What Is a Gospel Conversation?
I’ve written a whole book/equipping manual on gospel conversations: Gospel Conversations: How to Care Like Christ. In the book, readers/participants become equipped in 22 biblical counseling skills.
So, what is a gospel conversation? Here are two portraits…
Gospel Conversation Portrait # 1
In gospel conversations we first understand the gospel story, then we seek to understand our friend’s story, then we journey together to intersect God’s eternal story and our friend’s earthly story.
People live their whole lives asking questions that can only be answered in God and by God—in the gospel. From cover to cover the Bible tells the gospel story.
The gospel is God’s victory narrative that moves us from creation, to fall, to redemption, to consummation. The Bible is the one true meta-narrative that explains who we are, what went wrong, how God changes people, and where all of life is moving.
So, in biblical counseling, we start with a robust, relevant understanding of this grand redemptive narrative—and how it relates to every aspect of life and every inch of existence. But we don’t stop there.
In biblical counseling we also seek to understand our friend’s story. What are the specific longings, struggles, hurts, relationships, sin, suffering, thoughts, situations that our friend is facing?
We don’t apply the Scriptures, the gospel, indiscriminately to a person without knowing their inner world (their heart) and their outer world (their situation).
I picture it with “pivot feet.” As biblical counselors we are always pivoting between the eternal gospel story and the temporal earthly story. Or, to mix metaphors, we are always listening with both ears—one ear always attune to the eternal gospel story and one ear always attuned to our counselee’s temporal earthly story.
Biblical counseling then is a relational journey. We relate soul-to-soul with a brother or sister in Christ as we related gospel truth to daily life. This is Paul’s message and method in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 where he is delighted to share not only the gospel but his very own soul because those he ministered to were so dear to him.
Gospel Conversation Portrait 2
In gospel conversations we pursue personal change centered on the Person of Christ through the personal ministry of the Word.
We pursue personal change. That is, we pursue heart change. As much as we might wish and pray that our circumstances would change, that’s not our ultimate focus. Our ultimate focus in biblical counseling is to help people to find God even when they can’t find relief. Our purpose is to help people to live godly lives in an ungodly world.
We center on the Person of Christ. That is true in several senses. First, the work of Christ—the gospel victory narrative, is our theological foundation. Second, the power of Christ through His Spirit, His Word, and His people is our source of strength to change. Third, the goal of change is glorifying God by becoming more and more like Christ—in how we relate, think, choose, act, and handle our feelings.
In biblical counseling we help our brothers and sisters in Christ to prayerfully ponder how the gospel victory narrative relates to their struggles with suffering and their besetting sins—as they move toward sanctification—greater Christlikeness.
We engage in the personal ministry of the Word. In preaching, pastors engage in the pulpit ministry of the Word. This is vital—essential for a congregation’s growth in grace.
However, biblical counseling is not the pulpit ministry of the Word applied to one person. Biblical counseling is not preaching at an audience of one.
Instead, in biblical counseling we are engaged in a “trialogue.” In a monologue, I talk to you. In a dialogue, we talk to each other. In a biblical counseling trialogue we talk together, to each other, in a gospel conversation where God’s Word by God’s Spirit is the third partner in our conversation. There are always three people present in any biblical counseling session: the counselee, the counselor, and the Divine Counselor—God’s Spirit via God’s Word.
One of the great blessings of one-another ministry is the opportunity to jointly apply gospel truth individually to the specific situation of the specific person. Rather than a general application of truth, we have a person-specific application of the gospel.
Another great blessing of one-another ministry is the opportunity to carry on an ongoing conversation—a gospel conversation. Rather than “teaching” gospel truths from 1 Peter about casting all our cares on God because He cares for us, we can dialogue/trialogue about those truths.
- “As you read this verse, what cares come to mind for you?”
- “What have you been doing with those cares to this point?”
- “Where do you see God in the midst of your cares?”
- “The verse identifies the reason that we can cast our cares on God—because we are convinced that He cares for us. To what extent is that your image of God—as a Father who is in control and cares for you?” “If that is not your image of God, where do you think you developed a faulty view of God?” “What would it look like for you to renew your mind with a biblical view of God?”
- “This verse is just one verse in a much wider gospel context in 1 Peter. Peter begins his letter—written to troubled people being persecuted for their faith—by reminding them that because of their salvation in Christ they are ‘shielded by God’s power…’ Let’s talk about what that image means—biblically and to you personally…”
Now, I just made up every one of those “trialogues” right now, on the spot, for this blog post. They are meant to illustrate “gospel conversations”—how we understand the gospel story, seek to understand our friend’s story, then journey together to intersect God’s eternal story and our friend’s earthly story—and do it in the context of a loving conversation.
The Rest of the Story
For a much fuller development of gospel conversations, and for literally 1000s of examples of gospel conversations, see Gospel Conversations: How to Care Like Christ.
