Ministry Vision

Why do smaller churches need a counseling and equipping ministry?

There is a tremendous need all around us and in our churches today for help to face the epidemic levels of psychological problems, broken relationships, substance abuse, loneliness, etc.

Scripture reveals that God is the only one who can truly heal and transform us in Christ (Ezek 36, John 3, 2 Cor 5). He is the ultimate source of the deep comfort, wisdom, and heart change we need (Jam 1, 2 Cor 1). And the redemptive community of the church is a critical part of God’s work in all of these areas (1 Cor 12, Eph 4, Gal 5). In his design smaller churches (attendance 250 and lower) make up the vast majority of churches in North America and worldwide. They have the unique capacity to closely know and care for every member. However, they often lack the resources to provide discipleship for their church in this area, including in-depth counseling for severely struggling members. It is often too much for pastors to be asked to cover all the demands of preaching, leadership, pastoral care for members, and in depth counseling in hard situations. And when pastors refer out to counselors for help they often feel disconnected from or unaware of the kind of help their members receive.

Our ministry works to address this problem by offering comprehensive help that is directly connected to churches. We provide professional biblical counseling, discipleship classes, and lay counseling training directly to churches that is centered on the gospel with an emphasis on encountering God in biblically faithful ways — at the same time we seek to do this with a broad awareness of the insights of psychology and complex topics like the dynamics of trauma, abuse, etc. Our training is through the world leaders in this kind of biblical counseling: the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation (CCEF), Westminster Seminary, and affiliated schools. We also work to make this help affordable by assembling a team of financial partners that underwrite 60-70% of the costs of the ministry to make it affordable for all sizes of churches.

Our professional biblical counseling is set up to work closely with pastors to provide care and consultation for the most complex and difficult problems members are facing. Our CCEF discipleship classes help the whole church understand how God heals and changes us by his grace and enables us all to participate in the this work with each other. And our lay counseling training and ministry oversight enables churches to equip gifted and mature members to provide leadership in the areas of deeper discipleship and counseling. Together, these three areas of classes, lay counseling training, and professional biblical counseling help churches to grow comprehensively in meeting Christ in the hardest areas of life. They help churches grow in health, vibrance, and the ability to minister to struggling people they know in and outside the church.