In Hope When You're Hurting, Drs. Larry Crabb and Dan Allender consider four key questions hurting people ask: What's wrong? Who can help? What will the helper do? What can I hope for? In answering these questions, Crabb and Allender shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of different counseling models. They consider the psychological, medical, and spiritual aspects of emotional pain. They examine the role of the church as a vital agent for restoration and growth.

And most important, they offer principles for finding the help you need. Hope When You're Hurting doesn't settle for easy answers. It tackles the tough questions centered around Christian counseling: Why do we draw a line between spiritual and psychological problems? What is the place of professional counselors? Why does the church seem so ill-equipped to deal with deep pain? What can it offer that counselors can't? Does It possess untapped resources for healing that can.

And should be developed? Crabb's and Allender's perspectives, drawn from each author's wealth of biblical and professional understanding, are penetrating, encouraging, and in places, fascinatingly divergent. Hope When You're Hurting will challenge and inspire professionals and church leaders alike to rethink their views on counseling and Christian community, and to cultivate new vision for the church's role in changing lives.