Church, a Healing Community

Introduction

The reason God's people can be considered as a healing community is twofold: 1) own experience over the past several months of God's healing community through the people who have loved us/me so well through the terrible/wonderful journey; 2) the almost constant reminder of how many believers are "stuck" in their sin, broken, dysfunction because of the need for a healing community added to God's healing power and the healing context of living loved and grace-embraced instead of performance based (Berry, 84).

In current American/church culture, there seems to be the notion that there is a microwave fix for long term sin issues and/or broken. That has led to many believers seeking one quick fix after another yet still mostly stuck, leading them to believe that they will never overcome. This, in turn, leads them to either a) feel as they are defective, b) believe that this is as good as it gets in this life, c) hide their problems and put on a happy face, etc (Berry, 84).

Listening is one of the most important things a biblical counselor has to do. Listening allows the counselor the chance to learn as much as they can about the counselor that they are willing to share. Listening will also shine a light on potential problems that need to be addressed. Love and encouragement are also very helpful pieces of biblical counseling. Counselors must learn to build trust and report with counselors. This is best done by showing genuine love and concern for their well being. After the counselor knows they are loved and cared for, it will be easier for them to accept encouragement. It is also the job of the counselor to be able to discern problems and conflicts that the counselor has with the scriptures. The counselor should be able to discern the heart of the counselor as it relates to scripture and teach them the scriptures of God which are profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. Lastly it is important to show the application of the scripture. Once the problem is recognized the counselor must guide the counselor in applying scripture to their life to institute change.

Healing Context

This is the paradigm shift to a true understanding of the Good News that includes the revelation of Grace-based living, the increasing embrace of a loving Father and the rinsing of the mind from the performance-based, human effort approach that characterizes much of what passes for biblical Christianity. Until the person grasps that God does love him/her unconditionally and really has forgiven all their sins (past, present and future) so that s/he can always approach God with boldness and freedom, they classically cannot live the empowered life that transforms (Clinton, 1).

Healing Power

This is the factor that is often not mentioned in evangelical circles that do seem to get the other two parts. Even a quick read of the New Testament reveals the presence supernatural expulsion of demons and the supernatural impartation of love and power as the normal ...