LAY COUNSELOR TRAINING

Fall 2010

For further information: (703) 813-1952 or email us at wecare@immanuelbible.net.

Lay Counselor Training is offered to people who have varying purposes. If you believe God is moving you to deepen your relationship with Him and strengthen your abilities to care for others, you may want to consider the Lay Counselor Training Program.

A FIRM FOUNDATION

We have as our firm foundation the life-giving Special Revelation of His Word: the Holy Scriptures. We also benefit from God's General Revelation to us found in practical experience and research study carefully examined. With such abundant resource from God, we can facilitate healing and growth in others, when skillfully guided to do so by God's Spirit and wise supervision.

God's Word assures us that: (1) there is victory in the abundance of wise, godly counsel, and (2) the people of God have received precious gifts such as exhortation, wisdom, discernment, mercy, and teaching to personally share with others in the counseling environment.

As Christian lay counselors, we are most interested in the health and strength of a person's spiritual walk with God. However, we keep in mind how all of the mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and relational aspects of our humanity need healing, especially since they all interact with and affect one another. We are more likely to become our best – all that our Lord would want us to be – when we embrace the large picture of the "whole person."

POTENTIAL CHRISTIAN COUNSELORS: DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH!

The Bible declares that there is both safety and victory in the abundance of counselors (Proverbs 11:14, 24:6). Some people seem to be naturally drawn to help others to help lead them to safety and victory. They like to listen, understand, walk with others for awhile, and lend their insight along the way. They seem to be gifted by God – with wisdom, mercy, discernment, exhortation and/or teaching. Others who know them often see the fruit of the Spirit in their lives, such as love, peace, joy, self-control, and long-suffering.

They are not perfect people by any means; they have faults and challenges to work out in their lives. In fact, they usually have had a large share of personal pain and set-backs, but they also have sought to understand, address, and overcome their unique challenges. They do not do this alone – they have employed the help of friends, mentors, and/or counselors. Therefore, others tend to see an increasing strength and wisdom in them as they wrestle with and work through their trials and challenges.

Because they continue in the process of healing and growth, they don't mind helping others to heal and grow. In fact, it gives them great joy and satisfaction to use their gifts, out of love for God and compassion for others. After a typical hour of people-helping, they don't usually feel drained as much as they feel content and even energized. They love God and get along well with most types of people.

These are God's counselors, even if they are still diamonds in the rough. Now if you resonate with much of this characterization, you are probably a great candidate for IBC's Lay Counselor Training Program.

PERSONAL GROWTH AND THE LAY COUNSELOR

In order to be all that God has meant for us to be, we strive to be on the cutting edge of spiritual growth and health by intentionally purposing to have a thriving relationship with God.

This involves giving ourselves over completely to God (e.g., being truly committed to Him and His care, feasting regularly on His word, developing a prayer life that involves intimate dialogue). It also includes trusting God-given friends and mentors, and fully yielding to God for a change from the inside out.

We usually share with others only what we have, and what we have is what we have been given by God and others. Our ability to counsel and effectively minister dramatically improves as we deepen our relationship with Him and others. We rest in the fact that God is a safe, sovereign, present help in our time of need. In Him we are, without condemnation, free to acknowledge and then address our own unresolved issues and emotions. This makes us all the more equipped to help others.

We increase our ability to help others, as we deal with our own unresolved issues and emotions. And being able to bear and deal with our own emotions, in turn largely comes as we allow God and special others to do that for us.

We give away what we first have, we comfort with the comfort given to us, and we love because we are first loved - by God, and then by His people (which are the Body of Christ, God's family).

The healing journey often reflects the following steps:

I give myself completely to God for His purposes. I grow in the knowledge of His grace.
Wanting to serve Him and others, I begin to help others.
Along the way, I realize some needs, hurts, and unresolved issues in me that get in the way of serving God.
I open myself up to be helped by God and special others to address that which hinders or cripples me.
I deeply receive God's and His peoples' comfort, correction, and wisdom.
I experience their understanding and grace as they hold and embrace what I thought was utterly unacceptable, embarrassing, or intolerable.
I experience healing from God and others. That is, I come to know on a deep level I can really be me, not be forsaken, but instead be believed in and loved in whatever state I'm in.
I learn to fully accept (therefore I can fully address) the severest of my own issues and unresolved challenges and emotions .
My heart is then in the best position to apply God's truth, practical tools, helpful information, and correction.
I am more equipped and empowered to do for others exactly what God and others did for me – and that is to effectively minister God's love, grace, comfort, and wise correction.