Biblical Counseling Ministry Charter

MAYFLOWER CHURCH

Biblical Counseling Ministry Charter

Streamline System 06 — Team Charters

DRAFT for consideration by the Servants Council at its meeting on July 11, 2026. Not yet ratified. Upon ratification this becomes a standing charter, reviewed at each August Leadership Summit and re-ratified on material change.

Governing Principle

Scripture is sufficient for the soul's troubles; this ministry brings the Word to bear in love.

The God who made us speaks fully and finally in his Word about how we are to live, suffer, repent, and be restored. This ministry offers Christ-centered, Scripture-saturated care to people in real struggle, and refers to licensed clinical providers only for what is genuinely beyond its scope.

1. Oversight (the home)

Overseeing boards: Senior Pastor and Board of Elders. The ministry is led by the Director of Biblical Counseling, a part-time paid staff position recruited by the Senior Pastor and hired and directed by the Servants Council (Bylaws Art. II §B 4.c.9). This is a staff-led ministry, not a volunteer team appointed by a board, and this is a ministry-level charter accordingly. Every ministry has a home; this one works first with the Senior Pastor and the elders.

2. Purpose

This ministry exists to provide the church's biblical counseling: Christ-centered, Scripture-saturated care for individuals and families facing personal, relational, marital, family, grief, and spiritual struggles. It also builds the church's capacity for one-another care by raising up lay counselors. Its care rests on the sufficiency of Scripture for the troubles of the soul. It does not integrate secular psychology as a parallel authority; it brings the Word to bear, and refers out only for matters that are genuinely medical or psychiatric in nature.

3. Priority-ministry link

This ministry serves Membership and Shepherding Care (Priority 5, System 01), and through it the Ministry of the Word, since the care it gives is the Word applied to the struggles of the soul.

4. The Commission

The Senior Pastor and elders commission this ministry, led by the Director of Biblical Counseling, to provide and develop the church's biblical counseling. The work has three settled lines, carried within the Director's part-time weekly schedule (the hours are set in the position description, System 07, not here). First, counsel: provide direct biblical counseling to members and regular attenders in personal, relational, marital, family, grief, and spiritual struggles, screening and assigning cases by their nature and severity. Second, build: recruit, train, and supervise a team of lay biblical counselors so the church grows in its capacity for one-another care, and maintain counseling standards and procedures grounded in Scripture and consistent with the Statement of Faith. Third, bridge and refer: serve as the bridge between small-group pastoral care and formal counseling, and maintain referral relationships with licensed clinical providers for cases requiring medical or psychiatric intervention beyond the scope of biblical counseling. The Director carries cases personally and multiplies the work through trained lay counselors; the ministry never becomes the only place care happens in the church.

5. In scope / Out of scope

In scope:

• Direct biblical counseling of members and regular attenders in personal, relational, marital, family, grief, and spiritual struggles.
• Screening, assessing, and assigning counseling cases by their nature and severity.
• Recruiting, training, and supervising a team of lay biblical counselors for one-another care.
• Maintaining counseling standards, policies, and procedures grounded in Scripture and consistent with the Statement of Faith.
• Maintaining confidential, appropriate case documentation in keeping with best practice and applicable law.
• Maintaining referral relationships with licensed clinical providers for medical or psychiatric needs beyond the ministry's scope.
• Supporting the church's Biblical Conflict Resolution and Restoration process (Bylaws Art. I §A 4) with mediation and counsel when requested by the elders.

Out of scope:

• The ordinary pastoral care given in Bible Fellowship Groups. BFG leaders shepherd their members in everyday care; this ministry receives the cases that exceed that care and bridges into formal counseling (see Coordination).
• Elder shepherding and church discipline. Cases that touch church discipline or require elder action escalate to the elders; the Director collaborates and supports but does not carry the elders' authority or decisions.
• Integrating secular psychology, psychological assessment, or therapeutic models as a parallel authority alongside Scripture. The ministry's care rests on the sufficiency of the Word.
• Clinical, medical, or psychiatric treatment. The ministry refers such matters to licensed providers rather than treating them.
• Examining or approving people for membership, baptism, or restoration. That belongs to the elders.

6. Scale

Shape: the Director of Biblical Counseling, a part-time paid staff position (hours and terms set in the position description, System 07), together with a team of lay biblical counselors the Director recruits, trains, and supervises. Lay counselor commitment categories are drawn from the Volunteer Chapter (System 06). The Director carries a regular counseling caseload and multiplies care through the lay team rather than absorbing every case personally. Caseload and team size are kept within what the part-time schedule can faithfully sustain.

7. Key responsibilities

• Provide direct biblical counseling and maintain a regular caseload within the part-time schedule.
• Screen, assess, and assign cases by nature and severity, matching counselees to counselors.
• Recruit, train, and supervise lay biblical counselors and develop the church's one-another care.
• Develop and maintain Scripture-grounded counseling standards, policies, and procedures.
• Keep strict confidentiality and appropriate case records.
• Maintain referral relationships with licensed clinical providers for matters beyond the ministry's scope.
• Bridge Bible Fellowship Group care and formal counseling, in step with leaders and deacons.
• Collaborate with the Senior Pastor and elders on pastoral-care strategy, crisis response, and cases requiring elder involvement or discipline.

8. Coordination

• Senior Pastor and elders: receive collaboration on pastoral-care strategy and crisis response; receive the escalation of cases that touch church discipline or require elder action; hold the authority this ministry serves but does not carry.
• Bible Fellowship Group leaders and deacons: identify congregational care needs and refer cases that exceed ordinary group care; this ministry is the bridge between small-group pastoral care and formal counseling.
• Licensed clinical providers: receive referral of cases requiring medical or psychiatric intervention beyond the scope of biblical counseling; this ministry maintains those relationships and refers, but does not provide clinical treatment.

9. Resources

Budget line: Counseling Resources, administered by the Lead Counselor (Purchasing Policy), covering counseling resources and professional development. The church provides dedicated counseling space and administrative support through the Church Secretary. [Confirm whether "Lead Counselor" and "Director of Biblical Counseling" are the same role label in the Purchasing Policy and position description.] Facilities needs for counseling space are coordinated with the Trustees. Scheduling and any volunteer requests for lay counselors run through Planning Center.

10. Health indicators

Faithfulness-shaped signs the ministry is alive, not a caseload scoreboard. Confidentiality is preserved in every indicator; none names a counselee. The year's specific targets live in the System 11 annual goals, set with the Senior Pastor and elders each August.

• People in real struggle are receiving Christ-centered, Scripture-saturated care, and the care is genuinely biblical rather than therapeutic in a borrowed key.
• A team of trained lay counselors is growing, so care is multiplied and the Director is not the only one who counsels.
• The bridge from Bible Fellowship Group care to formal counseling is working; cases that exceed group care reach the ministry rather than going unaddressed.
• Cases that touch discipline or require elder action are escalated promptly and handled with the elders, not held inappropriately.
• Confidentiality is kept; counselees trust the ministry's discretion.
• Referrals to licensed providers happen when, and only when, a matter is genuinely beyond the ministry's scope.

11. Review and approval

Standing charter, reviewed annually at the August Leadership Summit. Re-ratified by the Servants Council on material change. Escalation beyond the ministry's, the Director's, or the elders' authority follows the Decision-Making Framework (System 09). Leadership succession follows the Leadership Handoff Guidelines (System 12); because the Director is a paid staff position, hiring and contractual terms are directed by the Servants Council (Bylaws Art. II §B 4.c.9) rather than by board appointment. This is a ministry-level charter, paired with the Director's staff position description (System 07): the ministry is led by a part-time paid staff member, not a volunteer team leader appointed by a board, and the ministry-level charter is the right artifact for it.

Commissioned by: Elder Chair ____________________________ Date __________

Ratified into the operations documentation by: Servants Council ____________________________ Date __________

Sources

• Mayflower Church Constitution and Bylaws, Art. II §B 4.c.9 (Servants Council directs hiring of staff positions); Art. II §B 4.c.7 (Servants Council receives and approves Ministry Team charters); Art. I §A 4 (Biblical Conflict Resolution and Restoration).
• Streamline System 01 — The Five Priority Ministries We Guard (Membership and Shepherding Care, Priority 5).
• Streamline System 06 — Team-to-Board Oversight Map; Volunteer Chapter (lay counselor commitment categories).
• Streamline System 07 — Role Clarity, "16 — Director of Biblical Counseling" (Staff Position; sufficiency of Scripture, no psychology-as-integration, clinical referral only beyond scope).
• Streamline System 09 — Decision-Making Framework; System 11 — Annual Goals; System 12 — Leadership Handoff Guidelines.
• Purchasing Policy (Counseling Resources, administered by the Lead Counselor).
• Team Charter Standard, this folder (the form), and the sibling charters for parallelism.