[V8d, Updated June, 2024]
13 Truths is a framework for spiritual care. Oftentimes Christians find themselves struggling with applying Biblical truths in spiritual care or encouragement settings because how we have learned Christian doctrine (such as in catechism, bible studies, or sermons) does not transition well into a spiritual care setting. Below, specific Biblical truths have been selected that we believe will be useful in the vast majority of spiritual care settings. The truths have been arranged to parallel cognitive therapy. Instead of identifying and reframing thought distortions, though, the spiritual care worker is identifying spiritual distortions and re-aligning one’s thoughts and emotions to Biblical truths.
These truths are also helpful for spiritual grounding in counselling sessions (e.g., reality acceptance), such as providing Biblical reasons to know that “Everything has a cause” and “Life is worth living.”
Although these truths are being presented here for spiritual care workers, it is important to acknowledge that these truths are given by God for all Christians to help each other re-align their spiritual distortions. Therefore, this framework is designed for any adult Christian (including professional counsellors) to be able to use.
I’m writing this framework specifically for integration into Rick Loewen’s CrossTrain counselling method, which is the chief inspiration behind it.