A Certified Biblical Counsellor for Men's Issues Across Canada

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to see the Path of Biblical Counselling.

from Chains means that we need release from the chains that keep us in bondage to sin. Chains like addictions, anxieties, habits and hurts. These 'chains' prevent us from living a full life in Christ

through Christ means that those chains of sin can only be broken by the great "Chain Breaker", the Lord, Jesus Christ Himself. Christ transforms our heart to be more in tune with His.

to Freedom means that we can now live a fuller, more satisfying life that is in, through, and by the Holy Spirit, all to the glory of God. Freedom in Christ must be the goal of our lives.

Hello. My name is Ian Ridpath. I am a Level 2, ABC-certified Biblical Counsellor specializing in men's real life issues such as anxiety, anger, conflict, fear, identity in Christ, Christian manhood, stress and more.

I locally serve the Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge Ontario area and also do online counselling for counselees and tutoring for counsellors across Canada.

Ian Ridpath

MY BIBLICAL COUNSELLING PHILOSOPHY

"Being a certified ABC-Level 2 Biblical counsellor, I am passionate to see believers restored to the spiritual and emotional wholeness that God created them to be. Biblical counselling is, at its core, a discipleship ministry for believers, that is directed by the Holy Spirit.

I specifically counsel men in their life issues by using the Bible as the sole source of truth in all the affairs of man. I believe that Biblical counselling has the most significant impact on the overall mental and spiritual wellness of my counselees.

My Christian theology is based on sound reformation doctrine in terms of justification, salvation, sanctification and glorification."

Here are 10 important truths you should know about Biblical Counselling

Biblical Counselling is BIBLICAL: James 5:16 says, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." Biblical conselling involves praying for, sharing with and caring for fellow believers.
Biblical Counselling is BLESSED: Matthew 5:6 says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Biblical counselling seeks the contrite heart of those who hunger and thirst after a deeper relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Biblical Counselling is BENEFICIAL: 1 Timothy 4:8b says, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come". Wise counsel is always a good and beneficial thing and Biblical counselling wisdom must come from above.
Biblical Counselling is UNIQUE: 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. The Bible is the sole source of truth for Biblical counselling. No other counselling can claim this.
Biblical Counselling is HONOURING TO GOD: James 3:17 tells us that wisdom comes from above, from God. He often uses Bible-wise counsellors for this very purpose when they rely on His wisdom in their counselling. Relying on God, honours God.
Biblical Counselling is HEART CENTRED: Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." The heart is the center of our desires, emotions, and will and these always determine our behaviours, good or bad.
Biblical Counselling is a DISCIPLESHIP MINISTRY: Matthew 11:28 reminds us that we, who are burdened, are to come to Jesus, and He will give us rest. Biblical counselling is, as a basis, a discipleship ministry drawing people closer to Jesus.
Biblical Counselling is PARTICIPATORY: 1 Corinthians 3:9 says, "For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field..." The Biblical counsellor and counselee work together under the authority of Scripture. The counselee is expected to fully participate in the counselling process.
Biblical Counselling is TRUTH FOCUSSED: John 14:6 says, "Jesus answered, "I am the way, the TRUTH and the life."" Jesus continually communicates this truth to us through His Word by His Spirit.
Biblical Counselling is SPIRIT LED: John 16:13 says, "When the Spirit comes, He will guide you into all truth." The good results of Biblical counselling are dependent upon God and His Holy Spirit, not on man's efforts. Thus the vertical (faith or Spirit-driven) relationship with God must always preceed the horizontal (sight-driven) relationship to the world. [2 Corinthians 5:7]

The Five Pillars of Biblical Counselling

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In Biblical counselling, Christ is Everything.
Every aspect of Biblical counselling must have Christ as the focus. The Holy Spirit drives all Biblical counselling and points both the counsellor and counselee to seek a closer relationship with Jesus.
This vertical (spiritual) relationship must be the initial focus of Biblical counselling. Then, and only then can issues in the horizontal (physical) realm be addressed sucessfully.
This can be thought of as Discipleship and indeed unless Biblical counselling achieves this, then restoration of and healing of life's issues cannot be fully realized.

Here at YBC, I hold to all these truths in my Biblical Counselling.

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All The Glory Goes To God

This fact is the major difference between pure secular counselling, secular counselling done by a Christian counsellor, and Biblical counselling itself. I firmly believe that unless God's Word, the Bible, is used as the primary source of truth, wisdom, and guidance, then complete restoration of a soul cannot really take place. Certainly any counselling may be beneficial to restoring to a degree, the wellness of a person's body, mind and emotions, ultimate spirit and soul restoration, to what God originally created, cannot be fully realized. This is the beauty of Biblical counselling. It is a form of discipleship that changes the heart.

The Heart Is The Target

The Bible talks a lot about the heart of God and the heart of man. God's heart, His center of existance, can be summed up by the fact that God is pure, unconditional love that He gives to all His creation. The best that mankind can to is reflect this love to other people. Biblical Counselling looks into the heart of mankind from a Biblical perspective, or in other words, from a Biblical world view. God is also a just and holy God who desires that His creation gets back to the state that it was in the Garden, before sin entered the world. This can only happen when a person believes in Jesus Christ and experiences His salvation.

The Holy Spirit Is Boss

The major difference between the various forms of counselling, is who or what drives the counselling. Is it man-learned methods that highlight, or work primarily in the horizontal plane with methodologies, for the most part, that seek behaviourial modification? Or is it God-centered methods that seek to transform a soul by the 'renewing' of the mind? The latter depends solely on the impact that the Holy Spirit of God is allowed to have on one's heart and mind. Until and unless the Holy Spirit is allowed to drive a persons life fully then the Spirit will not be 'boss' and a person will still live more by their flesh than by the Spirit of God.

A Certified Biblical Counsellor for Men's Issues Across Canada

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