Convincing

How has the church historically persuaded the surrounding culture of the truth of the Scriptures? If you know your church history, it has largely happened when people’s lives were changed so much by the grace of God that others could not simply dismiss those who were transformed, nor the truth claims that transformed them. There has been so much discussion about modernity and post-modernity and the apologetic challenge to the church in a post-modern context where modern, rational categories of truth and error, right and wrong, good and bad have been abandoned. While Christianity is neither anti- nor arational, it is so much more. Truth claims are uttered by a personal God who redeems sinners to have a relationship with him. Scripture’s truth claims and propositions are not impersonal, logical systems for living a well-adjusted, meaningful life. When a church counsels, they are saying so much more than simply the Bible is true; they are saying that the personal God of the Bible comes to change lives, families, communities, cultures, and the entire cosmos, and that you can actually see those changes! Paul in Ephesians 5 calls the church to “live as children of light and to expose the darkness.” The exposing that the church does is not simply speaking up for the truth but exhibiting the truth in the way we live our lives. When a church counsels, it is engaging in one of the most important apologetic tasks it can engage in. It is saying, “We will not simply proclaim the truth, we will demonstrate it in the way we live and in changed lives.”

Community

We don’t often think of the word community when we hear the word “counseling.” We naturally think of conversations between two people in secret where no one else can listen in. We think “confidentiality.” While we would not want to diminish the need to handle personal information and conversations with great care and wisdom, a church that counsels is actually a vibrant community. Paul in Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.” This passage is speaking of a vibrant congregation where brothers and sisters in Christ are counseling one another in the context of daily life as they grow as a community. This does not preclude more personal, confidential contexts for counsel. When a church counsels, it becomes the first place, not the last place, that people think about when they need help. How biblical and yet how radical for people to think of the church in that way!