What is Christian therapy? Is it therapy performed solely based on the teachings of Jesus? Is it simply therapy performed by a Christian? Does that mean a Christian Medical doctor performs Christian Medicine? These (well at least the first one) are good questions. It’s reasonable to seek a definition, especially since there is currently a debate between Christian Vs. Biblical Counseling, Integration of Christian Counseling and Secular Therapy and yet some others. Therefore, I believe the general public would want to know the answer, particularly if they would like to seek such therapy.

I did seek Christian therapy once for myself and it was a basic therapy session. This was my only session, preferring to rely on the sufficiency of the Bible (although I provide therapy at between 12 and 24 sessions generally, I will gladly say to a client that if they have a revelation to immediately get therapy exclusively with The Wonderful Counselor instead of therapy with me, then great!) but that doesn’t mean everyone is where I was/am, and it certainly doesn’t mean that I had/have all the answers.

As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, I tend to integrate Christian and secular counseling in that, with a private practice and firstly as a Christian I’m not meant to turn away anyone who needs help [James 2:1]. I believe that Psychology/Counseling is a discipline like any other and that it should be respected. I can go to a Christian Jiu Jitsu school all I want but if I can easily push the Professor over, I’m leaving. I can admit I’m being facetious.

Facetious because having just referred to God as The Wonderful Counselor and the Word of God being what it is, it is obvious that the Bible is meant to be sufficient (the doctrine of sufficiency refers to The Bible being good enough to address every problem a human being will ever face). I say meant to be because speaking to one of those debates, not everyone believes this. Among clients, everyone is at different stages in their journey and therefore do not all believe with the same Faith. As well, some individuals benefit from formal counseling based on a certain need for professional contact (I should say that Biblical Counselors adhere to the aforementioned doctrine of sufficiency and are more often Pastoral Counselors or Clergy. This is the main distinction between them and Christian Counselors, although I want to be clear that there are many higher learning institutions that offer Master’s and Doctorates in Biblical Counseling and are nearly commensurate in counseling curriculum, barring state requirements as with Licensed Counselors who are Christian). For example, when I saw a client who in the midst of a legal battle, he thought it prudent to engage with a professional counselor to express to the judge he was serious about changing his behavior. As a believer, I’m positive he believes in sufficiency however, as he finds himself in this place he likewise found it appropriate to connect with a Christian (professional) counselor.

Both Biblical and Christian (Professional) counselors are trained in general counseling skills. There are universal techniques such as reflecting, reframing, expressing empathy/communicating emotion, challenging and the list goes on. I personally believe the Bible is sufficient, however I also believe God placed no foolish spirit within us and therefore there is nothing wrong with being professional [Ephesians 4:1]. Much like a divorce lawyer, an entertainment lawyer and a corporate lawyer are all doing vastly different things they all invariably share some core skills and rules of etiquette.

One of the concepts I’m learning (humbly as a Christian, along side you) is that the Word is so powerful I can forget to adhere to the structure of a session. Therefore, if I’m not careful we could talk about the mysteries of God for the entire session, however the apostle in me refuses to accept money for that. Furthermore, I’m not clergy. There are plenty of Pastoral counseling programs across the country that do train clergy for counseling and I would say they do a good job, but there is still a difference between Pastoral and professional counseling in my belief for the obvious reason.

I provide Christian counseling; Licensed professional counseling from a Christian perspective (you can read an official description of Biblical Counseling here). I leave it up to the client to decide how much Biblical wisdom they would like to engage throughout therapy out of respect [Revelation 3:20] but I can usually gauge this while being up front about it. I hold the Word of God above all counseling techniques and it is a blessing to a session where even within a psychological intervention I can reach for a supporting Bible verse. In this way I can speak to the sufficiency of the Word because it always sheds a light on a particular topic, thereby honoring God by its stand alone truth.

The Spirit and our Psychology

Though there is a movement in the Church currently that recognizes the need for attention on mental health, this is recent. Many of us blur the line between our Psychology and our spirit/the spirit realm. I will not discuss other religions, but as Christians this is something we (knowingly) have access to as opposed to the secular world. What this means is that Spiritual problems are addressed differently than Psychological problems. For example, a person may have particular feelings about a job and have certain automatic thoughts/reactions to interactions with their supervisor. What were those thoughts? What are your core beliefs around this position? This is an indicator for the use of CBT. But if it’s a problem with “this season” of your life which affects your overall mood (which would in turn inform your reactions), I would ask with permission what are your conversations with God like on this topic or if you’ve prayed about it directly; usually by this point there will be something that points to Biblical wisdom or a few verses. But the session itself would turn towards the fruit of The Spirit.

The structure of this thinking points to The Spirit Realm as being the Governor on the top, the Psychology being the Soul/Identity (and of course the Flesh is the next Realm down). This is analogous to The Tripartite Man from 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Many Christian Counselors describe this as Soul Care.

I do believe that it’s extremely difficult/impossible for such spiritual warfare to successfully attack a healthy mind (because we will be attacked regardless). Healthy here, keenly defers to being in line with the Spirit of God especially due to him giving us “a sound mind”. As we need each other within the body of Christ, just the motivation to seek help by connecting with another person and the care involved starts a process that should ultimately thwart such an attack, as unity within the Church is paramount in terms of the body of Christ.

What is Christian counseling?

Let’s remember one thing: Jesus’ ministry began when he was 30 years old. We know he was recorded at 12 years’ old in the temple but what was he doing between 12-30 years’ of age? Israel is not a secular society but without a ministry he was outwardly like everyone else; if he was likely learning carpentry he was teaching it to his younger siblings, tending to whatever was required of his parents. Therefore, we can act in kind by being caring towards one another and helping where we can. Counseling itself is generally meant to be helpful and Christian counseling therefore should be more helpful to a believer. In my case, I’m happy to provide Biblical wisdom and what I understand of the teachings of Jesus Christ (via The Holy Spirit) within the context of professional counseling.

For now, take care.

Gregory Longmore, LMHC is an online-only Christian Professional Mental Health therapist based in NYC.