[4 min. read—church resource & newsletter announcement]
For the last seven years, I have had the honor and privilege to serve as both the Executive Director and as a Staff Counselor at Bridgehaven Counseling Associates. But, as we are reminded in Scripture, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Over the last several months, the Lord has made it clear to me that it is time for another individual to steward the responsibility of leading Bridgehaven. If you would like to read more about our excitement and gratitude for our next Executive Director, Beth Broom, you can do so here.
As I start the process of stepping way from Bridgehaven, I’ve been encouraged to share some thoughts about what I’ve learned in my time leading a ministry where all of our providers practice from the perspective of “clinically-informed biblical counseling.” With that in mind, in this post I want to briefly speak to the “biblical counseling” part of the care practiced at Bridgehaven, and why we root everything we do in the efficacy of Scripture. In the next post I hope to speak to the “clinically-informed” part of what we do, and why we believe using common grace interventions with our clients is an aspect of what truly biblically faithful, redemptive care looks like in practice. Then, in the coming weeks through subsequent posts I hope to share why I am so hopeful and joy-filled about Bridgehaven’s future, even as I mourn moving away from leading a ministry and people I have grown to love.
The Clients Are His…
At Bridgehaven, we work with people, and when I think about working with people I think about one thing: relationships. And as is true of the disposition all our providers have towards their clients, I deeply value the relationships I have with mine.
The reality is, however, during my time at Bridgehaven, as privileged as I have been to be invited into countless tender and private stories, the relationship I have with my clients is a limited, professional one. At the risk of sounding somewhat cold, the fact is, I am simply my client’s counselor. Irrespective of how many times I may have seen a client, or how many seasons we may have walked together over and through the vaporous peaks and valleys of life, throughout the journey I have kept clear in my own mind that my role in this image-bearer’s life is intended to come to an end. As I say to every first-time client, “us not seeing one another is really the goal of our time together.” When I say this at the outset of every first-time session it is not intended to communicate, “Hey, I don’t want to see you ever again!” Rather, it’s the start of the process of pointing hurting people towards better hands than mine.
While we each have different trainings, skills, and specialties, ultimately, every Bridgehaven counselor sees life, people, and the counseling process through the authoritative lens of Scripture. Simply put, then, every counselor-client relationship at Bridgehaven is stewarded in two clear directions: 1) to provide our clients with the highest level of care we believe possible, and 2) to help our clients entrust their care, comprehensively, into the hands of the One who will care for them more deeply and faithfully than any of us mere counselors possibly can.
…So They Deserve His Word
When I say we, “provide our clients with the highest level of care we believe possible,” I mean that every one of us understands that any care we provide is substandard if it is not empowered by God’s spirit and stewarded in a manner that is consistent with His character, as is authoritatively spoken in His word. As we care for people, we are keenly aware that God created them in His image to reflect His character; as such, these image-bearers deserve to hear more than the words of a feeble creature, they deserve to hear about and from the Creator, Himself. That’s why at Bridgehaven, our providers routinely and appropriately apply biblical truth to the nuances of client’s presenting concerns as a normative part of every session. In short:
- We believe Scripture is literally God-breathed, and that every word of it is effective and necessary for godly living (2 Tim. 3:16-17);
- We believe that while we will never have full clarity about our clients (1 Cor. 13:12), God’s word applied by God’s spirit does (Heb. 4:12-13);
- We believe that a full and flourishing life for every image-bearer is found in and through God’s word (Prov. 4:22-27) because it points us towards the Image-Maker who is both the author of life (John 1:1-4) and the sustainer of life (Col. 1:15-20), not only for this life (Prov. 3:5-6; Phil. 4:4-9), but for evermore (Mt. 11:27-30; Jn. 6:35-40).
Every Bridgehaven provider routinely uses a variety of biblically faithful tools to help our clients move from disordered experiences to ones oriented towards hopeful flourishing that is consistent with the meta-narrative of Scripture. For example:
- We read and speak the Bible, as we seek to “bless the Lord at all times,” with our clients, as His praise is always on our lips (Ps. 34:1);
- We guide, comfort, encourage—and yes, even correct—our clients with “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16);
- We pray with and for our clients, even as we model to our clients the kind of spiritual, verbal, mental, emotional, and physical postures that nurture an open-handed transparency toward and trust in a Father who is kind towards His children (Jer. 29:11; Lk. 11:1-4; 1 Pt. 5:6-11; Heb 12:3-12).
We approach client-care from a Bible-first framework not only because we believe deeply in the truth and sufficiency of Scripture, but also because each of us has literally been transformed by the saving and sanctifying power of the Word (2 Cor. 5:17, 6:11). In that, we have experienced the reality that every circumstance of life has been designed so that we would ultimately abide in Christ (John 15:1-5). In turn, as we have found our hope and rest in Christ, our deepest desire is to point others to the One who is “the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” so that, even as we provide a semblance of comfort to our clients, they really entrust themselves into the hands of the One who literally raises the dead (2 Cor. 1:3-11).
If any vocational truth has been cemented in me in my time at Bridgehaven it is simply this one principle that undergirds everything we do: Image-bearers are His. As such, they deserve His word, not merely ours, because His word brings true healing and lasting life, not our own.