Me…An Evangelist?
By Dr. W. P. Abercrombie
Part I
Most Christian Counselors do not define their work as evangelism.
We are more familiar and perhaps more comfortable with the biblical
roles of teaching, encouragement, discipleship, and restoration.
We often assume that because a client has selected a counselor
with a biblical orientation that surely he/she is already a believer.
Beginning with that supposition can lead to ineffective treatment
results that carry great eternal ramifications.
While it is certain that none of us can fully
know the true spiritual condition of another person’s
heart, we must be receptive to what the Holy Spirit reveals
when we begin a counseling process. A thorough and ongoing
spiritual assessment must be at the foundation of everything
a counselor does.
Typically a counselor is consulted at a point
of great distress and brokenness. God can and will use this
vulnerability to open the client’s heart to the gospel message. The fact that
a non-believer has selected a biblical counselor is evidence
alone that God is working in that client’s life. Jesus
said:
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws
him” (John 6:44a).
When broken and tender, the heart of the client is searching
for truth and peace that can only be gained through a personal
relationship with Jesus. The Lord uses that pain and suffering
to draw us into a situation where the truth can be spoken and
received. Since there are no errors or accidents in the timing
of God, the counseling session can be His appointed moment. Paul
wrote:
For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, And
in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now
is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2
Corinthians 6:2).
It is critical that counselors deal with the spiritual first–the
physical second. What answer have we offered if we deal with
matters of marital communication, emotion, behavior, etc. and
fail to teach our clients to have access to the Way,
the Truth and the Life (John 6:14)? Until and
unless the client comes to accept Christ as his Savior, any and
all techniques of support and guidance will bear no gain. Jesus
defined it clearly:
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and
I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing
(John 15:5).
Thus, there can be no fruit (love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control) without
an abiding relationship with Christ. Without “spiritual
fruit” (Galatians 5:22-23) there are no remedies for
marriage problems, parenting issues, depression, anxiety, addiction,
or anger. In fact, the client and the therapy can “do
nothing” without the True Vine of nourishment
and hope.
A client enters our office at perhaps the most crucial point
in his/her life. Perhaps they are thinking of suicide; considering
divorce; contemplating an affair; or simply seek escape. We must
not throw them a communication technique, an emotional release,
or a psychiatric medication; but rather let us give them the Chief
Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6) upon which they can build a structure
that can withstand all of life’s storms and challenges
(Matthew 7:24-25).
As biblical counselors, we must expand our spiritual calling
if we are to be effective and useful to the Kingdom. We may never
preach a revival or conduct an alter call, but we have an ordained
role as witnesses and advocates of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are indeed evangelists, one and all.
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Copyright © 2006 Dr. W. P. "Ab" Abercrombie
