BOOK REVIEW: INTEGRATIVE CHRISTIAN COUNSELING 1
Book Review: Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling
Shawn Peale
School of Behavioral Sciences, Liberty University
Author Note
BOOK REVIEW: INTEGRATIVE CHRISTIAN COUNSELING 2
Book Review: Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling
Summary
Being a Christian counselor is no easy feat. Christian counselors are expected to have an
integrated view and approach towards counseling. This means Christian counselors need to have
a degree of depth in knowledge and application in not only theology and spirituality but also
psychology. Luckily, for the stuck, frustrated, or new Christian counselor, there is a resource. In
the book Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling, Mark McMinn, lays
out some helpful studies, general rules, practices, theories, and hypothetical stories to help
Christian counselors become well-rounded and healthy wounded healers (McMinn, 2011).
The book can be broken down into two parts, starting with laying a foundation for
integration. “To integrate is to incorporate parts into a whole” (McMinn, 2011, p. 28).
Intradisciplinary integration is the core of what McMinn desires for Christian counselors, which
is an approach within a discipline. The discipline McMinn suggests to counselors is
interdisciplinary meaning it is designed to meld 2 or more disciplines together, with the goal
being to “find connections between the two fields (McMinn, 2011, p. 29). McMinn helps the
counselor to do this by exploring various mini-topics within a broader topic in each chapter,
which I will outline more deeply in the second part of this summary.
McMinn’s Foundation of Integrative Counseling
Several things stick out as McMinn seeks to build this foundation. First is the importance
of understanding spiritual formation. Often, Christian counselors are trained in a level of
theology and psychology but not spirituality. Considering the purpose of being a Christ follower
is to be more like Jesus, spiritual formation is something counselors are urged to pursue
knowledge and training. One way to do this is through the spiritual disciplines themselves, but
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the goal here is wholeness and connection with God, as full spiritual competency is not possible
McMinn, 2011).
The goal of Christian counseling is wholeness and the author focuses on this wholeness
through three areas: self, need, and healing relationships. This roadmap establishes a theoretical
approach towards healing and wholeness. In this road map, faulty thinking regarding the self,
sense of need, and presence of healing relationships are challenged. Of course one has to be
careful because human beings are complex creations and maps oversimplify these complexities
which can be dangerous to the client. Each of these three areas works with one another and feeds
into others (McMinn, 2011). For example, if a person does not have a correct sense of need, that
is that they are sinners in need of a savior who can take on their sins and provide grace then their
sense of self may be inflated and unhealthy. In the same way, if their sense of self is inflated and
even narcissistic, they may also experience challenges within the relationships around them.
Second, it is vital to understand that Christian counseling is not just professional or just
personal but both. While the counselor is a professional and they are engaged with a professional
connection initially with their clients, the Christian counselor is also ideally an agent of healing.
This means that the health of the counselor which is a personal matter, can directly affect the
counseling relationship. Furthermore, it is worth noting that many who seek counseling aren’t
only seeking a professional but a relationship (McMinn, 2011). Therefore, counseling, Christian
counseling cannot and should not be “reduced to a set of behaviors” (McMinn, 2011, p. 14).
Third, Christian counselors have to be extremely careful as to what theories and
techniques they use as well as their assumptions about said techniques and theories. Counselors
have to know themselves within this too. “What type of counselor are you?” (McMinn, 2011, p.
38). The author proposes the fact that there can be a great counseling technique, but then asks
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“What if its roots are tied to an atheist such as Albert Ellis? Does this now make the technique
unacceptable for the Christian counselor to use?” The bottom line is that although not all
messages in mental health are necessarily true, good, and beautiful, they’re not all wrong either
(McMinn, 2011).
Fourth, Counselors need to be diligent in their research and humble in their declarations.
If a Christian counselor wants to be respected within the mental health community, they must
utilize scientific terms and language used within that community (McMinn, 2011). Having this
scientific knowledge base builds rapport with secular mental health professionals while
understanding that some of the techniques they utilize in the counseling room may be vastly
different or similar to those in the secular world of counseling. Overall, the author does conclude
that more research is needed on the effectiveness of spiritual tools in the counseling office.
