THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
9Marks: Do you think a pastor can counsel from the pulpit?
Tim Lane: Certainly. Preaching is a form of counseling because it's
one part of ministry of the Word. Now, there needs to be consistent exegesis
and good application. But if preaching is pointing people to Christ so that
they're learning to worship him and the living GodFather, Son, and Spiritthen
it's counseling.
9M: I've heard you like the word "discipleship" more than the word "counseling"
in the context of the local church. Is that right?
TL: Let me nuance that slightly. The word "discipleship" communicates
daily growth in grace as a result of the means of grace in the life of the
churchfellowship, the Word, prayer, sacraments. The word "counseling" is understood
oftentimes as a formal session with a degreed person trained to deal with complex
issues. But the liability of the "counseling" word is that it tends to communicate
that there's another solution or theory or message that changes the person.
Christians understand, hopefully, that discipleship occurs through the gospel.
But when you talk about counseling, people can think that the gospel isn't
sufficient. And that's clearly wrong.
I'm comfortable using both terms, but would put both the discipling ministry
of the church and the counseling ministry of the church (which will focus more
on severe problems) under the ministry of the Word. Both discipleship and counseling
depend on the same message of change (the gospel) and the same text (the Scriptures).
9M: So describe the ideal church in regard to counseling and
discipleship. What picture should we aim at?
TL: I would paint a picture of a church that has as broad a definition
as possible of what the ministry of the Word looks like. People who emphasize
the ministry of the Word typically point to preaching. I want to say, "That's
a very important aspect of ministry of the Word, but what about everything
that follows?" The small group, the one-on-one formal meeting, or the conversation
in the hallway where someone's asking for advice are all opportunities for
the ministry of the Word.
Now, are the conversations in the hallway consistent with the pulpit ministry?
Suppose the pastor preaches on anger from the Scriptures. Then the person who
hears the sermon goes to a friend and says, "I'm struggling with anger." At
that point, the friend will either support the ministry of the Word in the
church or not.
The ideal church is where the pastors who do the more formal public ministry
of the Word focus on Christ in their preaching. Then the ministry of the Word
doesn't stop there; it continues throughout the church. The discipling ministry,
the children's ministry, the youth ministry, the missions work, the worship
ministry, the friendships and familiesall of this operates on the same page
by being Word oriented and Christ centered. Elders and deacons are taking the
Word into their work. Parents are learning to bring the gospel into how they
train their kids. Husbands and wives are thinking about the centrality of the
gospel as they relate to one another. And the list goes on and on.
In terms of counseling, I do believe in the importance of having better trained
and more skilled pastoral counseling staff for intervening in serious crises,but
they should not be doing all the counseling themselves. They should be training
and equipping small group leaders, maybe for more skilled lay counselors. They
should be creating a culture of discipleship and counseling in the life of
the church.
In the ideal church, you're swimming in a sea of Word-saturated relationships.
People are constantly asking, "How can we make this messagethe redemptive
work of Father, Son, and Spirit for us through what Jesus has done in His life,
death, and resurrectiondrive what we do?"
9M: Where do you see this broader idea of the ministry of the
Word pictured in Scripture?
TL: There are many passages, but three stand out in my mind. The first
is 1 Peter 5. The elders are to be shepherds, to feed, to care for, to exhort,
to correct, to guide, and to nurture the sheep through the Word. The primary
work of the elders is to ask the question, how can we best see our people be
conformed to the image of Jesus?
The second is Ephesians 4, particularly where Paul calls the leadership to
equip the saints. The leaders should think about how they can we equip the
entire body of Christ to be participants in one another's sanctification.
The third passage presents what 1 Peter 5 and Ephesians 4 look like when the
leaders apply them. It's Colossians 3:12-17, where Paul exhorts the entire
body of Christnot just the teaching eldersto let the Word of Christ dwell
in them richly, so that they may instruct and exhort one another with all wisdom.
Where there is a culture of gospel saturation in a church's relationships,
there is this growing skill in teaching and admonishing one another with all
wisdom.
9M: How would you envision a non-Christian responding upon entering
this kind of church?
TL: The life of the Word-centered church is an incredible apologetic
to a watching world. Paul says in Ephesians 5 that we're to live as children
of light andhe uses an interesting phrase"expose the darkness." The word
translated as "expose" doesn't so much get at the idea of finger pointing as
it does the idea of persuading by our counter example. When we live
as children of light, we live a persuasive lifestyle that gets the attention
of the non-Christian. A rich counseling ministry in the life of the church
has wonderful evangelistic implications as we live life in the culture and
persuade others of the truth of the gospel.
GOSPEL-CENTERED COUNSELING
9M: Moving into the topic of a counseling ministry itself, what's
distinctive about CCEF's and your understanding of counseling? And what
distinguishes your approach from modern secular psychology?
TL: The major category that gets excised in secular psychology is the
category of the transcendentthe reality of a living God before whom we're
accountable, a living God who intervenes by his grace in the person and work
of Jesus.
In our own work, and in what we try to teach through all our resources at
CCEF, is a view of counseling that is utterly Christ-centered. The gospel forms
the center of how we think about counseling, and so you will find on-going
connections to what Jesus has done for us and the benefits and blessings that
are ours if we are united to him.
Start with justification. That's a wonderful blessing that comes to us by
virtue of our union with Jesus. We are forgiven and counted righteous. Jesus
died in my place the death that I should have died because I was a sinner.
And the life that I'm required to livea perfect lifehas been lived by Jesus
for me.
Then think of the doctrine of regeneration which is connected to progressive
sanctification. Sanctification starts at the moment you're regenerated because
you are given the Spirit. I have a new nature. I am a new creation in Christ.
