Our Philosophy

The Center for Women's Ministries, Inc., is a non-profit ministry for women, promoting emotional and spiritual healing.

Purpose

To create an environment where non-judgmental listening, sharing, encouragement and prayer support can take place.

Statement of Faith

We believe that in our brokenness we can come to know the love of God through Jesus. Because He lives, we can experience emotional and spiritual healing.

We believe in:
• The Bible as the Word of God, inspired by God and inerrant in its original manuscripts.
• The Trinity of the Godhead: there is one God in three Persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.
• The virgin birth of Jesus Christ: Jesus is both the eternal Son of God and the Son of Man, two distinct natures in one Person forever.
• The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, which assures the resurrection of all believers who have accepted God's gift of eternal life.
• The sinful nature of humanity: we are all sinners who need a Savior, Jesus Christ, to restore to us the right relationship with God.
• The atonement: Jesus Christ bore our sins when He shed His blood and died on the cross. He paid the price for our sins.
• The necessity of each individual to accept the gift of salvation, or eternal life, by choosing to invite Jesus Christ into his or her life to be both Savior and Lord.
• The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer: He quickens from death to life and continues His work of sanctification during the lifetime of the Christian.

Steps to Emotional and Spiritual Healing
• Step 1—Admit the struggle and hurt
  John 8:32 Know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
• Step 2—Share the struggle with someone else
  Mark 4:22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought into the open.
  James 5:16 Confess to one another your faults, your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins (Amp).
  Psalm 23:3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away.
• Step 3—Bring the situation of suffering to Jesus and ask Him to heal you.
  Isa. 53:5b By His stripes we are healed (KJV).
  With the stripes that wounded Him, we are healed and made whole (Amp).
  Psalm 107:20 He sent forth His word and healed them.
  Phil. 3:13b, 14 Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (NASB).

The center's "Caring Partners" are not professionals and are not a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical care.

Why is the Center Needed?
• Breakdown of family support system
• High level of stress factors in our age
• Three spiritual needs only partially met by secular counseling
  1. Facing the truth: Know the truth and the truth will set you free—John 8:32
  2. Sharing with another person—Mark 4:22, Psalm 32:3, James 5:16
  3. Bring problems to Jesus—Is. 53:5
• Overload of a pastor's time
  • There are great counseling needs in a congregation
  • Not all pastors are good counselors
• Women present difficult counseling situations
  • Women make up 80-100% of pastoral counseling load
  • Sex or marital counseling with a person of the opposite sex may present temptation for improper action or behavior

Policy Regarding the Scope of Ministry of The Center for Women's Ministries, Inc.
Board approved January 30, 1999.
• Our primary client focus is on women age 13 and older.
• Guidelines related to the application of this policy:
1. A woman in counseling over a relationship problem may request that the person with whom she is struggling receive counseling at the Center for Women's Ministries (CWM).
1. Her counselor may not initiate the idea
2. The center director must give permission and be kept aware of progress
3. Counsel must relate to the original client's issues
4. Men will not receive individual counseling from a woman counselor
2. No child under age 13 will be counseled whose mother or primary caregiver is not in counseling at the center.
3. During a child counseling session, a second adult volunteer must be within sight at all times.
4. The CWM will not counsel men individually, including husbands of clients, but will refer them to other sources.
5. A husband and wife may receive joint counseling from a husband and wife team, but not from an individual or a non-husband and wife team.