A final note of encouragement in building a foundation of interdisciplinary integration is
establishing ethical correctness as a Christian Counselor. This gets particularly more challenging
when a counselor utilizes techniques not covered by insurance if they are in professional practice
with 1:1 paying clients (McMinn, 2011). For these counselors, the author urges the
implementation of informed consent regarding a variety of contexts including techniques
potentially used, fees, etc. This provides clarity as to what the client may be getting themselves
into. Of course, it is of utmost importance that the focus is on what’s best for the client. In
closing this section, the author combats several preconceived misconceptions about Christian
counseling that counselors need to make sure, their clients are aware of what kind of counselor
they are hiring.
The second half of the book’s summary comes through chapters 3-8. Each chapter
presents a commonly used application and a breakdown of that application through 7 mini-topics
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and then examines the 3 areas of wholeness and health and how the use of that application can
hinder or help the client depending on their unique situation (McMinn 2011). Several of the
chapters also have practical assessments and all of them provide hypothetical counseling
situations to compare and contrast different approaches.
Prayer
While prayer may seem like a necessity to many Christian counselors, McMinn explores
the risk and reward factors of different kinds of prayers in the counseling relationship. The
author compares prayer to any other avenue of psychotherapy asking the question “Which types
of psychotherapy work for which clients under which circumstances?” (McMinn, 2011, p. 79).
The author talks about the benefits of prayer including a mark for overall well-being, coping with
pain, and the correlation between psychological symptoms and prayer. The author highlights
different kinds of prayer connected to the level of potential risk to the client with routine in-
session prayer being high risk and praying for clients outside of sessions being low risk.
(McMinn, 2011). While prayer is the “primary vehicle of growth in the spiritual life” (McMinn,
2014, p. 105) “its use in counseling warrants careful monitoring” (McMinn, 2011, p. 90).
Scripture
Just 3% of 43% of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) surveyed,
utilized scripture directly in counseling (McMinn, 2011). Part of the reasoning for this is that the
Bible is often seen as a self-help book and a tool to help support already established models even
within Christian counseling. The author however notes that knowing and utilizing scripture is in
direct correlation to knowing God Himself (McMinn, 2011). It would seem as though scripture
in counseling has alot of untapped potential, 8 noted by the author including but not limited to
the roles of providing a standard of unchanged truth, experiencing resource of wisdom for life’s
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challenges, and creativity-empowering us with the gift to explore different concepts (McMinn,
2011). It is vital for the counselor and anyone who studies, reads, or uses the Bible in their
counseling to approach God’s word with both humility and respect.
Sin
Even though sin doesn’t have a big name in the secular psychological community, its
origin and effects should not be ignored (McMinn, 2011). Sin isn’t just a to-do list but is a
sickness of our human character and has been from the beginning. One problem with sin is that
often it can be associated with the attribution of bad things. This is the belief that someone is
suffering because of their sin. While many do suffer the consequences of these sinful choices
(such as pregnancy out of wedlock, going to prison for hurting someone and catching an STI
from many sexual partners), people who have this belief are more likely to be depressed and
afflicted. The author notes within this that understanding sin leads us to a healthy sense of need
and self-being that we fall short of God’s standard and need Him to save us, in doing so we lay
down our old self for our new self and strive to be more like Christ which moves us towards
things like forgiveness and understanding within our communities (McMinn, 2011). When
dealing with sin it is always important to stay humble, recognize our own needs and sinful ways,
and operate with empathy.
Confession
In general, confession is noted to decrease anxiety, and promote empathy and sickness
but why? First understanding some of the roots and routes of confession are necessary. The
author explores constructive sorrow “a remorseful response leading to confession and
reconciliation” (McMinn, 2011, p. 210) versus self-focused guilt “a response that damages one’s
self-image” (McMinn, 2011, p. 210). There are three different types of confession in scripture
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including public confession to the church, private confession to God, and private confession to
others (McMinn, 2011). As confession requires humility, counselors should not be surprised for
clients to resist confession but need to be caring, and patient and respect the client’s dignity and
should try to force confession on the client (McMinn, 2011). Most Christian counselors do not
regularly utilize confession as a counseling technique however, reasons for this could be because
a client comes in for a non-guilt-related issue or because repentance is something initiated by the
Holy Spirit and that may happen mostly outside of sessions.
