LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Counseling and Discipleship
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (Ed. D) Department of Christian Leadership and
Church Ministries
By
Mary Gracias
Lynchburg, Virginia
7/2022
Counseling and Discipleship
How are counseling and discipleship related? Let’s think about this in terms of two pictures,
a river and a battle scene.*
A RIVER
Our discipleship in Christ is like sitting in a boat on a river that flows toward him.
Sometimes the river is winding and slow. Other times it’s is rocky and fast. But gratefully his
Spirit is always drawing us toward him, increasing our love for him, his word, and his people. As
we flow down the river toward him, different men and women help to disciple us along the
way. And we are called to help disciple them.
Now, I am not a fisherman, but I have been told that along the river there are “eddies.”
These are small pools of water where the fishermen can pull off the river, reload their gear, get
some rest, and even strategize before continuing along the river again.
Counseling is like an eddy. It’s a particular form of discipleship, where Christians pull off the
river for a period of time to focus on the “problems” that are hindering their movement. It’s a
time to stop and ask, “What slows us down from growing closer to our Savior?” The counselor
sits in the eddy and waits for the fishermen to pull off and ask for help. The biblical counselor
patiently helps them. They sort through the Scriptures together, pray, and work at removing
the obstacles from the fishermen’s paths. Then the counselor sends the fishermen back into the
river that heads towards Christ.
Now, I believe this is a helpful illustration as far as it goes. But it’s not the full picture. More
explanation is needed. You might have heard someone say in the context of football, “The best
offense is a good defense.” In counseling, the reverse is true: “The best defense is a good
offense.” In this case, the “offense” is a healthy culture of discipleship. A church with a well-
developed culture of discipleship is one of the best ways to aggressively head off life’s struggles
as they emerge. Discipling relationships in a church should work to counsel people all along the
way, so that there is less need to pull into the eddies. Let’s try another illustration.
A BATTLE
Think of discipleship in terms of a battle. The front line of the battle is not the counseling
room, but the weekly gathering as well as the conversations that take place among members of
the church every day in their homes, over lunch meetings, in Bible study, in conversations after
church, over the phone, and even on emails! All of a church’s life together involves counseling
and each of these opportunities gives us a chance to counsel one another in the Word. If people
have at least one or two people in their lives who are willing to share in the ugly details, to be
open about their struggles, to hold one another accountable, to admonish and encourage one
another, then God can use these experiences to shed light on the darkness and confusion.
One step back from the front line is not the counselor, but wise and godly older men and
women in the faith who take time to pour themselves into the lives of younger Christians.
These are the “captains” and “generals” of the faith, who by their wisdom and experience
direct the soldiers in battle. A culture of discipleship that encourages younger members of the
faith to seek out the wise older ones honors Christ by making good use of the rich
relationalresources that God has built into his church.
To carry the battle analogy one last step, think of the counseling room as the M.A.S.H. unit
that sits far behind the front line. It’s only when people are beaten up, bleeding, or maimed so
badly that they are no longer useful in the battle that they must be sent to get special medical
help. Most people only retreat to the counseling room when their problems get too far out of
hand, when they are at a complete loss for wisdom, or when they can no longer tolerate their
own struggles. As counselors (or doctor of souls?) we do our best to consider what unseen
infections might lie deeper than what can be seen on the surface, treat them accordingly, and
then send them back into battle.
TWO IMPLICATIONS
1. Every Christian is called to a ministry of discipleship.
Every Christian should either be discipling someone else, be discipled by someone else, or
be doing both. Biblical counseling is just one form of Christian discipleship, and it’s meant to be
a temporary activity. The main work of discipling should be done by the members of the
congregation. The counselor sends the fisherman back into the river of discipleship, the
M.A.S.H. unit sends the soldier back to the front line, to be built up in his faith as he or she
engages in one-on-one discipleship with other members.
2. It’s important for pastors to equip their people to do the work of discipleship on the
front-lines of the battle.
It’s easy for pastors to become over-taxed and over-burdened and still just barely keep up
with the congregation’s demands. Pastor, have you ever thought strategically about how to
equip your people to be better disciplers and counselors of the Word? By equipping your
members, you enable them to do the work on the front lines, which in turn saves you time
because many of the problems on the “front-lines” never get back to you. Think about
preaching a series on discipleship, or running an annual Sunday school class on discipleship, or
having your members read through some good books on discipleship. Make it an expectation
that church members should be involved in each other’s lives, teaching them to invite one
another into their own lives for correction and rebuke. Have you modeled this kind of humility
for the church? Pray that the Lord will help you build a healthy culture of discipleship in your
church.
ONE LAST PRACTICAL SUGGESTION
One last practical suggestion: Last Spring our church began a lay counseling training class
for the members of our church. The class is based on two curriculums—How People Change
and Helping Others Change—developed by the Christian Counseling Education Foundation
(CCEF). These user-friendly leader’s guides and workbooks make it very easy for pastors, lay
leaders, and members to teach one another how to counsel the Word and how to better care
for one another. The format is useable in a Sunday school, small group, or one-on-one
discipleship setting. To find out more or to order material for your church, check out CCEF’s
bookstore at www.ccef.org.
* This idea of discipleship as a river and counseling as an eddy comes from Steve Viar’s
“The Discipleship River,” Journal of Biblical Counseling 20 (2002): 58-60.
