Pastoral counseling

A number of years ago I was involved in helping develop a training program for lay leaders and bivocational pastors in our judicatory. A two-year and three-year program was offered with classes we felt would benefit our students. It wasn't long before we began to be asked to add a class on counseling to our program. We refused to add the class. As I explained to those requesting the class, one counseling class is not going to equip you to counsel people.

Many churches have counseling as part of their pastor's job descriptions, and many pastors do offer to counsel people. I think this is a mistake for most pastors. Unless the minister has been trained in counseling my advice has always been it is usually best to refer those who need this help to a trained pastoral counselor or Christian psychologist.

People who need counseling often require much more time and expertise than the average pastor can give them. In severe cases persons may need years of therapy and extensive help which the minister is not trained to provide. In such cases it is often best to provide pastoral care and refer the person to someone trained to provide the assistance the person needs.

A possible scenario might go like this. Someone comes seeking counseling, and the minister quickly recognizes that a referral is in order. The minister can suggest capable counselors for the person to contact while offering to meet with the person on a regular basis to see how they are progressing. I would ask the person to contact me after they've had their first session with the counselor. This would allow me to find out their initial thoughts about the counseling they are receiving and gives me an opportunity to provide pastoral care. I would then want to set up regular meetings, perhaps every couple of months, to see how they are progressing. This lets them know I care about their situation and it provides them with the type of counseling they need to resolve their problem.

If a minister is a trained counselor then he or she can offer counseling, but most of us received just enough training in counseling to be dangerous. We do no one any good if we try to work outside the areas of our expertise. The person does not receive the best assistance available, and the minister's time is being used doing things he or she is not equipped to do.

I write more about this and other ways to reduce the pressures of ministry in my book The Healthy Pastor: Easing the Pressures of Ministry