Christians and Secular Therapy

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Amongst Christians in the counselling profession, there is a perception that attracting fellow Christians to be clients in counselling is an uphill battle.

That may be a surprise to many Christian believers today, but it has been my own personal experience as a therapist who practices the Christian faith

In this blog, I will outline the primary blocks that people with Christian faith have to counselling.
How can these blocks be overcome?
What is the true nature of therapy?
Can Christians be comfortable with it?

Clarifying Terms

I don’t want to presume that the terms I will be using in this blog are understood by you in the same way as I intend them.
To prevent any misunderstanding, I present my meaning of them here.

A Christian

For this blog, I am considering Christians to be anyone who practices the Christian faith and regards it as their primary guide in life.
I am not concerned about theological differences between Christian traditions and individuals.

A Christian Counsellor

For this blog, a Counsellor or Therapist is trained in a professional college and accredited or working towards accreditation with a professional counselling therapy association.

A Christian therapist is simply a therapist who believes in and tries to live by the Christian faith.
A Christian therapist may or may not offer therapy specifically within the context of the Christian faith.

A Christian Counsellor will combine their faith with the codes of practice required of them from their professional association. This combination forms the overall framework for how the counsellor works with all clients, whether they are Christian or not.

Secular Counselling

For this blog, secular counselling or therapy refers to all professionally recognised therapies that are not based on any religious doctrine, Christian or otherwise.

The majority of counselling therapies are secularly based. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Person Centred Therapy, etc are examples of this.

It is very possible to find commonalities between the Christian faith and counselling approaches. This is why many Christians are comfortable using them, as their own faith values allow.

Why Christians may not enter into Secular-Based Counselling

“My Church can help me”

It is generally recognised that Churches do provide emotional support.
Jesus’ command to his followers to love one another as he has loved them is a primary teaching on this matter, John 13:34.
Many Christians find that the support of their church is sufficient for them to work through their issues. This is the main reason Christians don’t avail themselves of secular counselling.

Roger Hurding (2002) outlined the following areas in which churches provide care and support to their congregations.

Biblical counselling

Churches generally hold a high view of the Bible, believing that it is the revealed, true word of God. Therefore, churches believe that the Bible has direct relevance to all people’s emotional problems.
Churches have thought that when the bible is properly applied, it can provide solutions to heal people of their upsets.

Some churches may view the bible as the only source of truth for a struggling believer. Most churches adopt a broader view that the healing power of Christ is also present outside of his word and so accept other approaches along with biblical counselling.

The healing ministries

The focus here is similar to most counselling, that is, holistic healing. Traditionally, there was a focus on physical healing. The method of delivery of the healing is vastly different.

Prayer, religious sacrament and ritual, bible study are examples of how a counsellor could encourage a client to accept direct intervention from God to heal them.

Pastoral counselling

Pastoral counselling is ever evolving. It is usually, but not always, provided by unaccredited counsellors. Its focus is to provide emotional care that reflects the Christian ethos, but it may not necessarily engage it.

The structure of pastoral counselling is generally loose. The personalities of the client and counsellor play a large part in deciding the secular or Christian balance in the sessions.

Spiritual direction

This is spiritual counselling to encourage the client to mature in their faith. It involves mentoring the client to apply Christian principles in how they live.

Social change

This is couselling area is focused on the need of the client to adapt to social change. The client in this context could be the church individual or the church as a whole.
The challenge here is to adapt in a way that shows compassion in adapting to the social change without abandoning their Christian ethics.

Many Church members may believe that their church provides one or more of these services. It may suit a Christian very well to avail of the support their church provides.
This is a common reason as to why Church people may not attend secular-based therapy.

“I don’t want secular counselling”

I acknowledged that some counselling theorists are strongly anti-Christian in their mindset.
Many of the developers of modern-day psychotherapy rejected Christian input into their work. This article highlights that history.

The perception in Christian circles is that secular counselling has rejected God as a premise.
It is believed that counselling theory has placed the person at the centre of emotional healing and not God. That belief is true.

It is my experience that Christian therapists do hold the client at the centre of their healing process, believing that this process is by God’s design, within the guidelines of God’s law.

