How People Grow: What the Bible Reveals About Personal Growth (Paperback)
by Dr. Henry Cloud, Dr. John Townsend
Do you want to attain personal and spiritual growth in your life? Do you look for guidance to help others? You''ll surely find all what you need just here. You will find practical and proven wisdom in Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend''s impressive resource
How People Grow: What the Bible Reveals About Personal Growth. Starting with the good premise that all growth is spiritual growth, Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend expound on the concept. Dr Henry Cloud postulates that we spend too much time focusing on problems, rather than on root issues. "We are not just to help others ''feel better'' or relate better or perform better," writes Cloud. Rather, he says, people must get back into a relationship with God. With this in mind, there''s a brief lesson in theology ("the ''Big Picture''"), then a look at topics such as acceptance, forgiveness, obedience, and suffering.
Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend have impressive credentials: they are cofounders of Cloud-Townsend Clinic, cohosts of the nationally broadcast
New Life Live radio program, and Gold Medallion winners for the bestselling
Boundaries. Boxed summaries of important concepts for growth facilitators, charts, counseling anecdotes, and lots of bullet-pointed text make the content of the resource accessible. Professional and lay readers will both find biblically based tools here for personal growth and guiding others.
"This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title," Cindy Crosby says. Cloud and Townsend attempt in this book to chart personal growth from a biblical perspective. Rather than suggesting that real growth happens only to Christians, they argue that most effective therapeutic methods, even those that are ostensibly secular, use biblical concepts.
As such, they look to Scripture for the very best strategies for spiritual and emotional growth. While they are critical of a one-size-fits-all approach to human suffering, they do prescribe a combination of prayer, Bible study and regular contact with a "growth group" for virtually every problem they address.
The growth groups they describe are populated by healthy, vulnerable people who are willing to confront each other lovingly and own up to mistakes and failures. Cloud and Townsend argue persuasively that such groups facilitate dramatic changes in individuals'' lives, but leave the logistical problem of finding such evolved folks to the reader. Perhaps the most radical message of the book is that failure is the norm, even for the most devout.
Not only do the authors repeatedly give examples of the best Christians committing the worst sins, but also insist that such wrongdoing never warrants condemnation from God or other believers. Instead, they argue, sinners must experience total acceptance and love before true repentance and change can occur. This solid, Bible-based argument against guilt and for grace is a powerful elixir for evangelicals who all too often hear the opposite message.
The most important matter that attracted me to this resource is that it is very practical and realistic. It presents so many stories and experiences from many people wrestling with many issues that we ourselves do face in our everyday lives.
Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend shatter popular misconceptions about how God operates to reveal how growth really happens.
Henry Cloud
Dr. Henry Cloud is a popular speaker, and cohost, with Dr. John Townsend, of the nationally broadcast New Life Live! Radio program, and cofounder of Cloud-Townsend Clinic and Cloud-Townsend Resources.
John Townsend
Dr. John Townsend, clinical psychologist, entertaining speaker, and co-founder of Cloud-Townsend Resources, has authored or co-authored nineteen books.