Lay Counseling Ministry

The Lay Counseling Ministry will offer an intensive training course for people who have a call to counseling. The course will run for approximately nine months beginning in January 2011. If interested, please email us at One 2 One.

The Lay Counseling Ministry is a vital ministry that touches the lives of hurting people in a unique manner. The method used to heal is spiritual rather than psychological. Christ and the message of the Cross are central in dealing with the problems and issues of those who reach out for help. Therefore, willingness for personal brokenness and daily surrender is a necessity.

Lay Counselors are not ordained ministers. They are lay people who are commissioned to minister by Westlake Church. Even though Lay Counseling is a volunteer ministry, Lay Counselors must adhere to professional standards. The training is very intensive. Once a commitment is made to Lay Counseling Training and/or counseling, you do not have the options of most volunteer ministries. The Lay Counseling Ministry has high standards and high levels of involvement are required for the following reasons:
   o  People’s lives hang in the balance
   o  Nature of problems dealt with
   o  Confidentiality

It is vital that you understand your motive for desiring to counsel. If you are just looking for somewhere to serve, or seek fulfillment from listening and helping others, it would be best not to apply for this ministry. The fact that you like to work with people or that people seem to seek you out to share their problems is not sufficient motive for applying. Our Counseling Model does not involve “taking on another person’s pain”, “fixing” or “rescuing” others, or giving advice.

We are seeking committed people who are called by God to the ministry of counseling. The commitment level of those aspiring to be counselors must be high because the responsibility they will be assuming is serious. Trainees are required to:
   o  Be a “growing” Christian
   o  Have a good knowledge of the Scriptures
   o  Attend all scheduled classes
   o  Attend all scheduled continuing education classes
   o  Be under the guidance of a personal supervisor
   o  Be punctual

We feel strongly that participation in the Counseling Ministry is a call from God; therefore, you must understand and be able to explain your call by God to this specific ministry.

Due to the sensitivity and the severity of the issues that people are dealing with when they come for counseling, we must be very selective in the people that are chosen to counsel. If you are selected to be a lay counselor, it will be expected that lay counseling will be your primary ministry taking priority over other ministries in which you may be involved.

There is a degree of spiritual and mental wellness and maturity required of those who apply for admittance to the ministry. Whether or not you go on to actively counsel others, we guarantee that the things you will learn from this course will be life changing!

We encourage you to apply if you sense a call from God to this ministry!
Yours in Christ