People have a lot of questions about what is spiritual counseling. First, spiritual counseling is not “beating people over the head with the Bible.” Nor is it saying, “take two verses and call me in the morning.” And it is not one-problem, one-verse, one-quick-solution. While no one person can provide the final definition, here is a working definition of what makes Christian counseling truly biblical.

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So what is the difference between Christian counseling and secular counseling? While there are hundreds of different secular approaches to counseling, they all have two central features in common. First, secular counseling depends upon human reason and research to answer life questions about people, problems, and solutions. Christian counseling depends upon spiritual revelation to build a comprehensive, compassionate, culturally-informed approach to who we are, what went wrong, and how to solve the issues of the soul. Second, secular counseling, especially in our post-modern age, assumes that there is no final answer, no all-encompassing story that explains the meaning of life. Christian counseling, while appreciating our human limitations and understanding our cultural diversity, believes that God has given us all that we need for life and godliness.

 

A Christian counselor will work with you comprehensively. You can expect your counselor to assist you spiritually, socially to love others more effectively, and self-consciously to understand and apply who you are. Your counselor will help you rationally to renew your mind so that you see your life, God, others, and yourself from an eternal perspective. Your counselor will work with you willfully so that you understand why you do what you do. Your counselor will engage you emotionally so that you learn to manage your moods, soothe your soul and help others with their emotions.​

 

Christian counseling will help you to face your suffering face-to-face with God. Christian counseling sustains you so you know that it’s normal to hurt, and it brings God’s healing to you so that you know that it’s possible to hope. You will experience soul care from your Christian counselor. Instead of running, hiding, and covering up with layer upon layer of self-sufficiency, you will learn to “return home” like the prodigal son did. In returning home, your counselor will help you to reconcile with God and others—repenting, asking forgiveness, and granting forgiveness. You will learn that it’s wonderful to forgive and be forgiven. In counseling you will also find guidance so that you learn how to apply the truth that it’s supernatural to mature. You will experience spiritual direction from your biblical counselor.

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A Christian counselor has a special gifting and specialized training for a more focused ministry of Christian counseling. You should see a counselor when you sense that your relationships with God, others, and yourself are spiraling downward despite your best efforts. You should see a counselor when you recognize that your beliefs about life are colored by earthly perspectives and foolish judgments that you can’t seem to correct on your own. You should see a counselor when you find yourself yielding to purposes and actions that defy your core beliefs, but you can’t seem to change. You should see a counselor when you feel that you are less and less able to handle your emotions and manage your moods. In other words, you should see a counselor when life’s sufferings are overwhelming.

 

What happens in a Christian counseling session? What can I expect in session? To a large degree, that depends on you, your reasons for counseling and where you are in the counseling process (first meeting or last meeting, focused on hurts, etc.). Broadly speaking, you should expect a process of speaking the truth in love. That does not mean the counselor preaches at you. It means that you engage in dialogues where you and your counselor seek to apply spiritual wisdom to your life issues. You and your counselor will be involved in spiritual conversations where you think about life from a spiritual perspective, and you will be involved in explorations where you discuss relevant applications of pertinent passages to your specific life situations and relationships. You should expect your counselor to empathize with your hurts, to encourage you with Christian hope, to exhort you with spiritual truth that exposes heart issues, and to empower you with principles that equip you to be a better lover of God and others. You should expect the “process” to be “real and raw.” The counselor will give you her own soul—caring and connecting deeply.