5E Model of Christian Counselling

This course equips lay Christian counsellors to journey alongside people toward Christlikeness with the help of the Holy Spirit through the 5E Model of Christian Counselling. Rooted in a Spirit-led approach, the model provides a structured path that guides clients from self-awareness—where they recognise a problem—to self-discovery, where they begin to live as the person God designed them to be, flourishing in Christ and in community.

Counsellors will be trained to facilitate healing through the five steps of the 5E Model:

Evaluating, Externalising, Exploring, Emending, and Empowering.

Through theological grounding, practical tools, and Spirit-led discernment, this course enables Christian counsellors to support clients in discerning God’s voice, aligning with His purposes, and living transformed, purpose-filled lives.

By the end of this course you should be able to:

• Explain the 5E Model of Christian Counselling.
• Listen actively to the client and assist in the evaluation of the problem to relate it to Christlikeness.
• Facilitate a process of externalisation, that is, separating the problem from the client, to enable the client to gain a new perspective on the problem's context, history and influence.
• Demonstrate active listening and response by asking questions that align with the first two steps of the 5E model.
• Demonstrate the ability to facilitate the exploration of the divine message and the client's response options to the Spirit's invitation towards who God has designed them to be, and for them to flourish in community.
• Demonstrate the ability to facilitate the client's connection or reconnection to the Spirit, and the realignment of the client's life with the metanarrative of God.
• Demonstrate the ability to facilitate the consideration, commitment and celebration of living a self-transcendent life for the benefit of God's kingdom.
• Demonstrate the ability to facilitate a Christian counselling session with the 5 steps of the 5E Model of Christian counselling.

You will be required to purchase the following textbook in order to complete all counselling courses:

• Collins, G. 2007. Christian Counseling - a Comprehensive Guide (Third Edition). Thomas Nelson.