What is biblical counseling?
By biblical counseling we mean that your counselor is a Christian with special training and experience in applying the truths of the Bible to life. At Crossroads we believe that the Bible speaks to all of life and to all of its problems, but sometimes it takes careful thought and prayerful wisdom to know how to make those connections. We don’t believe that the Bible is simply a how-to book or a recipe book for happiness. We believe that the Bible ultimately points us to a person and a relationship – Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. We believe that real change comes when people learn to see themselves and their problems in the context of a living, vital relationship with Christ. This does not mean that you must be a Christian to profit from our counseling, although we believe that deep and lasting change is brought about only by God himself. However, the Bible is never brought to bear in an artificial or heavy-handed way.
First, biblical counseling is not beating people over the head with the Bible. Nor is it saying, take two verses and call me in the morning. And it is not one-problem, one-verse, one-quick-solution. While no one person can provide the final definition, here is a working definition of what makes biblical counseling truly biblical: Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling depends upon the Holy Spirit to relate Gods inspired truth about people, problems, and solutions to human suffering (through the Christian soul care arts of sustaining and healing) and sin (through the Christian spiritual direction arts of reconciling and guiding) to empower people to exalt and enjoy God and to love others (Matthew 22:35-40) by cultivating conformity to Christ and communion with Christ and the Body of Christ. The rest of our FAQs will flesh out this definition.
