Biblical Soul Care
At Harvest, we believe soul care is an integral part of discipleship. We seek to address life’s challenges by walking with you, opening up the Scriptures, and pointing you to Jesus. Mutual discipleship and care can and should happen in Christian friendship, but there are times when someone needs more direction from someone trained in pastoral care. That’s why we have Freedom Groups and formal Biblical Soul Care counseling. Our soul care team is equipped to address more complex issues from a biblical worldview.
The best way to seek help is to first talk to your Life Group leader, coach, or a staff person. They may be just the right person to help, but they also know how to get you to the right level of more intensive care as needed. We realize that not everyone is in a Life Group, if you are new or are not connected yet you can make a self-referral.
If you need more information we encourage you to watch some of the videos on this site as well as to read "who we are" and "what we believe".
Who we are…
Every counselor, Freedom Group leader and Soul Care team member has been trained to counsel from the Scriptures, to get to root issues, and to humbly point to the Gospel and person of Jesus Christ for hope, help, and healing.
Biblical Soul Care is all about counseling in community. In other words, we include godly friends in our counseling sessions and our counselors are available to the Life Group leaders for consultation and collaboration. That said, we believe in the highest level of discretion and, in most cases, practice what is called informed consent. That means you will be asked if we can share information with other wise leaders or care team members in efforts to serve you better. There are some exceptions to confidentiality related to high risk behaviors that could harm you or someone else. All this is explained in our intake process if you seek counseling.
Our counselors are not secular experts or practicing therapists. They are equipped in biblical counseling skills and tools. They are under the authority and supervision of the elders of our church and the Soul Care staff. They are all committed to constantly growing in the ability to speak the truth in love with greater compassion and skill. Some will also be certified in biblical counseling by an outside agency. All of them have gone though our transformed leader training.
What we believe…
Like most biblical counselors we believe in the authority and sufficiency of God’s word for the care and cure of souls. Our model is more focused on prevention and training every believer in the church in basic soul care skills. Unlike some churches we also include advocates in counseling and use group based biblical counseling. We believe in the power of deep fellowship and godly friendship in the process of progressive sanctification. By having counseling options that include people from our everyday life, we find the care is more authentic, transferable and effective.
What does an advocate do?