Depression, anger, loneliness, and fear plague us. Other people let us down. We let them down. Financial pressures squeeze us. Sex, drugs, alcohol, pornography, and other temptations seem too strong to overcome. We wonder, “Did I marry the wrong person?”, “Can I ever be happy?”, or “Have I gone so far that God won’t forgive me?”

For all these situations, and many more, we need biblical counsel. We need to know what God’s Word, the Bible, has to say and how it helps us live successfully.

We also need someone to listen—someone who will care enough to take the time to understand, yet be objective enough to help us see from a different perspective. We need others who can guide us with godly counsel to a better place.

That’s where biblical counseling comes in. A caring, godly person listens to your concerns, guides you to an understanding of what God, in His Word, has to say, and helps you learn how to put that into practice so change can occur.

Biblical counseling is simply the process of applying the truth of God’s Word to the problems and questions of life.

Because we believe that “God has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,” (2 Peter 1:3) we know that He has the answer to our questions, concerns and problems. He has given us these answers in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Unlike traditional therapy, biblical counseling doesn’t focus on relieving guilt, building self-image, or easing symptoms only. Biblical counseling allows God’s Word to “discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12) By allowing God’s Word to reveal our motives and confront our sin, we are transformed from the inside out, so we are conformed more and more to the image of Christ.

Contrary to some caricatures of biblical counseling, we do not deny the reality of mental illness. Depending on the situation, the counselor may request that the counselee get a medical check-up to see if any of the presenting problems have physiological causes. If so, the counselee will need to pursue treatment with a medical doctor.

However, it is often the case that sinful patterns of thinking and behavior underlie, aggravate, and/or interact with what have been routinely identified as mental disorders – depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, etc.

The biblical counselor is committed to understanding his or her counselee as a whole person and recommending the appropriate treatment. For more information on this subject, read this ACBC article.

We have a team of trained volunteer counselors who are led by an elder of our church.

When a request for counseling comes in, we evaluate it to determine which counselor would be best able to handle it. For individual counseling, we always try to match women with women and men with men.

When you request an appointment, you will be asked to fill out a pre-visit questionnaire. This questionnaire helps the counselor understand you and your situation before the visit so he or she can be prepared to talk with you.

At the first session, you and your counselor will get to know each other, you will be asked to share about your relationship with God, and you will have the opportunity to explain, in much more detail, why you came in. Your counselor will work hard in this first session to give you hope that God knows and cares for you, that He wants to and is able to help you, and that you can change. You will be given some work to do before the next session. This might include Scripture reading and memorization, reading other materials, watching pertinent videos, or listening to audio teaching.

In subsequent sessions, you will review the work you completed, talk further about your situation, and learn what the Bible has to say about it. You will talk about the expected length and plan for counseling and you may ask questions that you have. Each time you meet, you will leave with work to do. This work is crucial to the counseling, since it helps you discover for yourself who God is and how He can help.

Biblical counseling is a ministry of City Light Bible Church, so it is primarily available to people in our congregation. We will provide counseling to those in other churches or from the community-at-large as we have availability. There is no cost to the counselee.

Websites

biblicalcounseling.com – This is the website for the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. It provides resources for personal needs as well as information for the counselor.

biblicalcounselingcoalition.org – A site bringing together some of the top people in biblical counseling. Resources are available that address many counseling topics.

ibcd.org – The website for The Institute for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship.

ccef.org – This is where we buy most of our minibooks. They have books, videos and other resources.