The lyrical opening to Dire Straits’ ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and the melodic refrain of Brothers in Arms resonated in my sound track while coming of age in the early 80s.
Knopfler’s song, ‘Sailing to Philadelphia’, featured in June this year. I didn’t sail to Philadelphia, ‘a world away from the coaly Tyne’ where family roots lie. I flew there to complete the two modules of Biblical Counselling training provided by CCEF, which require on-site attendance: Counselling Observation and Essential Qualities of a Biblical Counsellor.
Quietly training
For the past 44 years CCEF have been quietly training counsellors in the biblically-rooted process of changing the human heart. In their own words: ‘CCEF is a counselling and educational ministry located in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We were founded in 1968 and the goal of our ministry is to call the church back to the primacy of Scripture as the basis for pastoral care and counselling. The phrase we use to describe our mission is to: Restore Christ to Counselling and Counselling to the Church. We do this by offering counseling services, training in biblical counselling, writing books and articles, and holding a major conference once a year’.
