Chapter 2: Model for The Church

God’s Model for a Counseling Church

The local church is God’s ordained environment for transformation. Counseling was never meant to be outsourced; it is the natural fruit of discipleship and fellowship among believers. Paul’s vision in Ephesians 4:11–16 shows that every member contributes to the building up of the body of Christ — pastors, teachers, and saints alike.

Pastor Chuck Smith wrote, “The strength of Calvary Chapel has always been its simplicity — teaching the Word of God and relying on the Spirit of God.” That same simplicity applies to soul care. The church grows not by programs but by people who love, pray, and minister truth to one another.

Pastor Bob Hoekstra described this dynamic as “the environment of grace.” God designed His church to be a place where believers can confess, receive encouragement, and find restoration. Real change happens when truth and grace meet in the context of relationships.

At the Calvary Chapel Fellowship of Biblical Counselors, we teach that God’s model for a counseling church is one where ministry flows naturally through everyday life. The Ministering Servant brings Scripture into conversations, meals, small groups, and friendships. The Disciple in Care learns that sanctification is not a private journey but a shared process of growth within the body of Christ.

“From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

Ephesians 4:16