A paper for the European Christian Counselors Network, 2006

Spiritual Formation and the Work of the Counselor

^{A paper presented to the European Christian Counselors Network at the European Leadership Forum hosted in Eger, Hungary. 
May 20-25, 2006.}

Suppose we think of the task of the counselor as finding the sources of pain and disfunctionality in the client and intervening in the dynamics of the self in such a way as to alleviate the symptoms.  It might be more than that, but it should be at least that.  For example, finding the roots of hysteria in unconscious tensions and removing hysteric reactions by locating the tensions and relieving them through psychoanalysis.  That’s one story. Or using drugs or electro-shock, and so forth.

How we conceive of the task of the counselor will depend upon how we think about the components of the person.  Where does the happiness/unhappiness, functionality/disfunctionality of the individual come from?  The answer to this question obviously will depend upon what we take to be the components of the person and what we take to be their role in life.  Of course there is profound disagreement about these matters, which has persisted or even increased from the rise of “scientific” psychology in the later 1800’s up to today.  Methodology in clinical psychology will naturally reflect variations in views of the components of the person, though the self has often been treated as a “black box,” and then the search is on for anything that might make a difference to the suffering client—no further questions asked

Christian counselors have usually found themselves in the position of patching together components from this or that unchristian theorist or psychologist as a basis of their practice.  The result has been that we have many Christian psychologists, but no Christian Psychology: that is, no understanding of the components and dynamics of the human being that derives from or accurately reflect the biblical understandings of the person, and that integrates psychology with a sound understanding of the spiritual life in God. This has led not only toward a de facto secularization of Christian counseling, but also to misguided attempts to use scripture and ritual in place of an intelligent understanding of the human self.

It might prove illuminating to think of the work of counseling in relationship to the project of Christian Spiritual Formation.  Christian Spiritual Formation is the process of shaping the major components of the human self to increasingly resemble the inner character of Jesus Christ.  Christ himself specified the all-inclusive law of life as: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength…. And your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:29-31)  We might take this as an intelligent and accurate indication of the major components of the self: heart (will, ‘spirit’), soul (the organizing principle of the self), mind (including thoughts and emotions), strength (body) and social relationships (“neighbor”).  At the center of the self would lie interactive relationship to God and his kingdom through our heart, the influence spreading to all person-components, until his governance is established throughout the life.  This could be understood as “growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 3:18)  Rightly understood, that would be Christian Spiritual Formation.

One of the things most difficult for the Christian counselor, I find, is to understand the role of God in their work.  Of course prayer and the presence of the Holy Spirit is looked to as a resource, along with whatever techniques and practices one may have learned from professional training.  But what I am suggesting here is that practices known for their effectiveness in “growth in grace” may in some cases prove helpful in clinical practice, when joined with whatever knowledge we have from other sources.   In this way integration of life with the spiritual reality that is the kingdom of God may create a holistic goodness that pulls psychological health in its train.  We are not suggesting a magic solution or “silver bullet,” but a sensible, experimental approach that can be learned from the Bible and the best practitioners of  faith in Christ through the ages.

Psychological malaise is normally associated with certain thoughts, images, modes of inference, feelings and emotions, habits of choice and bodily impulses.  The standard disciplines of the spiritual life address such sources of pain and disfunctionality.  For example, one may live with thoughts of themselves and their lives that bring fear, anxiety, powerful desires and aversions, destructive moods and bodily and social turmoil.  It is tempting just to try to deal with these symptomatic conditions, possibly by sedation or otherwise.  But are there ways we can change the thoughts to introduce new patterns of feeling, choice and bodily and social impulses?  Some cases may be so extreme that we cannot start there, for they cannot do the things that would introduce the new patterns.  But others are not so extreme. Or, perhaps even those who are will still have periods of relative strength and clarity.

For these, or for these times, leading or directing a client into spiritual practices of benign solitude and silence, scripture memorization and meditation, enjoyment of nature or art, specific kinds of service to others, worship of God, and so forth, can do much to reorient and retrain the thoughts in a way that relieves anxiety and fear, anger, bodily unrest and social tension.  The prophet Isaiah (26:3) says: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee.”  The connection between where the mind is and our psychological condition is obvious from this, but also from the knowledge any reflective person has of how life goes.  Paul’s advice on the good and healthy life, “Think on these things, etc.” (Phil. 4:8-9) runs along similar lines, as does Proverbs 3:1-6 and multitudes of other statements, such as Romans 8:31-39. The basic truths of the gospel, such as John 3:16 etc., all focus on the change of thoughts; and as the will accepts and surrenders to the new thoughts that see the individual under a great and loving God, the power of  God’s kingdom flows out to all dimensions of the person, renewing them all in the strength of goodness. Reliance on God inducts the power of God that moves beyond all human strength and knowledge. (Eph. 3:20)

A Christian Psychology would research the practices that open the individual to the power of the resurrection life and that restructure the dimensions of the person into one harmonious whole around love of God and peace and joy in God. For the first time we would have a psychology that does justice to the spiritual nature of the human being and its necessary connection to the God who is Spirit: the natural homeland of the soul.  This would be developed through research of the highest quality, constantly tested against reality, but research that does not blindly reject the very dynamics of the human being that alone can make life good and psychologically sound. Confidence, hope and joy are pervasive of such a life.