At Grace & Peace, we offer free biblical counseling to anyone who requests counseling regardless of if they’re members of our local church or not. Occasionally, we’re asked what the difference is between biblical counseling, Christian counseling, and secular counseling; this blog post endeavors to make the differences clear and explain why we offer biblical counseling as a church (and why we don’t offer Christian counseling or secular counseling) as a free service to anyone who wants to be biblically counseled.

In our modern-day churches, the role of deacon has been confused and muddled. Many Baptist churches have turned the office of a deacon into a quasi-elder position in which the deacons have control over the pulpit, the pastor, and the spiritual well-being of the church without necessarily being the "pastor" of the church. Some churches have neglected the office of a deacon to the extent that they either don't have deacons or their deacons really have no role. The reality is that deacons have a vital role in the church and when that office is neglected, churches suffer.

Churches throughout the world depend on seminaries to train and teach pastors to lead churches and these churches typically rely on colleges and seminaries to offer a comprehensive education that encompasses various aspects of ministry including counseling, leadership, theological studies, and more.

I still had one issue and that issue was summed up with one sentence, "why does a town in rural Pennsylvania need another church?" And I kept holding onto that sentence to explain my hesitancy to jump into church planting, despite knowing that this area needed a new church, that we have unique experience that can help reach this area, and despite my wife's constant reminder that I had always spoken of church planting prior to 2015.