BIBLICAL COUNSELLING
What is an Advocate?
What is an Advocate?
Lasting change takes place in community. Christians were never meant to live in isolation. In fact, God intended the community of believers to assist one another in making lasting change for the glory of God (Romans 15:1-2, Ephesians 4: 11-16, Philippians 2:1-4). Because we believe that transformational change happens in the community of believers, we ask that all counselees bring an advocate with them to their counselling sessions.
An advocate is someone who:
- Loves God
- Firmly believes in the sufficiency of God’s Word
- Cares deeply for the counselee (Proverbs 17:17)
- Is available to attend counselling session with the counselee
- Prays for and with the counselee before, during, and after the sessions
- Reminds the counselee of what they were taught
- Encourages the counselee
- Holds the counselee accountable
- Helps the counselee complete the assigned homework
Advocates are an amazing addition to formal counselling. They can be a life-giving part in the change process for the counselee as they walk through the valley alongside the hurting person. If they have history with the counselee, they can provide important context that would otherwise be unavailable to the counsellor.
Two additional notes on advocacy:
- Our counsellors will help with the selection of and give final approval to the advocates. Ideally, we desire advocates to get a recommendation from a leader within the community of Hope Church Toronto West. This is important as we are looking to leverage the power of mature believers who will not judge but will intentionally pray, encourage, challenge, or even rebuke the counselee instead of being enablers, or flesh-sympathizers.
- As a general rule, first-degree relatives (spouses, parents, siblings, etc.) don’t make for good advocates. We have seen that people who live both roles struggle to remain objective which may hinder the counselling process. Again, our counsellors will try to discern with you if your initial choice is a good fit.
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