Why Biblical Counseling?
God graciously surrounds each one of us with those who, at times, could use help. Maybe your friend, co-worker, neighbor, fellow church member, or family member faces one of many difficult life issues. In these times, God in His kindness provides the body of Christ to serve each other through His Word. This aspect of one-another ministry is known as biblical counseling. The goal of biblical counseling is to help individuals meet the challenges of life in a way that will please and honor the Lord Jesus Christ while allowing them to enjoy fully His love and His plans for their life.
As a function of discipleship in the local church, biblical counseling provides opportunities to help brothers and sisters in Christ as they seek to live a Christ-centered, Christ-exalting life in the midst of suffering. This correlates alongside the Bible as it urges each Christian to serve one another in love (Gal 5:13-6:5). There are thirty-one such commands for the members of the church to serve one another well. In His grace, Jesus provided every Christian everything necessary for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:2-11).
As a function of discipleship in the local church, biblical counseling provides opportunities to help brothers and sisters in Christ as they seek to live a Christ-centered, Christ-exalting life in the midst of suffering. Click To TweetConversational ministry between members, revolving around how Christ and the gospel impact daily living, functions as the foundation of true growth and change for members as they seek to handle the pressures, struggles, and genuine suffering of life in a broken world (Eph 4:11-16). Many times, as an added benefit, there are opportunities to present the Gospel and see folks saved.
How do you get started with Biblical Counseling?
Where do you start? What do you do? How would God desire to use you and your congregation to speak into another person’s life and circumstances? How do you get someone from one’s problem to a God-centered, Christ-exalting, Spirit-enabled, Bible-specific solution?
Initially, the pastor develops a vision for what Christ can do through him and other church members in the lives of other people. The culture often mutes pastors and other church members as they are convinced they do not know enough to help. Many Christians and pastors feel below the baseline, almost afraid that seeking to help another person might hurt them. Over time then, there is a growing separation between the pulpit ministry and actual face-to-face, conversational ministry from the Word of God to those in the midst of deep suffering. The pastor sees this disjunction and asks God to grant him the passion and skill to help his church serve each other through God’s enablement.
Rather than seeking to add counseling as another ministry of the church, the pastor then engages in conversational ministry rather than refer people out to other professionals. The pastor will find that this new engagement creates both a renewed atmosphere in the church of soul care, as well as a new passion in his heart for quality application of the Word in his own public ministry.
As the pastor more intentionally works with others, he can invite other mature, key leaders to sit alongside him to observe. Over time, they will be able to serve others in the church as well as under the shepherding care of the pastor. Before long, the church will increasingly seek to restore those caught in sin and help bear the burdens of those in suffering (Gal 6:1-5).