CHRIST CENTERED COUNSELING
Christian counselors use many techniques that have been developed and used by nonbelievers, but Christian counseling has at least four distinctive.
Unique Assumptions. No counselor is completely value free or neutral in terms of assumptions. We bring our own viewpoints into the counseling situation and these influence our judgments and comments whether we recognize it or not.
Psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, for example, once stated that we all live “in a universe indifferent to our fate.” Such a viewpoint would leave no place for unbelief in compassionate, sovereign God. There would be no room for God. There would be no room for prayer, meditating on “the Word of God”, experiencing God’s forgiveness, or looking toward life after death. Fromm’s assumptions must have influenced his methods of counseling.
Despite variations in theology, most counselors who call themselves Christian have or should have beliefs about the attributes of God, the nature of human beings, the authority of scripture, the reality of sin, the forgiveness of God, and hope for the future. Read for example the four verses of Hebrew. Won’t our lives and counseling be different if we believe that God has spoken to the human race, created the universe through his Son, provided forgiveness of sins, and now holds everything together by the mighty power of His command?
Unique Goals. Like our secular colleagues, the Christian seek to help counselee change their behavior, attitudes, values, and /or perceptions. We attempt to teach skills, including social skills; to encourage recognitions and expressions of emotions; to give support in times of need; to teach responsibility’ to instill insight; to guide as decisions are made; to help counselees mobilize inner and environmental recourses in times of crisis; to teach problem-solving skills; and to increase counselee competence.
But the Christian counselor goes much further. The Christ Centered Addiction Specialist is not only concerned with abstinence from the addiction but seeks to stimulate spiritual growth in counselees; to encourage confession of sin and the experience of divine forgiveness; to model Christian standards, attitudes, values, and lifestyles; to present the Gospel message encouraging counselees to commit their lives to Jesus Christ; and to stimulate counselees to develop values and live lives that are based on biblical teaching, instead of living in accordance with relativistic human standards.
Some will criticize this as “bringing religion into counseling.” To ignore theological issues, however, is to build our counseling on the religion of humanistic naturalism, to stifle our beliefs, and to compartmentalize our lives into sacred and secular segments. No good counselor, Christian of non-Christian, forces beliefs on counselees. We have an obligation to treat people with respect and to give them freedom to make decisions. But honest and authentic people-helpers do not stifle their beliefs and pretend to be something they are not.
Unique Methods. All counseling techniques have at least four characteristics
1. They seek to arouse the beliefs that help is possible
2. They correct erroneous beliefs about the world
3. They help to develop competencies in social living
4. They help counselees accept themselves as persons of worth.
To accomplish these goals, counselors consistently use such basic techniques as listening, showing interest, attempting to understand, and at least occasionally giving direction. Christians and non-Christian counselors use many of the same helping methods. But the Christian does not use counseling techniques that would be considered immoral or inconsistent with biblical teaching. For example, encouraging people to engage in extramarital of premarital sexual intercourse, using abusive language, or urging counselees to develop anti-biblical values would all be avoided, regardless of their use by secular therapists.
Other techniques are distinctively Christian and would be used in Christian counseling frequently. Prayer in counseling, reading the Scriptures, gentle confrontation with Christian truths, or encouraging counselees to become involved in a local church are common examples.
Unique Counselor Characteristics: In every counseling situation, the helper must ask at least four questions:
1. What is the problem?
2. Should I intervene and try to help?
3. What could I do to help?
4. Would someone else be better qualified to help?
It is important for Christian counselors to have an understanding of problems (how they arise and how they might be resolved), a knowledge of biblical teaching about the problems, and the familiarity with counseling skills.
Several years ago, research studies found that counseling techniques are most potent when used by helpers who are characterized by warmth, sensitivity, understanding, genuine concern, and a willingness to confront people in an attitude of love.
Counseling textbooks stressed the importance of counselor qualities such as trustworthiness, good psychological health, honesty, patience, competence, and self-knowledge. According to more recent research, helpers are more effective when they have these counselor traits, along with knowledge about human problems and good counseling skills. Best intentions, suggest Jay Adams, are no substitute for knowledge and skills. * *Excerpt from Christian Counseling a comprehensive Guide by Gary R. Collins, Ph.D. 3rd edition. Note: It’s advisable to include this manual in your library of tools. You can purchase this book at AMAZON.Com Press here and go directly to the link.
COUNSELING IS FOR PROFESSIONALS ONLY---MYTH OR FACT?
The Berean Call is a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation which exists to:Alert believers in Christ to unbiblical teachings and practices impacting the church. Exhort believers to give greater heed to Biblical discernment and truth regarding teachings and practices being currently promoted in the church. Supply believers with teaching, information, and materials which will encourage the love of God's truth, and assist in the development of Biblical discernment. Mobilize believers in Christ to action in obedience to the Scriptural command to "earnestly contend for the faith" (Jude 3 [1]). Impact the church of Jesus Christ with the necessity of trusting the Scriptures as the only rule of faith, practice, and a life pleasing to God.
JESUS IS THE BEST MODEL
of a WONDERFUL COUNSELOR
Surely our Lord is the best model of a Good and Perfect counselor whose personality, knowledge, and skills enabled him effectively to assist those people who needed help. In attempting to analyze the counseling of Jesus, we must be aware that each of us could have attendance, unconscious or deliberate, to view Christ’s ministry in a way that reinforces our own view about how people are helped.
The directive-confrontational counselor recognizes that Jesus was confrontational at times; the nondirective “client centered” counselor finds support for this approach in other examples of Christ’s helping Ministry. Surely it is more accurate to state that Jesus used a variety of counseling techniques depending on the situation, the nature of the counselee, and the specific problem. At times he listened to people carefully and without giving much overt direction, but on other occasions he taught decisively. He encouraged and supported, but also confronted and challenged. He accepted people who were sinful and needy, but he also demanded repentance, obedience, and action.
Basic to Jesus' style of helping, however, was his personality. In His teaching, caring, and counseling he demonstrated those trait, attitudes, and values that made him effective as a people helper and that serve as a model for us. Jesus was absolutely honest, deeply compassionate, highly sensitive, and spiritually mature. He was committed to serving His heavenly Father and his fellow human beings (in that order). He also prepared himself for his work with frequent periods of prayer and meditation. He was deeply familiar with Scriptures. He sought to help needy persons turn to him so they could find ultimate peace, hope, and security.
Teaching all that Christ taught includes doctrine, but it also involves helping people get along better with God, with others, and with themselves. These are the issues that concern almost everyone. Some learn from lectures, sermons, or books; others learn from personal Bible study or from discussion; learn from formal or informal counseling; and perhaps most of us have learned from some combination of these approaches.
At the core of all Christian helping, private or public, is the influence of the Holy Spirit. His presence and influence make Christian counseling truly unique. It is he who gives the most effective counselor characteristics; love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. He is the comforter or helper who teaches “all things,” reminds us of Christ’s sayings, convicts people of sin, and guides us into all truth. Through prayer, meditation on the Scriptures, regular confessions of sin, and daily deliberate commitment to Christ, the counselor-teacher becomes an instrument through whom the Holy Spirit may work to comfort, teach, help, convict, or guide another human being. This should be the goal of every Christian counselor—to be used by the Holy Spirit to touch lives, to change them, and to bring others toward both spiritual and psychological maturity.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
Who is the best example of a good counselor?
Is counseling for professionals only?
Is professional psychotherapy more effective than amateur counselor?
What is the conclusion?
The video states that psychology infringes on religion. True or False
Is psychotherapy a religion?
Why?
CONGRATULATIONS! You have finished lesson 3
GO TO LESSON 4
