What is your vision for care ministry, discipleship, and counseling? This was the question we had to address at our church some years ago. What follows is our answer to that question, which now serves as our vision for soul care at College Park Church. My hope in sharing this is to offer some help to those who may be wrestling with that question and to invite dialogue about the effectiveness of counseling ministries to further the discipleship purposes of the church.
Soul Care ministry vision statement
The vision statement for our Soul Care ministry is “The hope of real life change through a culture of soul care.”
College Park Church’s mission is “Igniting a passion to follow Jesus,” and we see soul care—the ministry to the soul through intentional, preventive, and intensive relationships—as a vital and necessary ministry that should be woven through the fabric of all church ministries. Soul care involves three pillars:
- Intentional community
- Preventive discipleship
- Intensive counseling
The elders and pastors of College Park believe that every follower of Jesus should be involved, at some level, in soul care. Our passion is to see the hope of gospel-centered soul care lived out through real life change personally and through being a part of real life change in the lives of others.
Soul Care’s aim is to get underneath the veneer of life to spiritual root causes, to share the transforming message of the gospel, and to see people’s lives radically transformed. Soul Care’s method is to intersect the issues of life with the power of the written Word (the Bible) and the living Word (Jesus).
Soul Care’s call is rooted in the command to “make disciples,” something that Jesus called all believers to embrace in the Great Commission.
Soul Care’s context is intentionally invasive relationships that flow from the body of Christ.
Soul Care ministry vision lived out
Therefore, at College Park Church, we will live out this vision in the following ways:
- We will continually grow in our understanding of the life-changing reality of the gospel.
- We will boldly proclaim that hope for real life change is found through Jesus Christ.
- We will call people to radical life change in every ministry venue.
- We will embrace the fact that real life change is something everyone must be involved in personally and in the lives of the people around them.
- We will celebrate the role of the Word, the body of Christ, and individual believers in the partnership for life change.
- We will value the role of preventive and intensive life change and invite our people to be part of the solution in formal and informal relationships.
- We will train all of our people in the use of the Word so that they are equipped to be catalysts for change in their realm of influence.
- We will rely on the Spirit and the Word through the power of prayer.
- We will realize this vision in the context of relationships and community.
- We will set our sights on inviting the broader community of Indianapolis to experience the power of life change through Soul Care.
- We will encourage and empower other churches to join us in this journey.
Since the gospel offers real hope through a life-changing relationship with Jesus, we want our church to reflect the reality, power, and experience of real life change personally and through caring for the souls of others.
Join the conversation
What vision do you and your church have for soul care?
What have you found helpful in developing a vision?
What would you add to or take away from this vision statement?
