Tuesday, February 9, 2010

How Grace and Truth was Born

How did Grace and Truth Counseling get its name?

In 2002 Jill and I perched on the precipice of a dream; our own Christian Counseling practice. The journey was long, beginning in 1987 with a Master's degree, 1990-91 for supplementary graduate classes (all the while practicing counseling in community mental health setting), and culminating with 30 more graduate hours in diagnosis and treatment between 1997-99. Finally! Sept 17, 1999 it was official, Jeffrey J. Williams, Professional Clinical Counselor, State of Ohio License, #E-0003098. Now what?

There was a bridge between 1999-2002 through a therapeutic Foster Care Agency, Lifeway for Youth (now Benchmark, Inc.). It was from there that Mike Berner, founder and CEO, graciously launched us into our dream. "It's been a blessing to have you here, but it is clear that it is time to go to do what you were made to do." Prophetically, Mike declared that what we were to do was more than we thought, but that launching a private practice was part of it. So, off we went...

"If you build it, they will come" was a frequent exhortation from friends, colleagues and former clients. "Don't worry about having enough business. You've been gifted to do this. You'll be fine." Still, rookie anxieties flooded my mind. "Do I have what it takes? "Will people really want to receive counseling from me and be willing to compensate me for it?"

After making the decision to establish a private practice, leasing an office and telling a few people, the question was, "What do we call it?" Boy, was that ever a prayerful challenge.

Fortuitously (and providentially), Jill and I were reading "Changes That Heal" by Henry Cloud, at the time. One of the first chapters of the book extensively discusses the Grace/Truth continuum based on John 1:14, "The Son of Man came full of grace and truth." Cloud's assertion was that while Jesus was the perfectly balanced embodiment of these two qualities, that the rest of us are apt to live on one side of the continuum more than the other. Diagnosis of our team of two was quick for Jill and me; she was grace and I was truth. Oops!

At the same time we were praying and discussing names for our counseling ministry. "What do you we want people to get from our ministry?" We discussed how dealing with reality of their lives, their choices and the circumstances in which they found themselves due to the choices of others was essential. "We have to deal with reality, even when it isn't pretty." "But, we also must compassionately hold them in kind, gentle, affirming relationship through which they will feel cared about and believed in." We believed that no one was beyond help...no one beyond salvation...no one destined to forever be a victim of their choices or circumstances. So, what do we call it?

Jesus is the most potent figure of history, we reasoned, exactly because He was full of both Grace and Truth. Ultimately we wanted our clients to receive Jesus, to experience Jesus, and in so much as we and our staff could embody grace and truth for our clients they WOULD receive Jesus in person, through our ministry to them. YES, that was it. We wanted to be like Him and embody Him in the way we interacted with them and the quality of input and ministry they received...Grace and Truth.

And now you know how Grace and Truth was born.

Grace - unmerited favor; not earned, and undeserved
Truth - the body of real things, events, facts

At Grace and Truth, "The Grace to try (again), and the truth to be successful."

No comments:

Post a Comment