The Goal of Pastoral Care

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The goal in pastoral care ministry is to make and grow disciples. God has not called us to fix problems for people, but to compassionately help people discover what God is up to in the midst of whatever situation they are facing, or struggle they are having, and encourage them to respond to God's Word accordingly. Fixing problems is God’s department.

Each and every time I enter into a counseling situation, I remind myself (and the Lord) that He is the Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6), and I am simply His vessel. Therefore, as I prayerfully listen to the person share their story, and seek to discern the situation at hand, I do my best to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as to how I can most effectively bring the Word of God into the picture for each persons’ life, in order to best minister to them.

If the person is discouraged, broken or contrite, I will bring the grace of God, and His promises into the counseling appointment (cf. Mt. 12:20; Ro. 8:28-39). If the person is willfully sinning against the Lord, I will lovingly bring the instructive and corrective aspects of God’s Word into the counseling appointment (Eph. 5:8-11), allowing it to cut like a sharp two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12-13). Whether the person is broken, or full of pride and sin, our goal is to be led by the Spirit, using the Word of God, to hopefully encourage and draw the individual closer to Jesus.

A final aspect of pastoral care counseling in addition to drawing others closer to Jesus, is giving them the tools (and homework) in learning how to begin bringing God into the picture of their circumstances on their own. This is the discipleship aspect of pastoral care counseling. When this begins taking place, their faith will be strengthened and they will begin growing in their walk with Jesus.

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