I have a new heart. That doesn't mean I have a perfect heart. I have a new
heart. A new heart is valuable, because it's sensitive in the way the old heart
wasn't to the things of God, to the Scriptures, to the influence of Christian
brothers and sisters.
Often we use the word "progressive" in front of the word sanctification because
most of the time it's a very slow process that takes place over a long period
of time. Sometimes a person might be delivered in a short period of time from
a dominating enslavement to anger or sexual lust, and we're thankful for those.
But by and large, growth requires a lot of effort that is, of course, given
to you by the work of the Spirit. We are participants. It's a fight. J. C.
Ryle said the two marks of the Christian is a new peace in a person's
life because he is now free from guilt and condemnation, but also a new
fight because of the Spirit's work to destroy remaining sin completely.
Another blessing that comes to me because of my union in Jesus is the fact
that I am adopted. I am no longer living with God in a court room trying to
woefully defend myself and saying "I'm not guilty," when in fact I am. Because
of what Christ has done for me, God is now my Father, and I live with him in
the context of a family, and that relationship is irrevocable.
Not only does the doctrine of adoption focus individually. It's also corporate.
I am adopted into a familybrothers and sisters in Christ, and that's to be
worked out in the context of commitment in the local church.
Another benefit of our union with Christ is the assurance of perseverance
and glory. If I really belong to Jesus, he's not going to let go of me, even
when I'm struggling at my lowest. Then there is the wonderful promise that
one day this struggling sinner will be glorified. There is an end to the struggle,
and there's hope.
9M: Does your book How People Change address these issues?
TL: Yes, the book How People Change seeks to put forth a very
basic and fundamental understanding of who God is, who we are, what kind of
world we live in, and how change happens through the redeeming work of Christ.
It's trying to lay out the big picture and to put forth a very practical view
of the Christian life. You might say it's trying to put forth a robust biblical
and gospel-centered Christian psychology.
PROMOTING DISCIPLESHIP AND COUNSELING
9M: What are the most important things pastors or elders should
think about as they seek to promote discipleship in their church?
TL: Oftentimes, in some evangelical and Reformed contexts, we're first
and foremost concerned about protecting the purity of our doctrine. That's
certainly important. But we also need to think about how we are going to help
our people live the Christian life with the common problems that we all struggle
with. If we don't move to the practice of our doctrine, then we're missing
something fundamental. How do we diagnose people's struggles and problems biblically?
How can elders and pastors apply the gospel with skill and relevance to people's
lives, to marriages, to families? These questions need to be on the radar screen.
This is why I love the Book of Ephesians in this regard. Ephesians 1 through
3 is awesome stuff. Look at all the wonderful things God has done for you
and his glory. Then in chapter 4 he takes this jumbo jet that was flying at
30,000 feet and lands. He says, "Here's how it plays out in your daily life."
Chapters 4 to 6 are how to work together as a church, how to parent your kids,
what marriage should look like, and how you should view your role in the world
that God has placed you in.
9M: How do you train lay people in lay counseling and discipleship?
TL: If I were pastoring right now, I would be using CCEF's curriculum!
COUNSELING REFERRALS AND RECOVERY GROUPS
9M: Many pastors prefer to refer their counseling to a professional
counselor who does not attend their church. What do you think about counseling
referrals, and how does this work in connection with the culture of discipleship?
TL: I would say that there isn't room to be legalistic about this,
and there probably are many occasions where you may want to refer. But I would
have two very important qualifications: First, I would want to know where the
particular counselor is coming from and his or her understanding of how change
happens. Is it consistent with what the church teaches? Second, I would want
to know if the outside counselor is willing to work with the leadership of
the church, because the ultimate responsibility for giving oversight in the
counselee's life is with the leaders of the church, not the outside counselor.
9M: One popular way to do discipleship and counseling in churches
is to start therapy groupsaddiction recovery, financial debt recovery,
grieving, sexual purity, and so forth. What role should such groups play
in a church setting?
TL: I would say that there is certainly a place for these groups so
that people can find specific help for specific sin struggles, and there can
be great encouragement in those groups. The danger occurs when people remain
in them indefinitely and start to define themselves based on a sense of unique
struggle with that sin. So "I'm an addict" or "I'm a divorced person" or "I'm
someone who struggles with pornography," rather than, "I am in Christ. My fundamental
core identity is that I'm a Christian, a new creation in Christ, who struggles
with this particular sin."
I would say there is a place for them, but it's important to mainstream the
people in these groups back into the life of the church because, at the end
of the day, every sin struggle has a similar dynamic. It's a worship disorder.
Mainstream these people back into the life of the church so they can be useful
to everyone.
9M: Tell us about the course that you teach for both pastors
and lay people in our distance education program.
TL: The name of the course is called "Counseling in the Local Church."
In it, I'm trying to give pastors, lay leaders, and even average church members
a picture of what it would look like if you took all the other courses of CCEF
and actually worked them out into the life of the church. It explains what
a culture of discipleship or counseling actually looks like and how you can
promote it. It gets at the question of how to take advantage of the opportunities
that God has given you so that you can be a part of the sanctification of another
person.
(Note CCEF offers this course, along with 8 others, through their distance
education program. You can learn more about this program here: http://ccef.org/distance_ed_faqs.asp)
Timothy S. Lane, M.Div., D.Min., is executive director of CCEF, a faculty
member, and a counselor with almost twenty years of experience. He is the co-author
of CCEF's Transformation Series curriculum, How People Change,
and Relationships: A Mess Worth Making, in addition to numerousarticles
and booklets.
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