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TRANS FORMAT ION
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to the decision to offer
Incarnational Counseling
as our
overarching label. Of course the word
Incarnational
,
carrying the meaning of “enfleshment” or “God in hu-
man form,” is not new. Its roots are in the incarnation
of Jesus, God coming among us in human form. Our
purpose in choosing this descriptor was not to “make
much” or elevate the person of the counselor, but rather
we wanted to remind trainee counselors that ultimate
help and healing lay in the quality of the relationship
and their seeking to bring the presence of God into the
counseling enterprise. The overall quality of the coun-
selor’s personal walk with God will determine how the
presence of God is incarnated, or realized. In this sense
the label is just a reminder, but one we see as centrally
important.
In choosing
Incarnational
as our overarching term,
our intention was not to discount the value of other
labels for Christian counseling approaches; our desire
was simply to accentuate the
Incarnational
distinctive
anew because we saw bringing the loving, healing pres-
ence of Christ into focus in therapy as meriting a fresh
emphasis. If counseling is truly
Christian
counseling,
the active presence of God in the process is, accurately,
a
sine qua non
. Thus, in our text we place considerable
emphasis on the importance of having the counselor
committed to maintaining an enlivened personal rela-
tionship with God, through Jesus.
The Biblical Call to Growth
Of course, while a label can be important in giving
focus to the counselling process and reminding us of
foundation truths, it remains just a label, and it may be
limited in its impact. In addition to the use of
Incar-
national
, we chose to add the adjectival descriptor—
a
growth-oriented approach
—to provide an outcome, or
goal focus, for beginning counselors.
We see the overall call of Scripture and, indeed,
of life, to be a call to
growth
for everyone. People seek
counseling for a wide range of issues—anxiety, depres-
sion, trauma symptoms, relationship distress, and so
on—and the counselor seeks to help with the presenting
issue. But beyond symptom alleviation, we wanted to
highlight the Biblical imperative calling us to growth.
The precise nature of the growth needed in each
person’s life will, of course, vary. By describing Incar-
national Counseling as a
growth-oriented
model, we are
seeking to remind novice counselors not to be content
with symptom removal alone, but always to have prog-
ress in mind, actively asking questions such as “In what
way is this situation calling forth new steps of growth
for you?”
Wisdom as Growth in the Old Testament
The Old Testament personifies wisdom and represents
her as urging everyone to grow in insight. The Teacher
instructs people everywhere: “Blessed is the person who
finds wisdom, who gains understanding, for she is more
profitable than silver and yields better returns than
gold.” (Prov. 3: 13-14 NIV). Clearly growth in wisdom
has application to our understanding of ourselves and
our functioning in life, especially in regards to our pat-
terns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. At least equally
important, the call to growth in wisdom has application
beyond ourselves to the task of better understanding
God’s working in our lives, and understanding aspects
of His Word and His world. These are rich areas for
focused attention in the process of being a helpful coun-
selor. It seems that when the Bible speaks of wisdom,
it is addressing the need to see ourselves and our world
from His perspective and to live out of that perspective.
Whatever the content of the presenting problem, the
opportunity to help clients reflect on growing in these
areas will provide an invaluable focus for counseling.
Maturity as Growth in the New Testament
In the New Testament, the call to maturity perhaps
best captures this Biblical call to growth. In some of the
most extraordinary life-instructions in Scripture, James
advises: “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face tri-
als of any kind, consider it nothing but joy because you
know that the testing of your faith produces endurance;
and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may
be mature and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1: 2-4
NRSV). James is writing to Jewish Christians of the
diaspora
, people actively experiencing persecution and
loss. Their task is not to simply manage or solve these
trials. They are called to
grow
towards maturity through
them.
Incarnational Counseling is designed to be a
counselor training program grounded in the importance
of bringing God’s healing presence into the work of
counseling, whether this is overt (because the person is a
committed Christian and open to God moving in a real
way), or implicit (because the person does not identify
as a Christian and is not open to this emphasis). Incar-
national Counseling is intentionally growth-oriented
in the richest sense of that descriptor and it seeks to
provide a healthy blend of psychological theory, Biblical
wisdom and skills training so that counselors begin with
a focus that goes beyond symptom alleviation to robust
personal growth.
Reference
Barker, G. A. and Powell, C. J. (2014).
From woe to go: A training
text for Christian counselors.
Bloomington, IN: Balboa Press.
Cliff Powell, Ph.D.,
has over 30 years
experience as senior psychologist at The
Mindspace, in Sydney, Australia. He was
the founding chair of the Christianity and
Psychology Interest Group of the Austra-
lian Psychological Society. Cliff has lectured on the staff
of Wesley Institute for 23 years and is co-author of
From
Woe to Go: A Training Text for Christian Counselors.