One of the desires of The Summit Counseling ministry is to be a part of the “normal” church life. We do not want to be a church with a counseling ministry (read “on the side; just for crisis cases”). We want to be a church that uses our counseling ministry to EQUIP our members to counsel one another and our community.
We have put a great deal of time, energy, and conversation into designing the counseling ministry to strengthen existing ministries or core values of our church. This is something we are passionate about and want to continue to refine.
There are several ways that we have sought to accomplish this:
- Each counseling initiative is designed to lead participants into a small group
- The focal point of change in each counseling initiative is the Gospel
- Counseling seminars are written and recorded to be available as small group studies
There is another core value the counseling EQUIP seminars want to strengthen – parents are the primary discipler of their children. Part of discipling our children is teaching them how to handle their anger, anxiety, conflict, grief, etc… in biblical ways. For this reason, each counseling EQUIP seminar will have an appendix that applies the material covered at a child’s level and in a family devotion format.
The following sample is taken from the second point of the upcoming “Overcoming Anger” seminar.
Devotion for Luke 6:43-45. Give your children a visual of the key teaching in this passage. Take a glass of water and shake it. When water comes out, ask, “Why did water come out of the glass?” Most likely they will answer, “Because you shook it.” Kindly say, “No,” and repeat the question emphasizing the word water. After a couple tries tell them, “Water came out of the glass because water was in the glass. If it were a glass of milk and I shook it milk would have come out.”
Our hearts are like that glass. When life shakes us the content of our heart is revealed. We cannot blame our sinful actions on the things that happen outside of us. “You cannot blame your brother taking your toy as why you hit him anymore than I should blame your disobedience for why I yell at you. In those situations you wanted to enjoy the toy more than to love your brother and I let my desire for a peaceful evening override my responsibility to honor you.”
Use this conversation as another opportunity to present the Gospel to your child. Christ comes to change hearts. He wants to keep their hearts and minds healthy. Only Jesus can change our hearts. Talk about how you still need the Gospel even as a Christian parent.
Follow Up Study: The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones – “God Sends Help” starting on page 326.
We hope to see a large number of our parents at this event and pray that God will use it to strengthen our families.
“Overcoming Anger”
Presenter: Brad Hambrick
June 26, 2011
5:00 to 8:00 pm
Cost: Free, so bring lots of friends
No RSVP Required
The Summit Church (Brier Creek South Venue)
2335 Presidential Drive
Durham, NC 27703