1 4MAT Review II
4MAT Review II
Liberty University HSCO 506-B21
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Summary
McMinn (2011) “Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling” explains views
on why spirituality is important in counseling. Spiritual counseling is a type of counseling that
focuses on a person’s spiritual side. According to McMinn (p.165) “Entering deeply into the
spiritual life requires us to abandon sin-management and to seek inner transformation through
the work of the Holy Spirit.” People who normally seeks counseling has a mental, social, or
emotional issue that is bothering their everyday life; therefore, people seek advice from
professionals. For a counselor to be effective, McMinn stated throughout the book that it is very
imperative that the therapist be eager and strong within their personal devotion.
Clients must develop trust. It is the counselors’ responsibility to make him/her
comfortable enough to share. If you want to be an effective counselor, you need to learn to
establish good relationships with your clients, and if you want to establish good relationships,
you need to become an expert on empathy (pp.192). As Christian’s counselors, we also have an
obligation to uphold to God as well as to the client. We are God’s servant; therefore, we must
make clients aware of his promise. Often times that is a tough task due to the fact that people
do not seek counseling when they are full of faith.
People who seeks counseling is at a place in life where they have exhausted personal
interventions. Personal interventions may include speaking with family, friends, or church
members. In fact, many seek counseling from their church leader. We are all obligated to make
clients aware that God is still God under any situation. We must incorporate Christian
fundamentals in counseling. However, it has to be at the right time. Dr. Hawkins stated that
“prayer rises from the mind of a person who believes not only God is there but God also cares.
He went deeper to say that the great tragedy about the average Christian life is that we are not
convinced that God cares.” In counseling several questions arises from the clients we serve. For
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example, if God loves us why am I going through so much discomfort? Why am I putting trust in
God when he sees everything including my pain? Those questions are just a few questions that
clients struggles to understand. Spiritual counseling and psychology goes hand to hand. Both are
dealing with the mind to understand why things happen.
Therapist also feel that sharing their spirituality can also be difficult, for the reason that
they may possibly feel unsure about their Bible knowledge. When integrating Christianity into
therapy sessions there are countless benefits that will help the individual to enhance the their
quality of life that will also help them acquire an enhanced essence of themselves and gain a
competent value of individual needs and boundaries and also procure the possibility of a
personal connection with God and other people. When a counselor applies prayer in their
therapy sessions it can enhance the course of spiritual growth for the reason that it provides the
individual with a feeling of hope and increase the clients faith (McMinn, 2011).
Concrete Response
In 2008, I lost one of my favorite uncles. He passed away from a diabetic coma in his
sleep. The news hit my family and me very hard because he has always been a “listening ear” to
so many of us. Not only was he someone who you could talk to, but he was also financial
support to us all. It was never a day that went by that I could not ask him for anything. Growing
up without my father was very tough. However, he help eliminate many of my struggles as male
raised by a woman. In 2008, I was taken off of intensive probation. I had been on probation for
three years from an incident that took place where someone was hurt. Although I was not the
person who hurt the individual, I was around the incident when it took place. We were all
charged for simple affray and received probation.
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In March 2008 I applied to three colleges. My choices were East Carolina University,
Elizabeth City University, and Pitt Community College. I received a denied letter from all of the
schools accept PittCC; therefore, I decided to go there. Part of my admission requirement was to
attend the minority male mentoring programs. The minority male program was a program they
felt would be beneficial due to my background. I accepted and made my announcement to
attend over dinner. Two months before the start date, my mom received a letter in the mail. The
letter stated that I did not pay my community service fee and had 60 days to make my payment.
Knowing our family financial standpoint I became discourage.
My uncle agreed to pay my fee in July so that I could start in August. The weight was
released off my shoulders once again. In June 2008, we received a call that he had passed away.
A month away from when he was going to pay my community service fee. At that point, I was
lost. I started blaming God for everything. I did not understand why he would take my uncle
away knowing I needed help to eliminate possible incarceration. My grandma kept telling me
through it all God was still God. Honestly, I did not wanted to hear it. I kept saying he hated us
since birth. I began to distance myself from everyone and preparing for the outcome. In July
2008, the school contacted me and I informed them that I was not interested anymore. After
explaining the situation, the department decided to pay the fee. God had lifted a heavy burden
off my shoulders and I never looked back.
Reflection
McMinn made some very good points overall. I do agree that spiritual counseling is a
necessity in all forms of counseling. Establishing a relationship with God is the best thing you
can do. We become discourage when things are not in our favor. Jeremiah 29: 11 states “For I
know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a
future and a hope.” One of the author strengths was recognizing that being a believer of God
does not exempt you from life obstacles. The author explained in chapter 6 that “Often one’s
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initial exposure to spiritual disciplines makes confession more difficult because we become so
enthralled by the spiritual life that we mistakenly assume spirituality is a path to happiness
rather than humility.”
One area of improvement I thought would have helped a non-believer is more
testimonies related to the issue at hand. We are convince through personal issues that God is
God through it all. However, a person who is not spiritually connected would beg differ. Faith is
always a sensitive subject. People faith is usually determine by their lifestyle. If you are
struggling in any aspect your faith would be discourage unless you have a relationship with God.
Another negative aspect of the text was forcing religion in counseling from the start. We learned
from Mary scenario that maybe that is not a good idea. Relationship with God is significant;
however in counseling the first task should be developing trust.
Ultimately, the greatest thing I admired about the author was the connection he made
between ministry and counseling. Counseling is definitely a part of ministry. People seek
counseling from professional as well as non-professional such as pastors. Both are offering
interventions to relieve some of the stress that life bring. Hope is major part of life and both
offer hope with the idea that it will get the person through tough times.
Action
Now that I have had an opportunity to read McMinn “Psychology, Theology, and
Spirituality in Christian Counseling” my plan of action is as follow. First, I would like to gain a
relationship with my clients. Gaining a relationship will allow them to gain trust in me. Trust is
essential in counseling. Secondly, introduce spirituality but not as a demand more of an option.
God will reveal himself to your client when the time is appropriate. Yes, I am a firm believer in
the word of God. It may take others a little time to establish their relationship with God. Lastly, I
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would like to become more spiritually connected in counseling. I have never been a person who
would speak about my relationship with God because religion is a touchy subject.
Christian forgiveness is not a simple emotional relief; however, McMinn stated that "our
capacity to forgive one another depends on our capacity to understand both our need for
forgiveness and God's gracious gift of forgiveness (McMinn, 2011 p.235)." I would like to
implement more of a forgiving approach. I really become angry when I hear scenarios dealing
with sexual assault. I began to think about revenge for the victim which is not right. God will
handle all battles. It is a strong connection between spiritual belief and counseling and I would
like to keep that connection.
Reference
Hawkins, R., & Moitinho, E. (n.d.). COUN 506 Week Six: Prayer and the Christian counselor
[Video]. Lynchburg, VA: Liberty University Online.
McMinn, M.R. (2011). Psychology, theology and spirituality in Christian counseling
(Rev.ed). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House. ISBN:
