Discovery Time: Counseling Role Play

Objective:

Based on what you have learned from “Attaining joy” and “How to overcome your pains/ depression” you will demonstrate how to counsel a friend with the word of God.

·         Your counselor will divide you into small groups of two or three members each. If three members, two will pair up to be the counselors. Student A will be the person giving the counseling first.

·         Let the Counselee (the person receiving the counseling) choose one of the scenarios below.

·         The Counselor will use what you learned from the morning classes, especially use the Bible verses (yes, you may use your notes) to give advice to your friend in need.

·         After ten minutes of counseling, reverse roles.

·         Come together and discuss if the counseling you received was helpful to your given situation. If yes, share what was most helpful. If not, how can that Counselor improve?

Scenarios:

1.       You have just learned that your father was diagnosed with cancer. Your father had always been a healthy person and it comes as a shock to you. What troubles you the most is that your dad has been a faithful worker of the church for many years. You respect and love him dearly and this news is causing you to question God’s will in your family’s life. What is going to happen to your dad? What about your mom if your dad passes away? How is she going to take it? How about you and your teenage brother and sister?

2.       You had a crush on this cute sister/brother after you first met her/him in the campus fellowship. She/he is from out of state and did not know many people here. So naturally, being a caring brother/sister like yourself, you volunteered to help this sister/brother in many ways. However, after two semesters of faithful services, you realize that she/he is no longer asking you for favors. Instead, you feel she/he is trying to avoid you. You have also seen her/him hang around with one of her/his classmates very often. You feel heart-broken, betrayed, used. You had hoped for this friendship to develop into something romantic. But, now

3.       You are a foreign student from ____________(fill in a country of your choice). You came to know God in your freshmen year, received the water baptism and the Holy Spirit all in one day. You want so much that your unbelieving parents can also receive this wonderful gospel of salvation. However, your parents never approved of your new-found faith. In fact, they have been giving you a hard time. Once they visited you here and they even threatened to cut off their relationship with you if you persisted in worshiping this foreign God. They expect you to go back home upon your graduation and never have anything to do with God after that. You have only one year till graduation and every time you think about it or when you call home, you get this sickening feeling. You love your parents but at the same time, you know you owe everything to Jesus. You don’t know what to choose.

4.       You are at the end of the second year of your pre-dentistry program and you begin to have second thoughts. Just out of curiosity, you took a business class and you found that you loved it. Your first impulse is to switch your major. But after talking over with your parents, they made it clear that you have no option but to stay in your current program. They expect you to become a dentist whether you liked it or not. You left your parents’ place all huffing and puffing because you are so upset that your folks don’t seem to understand or care about what you want. It just doesn’t seem fair that your parents are trying to fulfill their dream at the cost of your career goal. You feel very disappointed at your parents for not supporting you.

5.       You have been dating with someone you met in school in your last year of college. Now that you are going to graduate in one semester, you both talk about your relationship. Your girl/boyfriend obviously wants to continue with the relationship even after you graduate. In fact, she/he sees the possibility for you to be married, perhaps a couple of years after you both started working. The thought of getting married really scares you. One, you know that because she/he is not a believer, it will be impossible for you to be truly one. You have also wanted to be married in the church so that you can receive God’s blessings. Two, it will really break your parents’ hearts to see you marry outside of your faith. They had reminded you so many times the importance of marrying in the Lord that you thought you would never even be interested in someone outside of the church. But, then you met her/him. She/he is just so different from anyone you have ever known. Right now, you just can’t see yourself being apart from her/him, but getting married? You feel so confused