14
Christian Counseling Connection
PASTORAL
Seventeen years after that conversation, it is still not clear if the profes-
sions have it figured out either. Both secular and religious fields acknowledge
the need for partnership, but struggle with obstacles such as deficient train-
ing and the lack of clear roles (Oppenheimer, Flannelly & Weaver, 2004, p.
159). While some practical examples of church and clinician collaboration are
in use, challenges such as trust and integration exist (Benes, Walsh, McMinn,
Dominguez & Aikens, 2000, p. 515). The knowledge gap in practical tech-
niques for collaboration gives Christian counselors a unique opportunity to
chart a course for other helping professions to follow.
As a card-carrying member of the AACC, how do you identify yourself
within the broad label of Christian counselor? Do you practice as a pastor/
ministry leader who has an understanding of counseling techniques or do you
identify yourself as a therapist who has ministry training and understanding?
Are you a pastor or a therapist? That question perplexes some and strikes oth-
ers as irritating to be nudged toward one or the other. Christian counselors
might like to assume they can be either or both if needed, but professional
ethics demand their scope of practice be made clear (American Association
of Christian Counselors, 2004). Whichever side of the line you choose, rest
assured that the needs of today’s church demand
both
the clinical and the pas-
toral gifts and skills to come to aid. Hurting people need Christ and therapy.
Clinicians need pastors to take clients beyond the confines of the therapeutic
relationship and pastors need Christian counselors to take on the complex
problems congregants bring to them.
The difficulty with this reality is Christian counselors and pastors often
find themselves in the same wheelhouse, with their hands on some of the
same wheels. So how do both groups work together, yet dissect the roles
within a specific intervention? Who does what? More importantly, how can
the two professionals effectively leverage each other to serve clients with ex-
cellence? Having worked as a clinician in collaboration with a pastor in both
secular and ministry positions, I offer the following parameters in forming
collaborative efforts.
1. RECOGNIZE CALLING.
The first line of demarcation when forming a
pastor and Christian counselor team is to acknowledge what each member is
called to do. With calling and training in proper regard, Christian counselors
and pastors need to reach out and form ministry partnerships long before cli-
ents walk into their offices. From a perspective of mutual respect, the pastor
and clinician must define the way they will practice, establish the benefits of
the team effort, provide a place of safety, and define the appropriate bounds of
confidentiality for a team effort.
2. CONSIDER WHERE YOUR AUTHORITY COMES FROM.
Clinicians derive
their authority from a client’s request for help and an established contract for
services is formed. This often involves a diagnosis, treatment plan, payment
for services and eventual termination. Pastors derive their authority from
personal relationship with clients. Pastors function within as a trusted leader
to them, their families, their churches and their communities in Christian
discipleship. A client gives to the Church because of God’s leading and the
pastoral relationship, not as payment for services or the intervention at hand.
Both professionals have a granted place within which to provide counsel, and
the related authority is derived from the acceptance of those responsibilities.
3. DEFINE HEALTHY BOUNDARIES FOR YOUR ROLE.
What need is the cli-
ent trying to fulfill? As this question gets resolved, the pastor and the Chris-
tian counselor can identify what tasks fit their unique roles in an intervention.
Establishing boundaries is not being territorial. Being territorial involves de-
fensiveness rather than a spirit of cooperation. Boundaries are goal-driven and
naturally emerge as goals are defined. When resolving boundaries for your
role, it is important to consider the nature of your relationship. Clinical rela-
tionships are time-limited interventions that follow specific treatment plans
or perhaps even a series of treatment plans. By contrast, pastoral relationships
may be lifelong friendships that involve weddings, funerals, and baby dedica-
tions. Clinicians are bound by confidentiality to avoid dual relationships. As
the client defines his or her need, the drawn boundaries must be communi-
cated.
4. BLEND YOUR EFFORTS.
Professional ethics dictate that you make your
professional role clear to clients. Your professional identity serves as a fixed
point of reference from which to operate as either a pastor or a therapist.
Once this is made secure, the pastoral and clinical processes can reach toward
each other to blend efforts. Clinicians can set clients up for spiritual break-
throughs with their pastors. Treatment goals and therapeutic assignments can
involve praying with a pastor, seeking God at the next altar call, or attending
the next Bible study group at church. Likewise, pastors can reassure clients
that the patterns, facts and data the clinical present are useful. For example,
the clinician has to acknowledge the pastor may be the one to pray with a cli-
ent for healing, while the pastor may need to acknowledge the need to consult
a Christian counselor before medications are discontinued. One can imagine
that opportunities for blending efforts will abound for a team that seeks them.
The very essence of Christian counseling is revealed in mutually support-
ive efforts. Pastors and Christian counselors possess a unifying desire to see
people won for Christ, healed of hurts, made whole through biblical truth,
and established in spiritual maturity. As the profession of Christian counseling
continues to emerge, collaboration is likely to become the norm rather than
the exception. Who better to establish this standard for other helping profes-
sions to follow than the members of the AACC?
Mark D. Barrentine, MSW, LCSW,
established Evangelhouse
®
Christian Academy, a therapeutic boarding school where he
developed the Lifeleaf™ treatment model. He leads a multidisci-
plinary team integrating spiritual, therapeutic, academic, social,
and physical growth for clients. Mark collaborates with Reverend
Thomas Faulk.
References
American Association of Christian Counselors. 2004.
AACC Code of Ethics.
(5th ed.). Nashville, TN:
AACC Law and Ethics Committee.
Benes, K.M., Walsh, J.M., McMinn, M.R., Dominquez, A.W. & Aikins, D.C. (2000). Psychology and
the Church: An Exemplar of Psychologist-Clergy Collaboration.
Professional Psychology: Research and
Practice,
31 (5), 515-520.
Oppenheimer, J.E., Flannelly, K.J. & Weaver, A.J. (2004). A Comparative Analysis of the Psychological
Literature on Collaboration between Clergy and Mental-health Professionals—Perspectives from Secular
and Religious Journals: 1970-1999.
Pastoral Psychology
, 53 (2), 153-162.
