Care in Counseling

by   Paige Patterson                                                                                                                                                         Vol. VIII, No. 10, Nov./Dec. 1995

       President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, N.C.

[Every pastor, every church staff member should read this article and follow its guidelines. TCP]

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is delighted that it has been able to inaugurate a Master of Divinity Degree in Counseling. Our purpose is not to train counselors for the public square with a shingle out to attract troubled people. Our program is designed for those who want to be a part of the ministry of the local church and provide guidance for those struggling with various problems within the fellowship or the purview of the witness of the church.

As a part of that, there are some basic rules which we follow in our counseling at Southeastern Seminary and which we will be teaching in all of our programs here. In a day when accusations against ministers come very easily, and in a day when there has been such tragedy in the loss of ministries to lust and sexual sin, these recommendations are worthy of implementation everywhere.

First, men should counsel men, and women should counsel women. In the rare circumstance when a man must counsel a woman, either the woman's husband or the pastor's wife (or both) should be present in the room at all times. In a circumstance that might unexpectedly occur leaving a minister alone in an office with a woman for any reason, the door should be left clearly open; or else both should sit in such a way as to be clearly visible from outside the office, even if the door is closed. This policy will not only go a long way toward preventing the development of undue dependency of counselee upon counselor, but it will also have the effect of rendering any outside criticism so improbable as to make it unbelievable.

Second, it is well to remember that most of us have exhausted most of what we know to say to a person in one or two sessions. Prolonged, lengthy counseling sessions do little more than establish dependency of the counselee upon the counselor. This is unhealthy, since the counselor needs to point the counselee to a greater dependency in faith upon the Lord who alone can ultimately meet the problems and the difficulties.

Finally, remember that in 90% of the cases the best conceivable counselor is a thoroughly biblically literate, godly Sunday School teacher. Sunday School teachers should know to refer more difficult cases to the pastors, and pastors sensing potential neurological or chemical problems should quickly refer to Christian psychiatrists who have the background and training to treat such cases. But in the overwhelming majority, the church needs to assume its pastoral role and counsel troubled people through its Sunday School and pastoral care programs.

Because of the litigious nature of contemporary society and the fact that the legal profession is now targeting churches for litigation, we also suggest that churches and ministers provide guidance under the heading of "Biblical Guidance" rather than "Counseling." A suit against a church alleging that the church provided biblical instruction and guidance for those who sought such is very likely going to fail. Furthermore, no licensure is necessary for the simple practice of one's faith.

Hopefully these words of suggestion may prove fruitful to those who contemplate the counseling effort.