True Life-Discipleship Counseling, a non-denominational, non-profit incorporation, has deep roots in northern Maryland communities. Serving local churches and individuals, our Discipleship Counseling is designed for personal and spiritual help that spans a wide spectrum of needs. From weary heavy laden Christians who are struggling to experience the rest and freedom promised in God’s word, to anyone caught in a season of anxiety, guilt, depression, anger, and many other emotional issues. It teaches Christians how to be free from sin’s powerful grasp, and from the behavioral and emotional bondage that undermines relationships. Special emphasis is on the difference between a Christian trying to live a life like Jesus, versus allowing Jesus to manifest His life in and through the Christian. The experiential realization of this liberating truth brings the Christian into a practical understanding of his identity, purpose, and power over sin.
Unlike traditional fee for service counseling, True Life is a non-profit organization that is 100% dependent on God to provide for its financial needs. This is accomplished solely through contributions from people who believe in its message and ministry. Counselees are asked to contribute to the ministry according to what he or she can. The generous donations from our sponsors and special donors fund operational costs and make it possible for the counselees who are unable to donate to receive the services they otherwise would be unable to afford.
How does discipleship counseling compare to other counseling services?
Secular counseling provides self-based solutions to address behavioral, emotional, marital, and parenting problems. This form of support focuses on the strength and stability of the individual person, often giving the person a list of things to do or change, which then lends the possibility of failure. Secular counseling typically does not include any reference to God’s relationship with man, nor does it address man’s real issues in a Biblical context. Services are provided on a fee for service relationship and sometimes are covered by insurance.
Christian counseling provides the same solutions as secular counseling to address behavioral, emotional, marital, and parenting problems, but uses various degrees of Christian values and beliefs. Often people leave with a “to do” list of how to be more like Jesus, which again can lead to feelings of failure. Most services are provided on a fee for service relationship and sometimes are covered by insurance.
Discipleship Counseling is designed for personal and spiritual help in resolving anxiety, guilt, depression, anger, and many other emotional issues. It teaches Christians how to be free from sin’s powerful grasp and from the behavioral and emotional bondage that undermines relationships. Special emphasis is on the difference between a Christian trying to live a life like Jesus versus allowing Jesus to manifest His life in and through the Christian. The experiential realization of this liberating truth brings the Christian into a practical understanding of his identity, purpose, and power over sin. In this time of discipleship, the Holy Spirit is recognized as the agent of change.
True Life is a non-profit organization that does not charge fees for our discipleship counseling, but operates on a donation basis for individual appointments.
FAQ's
Discipleship Counseling is Christ-centered counseling that seeks to bridge the often common gap between a Christian’s personal life struggles and circumstances, and living from the “new heart” that God gave them. It teaches how to integrate God’s truth into our everyday living so that we will more fully discover and experience the abundant life we have in Jesus.
Any adult who wishes to pursue greater freedom, joy, rest, and peace in their life may contact True Life to begin the process.
The person desiring Discipleship Counseling must make the first call or contact to True Life to seek help at 410-650-4074 . We respect an individual’s privacy and find it necessary to discuss their individual needs with them personally. The person who desires help must be the one willing to take the steps necessary for the process to begin.
When you contact us, we will get basic information on the type of help you are seeking, along with contact info. and your availability to meet with someone. You will need to commit to a weekly scheduled appointment during our office hours 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday thru Friday (occasionally, there are limited counseling appointments on evenings and weekends). We will then coordinate with one of our staff counselors to contact you directly to set up a time for your Intake Appointment. At the Intake Appointment you will have the opportunity to describe in more detail the help you need, and we will explain our Discipleship Counseling process.
Depending on the nature of the problem, an individual can count on about twenty visits. Each session will last about an hour; on occasion it may last longer.
True Life operates on a donation basis for our personal, individual appointments. We will ask a counselee to contribute at the end of each session, including the Intake Appointment ($90/session – a larger donation is suggested if the session is longer than an hour and a half.) There is a charge for Discipleship Workbooks, and for books and CDs that are assigned for homework. The counselee may also be asked to take a Taylor Johnson Temperament Analysis at a cost of $30.
