Mission:
To provide compassionate and competent soul care, which reflects the heart of Christ, to our community through professional psychotherapy and counseling.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
-Isaiah 61:1-3
Purpose:
To serve in God’s ministry of reconciliation—reconciling the parts of the self, reconciling relationships between people, and reconciling people to God.
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
-2 Corinthians 5:19b-20
Vision:
For each person’s body, mind, will, emotions, spirit, and relationships to be made whole in union with God’s design and destiny.
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.
-Philippians 1:6
Our Values:
Honoring God:
The greatest human good is to love God with the whole self. We understand our service to our fellow man as an act of worship to our Creator. We honor God in our counseling by rejoicing with the truth, giving love and grace just as God has shown us such love and grace through Jesus Christ, and making decisions based on how we can best reflect God’s heart.
Human Dignity:
We understand each person is uniquely and intelligently created by God for the purpose of reflecting his image and glory. Therefore, we are motivated to treat each client, the people in their lives, and our staff with honor. We are committed to serving others with integrity, honesty, respect, and the utmost professionalism. We uphold the dignity of each person by honoring God’s design, desire, and destiny for humanity as revealed in nature and Scripture.
Human Freedom:
Though we hold a distinctly Christian worldview, we reject imposing our worldview onto our clients because we believe participating in God’s plan for one’s life requires a free choice. We respect the reality that our clients may hold different worldview and religious (or denominational) persuasions. We will not coerce any client to accept our worldview as a condition for counseling. Nevertheless, our worldview conditions—just as with any therapist—may influence the way we approach issues our clients face. We disclose our values regarding topics pertinent to our clients’ cases so that our clients can make informed decisions about their counseling.
Therapeutic Relationship:
We understand that one of the greatest factors in successful therapy is the relationship between the therapist and client, especially one in which the client’s agency is supported and the client is understood and accepted. We are committed to protecting the sanctity of the therapeutic relationship by upholding the ethical standards of our field, maintaining professional boundaries, and addressing issues promptly and with transparency. We are committed to the well-being of our clients, so we promote case consultation, continuing education, and making appropriate referrals when necessary.
Statement of Faith:
As a Christian counseling practice, our staff adhere to historical, orthodox Christian doctrine, particularly regarding human nature and anthropology. Nevertheless, as stated in our values, we refrain from imposing our values and religious practices upon our clients. We apply an explicitly Christian counseling approach (which may include prayer, Scriptural teaching, and other spiritual disciplines) only for clients who request such an approach.
God:
We place our trust in the God of the Bible, an eternal, personal, spiritual being who is the Creator of all reality. He both transcends creation, time, and space, and he is intimately involved in his creation. He reveals himself through the logic of Creation, the words of Scripture, and ultimately in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. He is three distinct persons—God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit—yet all one in essence.
Humanity:
Out of his love, God created humanity in his image and likeness as his representatives on Earth. God’s intent is for all humanity to reflect his glory and to enjoy union with him for eternity. Each human has inherent value as unrepeatable, irreplaceable, and indispensable gifts. God created humans as the integration of the spiritual and physical in nature. We have the free will to participate in God’s design and intent or to reject God’s will. The greatest human good is to love God with the whole self, and then to love others as oneself.
Sin:
Through deception and disobedience, humanity sinned and all of creation has fallen short of God’s design and intent and is in need of salvation. In our sin, humans are alienated from God, others, and ourselves. Ultimately, all maladies, malevolence, and disorders trace back to our Fall. Though fallen and in need of redemption, each person retains the dignity of being made in God’s image.
Redemption:
God initiated reconciliation with humanity by coming in the flesh as Jesus Christ, living a perfect life, dying on the cross to cleanse us and forgive us of our sins, resurrecting in a glorified body and defeating death, ascending to Heaven, and promising to return for us. God offers us new life through trusting in the sufficiency of Jesus’ work to justify us, empowering us by grace to live for him and begin the process of transformation into his likeness. Those who die apart from Christ will live in eternal separation from God.
The Church:
The Church is the collective body of all who believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord, called out from the world. We follow the Great Commission to go and make disciples of all peoples, reconciling all people to God to join his family, teaching them to obey God fully. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts and ministries so that we can build up and edify fellow believers. We gather together to worship, learn, heal, encourage each other through community, and partake of the sacraments. Furthermore, the Church is called to go out into the world to demonstrate God’s healing love.
The Bible:
We understand the Bible to be the collected recordings of God’s special revelation to humanity. We believe the human authors wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; therefore, it is reliable and without error in all it teaches. The Scriptures are authoritative and necessary for understanding reality, who God is, his story of redeeming humanity, and how we are to live.
Sex & Marriage:
God created humans into two sexes, male and female, as revealed by the sexual difference in the body. The creation of human sexuality is crucial to our creation in the image of God. The division into two sexes and the call to one-flesh unions of man and woman in marriage reflect the eternal exchange of life-giving love that continually exists between the members of the Trinity, as well as serve as a prophetic sign of humanity’s destiny to participate in the life of the Trinity as the Bride of Christ. Marital love is intended to reflect Jesus’ love for the Church, which he gives freely, fully, faithfully, and fruitfully. God gives us sexual morality to protect the symbolic integrity of his design and intent for our sexuality. Therefore, we affirm the goodness and necessity of the sexual difference and the requirement of marriage between a man and woman for the enjoyment of sexual activity. We understand that children flourish best in a family with their father and mother demonstrating the mutual love of God.