{"id":25053,"date":"1981-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1981-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/1981\/10\/01\/reflections-of-christian-doctor\/"},"modified":"1981-10-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"1981-10-01T00:00:00","slug":"reflections-of-christian-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/reflections-of-christian-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections of a Christian Doctor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In his eighty-three years, Paul Tournier has developed a unique ministry. He has combined a formal medical training at Geneva Medical School with a lifelong desire to meet the spiritual needs of troubled people in a counseling and writing ministry that has reached millions around the world.<\/p>\n\n<p>His many books (beginning with The Healing of Persons) draw on consulting-room observations of patients who come to him for medical and spiritual help. &#8220;I teach nothing, I only listen,&#8221; says Tournier. &#8220;Yet that in itself is a ministry. People need to express their loneliness and insecurity, and put it in Christian perspective.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>With his warm and gracious manner, Dr. Tournier epitomizes the caring, pastoral counselor, although he takes pains to disavow that title. &#8216;XI don&#8217;t presume to advise pastors on their work. I esteem pastors very highly. They must have inspiration from God, not inspiration from me. They have a very difficult job.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>Yet church leaders do listen to Paul Tournier. In a recent survey we asked LEADERSHIP readers to &#8220;List books you have read during the past year.&#8221; Tournier&#8217;s books were frequently mentioned.<\/p>\n\n<p>LEADERSHIP editor Terry Muck met with the semi-retired Tournier at his home in Geneva, Switzerland, and asked him to comment on some of the issues facing local church leaders: the family, pastoral effectiveness, and young people. Interpreter Gloria Floreen translated the French-speaking Tournier&#8217;s responses.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-article-copyright\">Copyright &copy; 1981 by the author or Christianity Today\/<em class=\"citation\">Leadership Journal<\/em>.\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/le\/help\/permissionsprivacy\/permissions.html#answer\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"copyright\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here<\/a> for reprint information on <em class=\"citation\">Leadership Journal<\/em>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his eighty-three years, Paul Tournier has developed a unique ministry. He has combined a formal medical training at Geneva Medical School with a lifelong desire to meet the spiritual needs of troubled people in a counseling and writing ministry that has reached millions around the world. His many books (beginning with The Healing of <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/reflections-of-christian-doctor\/\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[3143],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[142],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[572,573,156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3569,3698,3823,4425,4596,4608,5046,5190],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-25053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-terry-c-muck","tax_publications-1981-leadership-journal","tax_publications-fall_1981-leadership-journal","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-children","tax_ctp_tags-counseling","tax_ctp_tags-divorce","tax_ctp_tags-marriage","tax_ctp_tags-parenting","tax_ctp_tags-pastoral-care","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-formation","tax_ctp_tags-trends"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- 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