one. I talked and prayed with her, and then I called her husband to talk over the situation.
There are a thousand questions that I have to sort through as I shepherd John and Debbie (not their real names). Do I invest more in John and send Debbie to a godly woman? Do I meet both of them for marital counseling? Do I meet up with Debbie, and, if so, what is my pastoral responsibility to her?
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Where Does Your Congregation Turn For Help?
By Deepak Reju
My wife and I were on a marriage retreat with twelve couples. The men and the women were painfully but honestly working through the failures in their marriage. The small group leaders for the retreat were then instructed to help the couples think about how the gospel applies to their marital weaknesses. Afterwards, I sat down and debriefed with the small group leaders and this is what I got:
"It was the slowest part of the weekend."
"People just didn’t know what to say."
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Five Advantages of Church-Based Counseling
By Deepak Reju
"God knows me well," a friend once said to me. "He knew that, apart from the accountability and love that comes from a Christian community, I would not survive in this world."
God never meant for Christians to live alone. Through the church on earth, therefore, he created a place where Christians could gather for corporate worship, accountability, fellowship, instruction, and godly exhortation. I would even dare say that the fullest expression of our faith cannot occur apart from loving communion with other believers in a local church.
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Counseling and Discipleship
By Deepak Reju
How are counseling and discipleship related? Let's think about this in terms of two pictures, a river and a battle scene.*
A RIVER
Our discipleship in Christ is like sitting in a boat on a river that flows toward him. Sometimes the river is winding and slow. Other times it's is rocky and fast. But gratefully his Spirit is always drawing us toward him, increasing our love for him, his word, and his people. As we flow down the river toward him, different men and women help to disciple us along the way. And we are called to help disciple them.
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Twenty Ways to Cultivate a Culture of Counseling
By Deepak Reju
By equipping your members to counsel one another, you enable them to do the front-line work of ministry. Here are twenty ways to cultivate a culture of counseling and discipleship in your church:
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