details - School of Ministry: Principles of Prayer Counseling

Sunodía School of Ministry:

Principles of Prayer Counseling

Overview

Principles of Prayer Counseling is an eleven-month training to raise up prayer counselors in the Body of Christ. The course includes five courses:

Small Group Dynamics
Heart Healing Essentials (Elijah House Course 201)
Prayers that Heal the Heart
Basic Counseling Skills and Principles
Advanced Heart Healing (Elijah House Course 202)

The training is offered by Sunodía Prayer Counseling.

Background

Sunodía Prayer Counseling teaches the essential relationship between healing and discipleship. We want to see people connect the theology they know in their minds with the work God is doing in their hearts.

The Sunodía School of Ministry is our way of sowing toward a future where every local church includes prayer counseling as a regular spiritual discipline, available to all God’s people.

The Sunodía School of Ministry: Principles of Prayer Counseling ("Sunodía School"), formerly known as the Sunodía School of Healing Prayer, is a way of training prayer counselors developed by Sunodía Founder and Director Jessie Mejias based on Micah 6:8 (AMPC version):

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?

This was given to Jessie by the Lord on September 25, 2003 while she was attending the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) World conference at Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.

This is what He told her:

“I want you to train your counselors to:

Walk Humbly

Do Justice

Love Mercy

The training model I have given you is the journey I have brought you through. I humbled you at work and in other areas of your life so that you would get into right relationship with me and your fellow human beings. Then I took you through various trainings until you learned skills and gained understanding.

But above all I taught you compassion with every new experience. So that compassion would be the encasement for the treasures that are held within...

Your counselors are not to try to straighten people out too soon. Just give them the Word, use discernment, and show love. I WILL DO THE REST."

The goal of this curriculum is for each student to learn how to integrate counseling skills, inner healing, developmental psychology/theology, and deliverance.

Micah directive: Walk humbly.
Focus: Character.
Result: A right relationship with God and man. Knowing yourself.
Content: Students are provided with a clear view of Christ-centered inner healing and its foundations in Scripture, in a safe setting for healing, building relationships, learning and ministry.
Courses related to walking humbly: Heart Healing Essentials; Prayers that Heal the Heart; Advanced Heart Healing

Micah directive: Do justice.
Focus: Competence.
Result: Leading without harm. Ethical behavior. Using wise techniques and discernment.
Content: Students learn about basic counseling skills and ethics, family systems and group dynamics through class discussion and group interaction.
Courses related to doing justice: Small Group Dynamics; Basic Counseling Skills and Principles

Micah directive: Love mercy.
Focus: Compassion.
Result: All interventions are wrapped in empathy and true care.
Content: Students are provided with opportunities to continue to learn, to practice ministry, and to grow in intimacy with God, allowing His love to flow through them to their future clients.
Opportunities related to mercy: After the Sunodía School, students will have a chance to participate in a free practicum, where they can minister to one another. They are encouraged (though not required) to assist in one or more discipleship courses for lay people taught by Sunodía. These opportunities allow them to put into practice what they’ve learned.

Character, competence and compassion will be emphasized throughout this curriculum. Prayer counselors will learn about God, themselves, and others. They will learn to give clients the Word, use discernment and show love, then allow God to do the rest.

Schedule

This program is designed to be completed in eleven months (September through July).

Classes meet every Wednesday from 10 am to 12 pm EST via Zoom. In addition to the 2-hour weekly meeting, students should expect to invest 5 to 6 hours a week on their own to complete their homework assignments.

Graduation will take place in person on the Friday following the last class. All students are encouraged to plan to attend. The graduation will be held in conjunction with a daylong retreat on that Saturday. All former students and interns are invited to join that weekend.

Click here for the full schedule for 2024-2025.

Completion Requirements

Students are required to:

Attend every session.
Complete all assignments.

Sunodía Prayer Counseling will provide students who complete all required coursework and all assignments for the Sunodía School with a certificate of completion. Sunodía does not guarantee that this training will qualify students to be prayer counselors for other ministries or local churches.

To be considered to serve as prayer counselors for Sunodía Prayer Counseling, students must have completed all coursework in the Sunodía School and an Internship. The Director must still provide individual approval to those wishing to minister at Sunodía.

Please note that students who complete the Sunodía School are not licensed counselors and must not characterize themselves as such.

Costs

Tuition for the Sunodía School:

One time payment of $1,299 or 4 payments of $375. Tuition does not include the cost of required books or registering for additional recommended (though optional) courses offered by Sunodía.

Required Reading:

Study Guides for Heart Healing Essentials and Advanced Heart Healing are $109 each, and must be purchased through Sunodía.*
Books for Small Group Dynamics are: How to Lead Small Groups by Neal McBride and Making Small Groups Work by Henry Cloud and John Townsend**
Books for Basic Counseling Skills are How to Be a People Helper by Gary R. Collins and Life Model: Living from the Heart Jesus Gave You by James G. Friesen and others**

*Elijah House graduates do not need to purchase the Study Guide unless they want a clean copy. If so, the normal cost applies.

**If you purchase from these links, Sunodía will receive a small portion of the sale price.

Registration for Other Sunodía Offerings:

Registration fees for other courses or seminars offered by Sunodía are not included in the Sunodía School tuition. However, students qualify for a 50% discount throughout the school period.

Fee for One-on-One Prayer Counseling:

Students may, at times, wish to schedule prayer counseling sessions with a Sunodía prayer counselor. Such sessions are not included in the Sunodía School tuition. The regular cost for a prayer counseling session is $150. However, students qualify for a 50% discount throughout the school period.
N.B. Students who have never experienced prayer counseling for themselves are strongly advised to schedule several sessions with the prayer counselor or prayer minister of their choice before and during the school

Refund policy:

There are no refunds for tuition or course registration.
PLEASE NOTE: We intend for students to complete all the coursework as part of a cohort. Therefore, if a student drops out for any reason and wants to finish the school at a later date, they must re-enroll in the whole school. Students who re-enroll within one year of dropping out qualify for a 50% discount of the total enrollment fee and will be expected to complete the whole school.

Application Process

To begin the process of enrolling in the Sunodía School, start by returning to the previous page and clicking “Principles of Prayer Counseling Application.”

At the end of the application, you will be asked for the name and contact information of one pastoral reference and one character reference.

After your application has been reviewed and your references received you will be contacted for an interview via Zoom.

Upon acceptance the following is due:

Immediate payment of a $100 deposit that will be applied to the tuition. This is non-refundable.

N.B. Payment of the balance of the tuition is due by August 31, 2024.

Application Deadline: July 31, 2024

PLEASE NOTE: This training is not our internship program, although Sunodía interns may be participants in the course. Those who wish to pursue an internship must apply separately for that program. However, you only have to apply once if entering both programs. Accepted Interns are automatically eligible to attend the course.

If you still have questions, please email [email protected].