Discipleship River

Counseling can be a tremendous asset to the discipleship process. As Christians, we are called to be disciples who make disciples. We live in the progressive sanctification river, obeying the Great Commission by making disciples and leading people to Christ. This is the life of the church; ultimately, we are a discipleship community.

Over the past several decades, the Biblical Counseling Movement has grown. You can make a case for biblical counseling within a discipleship framework in the local church. As we move down the Discipleship River, there are times when we find ourselves stuck in unique situational or relational difficulties. In these instances, we need to pull aside, step out of the river, and meet with someone or a team of people for intensive counseling, sometimes called formalized counseling. This is the appropriate context for biblical counseling.

However, biblical counseling should not be our primary focus. All Christians are called to make disciples. A Christian who is not discipling is not fully experiencing what it means to be a Christian. The more we engage in discipleship, the less we will need formalized biblical counseling. Nevertheless, there are times when a person needs to step out of the Discipleship River for formalized counseling. Once that season is over, they should return to the Discipleship River and continue maturing into Christlikeness.