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Christian Counseling
in Kansas City

Good roots bear good fruit.

For those engaged in the adventure of following Jesus yet burdened by old wounds, distorted formation, or persistent sin patterns. Let's care for your roots and cultivate good fruit.

You're a committed Christian, and you know something is not right.

Maybe you were raised in a rigid Christian family in which religion was about being right rather than loving God and walking in his ways. Or, maybe church was your second home, your alternate family, an escape from the chaos or loneliness at home.

Perhaps you've worked so hard to think and feel the right things, to speak and act the right way. All those internal contortions and playacting have left you wondering who you really are.

You've personally experienced the harm​ done when church becomes a business or a platform for culture war––or a playground for abusers.

You're wondering if there's a different way, a better story than the God-and-country story, the get-out-of-hell story, the pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by story.

I believe God has written us into a cosmic Story characterized by Resurrection. (You can read about my journey as a character in this story on my About Andrew page.) This Story sweeps us up into the adventure of following Jesus; the vocation to be the living, breathing Image of God; and the invitation to be restored by Love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Andrew J. Bell, LPC

What even is "Christian Counseling"?

"Christian counseling" means different things to different people. In my case, I want you to know that I am licensed by the state, and I completed the same graduate-level coursework as any other Licensed Counselor. In addition, I have an undergraduate degree in biblical studies, some seminary credits, a lot of independent learning, and over a decade of ministry experience. I believe professional counselors can serve Christians––those caught up in a particular Story and called to embody the love of its Author––by providing clarity about our place in the Story and helping to discern when something seems like love but isn't.  

For Pastors & Christian Leaders

Most of my clients who serve in some kind of ministry, whether vocational or lay ministry, are in need of embodied, relational, emotional healing. Many Christian leaders tend to live in their heads. Their strength is in their cognitive thinking and executive function. They're masters of doctrine, strategy, and organizational leadership, but they are emotionally empty, sad, lonely, fearful, and angry, driven to perform as a way of avoiding shame.

They have a compulsion to be perceived as good, to have a parental figure who simply delights in them. This is exacerbated in Christian traditions who teach that the truest thing about us is our sin. "How grateful I ought to be," they say, "that a holy God would love a worm like me." As a Christian counselor with theological training and ministry experience, I'm equipped to challenge "worm theology" and invite my clients to allow God's feelings of compassion, tenderness, and delight to shape the way my clients feel about themselves. We'll pursue flourishing from the ground up, healing childhood wounds and integrating body and mind.

"Andrew has helped me understand myself to a greater degree than I knew I needed. Recognizing patterns of thought that were not healthy and helping to shine a light on the path toward healing."

––Anonymous Client

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