Thursday, March 13, 2008

Discipleship and "Biblical Counseling"

While researching Ephesians I stumbled across this comment from David Powlison's Seeing with New Eyes: Counseling and the Human Condition Through the Lens of Scripture:

You will not go wrong if you plunge into Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Master it. Be mastered by it. Work Ephesians into your thinking, your living, your prayers, and your conversation. The Bible is vast and deep, and human life is diverse and perplexing. But in a pinch you could do all counseling from Ephesians. It’s all there: the big picture that organizes a myriad of details.

Powlison's name was familiar to me as he is often referenced from Justin Taylor's blog. I decided to explore Powlison a bit more which led me to search Desiring God's website for references both to Powlison and to "biblical counseling." At that point I found this wonderful little article.

As I read the article I couldn't believe how clearly it captured many of my own thoughts. I have never researched "Biblical Counseling," but the brand of discipleship that I caught from Lewie and have discovered in the Scriptures has this kind of communication at its center (i.e. God-centered, Christ-exalting, cross-cherishing, Spirit-dependent, Bible-saturated, emotionally-in-touch, culturally-informed use of language). I joyfully endorse the ideas set forth in the article, and I think it serves as a great benchmark not just for "Biblical Counseling" but for conversations in general.

I tried to set out many of the same ideas in Discipleship and the Institution, but this article serves as a wonderful summary statement of my conception of discipleship focused communication.

Furthermore, check out Lewie's blog for some helpful, concise posts on the theological shape of discipleship and its practical application.