What do we think about Christian counseling?

What do we think about Christian counseling?

Christian counseling has become very common within church-based society, being utilized both by individuals and as referral sources by churches. Christian counselors themselves are trained both by established academic institutions and by gaining certificates from independent groups.

To better understand the experience and impressions of Christian counseling among young Christians, Teleios recently conducted a survey. Of the 235 respondents the majority were: female (71%), 18-34 years (77%), and from the United States (58%). All the findings of the survey can be found here (https://teleiosresearch.com/how-young-believers-view-christian-counseling/).

Participants overall viewed Christian counseling as positive with 9% currently in counseling, 7% stating they had been in therapy before and would start again and 30% indicating they have never been in counseling, but planned to go. Overall, 22% reported they had seen a Christian counsellor. Further, 27% said that every Christian should be in counseling now or at some time in their life; while 35% indicated they should go only for specific problems.

The greatest benefit of counseling (of all respondents) was: it saved their life (6%), it improved depressive symptoms (8%), it helped them recover from a psychological illness (3%) or from addiction (1%), it reduced anger (8%), or improved relationships (11%).

Spiritually, counselling helped participants seek God through prayer, fellowship, knowledge of the Bible or praise (about 10% in each case), but was less helpful in causing participants to teach the Bible to others (3%) or spread the gospel (4%).

Importantly, wellbeing did not differ statistically between respondents based on their current or past participation in Christian counselling (P>0.05).

Our survey speaks to the broad popularity of Christian counseling among young evangelicals. However, the clinical and spiritual results of Christian counseling remain undescribed. What are the potential pros and cons?

Potential pros of Christian counseling, it may:

• Provide a resource for busy pastors to extend the church’s help to individual believers in their congregation 

• Give a mechanism for Christians to discuss their emotions and pain to a concerned listener

• Supply secular and spiritual advice to bring about emotional healing 

• Fortify the participant’s life emotionally and spiritually

• Help further integration of the participant into the Christian community

• Provide an important gateway to psychiatric services to deal with profound or emergent mental issues that might lead to self-harm or violence 

https://www.guystuffcounseling.com/christian-counseling/christian-counseling-benefits

https://www.christian-works.org/benefits-christian-counseling/

Potential cons of Christian counseling:

• The scientific results of Christian counseling, compared to secular counseling or no counselling, largely are unknown

• The methodology of Christian counseling and counselors’ training are not well proven 

• The interaction between Christian counseling methods and the Bible is unclear, varies by institution and probably by the counselors themselves (https://teleiosresearch.com/christian-counseling-degree-courses/). 

o From our survey most young Christians who participated in counseling did not receive instruction in any of the 5 basic elements of the Christian faith that underpin maturity (Acts 2:42,47) 

o Universities training Christian counselors typically do so from a secular and not a biblical basis (https://teleiosresearch.com/christian-counseling-degree-courses/) 

o Christian counseling, while it may help in with practical advice and even some spiritual direction, may not provide the basis for growing Christian maturity as described in the Bible 

• In our survey the average wellbeing was not different among participants who received prior or current counseling or if expressed desire for counseling in the future. This might signify that Christian counseling may not always be beneficial.

In summary, Christian counseling appears to provide a practical step in helping believers deal with issues in their lives and a vital resource for the church. 

However, Christians should be careful in assessing their care to ensure it does provide guidance into biblical maturity through obedience in His word, or otherwise assuring these tools to maturity and the fruits of the Spirit are supplied by other sources.

More research is needed specifically regarding the outcomes of Christian counseling and ways to further benefit participants.

William C. Stewart, MD

For questions or to view more of our research…

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