Thank you for your interest in biblical, Christ-centered counseling at 3:18 Biblical Counseling is a Texas nonprofit 501(c)(3) (EIN 92-0508561). We look forward to helping you find God’s help and hope for the problems or conflicts you are facing. The following information will help you understand biblical counseling and will serve as an agreement between us.
General Comments
- We employ trained biblical counselors who counsel people biblically as part of a gospel ministry. By choice, we are not a state-licensed counselor, psychologist, or therapist. We do not provide medical, financial, or legal advice. We offer Christ-centered, biblical counseling, not psychological or professional counseling or therapy, and do not hold ourselves to the standards or practices of those or related mental health professions or state-licensing boards. We will seek to help you find and implement God’s answers in his Word, the Bible, according to our understanding of the Bible.
- You might find it helpful to invite a trusted Christian friend, fellow church member, home group leader or spouse, etc. to join us for one or more sessions to support and encourage you during and between sessions.
- You or your counselor may choose to discontinue counseling at any time, for whatever reason, without explanation.
What Is Christ-centered Biblical Counseling?
Four convictions underlie our biblical counseling ministry:
- We present the Lord Jesus Christ as the crucified, risen, and reigning Savior who, through his Word and his Spirit, can help us handle our personal and relational problems. Jesus alone provides the forgiving mercy (through his death and resurrection), the wisdom (in his Word), and the power (through his Spirit) we need for daily living.
- We use the Bible as our main tool to diagnose, explain, and solve our problems. As God’s Word, the Bible provides true, thorough, authoritative, and sufficient guidance for every life situation we face, and it is richly superior to the human wisdom and competing counsel of secular psychologies.
- We reflect the love, concern, and compassion of Jesus our Shepherd and Counselor. Biblical counseling is a caring process marked by Christlike love.
- We seek thorough and lasting godly change by addressing both the inward and outward issues of our problems. Biblical counseling is not shallow, superficial, or simplistic. Scripture alone uncovers and solves our inward, heart (beliefs and motives) struggles and our outward, behavioral struggles.
Making the Process Most Effective
To increase the effectiveness of the counseling process, we ask the following of you:
- Be committed to biblical counseling as described above. This involves coming to each session with a humble, teachable spirit, seeking to learn how God wants you to handle your life based on his Word.
- Attend each scheduled session on time. Allow sixty minutes for most sessions, with a little more for the first session. If an emergency keeps you from attending, please contact your counselor immediately. Apart from prior agreement, we do not reply to frequent calls, email, texts, or letters.
- Be as open and honest as you can. At the same time, we realize that talking about your problems may be very difficult for you and that your trust in your counselor may take time to develop.
- Be patient—your problems did not develop in a day. It may take your counselor several sessions to get to know you and understand your situation. It is vital for him to listen carefully and gather thorough information.
- In between sessions, complete the growth assignments given, and review and pray over the matters discussed during previous sessions. Your counselor will give you helpful, doable assignments that fit the counseling aims. These are vital parts of the counseling process.
- Participate regularly and actively in the life and ministry of a Christ-centered, biblical church. Regular participation in a church provides you with vital complements to biblical counseling: God-centered worship, solid Bible teaching with practical life application, pastoral care, and meaningful friendships with other people needing and learning God’s grace.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is an important aspect of the counseling process, and we will carefully guard the personal and private information you entrust to us as much as possible. We recognize the crucial importance of mutual trust within the counseling relationship. As a general rule, what we discuss stays between us.
At the same time, in light of biblical and civil law, we cannot guarantee absolute confidentiality in every situation. There are times when your counselor might believe it necessary, at their discretion, to disclose otherwise confidential information to appropriate other people. Some examples might include:
- Apprentices, other biblical counselors, or supervisors may observe counseling sessions periodically, with your consent. Your counselor will review the counseling process with their supervisor.
- To ensure that you are receiving consistent counsel and support, they might need to discuss your situation with appropriate leaders of the church.
- If there is indication that you or someone else might be in danger of harm unless others intervene, they might need to disclose information to civil authorities and to those in danger.
- In cases of suspected child or elderly abuse or neglect, they might need to report this to civil authorities.
- In counseling minor children or teens, they may need to disclose information to parents or legal guardians.
Please be assured that we strongly prefer not to disclose your personal information to others and that we will make every effort to help you find ways to resolve problems as privately as possible.
We also ask you to agree not to discuss our communications with people who do not have a necessary interest in the counseling process. Where your situation might involve legal issues, you must agree to treat all dealings with your counselor concerning your case as settlement negotiations, which means they will be inadmissible in a court of law or for legal discovery. You must also agree that you will not try to force your counselor or 3:18 Biblical Counseling to disclose any information acquired during counseling or to force him to testify in any legal proceeding.
In the highly unlikely event of a conflict between you and your counselor, all parties must seek to resolve it in a biblical manner, through discussion, and, if necessary, through mediation and arbitration, according to the Rules of Procedure of the Institute for Christian Conciliation (http://www.iccpeace.com/Rules/index.html).
Financial Matters
We believe that biblical counseling is ideally a ministry of the local church and encourage counselees to contact their church leaders for help. Since this ministry is not state-licensed, medically based counseling, most insurance companies will not pay for biblical counseling. Many churches offer financial assistance for counseling fees for its members and may be willing to help offset the cost.
The Bible is clear that ministers of the gospel of Jesus are entitled to earn their living from the gospel, including vocational ministry. At the same time, the Bible is clear that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a precious gift that should be offered without price, and that it may be necessary for ministers of Christ to selflessly serve those in their care.
With these two statements above in tension with each other, we charge $80.00 per session. We do not want this to be a barrier to anyone needing counseling, we will work with you. In addition to this, your counselor may ask you to purchase books or other materials as part of the counseling growth process. All major forms of payment are accepted in person or through our Payments page.
Agreement
If you agree to these terms above, please complete the information below prior to your first session.