Biblical Counseling and the Noble Label of Pastoral Care

welcome!

This conference aims to call pastors to the noble labor of pastoral care and to equip them for wise practice and coordination of care for the hurting and the wayward.

You are more than welcome on July 6 and 7, 2026. The conference will be held in the auditorium of Tyndale Theological Seminary in Badhoevedorp.

Day 1 focuses on the calling of pastors and ministers to care for people as a core part of gospel ministry. It highlights how God’s Word transforms the heart and shapes responses to life’s troubles, and how the Word is ministered in public, private, and personal contexts.

Day 2 focuses on counseling, equipping pastors for heart-centered conversations about personal struggles. Biblical counseling aims to build trust in the Lord through Scripture, offering a distinct approach to suffering. The day also introduces a general method for engaging the heart, applying Scripture, and coordinating care beyond counseling sessions.

Voor onze Nederlandssprekende gasten:
Hoewel de conferentie in Nederland plaatsvindt en de meeste bezoekers Nederlands spreken, is de voertaal van de conferentie Engels.

Door geen vertaling aan te bieden, krijgen internationale sprekers meer tijd voor hun presentaties en kunnen ook gasten van buiten Nederland de conferentie volledig volgen.

Voor degenen die op zoek zijn naar Nederlandstalige conferenties, raden we Hart voor de Gemeente van harte aan.

Good news! There are still spots available.

sign up

costs

The registration fee for this two-day conference for Preachers & Leaders (including lunches, coffee & giveaways) per person is as follows:

Standard	€ 110,-
Earlybird	€ 85,- (until 15th May)
Student	€ 65,-
1-Day	€ 55,-

hotels

We’d like to point you to this location for those looking for an overnight stay:

Corendon Village Amsterdam (link)
Ibis Airport Amsterdam (link)
Amsterdam Lake Hotel (link)
Boutique Hotel Herbergh (link)

program

Monday 6 July

08.30 – Doors Open: Arrival and Check-In

09.30 – Welcome & Introduction

10.00 – Exposition of Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, The Labor of Care
– Laurens Pruis

11.00 – The Noble Labor of Caring for God’s People
– Deepak Reju

12.15 – Lunch

13.30 – How Scripture Transforms the Heart
– Jeremy Pierre

14.45 – Breakout Sessions:

The Use of Scripture in Pastoral Counseling Throughout Church History
– Ryan Davidson
Gospel Clarity in the Cultural Context Mental Healthcare
– Ellen Oosterhuis
Counseling People, Body & Soul
– Jeremy Pierre

16.15 – Panel Discussion (Q&A)

17.15 – Dinner

19.15 – Public, Private, and Personal Ministry of the Word
– Deepak Reju

Tuesday 7 July

9.30 – Welcome

9.40 – Exposition of Scripture: Romans 12:1-2, The Transformed Life
– Ryan Davidson

11.00 – The Unique Purpose of Biblical Counseling
– Jeremy Pierre

12.15 – Lunch

13.30 – A Method for Counseling and Care Conversations
– Jeremy Pierre

14.45 – Breakout Sessions:

Scrupulosity, OCD & Faith
– Ryan Davidson
Untangling Emotions
– Ellen Oosterhuis
Pornography
– Deepak Reju

16.15 – The Church and Coordinated Care
– Deepak Reju

17.15 – Closing

descriptions

The Noble Labor of Caring for God’s People
– Deepak Reju
Pastors have a joyous labor of shepherding. It’s good labor, but also a hard one. What does a faithful shepherding of God’s flock involve

How Scripture Transforms the Heart
– Jeremy Pierre
In Scripture, God speaks to the whole heart, including the thoughts, emotions, and choices that make up a person’s response to whatever context he occupies.

Public, Private, and Personal Ministry of the Word
– Deepak Reju
The public, private and personal ministries of the Word are all vital for our work of caring for God’s people. What do they each contribute and how do they work in coordination together

Breakout Option 1: The Use of Scripture in Pastoral Counseling Throughout Church History
– Ryan Davidson
This session will be an overview, with case samples, of how Scripture has been a primary resource in counseling Christ’s people throughout the 2,000 year history of the church.