The communication between a counselee and our staff is considered confidential. Records will not be released outside of True Life without one’s written consent.
Doctrine
We believe that the Bible was uniquely, verbally, and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit and that it was written without error in the original manuscripts. We accept the Bible in its entirety, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, as the sufficient and final authority for guiding man to faith in God through Jesus Christ and then to life in freedom and victory.
We believe that there is one true God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe God is holy, infinite, unchangeable, all-knowing, all-powerful, omni-present, righteous, just, true, and the creator of heaven and earth.
We believe that Jesus Christ is God, the living Word, who became fully man without ceasing to be fully God, through His miraculous conception and virgin birth. We believe in His miracles and that He lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men by dying on the cross as their substitute, that He bodily rose from the dead after three days, that He ascended to the right hand of God the Father as the Advocate of those who trust Him for salvation, and that He will return again to the earth personally, visibly, and bodily, in power and glory, to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.
We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit, who is the third person of the Holy Trinity, who has come into the world to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to mankind. We believe that for salvation of lost and sinful man regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. We believe the Holy Spirit convicts men of their sins and draws them to Christ, and that from the moment of spiritual birth (regeneration) He imparts to them new life in Him, baptizes (places) believers into the body of Christ, continually indwells them, fills them, and seals them until the day of final redemption. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, through whom the Christian is enabled to understand the Word of God and live a godly life.
We believe in the existence and activity of a host of spiritual beings both good (angels) and evil (demons); the evil ones being led by Satan. We believe that Satan before he fell from heaven was the highest of the created angels (then called Lucifer), but when he aspired to displace God was removed from heaven, along with one-third of the angels who followed him. We believe that Satan’s objective is to thwart the plan of God, but that through the cross of Christ he is a defeated enemy who will eventually be punished in the everlasting Lake of Fire.
We believe that man was originally created in the image of God and that man consists of both material and immaterial parts, being made of spirit, soul, and body — therefore man functions in three main dimensions: physiological, psychological, and spiritual.
We believe in the Fall of Man in that after being tempted by Satan, man (through Adam) sinned by disobeying God and was thus alienated from God. We believe that at that point in history that sin was introduced into the entire human race, that mankind lost life (was separated from God spiritually), that man’s nature became corrupted and that all men are born in a lost condition outside of Christ. Therefore, we believe that man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, and that man cannot see nor enter the Kingdom of God until he is born again.
We believe that salvation (being born again) is entirely a work of God’s grace, and is not the work, in whole or in part, of human effort, works, or religious activity. We believe that God imputes His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for salvation and justifies them. We believe that through personal faith in the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ, all believers are saved and kept saved forever, and that nothing can be added to the finished work of Christ.
We believe that the Christian life on a daily basis consists of the believer claiming his union with Christ whereby Christ lives His life in and through the believer through the indwelling Holy Spirit. We believe that practical sanctification (being able to live the Christian life and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit) is realized in the believer by recognizing and appropriating his identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, and by presenting every faculty of his life to the Lordship of Christ since his life now rightfully belongs to Christ.
We believe that a Christian can and does sometime sin. We believe that a believer has a choice to either cultivate a life centered around the flesh (a self-centered focus) or on the Spirit (a Christ-centered focus). We believe that a person’s life centered around the flesh leads to sin, but that when he sins (commits an act of contrary to the will of God), the believer is choosing against who he is in Christ (his true identity). If the believer sins he should agree with God (confess) about the sin, and turn from it because of the victory he has in Christ.
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in Christ and that the Church (the Body of Christ) is composed of all Christians. We believe that local organized groups (local churches) are God-ordained instruments for worship, discipline, spiritual edification, and encouragement and that assembling together for these purposes should not be forsaken by Christians.
We believe in the physical resurrection of all men, and that the believer upon physical death, enters immediately into the presence of the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting glory and blessing; while the unbeliever upon physical death, enters immediately into everlasting separation from God and awaits the judgment, condemnation, and everlasting torment.