Do you associate the word “counseling” with the word “church”?
Many today would not. But we at LaRue Baptist Church believe that counseling is a vital ministry of the church. You see, counseling is all about change; change that takes place through listening, talking and reflection. Such change occurs by influencing behavior, motivations, values, thoughts, beliefs, desires and attitudes, and that is a ministry of God’s Word. The Scriptures expose the human heart; they address the values, motivations, beliefs, thoughts and attitudes of the heart; and are all about the kind of change that we, today, call “counseling.” In other words, the Scriptures are sufficient for the task of counseling. So whether you talk about marriage problems or obsessive compulsive disorder, depression or parenting, the Scriptures have sufficient resources for the task of accomplishing change, and God has entrusted the ministry of that Word to his Church.
God, then, requires his people, the Church, to help those who struggle by using his powerful Word. “Counseling” and “Church” indeed belong together.