- We are dedicated to the discipleship process known as Gospel transformation, which is a theology and practice of the personal ministry of the Word, also known as Soul Care. We are convinced that Soul Care centered on Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, shaped by the Scriptures, and focused on the truth of the gospel, offers real hope, and real loving help, to people living in a fallen world.
- Our goal is to provide relevant biblically centered resources and care that equips the church to build itself up in love for the glory of God, by the power of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:15-16, John 15:8, Galatians 5:22-23). We seek to interact in a way that is winsome and wise, maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3).
- We confess that we have not “arrived” (Philippians 3:12–14). We readily admit that we struggle to apply consistently all that we say we believe. We who counsel live in process, just like those we counsel, so we want to learn and grow in Jesus’ wisdom and grace.
- We believe that wise care centers on Jesus and His cross and resurrection where God reveals the depths of our sin and the heights of his grace. Wise counseling gets to the heart of personal and interpersonal problems and core lies by bringing to bear the truth, mercy, and power of Jesus’ gospel of grace in the context of biblical repentance.
- We seek to point people to a person, Jesus, our Redeemer and greatest Treasure. People need a real and personal relationship with him, not a system of self‐salvation, self‐management, or self‐actualization. Authentic care guides people to a dynamic relationship with Jesus. We desire to lead struggling, hurting, and confused people to the hope, resources, strength, and life that are only available in Him. Our care is not one of many systems of change; rather, it places its trust in the transformative power of the one who is our Redeemer and greatest Treasure, as the only hope to change people’s hearts.
- We believe that God’s common grace brings many good things to human life, but it cannot cure the human soul. Only the Bible is inerrant, sufficient, powerful, profound, comprehensive, and enduringly relevant. No other source of knowledge is ultimately authoritative to equip us for the task of soul care focused on heart change.
- We believe that genuine change of heart and lifestyle depends fully upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We know that it is impossible to speak wisely and lovingly to bring about true and lasting change apart from the decisive, compassionate, and convicting work of the Spirit in the caregiver and the care receiver. We acknowledge the Holy Spirit as the One who convicts us of sin, illumines the gospel, and energizes its application in everyday life.
- We believe that wise soul care should be transformative, change‐oriented, and grounded in the biblical reality of progressive sanctification. Our aim is intentional and intensive discipleship—growing spiritually mature persons who increasingly reflect Jesus by enjoying and exalting God, by trusting more fully in God’s promises to us, and by gladly ministering to others.
- We believe that we best reflect the Triune God as we live and grow in community. Sanctification is not a self‐improvement project, but a process of learning to delight in God and serve others in love (Galatians 5:6). This embeds personal change within the church with all its rich resources of corporate and interpersonal means of grace. We believe that the church is the ideal context for Jesus‐focused, gospel‐centered soul care.
- We believe that Jesus’ incarnation is not just the basis for care, but also the model for how we care. We seek to enter into a person’s story, listening well, expressing thoughtful love, and engaging the person with compassion. The wise and loving personal ministry of the gospel takes many appropriate forms, from caring comfort to loving rebuke, from careful listening to relevant scriptural exploration, all while building trusting, authentic relationships.
- We believe that human behavior is inextricably tied to deeper thoughts, intentions, and affections of the heart, either sinful or redeemed (Ephesians 4:17–24). We emphasize the primacy of the heart and target the inner person because all human acts are acts of worship, either disordered or rightly ordered in relation to God in Jesus.
- We believe that our soul care practices should focus on the full range of human nature created in the image of God. A comprehensive biblical understanding perceives human beings as relational, rational, volitional, emotional, spiritual, and physical. We take the whole person seriously in his or her whole life context. We also recognize that people are socially embedded by God’s design and that a variety of historical, social, cultural, and family factors may impact moral response. Appreciating the complexity and mystery of the interface between persons and their social environment, we seek to remain sensitive to social factors, as the context within which God calls a person to the obedience of faith.
- We recognize that people are spiritually influenced, under God’s wise control, by the spiritual realm and that demonic factors may impact moral response (Ephesians 6:10–20). Appreciating the complexity and mystery of the interface between a person and the spiritual world, we seek to remain sensitive to those spiritual influences and address them accordingly.
