Pastoral Counseling
What to Expect:
Be assured that a certain amount of anxiety before and during the first one or two sessions is normal. The process of counseling can often be challenging in the beginning and can involve speaking about circumstances and feelings that are possibly difficult to face. Although few people find the process pleasurable at the onset, most find counseling not only helpful and rewarding, but discover that with commitment and dependency on God, that it can potentially transform their life and ultimately change the directional course of living through the discovery of one’s God-given purpose.
The Process:
The counseling/coaching/ministry process is only effective when the client is a WILLING PARTICIPANT. If the client is unwilling and resistant to the process then neither the counseling, coaching nor ministry process is effective.
Many people have pre-formed ideas about what a counselor/coach/minister would want them to talk about or how they "should be" during a session. Please be assured that you are not on stage and need not feel compelled to act in any particular way. Honesty about your thoughts and feelings, and trust in the Lord are the most important contributions you can make to the process. You can expect that your counselor will provide you with attention and respect, along with the application of his or her expertise and dependency on the leading of the Holy Spirit, in effort to help you resolve the challenges that lead you to GRM.
The Goal:
The goal of a Pastoral Counselor is to provide a life-changing process for the client, which involves internal change. Christian counseling is a process of transformation that focuses on exchanging self-destructive patterns with purposeful kingdom life. The goal for the client is to learn to live from the truths of God’s Word, depend on goodness of God and to stop feeding on the lies of the past that gives the enemy a foothold in their lives. The goal is not to teach problem solving skills that may or may not affect external circumstances, but to heal the root cause of the issue through the use of transformational tools and the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit. Freedom from current or past bondage and pain, and wholeness in Christ based on the assurance of God’s love is the desired outcome of counseling.
Target Areas:
Pre-Marital/Marital Counseling
Family Counseling for Adolescents
Individual Counseling for:
- Anxiety
- Addiction
- Anger issues
- Depression
- Emotional abuse
- Physical abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Trauma
- Spiritual formation
