2026 Pastoral Counsellors Network

The main requisite to be a good counsellor is to be a good listener. To listen carefully and empathically is deeply healing in itself. A frequent pitfall is to believe that you need to answer and “give solutions” to all the questions of the counselee. Counselling is not primarily a matter of answering questions, but asking the right questions.

Career crises are a substantial source of parishioner grief and pain. Career disruptions, discontinuity and detours stir career anxiety and distress, which are common sources of suffering, particularly amongst Christ followers. Pastoral counsellors can be a stabilising and decisive voice to nurture an inner sense of calling- a consuming, meaningful passion people experience towards a domain. More importantly, spiritual formation around one’s divine vocation fuels a life stewardship experience that satisfies across the lifespan (Col. 3:17). The timeless question of vocation is not merely “what will I do with my life?” but “how will I live out my soul formation journey and fill my place in God’s great redemptive drama?” Pastoral counsellors stimulate an illuminated vocational imagination, built around the doctrine of stewardship, that sustains a co-authored life story. In short, a Christian theological perspective on vocation turns work into worship. The workshop will include practical applications to manage career-related grief built on key helping principles (i.e. deep empathic listening, linking to core theological values, and leaning into identity characteristics) and apply a holistic assessment model that accounts for features of the spiritual self as one explores the situation, expands support, and executes strategies.

There will be a day when there is no more crying and no more death, but until that day comes, everyone in our churches will face the pain of grief. Together, we will look at how we can help one another navigate the journey of grief: attentive to its complexities, compassionate in the face of the big emotional and practical needs it raises, and confident in the hope that only Christ can bring.

Leadership is not only about vision or strategy—it is about how we guard and steward our hearts under pressure. Scripture reminds us that being “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry” (James 1:19) is central to the life God desires. Too often, leaders suppress or mismanage emotions, leaving teams unsettled and relationships strained. This talk explores how emotional honesty, guided by the Spirit, can grow self-awareness, empathy, and courage—shaping leaders who reflect Christ with clarity and compassion.