Counseling in the Church
Of the many things we can say about our current age, one thing is for sure: we live in a therapeutic culture. It wasn’t too long ago that seeing a therapist or counselor was something that you would be pretty discreet about. Today people, both inside and outside the church, are less likely to ask “do you see a counselor?” but instead ask “who’s your counselor?” There are many good things to say about the de-stigmatization of seeking professional mental health help. We recognize that there is something going on inside of us that we need to address - whether or not we’re able to quite articulate it as our own sin, the sin done against us, or simply living in a fallen world, we know something’s not right and we want help.
The question I want to ask in this space is “what would it look like to seek the help we’re looking for within the local church?” Today, the cultural construct equates counseling with a professional service. For Christians, this often means when we need to talk to someone about our sins and sufferings, we look to professionals outside the church. Fortunately, in the DFW area, there are dozens of fantastic professional, licensed, biblical counselors. To consider soul care and counseling within City Church is not to disparage or even compete with these brothers and sisters counseling professionally from God’s word. Instead, my desire is to see more and more of the saints of City Church be equipped for the ministry of counseling as a particular expression of discipleship.
This is the primary reason we have started a Care & Counsel ministry at City Church. The elders see such a ministry as a particular way to equip the saints for the work of ministry and building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12). At present, there are 11 covenant members of City Church that have been meeting over the past few months to pray about and discuss how to faithfully continue to grow a culture of intentional “one-anothering” that can be expressed as care on one end of a spectrum or, as wisdom grows along the spectrum - counsel. This is what the late David Powlison, esteemed biblical counselor, wrote on the topic on how the church interacts with care and counsel:
We should be having significant conversations with each other, talking through things that matter in ways that are helpful. We are to help each other grow wise and loving, in the midst of the way each one of us struggles every day with our sins and sufferings. 1
Maybe this sounds intimidating to you. In some sense, it should! What an awesome yet daunting privilege to enter into one another’s lives in order to speak truth in love, empowered by the Holy Spirit. No matter who we are, we need wisdom from above to grow as believers in Christ, wisdom personified. A congregation of brothers and sisters that is being equipped to read and apply scripture this way is an aspect of trusting God’s word to make and grow disciples in truth, hope, and steadfastness. Our Care & Counsel team will begin writing and posting original content for our church to help shape this conversation and vision. Will you join us in praying that we would have more of God in these pursuits at City Church? He is the source and goal of our care and counsel. Excited to do this with you, family!
1 David Powlison and Heath Lambert, “The Parachurch and Biblical Counseling,” (Unpublished, 2016)