The status of pastoral counseling as it is practiced in the American Baptist churches in outstate Illinois

Includes bibliographical references.One pastor sat alone in his study one night wondering if as many pastors had as much confusion about pastoral counseling as he did. How many hours did other pastors in his geographical area in his denomination contribute to counseling each week? • Did they feel their efforts and emphasis were worth it? How adequately did they know their task as counselors? Seeking some answers, this pastor went to Northern Illinois University. When it was time to do independent research for his qualifying paper, he selected the original question which he had and worked them into a questionnaire. The results of his study are embodied in this paper. Specific thanks go to Dr. Roger Moran for his comments on the subject matter, to Dr. Robert R. Brown for his lucid comments about style and English language, and to Dr. Seward Hiltner of the University of Chicago's Theological Faculty for his suggestions for interpreting the questionnaire, Ihatever has been done well is due to these contributions$ that which is poorly done has been the learning experience of the author. However, in the next pages the findings of the research study are given. With the use of acme imagination, an abstract pastoral counselor will emerge who does a very adequate job of counseling with a very inadequate amount of training.M.S. (Master of Science