Biblical counseling is a foundational aspect of ministry in the church. There are many good reasons why we offer five biblical counseling classes at Christ Seminary. Here are three of those reasons.
First, biblical counseling is an essential part of every pastor’s ministry. This may surprise some people, who assume that pastors mostly just preach and visit the sick. Even these two very important aspects of pastoral ministry, however, should be completed in light of the doctrines of biblical counseling. When a pastor preaches, he should preach about the dangers and vileness of sin, about obedience and righteousness, and most of all about the glory of God in the gospel. Preaching in its truest form includes biblical exhortation and correction, as well as teaching about the real nature of God as He is seen in the gospel of Christ. All of these things are intimately related to biblical counseling.
Pastors will counsel biblically in both formal and informal settings. Formally, they will meet with people in crisis. In these situations they will apply biblical doctrines with a loving spirit, addressing issues of sin and idolatry and directing people to repentance and deeper faith in Christ. Informally, however, there are many ways that pastors accomplish the same thing outside of scheduled meetings. Preaching, as I said, could be considered corporate biblical counseling, though it is much more than that as well. Discipleship ministries are probably the most common form of biblical counseling in churches that pursue a regular strategy of discipleship. In these meetings, sin is addressed, encouragement is given, and wise counsel is administered. This is biblical counseling.
Second, biblical counseling is an essential part of each church member’s ministry. What should members be doing in one another’s lives, except applying the teachings of Scripture? Member to member ministry is a fundamental part of church life, without which the church is not functioning as a body. Members can biblically counsel in both formal and informal settings as well.
Members can formally counsel one another in a parallel way to pastors (Rom. 15:14), though it should always be done in submission to the pastors and with their knowledge. Nevertheless, members have the ability to seek training in biblical counseling and can be equipped to minister in this way. Informal biblical counseling should be even more common among members. When two believers meet together, the topics of discussion should center on Christ, regardless of what they are discussing. Issues of sin should be lovingly confronted (Matt. 18:15, Gal. 6:1-2), encouragement should be given from the gospel (Heb. 3:13), and biblical advice should be brought forth (Col. 3:16). This is one type of biblical counseling.
Finally, biblical counseling is an essential part of each Christian’s ministry to his or her own soul. Informally, we will always be examining ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5, 2 Peter 1:10) and we should be working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12-13). This requires that we biblically counsel ourselves just as we do to others—fighting sin (Rom. 8:12-13) while pursuing righteousness (1 Tim. 6:11), and focusing on Christ in all things (Col. 3:1-3). There are even people who biblically counsel themselves formally, giving themselves homework to address both sin and personal weaknesses and rigorously keeping themselves accountable. Some people keep records or journals to track the health of their soul, others make covenants with themselves to fight sin (Job 31:1). Certainly this is a sign of spiritual health.
In these three areas, then, biblical counseling is seen to be crucially important. Let me encourage you all to pursue God’s glory by pursuing training in some kind of biblical counseling. May God grant you wisdom and knowledge as one who counsels from His Word!
--Dean of Admissions
No comments:
Post a Comment