Discipleship Counseling Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Discipleship Counseling - Research Paper Example The absence of these three approaches in the counseling ministry will result in an ineffective ministry that will not adequately meet serve the members of the Kingdom of God. It is imperative to note that spiritual warfare includes the area of prayer, battles waged in the spiritual realm and the effects of spiritual oppression. When the concept of spiritual warfare is properly utilized without overemphasis that it is the only cause, it can be very effective. The Wholistic approach is when the body, soul and spirit are considered, even as relevant Christian theologies are also considered, taking care not to involve secular thoughts or those that are not Biblical. Dealing with counselee with compassion entails allowing for connection with the counselee so as to allow the individual to move out of the situation. Introduction While the aspect of discipleship counseling is often overlooked, it is a very important duty that should be practiced by Christian leaders upon their flock, conside ring the Lord Jesus Himself practiced it often upon His disciples and to the people who followed Him during His ministry on earth (Anderson, 2003). It should dawn on Christian leaders that counseling of the flock that God has laid into their hands is one of the most important aspects of their responsibilities. Proper training and readiness then by Christian leaders is important if the needs of the many people who are suffering from stressful and emotional problems are to be addressed in The United States of America and all over the world (AACC, 2004). Christian counseling can be more effective than psychological or normal counseling because of these three important aspects, spiritual warfare, the wholistic approach and compassion which are included, this is in spite of the fact that the counselee must be a Christian, one who believes Christ’s work of redemption (Anderson, 2003). In the world today, there is a wave of spiritual attack which has bound many people and made the s urrender to the Kingdom of God and the mind like that which was in Christ difficult. A well equipped Christian counselor will recognize this fact and take the necessary approach to counseling like being grounded in prayer and in the word of God from whom counsel and guidance and power will originate. This will place the counselor above an ordinary counselor whose efforts are only guided by human knowledge. The Christian counselor should always remember that effective counseling will be guided by the ability to wage effective spiritual warfare to the forces of opposition from beginning to the end. Compassion will also be actively be exercised to be effective at all times if the leader is to be effective. The effective counselor will also approach the problem at hand from a wholistic perspective, but not from a singular one for the best results. Spiritual warfare, which is essentially waged by spiritual forces on the mind is a very important concept to consider in discipleship counsel ing but not solely as the only concept. The statistics of divorce, rebellion in society and drug abuse among many problems are extraordinarily high all over the world and, an ill equipped Christian counselor can be over awed by individuals who come for his assistance to solve them (Anderson, 2003). Many people are on medication for high blood pressure resultant from anger and frustration. While ordinary counseling and Medicare will advocate for medical solutions and concepts, the