Where Healing Belongs by Larry CrabbWhy would a man redirect his life's work at its zenith?Two years ago, in an interview with Christianity Today, Larry Crabb, a Christian psychologist and best-selling author, announced, "In the end, all counseling—intentionally or not—deals with issues of sanctification. The primary context for healing, then, should be the Christian community, not the antiseptic world of a private-practice therapist."Put simply, Crabb has had a conversion experience, and his new thinking has direct implications for pastoral work.Crabb coined the term eldering to describe what he believes ought to go on in the local church between older, wiser members and younger, struggling

I have often put off taking up this subject and I do so now with considerable hesitation. (footnotes 1,2) The reason why I have this feeling is that I would much prefer to speak on a subject upon which I have more confidence and certainty. The truth is that I once had a good deal of confidence about it but that ended some twenty years ago when, on a summer's day in St Andrews, I purchased a second-hand book entitled, The Theory of Ruling Eldership, by Peter Colin Campbell, Principal of the University of Aberdeen. (3) The reading of that book gave me a considerable shock. While it did not lead me to exchange one view for another, it created in me an uncertainty and convinced me that my former