Competent to Counsel?

 

 

A few random thoughts which I might tidy up or develop at some stage.

 

Dr Jay Adams (a PhD, not a medical doctor, we may note) urged the pastor to regard himself as Competent to Counsel. Likely this is unfair to Adams, but at its most reductionistic, all pastoral counselling is “nouthetic confrontation”, admonition to repent of sin. If all you have is one hammer, all you can do is bash people for their sins.  

 

To give them credit, some Christian approaches to counselling do have a somewhat more sophisticated model. I am a sinner, but I am also sinned against. My circumstances make a difference. And they correctly observe that it is my actions for which I am responsible. We are asking “how can I as the person I am be godly in this situation?”

 

We will all have our besetting temptations, but I suspect many of us evangelicals could probably do with rather more patience and openness. Do we prize curiosity?

 

The classic opening of Calvin’s Institutes always repays thought: “Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” And he notes that “as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other.” We might rightly recoil from our narcissistic, selfish and self-obsessed world. But we would do well to try not only to know God and the know our Bibles, but really to know ourselves. To consider what has shaped us. What makes us tick and why. Why are our reactions to some things so intense or disproportionate? Why are there some things which stress us, or of which we make light? Do we stop to notice and to wonder? Or are we rushing to prepare the next Bible study or sermon?   

 

Certainly if the Man of God (the pastor) has a Bible, at one level he is thoroughly equipped for every good work of ministry (2 Timothy 3:16). We believe in the sufficiency of Scripture, but sola Scripture is not solo Scriptura, which I’m told wouldn’t work in Latin anyway! The Bible is sufficient for salvation and godliness, but even then it encourages us to listen to others, to use our reason, to observe and benefit from creation. The pastor cannot in practice insist on The-Bible-Only. For one thing, we would struggle to know the meaning of the words of the Bible if we depended on the Bible alone. We hope that the surgeon who operates on us is not a Bible Only guy. If you have your Systematic Theology to hand, see Common Grace and General Revelation.    

 

As a professional talker, the Pastor-Teacher would almost certainly do well to slow down, to listen and observe. Most of us are probably too quick to opine and advise.

 

When I studied pastoral counselling at my excellent theological college, I think we were possibly at times a little fuzzy on our anthropology. As so often, we should have wheeled in the Systematics Department to cry “Distinguo!”. At one level, every thought is a physical process in the brain. What difference does that make?

 

The pastor should see himself as a physician of souls. But also as a fellow sufferer. There is only one great Doctor to whom we must all bring our sin-sickness. Only he is perfectly Competent.

 

There is a sense in which the pastor would be wise to stay in his lane: he should be the guy to see about your walk with God. But of course walking with also involves loving your neighbour. Everything is related. God cares about it all.

 

Though the pastor is primarily concerned with the soul, we know that heart, mind, will and body all matter. The pastor is not an expert on physical or mental health, but he shouldn’t neglect these things because we are psychosomatic unities, not disembodied spirits.

 

We want humble pastors. The pastor may well need help from other pastors. And he would be wise in some cases to suggest a counsellor, or psychotherapist, or GP. Pastoral counselling should not be seen as a substitute for psychiatry.

 

God has not promised us good mental health this side of heaven, any more than he has promised us good physical health. The pastor cannot say “repent and believe and all will be well”. Some healing must await the New Creation.  

 

We may fear that sometimes drugs are prescribed rather freely, but they undoubtedly have an important role to play in the treatment of mental illness. We would be foolish to reject these good gifts of God if they would help us.