2026 Pastoral Counsellors Network

The European Pastoral Counsellors Network is for leaders involved in pastoral care or personal discipleship ministries. The Network will focus on common pastoral issues with the aim of building basic counselling skills grounded in a biblical understanding of, and approach to, the human heart. This year’s programme focuses on the character and spiritual life of the counsellor, understanding how to truly care for those who experience evil and suffering, discipling the whole person, the power of the relationship in counselling, and other topics relevant to those involved in pastoral care and discipleship.

2025 Network Theme - Knowing God, Self, & Others Better: A Christian Approach to Assessment

The Gospel calls us to love God and our neighbor as our ourself, based on Christ’s redemption. But we can’t love what we don’t know. So, Christians have historically paired knowing with loving. Contemporary psychology has advanced the quest to know ourselves with its attempts to assess features of the human soul like personality, intelligence, and psychological disorders through measurement. However, the most important features of human life are beyond measure, like integrity, spiritual growth, glory, and love. Consequently, a Christian approach to assessment supports the use of sound psychological tests but recognizes that the fullest knowing and loving of God, self, and others involves the Spirit and the heart.

What Network Participants Are Saying

• "As a pastor, I often feel overwhelmed and quite lonely in my ministry, helping out people in the church, encouraging evangelism, and 'fixing' all sorts of physical and spiritual problems. ELF is the occasion for me to be served, encouraged, and strengthened in many ways: physically, emotionally, and of course, spiritually. I feel refreshed, equipped, and encouraged thinking about going back to my congregation."
  - Michal Domagala, Pastor, Poland
• "Being in the Forum’s Pastoral Counsellors Network has been an incredible experience. It has been so helpful because I spend my time working with elders, people in the hospital, and also discipling young people. I have been blessed by the many brothers and sisters I have met, by connecting with them, hearing their stories, and receiving their advice." 
  - Emanuela Marinkovic, Medical Student, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• "I came to the European Leadership Forum to learn more about how to help people in need of counselling. We went through a difficult situation in my church that involved spiritual abuse. The Forum has helped me to understand how to relate to people in a deeper way, especially those who need spiritual and emotional healing, and how to point them to Christ the Healer."
  - Samuel Carp, Youth Leader, Romania