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Christian Counselling
Christian counselling is unique in the domain of counselling. Christian counselling uses Biblical principles to guide and direct counsellee’s through the changes that need to be made in their lives. A Christian counsellor is Biblically based and grounded in the principles of God’s Word. Additional insight and understanding from the study of psychology is helpful but the primary basis of the Christian counsellor’s wisdom comes from God’s Word. Christian counsellors also rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is the “Counsellor”, (John 14: 26; 15: 26; 16: 7). The counsellor assists the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit does not assist the counsellor. The Christian counsellor must continually take the counsellee’s problems and concerns to prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to show him what God’s Word has to say about this or that issue. Therefore, Christian counselling is directed by a desire to go to God’s Word for answers to the difficult questions of life. Christian counsellors are unique in that they believe that man’s limited wisdom is not enough for solving the counsellee’s problems. Therefore, reliance on the Holy Spirit, prayer and Biblical truth is fundamental to the one who calls himself a “Christian counsellor”.
Training Process
The instructor will establish a class of thirty for each training session. The training process rests on four basic tenets: teaching, modelling, role-playing and feedback. Each of the thirteen modules is taught by the instructor, using printed materials, powerpoint presentation and illustrations from the instructor’s counselling experience. The teaching time is generally about three hours for each module. At times, during either the lectures or the labs, the instructor will model for the students various counselling skills and techniques. The labs, on the other hand, are designed for student participation and practice. In the labs, the students are placed in groups of three (trios). Each trio consists of a counsellor, counsellee and companion. The counsellor uses the first hour of the session to practice his skills on the counsellee. The counsellee is a fellow student who shares a past or current issue that needs to be worked through. The companion fulfills the role of intercessor and observer. The trios then rotate, with each student taking on another role, until all the students have completed the cycle.
Who is eligible to participate in Counsellor Training?
Any person who senses a call from God to the field of counselling, has had this confirmed by the leaders in the church they attend and is willing to invest the time and effort to attend each training session is eligible to become a part of the class. The student must be recommended by his or her pastor and have a referral filled out by the sponsoring pastor or elder. Previous counselling experience is not a necessary prerequisite. However, experienced counsellors could benefit from this training if they wish to attend. Students with secular degrees in counselling or social work will most likely find the training uniquely different from anything they have previously received. Upon completion of the course, the student is expected to offer his or her counselling ability in the local church, under the direction of the local church leadership.
Ongoing Development and Training
Once the initial training has been completed, the counselling student is recommended to work under the authority and direction of each one’s sponsoring pastor or church. It is not the intention of the instructor to train “freelance” counsellors but to equip the church with Christian counsellors to assist leaders in helping untangle issues that are blocking people in the church from growing into maturity. The counselling students should always strive to keep learning more Biblical truths that apply to their own lives. That is what enables them to increasingly help others work through their counselling issues.
Modules
- Overview of Christian Counselling
- Basic Listening Skills
- The Holy Spirit as the Counsellor
- The Use of Process and Basic Note Taking
- Dealing with Emotions in Counselling
- Working out Bitterness through Forgiveness
- Dealing with Issues of Fear
- Dealing with Issues of Shame and Guilt
- Defeating the Power of the Lie
- Basic Marriage Counselling
- Dealing with Family Conflict
- Issues of Abuse and Addictions
- Deliverance and Counselling
“In my view, the church holds the key to successful counselling. It is in the life of the church that Christians are often confronted with their sins, failures and weaknesses that inhibit their growth in Christ. In the basic discipleship and training process, maturing Christians begin to see the roadblocks in their lives that need to be worked through. It is during this discipleship process that many of the barriers to growth, in the past and present, will be identified. Thus, each church needs to have (ideally) a few workers who have basic counsellor training in order to deal with the counselling issues that arise in the Christian’s life. This counsellor training should include an understanding of basic listening skills, a Biblical worldview of counselling, an understanding of the counselling process and adequate referral skills. The referral skills help the counsellor know his limits and give him the ability to discern what problems need to be referred to the “specialist” in Christian counselling. However, I believe that many of the basic hurts of life can be worked through by “paraprofessional” counsellors in the church. The role of the church counsellor is to know how to recognize the issues that need to be “untangled”, decide what can be handled through counselling in the church and then refer to the “specialist” those people with issues too enmeshed to deal with by “basic” counsellors. Since the church is also the place for ongoing discipleship, the healing of the soul through counselling can lead to a place of security and acceptance for the Christian to continue growing and developing.”
Graham Bretherick, Registered Psychologist