Partnerships
We believe the most effective context for a long-term, lasting transformation is the local church. We understand how pastors or church leaders often wrestle with how to provide the best care possible for those in their church and there are often issues that need more specific and specialized care. We also know it can be difficult to find a trusted, biblically-based, Christian counselor who shares your mission, vision, and values. Therefore, one of the most important things we do is develop strong partnerships with local churches.
Pastors and church leaders are often confronted with the difficult decision of how best to care for their members as pastoral care and counseling situations arise. Perhaps you feel the situation is beyond your giftedness or that the demand of your schedule requires that your time is spent in other essential areas of the gospel ministry of your church.
The questions soon run through your mind, “Is there a trusted and experienced Christian counselor that I know? Who will partner with me in leading them to reconciliation and healing? Who will counsel in the same gospel transformational way that we do ministry at the church?”
Our counselors are available to partner with you in the care of your church by providing counseling that leads to heart change within the context of our office or the context of your church.
How Do you know when to refer someone?
When someone’s problems have not been resolved in a couple of meetings with you
When the severity of someone’s problems extends beyond your training
When you find yourself working outside of your calling and giftedness during much of your ministry
When you feel burned out and overextended
Ways we can Partner
Counseling
We provide counseling services to individuals, couples, and families that pastors and other lay leaders refer to us. This includes working with children, adolescents, adults, and older adults.
Host a Satelite Counseling Office
Your church can have several benefits of a partnership which includes:
-
- Increased accessibility of Christian-based professional counseling to members of the church
- Provision of an onsite resource to those that the church is ministering to in the community
- Positive image of the church in the community as a place that cares about the mental health needs of people
- Providing a service that enables people from outside of the church to come onto the campus of the church and have a positive experience
- Serving as an onsite resource to leaders in the church who may need consultation related to those they are ministering to
- Provide professionally trained Christian counselors, teaching resources, consultation services, and competitive rates with a sliding scale for church members
Leadership Trainings
We offer staff development packages to help churches enhance their ministry effectiveness. This program takes place by working with either the pastoral staff of large churches or the lay leaders/board of small or mid-sized churches. The program consists of individual coaching for each of your pastors/leaders and group sessions where particular attention is given to the dynamics of the group as a whole. This is accomplished using leadership and personality inventories, which draw attention to strengths and weaknesses of the group. This program typically takes place over a 2-4 month period of time and involves 2-3 individual sessions and 2-3 group sessions. We can modify the package to best meet the needs of your church. The value of this service is that it not only enhances the effectiveness of each individual on your team, but it also moves your team toward experiencing biblical community. This is the beginning of your church as a whole experiencing the unity that Christ desires for His body.
Counseling Assistance Program (CAP)
The Counseling Assistance Program (CAP) serves as a referral mechanism for church leadership and functions similar to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Through this, the fees for church members – who normally would not otherwise have access to Christian counseling – are on a sliding scale. When a church has a CAP contract with Light Counseling, members receive counseling services at significantly reduced rates. The CAP sliding scale would be available to church members who have been specifically recommended by the pastoral staff, for church members on an as needed basis, who do not otherwise have private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. The advantage of this program is that it encourages people in the congregation who need help to seek that help because it is more affordable. This makes Christian counseling more accessible to your congregation. It also frees the pastor from spending large amounts of time counseling people, thereby enabling him to invest his time in leading and creating a vision for his church.
