Anchoring Your Faith: Extending the Benefits of Christian Counseling
Defining Christian Counseling in Denver
For many counselors what Christian Counseling means is having a conservative Christian worldview. This is not the same as being a political conservative. Conservative Christianity is about what you believe the Bible says. Christian counseling uses the Bible as the inspired source of foundational truths about humanity and God. Your counselor will be referring to the trinitarian God who is the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Being conservative is accepting basic Christian beliefs that people throughout Church history have agreed on. These are summarized in the Apostle’s Creed or Nicene Creed.
Principles of Christian Counseling: Integrating Faith and Psychology
In a previous blog, I wrote about 5 ways of integrating psychology and theology (what you believe about what’s written in the Bible). The Counseling Program in my grad school was using the Integration model. It is a way of acknowledging that the Bible is foundational to human flourishing, but it’s not a science textbook. The integrated approach says that science has disciplines that contribute to understanding a person's body and soul.
Resources for Christian Counselors
Gary Collins PhD wrote a book called Christian Counseling: A Comprehensive Guide in 2007, which methodically describes many things Christian counselors agree on. In my opinion, Collin’s book thoroughly integrates without naming scriptural references; instead, he applies psychology through the lens of Scriptural principles. There are many other books that help Christian counselors formulate their approach to working with clients.
The Role of a Christian Counselor: Spiritual Guidance and Support
Christian counselors can offer to pray in session, and will probably pray for you outside of sessions. Christian counselors will rely on the Holy Spirit for guidance. They may offer you Bible verses or books to help you grow in your faith. They may lead you through a meditation on a verse and help you understand it in light of your current situation.
Beyond Counseling: Anchoring Your Faith in Daily Life
Extend the impact of your counseling experience. Your Christian counselor can be your spiritual mentor. The thing that my spiritual mentor passed on to me thirty years ago were two lists that I use almost daily in my morning devotional and prayer times. One is a list of phrases from verses that say who I am in Christ and the other is a list of God’s names found in Bible verses. Resources such as this can keep you anchored in your new identity long after counseling is over. They help you see how the Father sees you because of Jesus's work on the cross. You can know the Father, Son and Holy Spirit so much better because of their names and the power of those names in the context of the verse or chapter.
Christian Counseling in Denver
Hopefully this has given you a snapshot of what Christian counseling can be. The best way to find out is to call your Christian counselor in Denver at 720-577-5985 for your free 15-minute consult.
