How does CCEF work with a person's church and support community?
We believe that the church is God's chosen context for change. Jesus redeems and renews his people by joining them to himself. In so doing, he also joins us to each other to create a vital community of change and growth. We consider all of our counseling to be an extension of the ministry of the local church and a way of serving and promoting its ministry. In a sense, our counselors serve as "temporary staff" to the churches that refer their people to us for help. In that spirit, we seek to partner with the church in any way that will strengthen the counselee and the church. At the very least, that means asking counselees to apply the truths they are learning to their relationships at church. When appropriate, it may also mean keeping a pastor, small group leader, or other shepherd informed about the counseling process or even (with the counselee's permission) inviting them to be part of the counseling sessions.
Having said this, CCEF is very sensitive to the issue of confidentiality. The Bible repeatedly warns against gossip and indicates that trustworthy persons keep confidences. To release counseling information without a counselee's consent would violate biblical standards as well as commonly accepted codes of counseling ethics. However, situations in which a counselee or another person is in imminent danger of physical or sexual abuse may require us to share that information with relevant persons. CCEF typically surpasses HIPAA requirements in an effort to honor God and our counselees regarding confidentiality.