I have just started reading the Christian Counselor’s Manual where on page 12 Dr. Adams says counseling is pastoral work and that “persons with a life-calling to do counseling ought to prepare for the work of the ministry and seek ordination, since God describes a life-calling to counseling as the life-calling of a minister.” Does Dr. Adams mean a counseling ministry is not possible for women since women are not ordained?

Absolutely not. While all pastors should be counselors it does not follow that all counselors should be pastors. Listen to what he says earlier on the same page. “To say that the Christian minister is counselor and preacher, par excellence, means that he is called to these works as his function or office in the church. It does not exclude much teaching, exhortation, and counseling on the part of every Christian, incidental to his particular gifts and calling.” We know of no pastor who would not desire to have a cadre of well-trained women counselors in his church to call upon and refer other women to.