Breakout Option 2: Gospel Clarity in the Cultural Context Mental Healthcare
– Ellen Oosterhuis
This session will address the many options of (christian) mental health care in the Netherlands that we take into consideration and the question how a biblical view of the person helps to find gospel clarity in the midst of this.

Breakout Option 3: Counseling People, Body & Soul
– Jeremy Pierre
Human beings were created body and soul to know the Lord and to occupy his world as his image bearers. This is vital to recognize in counseling.

The Unique Purpose of Biblical Counseling
– Jeremy Pierre
Biblical Counseling aims to help individuals understand their own heart responses to the difficulties they face and to compel trust in promised help of God.

A Method for Counseling and Care Conversations
– Jeremy Pierre
A simple method of intentional listening, cooperative reflection, and biblical guidance is often effective for helping people understand themselves and, more importantly, the Lord in the context of their troubles.

The Church and Coordinated Care
– Deepak Reju
If we think at the level of the congregation, how do we develop a counseling ministry? And what does it look like when the church as a whole embraces the care of souls?

Breakout Option 1: Scrupulosity, OCD & Faith
– Ryan Davidson
This breakout will provide a helpful look at obsessive thought patterns that can seem overwhelming, and particularly those related to religious, ethical or faith matters (scrupulosity). A focus will be considering the hope in Christ one can have as fear, worries and obsessive thoughts arise particularly about the spiritual walk.

Breakout Option 2: Untangling Emotions
– Ellen Oosterhuis
In a care system and a cultural context that takes our emotions in high regard we will think of a biblical view on emotions that help us to be informed, but not lead by our emotions.

Breakout Option 3: Pornography
– Deepak Reju
We’ll consider the best strategies for defeating pornography. Our goal is to consider how you come alongside a struggler and make sure he or she has sustained victory in Christ.

speakers

Dr. Jeremy Pierre is Dean of the Billy Graham School at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of several books, including When Home Hurts (2021), The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life (2016), and The Pastor and Counseling (2015). His writing has appeared in outlets such as Tabletalk Magazine, 9Marks Journal, Baptist Press, and The Gospel Coalition. He serves as an elder at Clifton Baptist Church and lives in Louisville with his wife, Sarah, and their five children.

Dr. Deepak Reju (MDiv, PhD) is senior pastor of Ogletown Baptist Church in Newark, Delaware, co-host of the Counseling Talk Podcast, and a trustee of CCEF. He is the author and co-author of several books, including On Guard, Pornography, Fatherhood, and the Rescue Plan series, and editor of the 31-Day Devotionals for Life series. Deepak is married to Sarah, and they have five children.

Dr. Ryan Davidson has served as pastor of Grace Baptist Chapel in Hampton, Virginia since 2008. He holds degrees from Samford University, the College of William & Mary, Southern Seminary, and a PhD from the Free University of Amsterdam. Ryan also teaches internationally and serves as Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at IRBS and adjunct professor at Tyndale Theological Seminary in the Netherlands. He is the author of Thinking Through Anxiety and Green Pastures, and a contributor to the Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. Ryan is married to Christie, and they have four children.

Ellen Oosterhuis runs a private practice as biblical counselor / psycholoog. She studied mental health science and psychology in Maastricht and Utrecht and has worked as Cognitive Behavioral Therapist at Eleos. She moved overseas to the US and Singapore for 11 years. In that time she got in contact with CCEF where she started courses in biblical counseling and recently earned her masters in biblical counseling at Westminster Theological Seminary.

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Laurens Pruis is the Preaching Pastor at Gereformeerde Baptistengemeente Rotterdam-Zuid (Reformed Baptist Church of South Rotterdam). He earned an M.Div. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and was sent out by Kenwood Baptist Church to plant a church in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He is also a Ph.D. candidate in Biblical Studies at SBTS.

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