The Role of the Advocate

Thank you for considering this wonderful opportunity.  A previous advocate couple has written a letter to help you better understand their experience at Twelve Stones and to encourage you to serve as an advocate. Click here to read A Letter from One Advocate to Another.  

We define the advocate as: a concerned friend, family member, pastor, or lay leader who is willing to come to the Twelve Stones (TS) campus with the person in need of counseling. A person does not have to be trained in biblical counseling but simply needs to be someone who is growing in the Lord and has a desire to walk alongside a friend or family member who is hurting. In addition the advocate should be willing to continue in an intentional discipleship relationship with the counselee for a minimum of six months upon returning home.

The role of the advocate is essential to the type of counseling we do at TS. We believe that counsel should be in the context of community and should not be an isolated sterile process (Romans 15:1-2, Philippians 2:1-4). The advocate is a natural extension of the community because he or she cares deeply for the individual or family coming for help and wants to be a friend, guide, and an encouragement through their toughest days.

We believe the concept of an advocate is foundational to long term spiritual growth because as believers in Christ we benefit from one another (Hebrews 3:12-13; 10:24). To assist in this process, the advocate will be trained by observation, written materials, and time with a gifted counselor during their time at TS. They will learn to provide help, encouragement, and accountability using the shared experience and knowledge gained during their stay. What an encouragement it is for a person in the midst of a great burden to have a trusted friend or fellow sojourner come alongside and help bear the burden of their trial. Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

A final reason TS is so committed to the role of an advocate is that our mission is to return soul care to the church; one church at a time. God has equipped the body of Christ to serve one another in love using the gifts He has given for edification of the entire body (Eph 4:11-16, Rom 12:4-8). Each person who comes for help, including the advocates, will not only be taught how to apply the life changing Word of God to their situation, they will also be able to take what they have learned to help others. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).