Solomon Lecture Series, Lecture 4: Four phases of discipleship/counseling

The following post contains some highlights from the fourth lecture in the Solomon Lecture Series, presented by Dr. John Woodward. The entire lecture series is available, here, at Grace Fellowship International.

In this lecture, Dr. Woodward discusses the four phases of counseling using the GFI approach. Specifically, the first phase is salvation, as the Holy Spirit needs to be involved thereafter. This is followed by Phase 2 which involves complete surrender of your will to Christ, understanding your identity in Christ, and appropriating the Exchanged Life. Without Phase 2, counseling will only provide strengthening of the flesh. Phase 3 involves taking down strong holds. Neil Anderson’s material is an example of this. Finally, Phase 4 involves on-going Christian growth. This is where obedience to biblical principles can be taught. Areas such as marriage problems and monetary problems, where the individual needs more specific counseling, are addressed in this phase. Nouthetic counseling would be useful in this phase, but it is important not to start this counseling without the person understanding and appropriating the truths in Phase 2. 

The following may be repetitious but it summarizes the salient points in my mind. Dr. Woodward notes that new birth in Christ is followed by spiritual growth. Counseling involves spiritual growth, positional sanctification and progressive sanctification. Crossing the Red Sea is a representation of salvation. Conquering Jericho is like a believer dealing with a stronghold through freedom in Christ. Settling in the land is ongoing growth as a Christian. Unfortunately, Dr. Woodward states that much of counseling goes directly from Phase 1 to Phase 4. The Spirituotherapy workshop is Phase 1 and 2, where most counseling problems are solved, as the self-life is dealt with. Phase 3 is the freedom in Christ process, and can be addressed, again, using material for authors like Neil Anderson. Phase 4 is ongoing biblical application (e.g. using God’s Word in family counseling or financial counseling). Dr. Woodward uses an example of a new boat as an outline of the 4-phase counseling approach. First, a new boat is commissioned (salvation), and the sailor travels by rowing the boat (self-life). Later, the sailor realizes that he is actually on a sailboat and hoists the sail (identification). He then discovers that his progress is not as great as it should be and, after much thought, finds that he is dragging an anchor (strongholds). Finally, the individual needs to work with ongoing navigation (continual application of God’s Word).