Christians perceive many secular counsellors as holding unacceptable beliefs on issues in society, such as gender identity, the beginning and ending of life, etc.
Here is an HSE webpage presenting views on gender identity that many Christians would disagree with. Some Christians may feel the HSE unfairly represents their position in this piece.

“I’m not trusting God enough if I want secular help”

Some Church attenders may believe that using Counselling is a rejection of God and an embrace of human thinking instead. They may feel guilty because they think they lack enough faith in God to resolve their problems.

It is possible that a Christian could be personally comfortable with counselling but believe that their Church would judge them as being of weak faith for embracing secularism.

My argument against that is that all that is good is from God, James 1:17, 1st Timothy 4:4.

“I don’t need counselling”

The simple truth is that many people, not just Christians, think they don’t need counselling.
They believe their problems are manageable. The expense of therapy does not seem to merit using it to resolve “minor problems”.

This position ignores the reality that “minor, manageable problems” can become “large, unmanageable problems”. Dealing with them earlier can save costs later.
Also, there is personal gain in life, generally in learning skills to improve relationships and self-care.

A Defence of Secularly Trained Christian Therapists for Working with Christians

My purpose here is to overcome the stereotype of counselling among some Christians.
I firmly believe that good counselling principles are helpful to Christians as they work through their life struggles while maintaining faith in God’s love for them.

Just because a Christian has decided to be trained in secular counselling does not mean they have abandoned God. Christian’s who train in psychology are just as dedicated to caring for people as Christians who train in medicine or pharmacology.

Christians are used to accepting help for all sorts of reasons from the secular world.
Perhaps there needs to be a greater acceptance of understanding the mind through a scientific process and not just as a spiritual process.

Yes, some therapeutic principles or approaches do not align with Christian teaching and practice. However, I believe a Christian client can navigate this.
The client can say to the counsellor what they disagree with if the session is going against their beliefs. If the counsellor is unable or unwilling to change their practice, reassessing their arrangement is suitable.

It is my own experience that good counselling theory and practice reflect the universal truths that are evident in God’s created order.
For example, empathy, the ability to understand another’s life from their viewpoint, is a key skill of the therapist. Empathy is promoted in Biblical teaching.

Jesus calls on his followers to treat others as they would want to be treated, Luke 6:31.
Jesus experienced the same temptation to abandon his Father just as his followers do, Hebrews 4:15.

He understands human weakness and the tests of remaining faithful to His Father’s teaching. Therfore he does not condemn those who stumble as they genuinely try to follow his ways.

Christianity can give extra depth to the truths found in many Counselling theories and approaches.

And if you have time?

This is a link to a video that I have found very helpful in forming my opinion on this issue.
https://youtu.be/2JFmxGYtEXk?si=j1SPVnyPl-DbHkgP

The presenter is Dr Gavin Ortland. He is a very well-respected theologian and protestant pastor.
He is expressing his concerns regarding another very well-respected pastor, John McArthur, now deceased.
Gavin Ortland states that John McArthur supports “Mental Health Denial”, that Christians should not have psychiatric or emotional illness.

Gavin Ortland says such a belief prevents people from accessing the professional therapeutic support that they need.

Dr Ortland promotes secular counselling as a type of common grace.
Common grace, he says, is the blessings of God on all people regardless of their faith.
Christians benefit from the work of non-believers in nearly every aspect of their lives all the time.
Gavin Ortland considers secular counselling to be another element of God’s universal grace to all people.

Other Related Christian Counselling Material

The process of choosing and using therapy for Christians

This blog aims to introduce therapy as an extension of the care a church member is already receiving from their Church.
What role does the Church have in supporting a Christian attending counselling?

Should a Christian always do counselling with a Christian therapist?
How would a Christian utilise their faith in counselling sessions and during their life, generally during a season of counselling?

Are there crossovers between faith and counselling theory?
How does Prevail incorporate faith in therapy work?

Click here for a blog on this.

Secular clients working with Christian Counsellors

A secular client may not trust a Christian counsellor.
Stereotypes of overly zealous Christians using therapy to convert vulnerable clients come to mind.

This blog defends the role of a Christian as a suitable therapist for a secular client.
This is based on the therapist being accredited by a professional association.
This means they adhere to the professional standards of all accredited counsellors.

Click here for a blog on this.