At Capitol Hill Baptist Church they are serious about equipping the congregation to minister to itself - training laity to care and serve each other effectively, in this case in the realm of biblical counseling, to the glory of God.
One of the ways I am benefiting from this is a small group I am in on Tuesdays. We are learning introductory material in the "Transformation Series." This semester we're completing a workbook entitled "How People Change: How Christ Changes Us by His Grace." The coursework is offered through the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF for short), and is based on both a book and a full course taught at the CCEF center, both of the same name as the workbook. For those of you familiar with CCEF, the workbook is written by Paul David Tripp, Timothy S. Lane, and David Powlison contributes. The course is geared towards helping both the lay counselor-in-training (me) pursue growth in godliness as well as help others toward the same end.
To get a better idea of what that looks like, this is what they write in the introduction to the workbook:
Many people in our culture would call How People Change a self-help course because it leads people through steps of self-examination and change. However, the Bible would use two words for this material. The first word would be gospel. This course is a study of what God has done in Christ to transform us from idolatry-enslaved sinners to people who are like him, zealous to do what he says is good in a world that is terribly broken. This course celebrates the truth that Jesus came to save us because we are unable to save ourselves. His work addresses the deepest and most personal issues of the human experience. This course calls people to know their world, to know themselves, and to know the Lord and his grace. The second word the Bible would use for this course is discipleship. Discipleship is walking with someone as he or she learns to walk more faithfully with the Lord. Rather than helping themselves through this course, people are being discipled by the Lord as they are discipled by you...Our ultimate goal is to encourage people to: 1) Look at themselves in the mirror of God's word, 2) Know and rely on Christ's grace and 3) Step out into life with renewed faith and courage.
The course thus far has been teaching me a lot about God's promises and my own heart's reactions as well as equipping me to ask better questions of people as I talk with them about their own spiritual walk.
I have a lot of great resources that I have gleaned from the classes, so expect more posts in this topic.
2 comments:
HEEEYY!!!! yay for apple-picking, dog walking, and bible study partaking. haha. it's nice to hear how you guys have been. I'm really glad that the dog walking worked out. i assume bobby has been super busy. That's really great that all of the interns get to travel with mark for the week. i've been super busy with school, so im sorry for being lame and not calling. I think this blog will at least make it a little easier for me to get tuned into what's going on in your lives out there. what color are the leaves there? haha its hot and sunny here....like always.... nice to hear from you! -jake
Excellent. I'm so grateful for CCEF's ministry - the Lord has used David Powlison's wisdom in biblical counseling to teach me more about godly relationships and "speaking truth in love"(Eph 4:15). CJ Mahaney has said that he has personally learned more about sanctification from Powlison than anyone else.
"Grace and truth are ministered in the spontaneous give-and-take of talking, doing, and relating with one another ... Perhaps you've heard it said, 'If people would only sit under good preaching and have regular personal devotions, they wouldn't need counseling.' That statement is well-intended. It's even partly true since lots of personal problems are transformed by public ministry of the Word and by private ministry of the Word. But the statement is completely untrue in its premises and conclusions. A central purpose of good preaching and private devotions is to create wise counselors and promote mutual counsel! When any personal problem is in fact truly transformed, a wise counselor of others has been produced. Fruitful interpersonal ministry of the Word is the main proof that sermons and devotions are worth the time and effort."
I haven't read Lane's book but keep us all updated on how that goes. I'm interested in what he says.
Post a Comment