Are You Looking For Counseling That Is Consistent With Your Values And Beliefs?
Does God feel indifferent or distant and you need help cultivating a more intimate relationship with the Lord?
Are you having marital difficulties and want a counselor who has a high regard for the biblical view of marriage?
Perhaps you would like to address your mental health challenges with guidance rooted in the gospel?
Maybe you have sought out a counselor who you thought shared your worldview and would address your issues in a Christ-centered way. Yet after weeks of sessions and hundreds of dollars spent, the counselor never even mentioned Christ. As a result, you were left feeling disappointed, invalidated, and frustrated.
As a biblical counselor I frequently hear stories of believers who have taken the first step toward change and trusted a Christian counselor with the most private details of their lives only to find that they were not receiving the Bible-based counseling they sought but rather secular or non-religious counseling.
There Are Different Types Of Christian Counseling
One reason this happens is because it is so difficult to find a biblically sound counselor amidst the confusing array of options. There are: Christian psychotherapists, Christian psychologists, Christian counselors, biblical counselors, nouthetic counselors, pastoral counselors and on and on. This makes it hard to distinguish one from another and still harder to find the right one.
A superficial glance at these different faith-based options would reveal many similarities but a closer look would reveal providers on a continuum: on one end are counselors who counsel from theories and principles rooted in Scripture and on the other end are counselors who have a Christian worldview, but whose teachings and practices are indistinguishable from secular therapists.
Secularized Christian counselors merge the Bible and psychology and make them co-equals. This often reduces the Bible to a source of moral insights, hope and comfort rather than the supreme interpreter of human behavior, thought, and motives, and the navigational guide for addressing problems through the process of progressive sanctification for the purpose of developing Christlikeness in the believer.[1]
When this secularized approach is adopted, the Bible itself, the Gospel with all its implications for holy and wise living, and the local church may play little or no role in counseling conversions.[2]
When believers cannot find a counselor who validates their Bible-based views they can become disillusioned, hopeless, and never get the help they need.
If you recently met with a counselor and felt let down, you are not alone. Many Christians have told me that they experienced the same thing; they were searching for meaning, healing or a stronger connection with God only to be unable to find a counselor who was a good fit. If this is the case with you, please take heart, you have found a counselor with a Christian worldview and a biblical approach who can help you overcome life’s most difficult challenges.
I am a licensed, seminary trained, biblical counselor and I point my clients to a person, Jesus the Redeemer, and I place my trust in his transforming power as the only hope that genuinely changes people’s hearts, not in a human system of change.
I believe that a counseling approach principally grounded in the Bible will be the most effective for the believer, and that the further one strays from Scripture in one’s “Christian counseling,” the less genuine change at the heart level will be possible.
For this reason, I offer counseling that is dependent upon the authority and sufficiency of God’s Word through the work of the Holy Spirit. I believe that Scripture is relevant to all of life, and it provides wisdom and direction to address whatever challenges life presents.
I do not view the Bible as a self-help book that you open to look up a topic, such as anxiety, and collect what you need to get through life’s most difficult moments. Rather, I see the Bible as God’s great story of redemption, which has much to say about anxiety and other mental health and relational issues.
In counseling I help my clients reorient their disordered desires, affections, and behaviors toward a God-designed anthropology to restore true worship of God and right relationship with others. This is accomplished by speaking the truth in love, applying Scripture to the need of the moment, addressing the heart, by comforting the suffering and calling sinners to repentance, thus working to make them mature as they abide in Christ.[3]
What Can I Expect In The First Counseling Session?
Coming to counseling for the first time can be anxiety inducing so I will do my best to reassure you and allay any fears you might have. I usually begin my sessions with prayer for those who feel comfortable with it.
Next, we will go over your intake forms and discuss what brought you to counseling. As I listen to your story and get to know you, I will do my best to ask good questions, listen well, be non-judgmental and try to build a strong alliance with you. The way I treat my clients is rooted in Jesus’ love for me, and I delight in sharing his love with others.
I bring Scripture into every counseling session, and I seek to apply it in a personal, grace-filled, holistic way, which addresses the body, mind, and heart.
We will then discuss your goals and start to develop strategies for how best to achieve them. I believe that wise counseling must be transformative and change oriented. At the conclusion of our session, I will offer you encouragement, hope, and direction rooted in the gospel, and I will pray. With my help and support you will be on the road to change
You May Be Interested in Gospel-Centered Counseling But Still Have Questions
Do You Ever Use Secular Resources?
Secular psychology makes useful observations, performs helpful research, and performs intervensions that I find beneficial. For this reason, I sometimes adapt its insights and techniques. But this is always done with care so as not to conflict with my core beliefs.
Is Biblical Counseling More Effective Than CBT?
Biblical Counseling is considered by some to be a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, but it is different in some important ways and can be more effective at helping people work toward lasting change.
In its simplest form, CBT argues that all psychological distress is the result of cognitive distortions: bad thinking produces bad actions and feelings. Interventions are intended to change an individual’s thoughts.[4]
Biblical counseling not only addresses unwanted thoughts such as doubts, despair, lust, or fears, but the underlying root causes. These are found in what Jesus called the “heart," the inner person, the command center that drives you. Tim Keller writes-
“What the heart most loves and trusts, the mind finds reasonable, the emotions find desirable, and the will finds doable.”
If love for God and love for others motivates you, lasting change is possible. Doubt can be turned to faith. Despair to contentment, lust to self-control, fear to peace, and hatred to love.
Can Non-Believers Benefit From Biblical Counseling?
I regularly see non-believers or those exploring Christianity and I try to tailor my sessions to meet the individual where he or she is spiritually. While I believe that deep and lasting change is brought about by Jesus, my methods can still be beneficial to all.
Are You Ready To Transform Your Life?
If you are searching for meaning, healing or a stronger connection with God and want a counselor who shares your beliefs, you have come to the right place. Please step out in faith and contact me at 973-464-2759 for a 15-minute, no-obligation consultation, and I will answer any additional questions you might have. I am looking forward to helping you transform your life.
From the foundation of the world, God knew your suffering and declared that he himself would take human form and participate in them. Our God is not a distant, indifferent God. Ed Welch, CCEF.
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