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is no easy task and the author outlines why and how utilizing forgiveness as
a counseling technique can be both harmful and transformational. It is vital to distinguish
forgiveness from things like minimizing, excusing and even reconciling (McMinn, 2011). The
client is hurt and has a right to express that to the counselor and move at a pace most beneficial
to them. A counselor can strategically move that client towards forgiveness but has to be very
careful in doing so. A lot of times this involves exploring the hurt, building rapport with the
client, asking challenging questions, utilizing opportunities to talk about the theology of
forgiveness as well and challenging faulty cognitive processes (McMinn, 2011). While
counselors are walking clients through it is crucial to operate in humble identification strategies
such as empathy, removing personal offense from an angry client as well as monitoring dialogue
in our head (McMinn, 2011). There is much to be said about forgiveness but the one thing that
the author hones in on is that forgiveness is something that is more caught than taught and that it
is not just something to check off of a checklist but is supposed to be reflective of Christian
character (McMinn, 2011).
Redemption
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The author pays attention to a great question and tension in Christian counseling “How
do I counsel a non-Christian as a Christian counselor?” (McMinn, 2011). McMinn notes that it is
likely that the counseling will be somewhat different because Christian counseling is set apart by
identification and a redemptive worldview. He provides a couple of options to help the Christian
counselor navigate this challenge three types of psychotherapy including Adlerian, object
relations, and cognitive therapy (McMinn, 2011). It is vital to note that there are many forms of
psychotherapy with a variety of focuses. In each of these forms of psychotherapy above, the
counselor takes on an intentional role that is aimed towards redeeming the issue that is present
within the client. One example given within cognitive therapy would be if a client struggled with
perfectionism, not making a big deal about being 10 minutes late to a session (McMinn, 2011).
One note of caution here is humility. One other key in this chapter is the author’s exploration of
redemption between fellow humans versus spiritual redemption from and through God. Because
redemption is heavily saturated in Christian counseling, informed consent is another idea
proposed by the author as it keeps everyone on the same page.
Reflection
I was enjoying the book until chapter 3 initially. I agreed wholeheartedly with the
foundation of integrative counseling as well as his approach to helping people move towards
wholeness and health. Then he told me that prayer and other disciplines can be dangerous
(McMinn, 2011) and I had a hard time with that. To tell a pastor that certain prayers can be
dangerous to congregants is like telling a dog that they shouldn’t chew on bones because their
teeth might get sore. I might be exaggerating a bit here but my initial reaction was not good.
However, as I continued to read, I was challenged with each chapter. It became obvious
that the author was not saying certain spiritual applications, disciplines, and homework shouldn’t
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be used but that the focus should be completely on the client. The focus was asking yourself
before, during, and after counseling, “Will using this technique, discipline, homework, etc help
or hurt this person? Will this move them towards healing in the senses of self, need, and healing
relationship?” (McMinn, 2011). This challenged me because in seminary they teach you the
Bible. They teach you history, theology, discipleship, Greek, and Hebrew but discerning whether
praying in session might cause an unhealthy relationship and dependency is nowhere to be found
(McMinn, 2011). Maybe it needs to be because I do way more counseling than I had ever
realized I would do when I felt God calling me into vocational church ministry. I had truthfully
never given deep thought to this but am now.
I was also challenged personally. When he noted that spiritual competency wasn’t
possible and that the purpose of the spiritual disciplines was transformation (McMinn 2011), that
was a good reiteration for me. So often we can get stuck in a checking-off-the-boxes mindset that
we forget that the goal of spiritual disciplines is being more like through being with Jesus more. I
thoroughly appreciated the practical and hands-on advice that McMinn lays out for readers. This
included things like the forgiveness scale, comparing counselors A-D, and the 3 areas of
wholeness detailed map are all things that can be applied right away (McMinn, 2011). As a
practical application kind of guy, I appreciate when I read a book that is more than theory, ideas,
and questions. I tend to lean towards more concrete things. So then when he not only provided
some of the more hands-on aspects of what he was proposing but also facts, stories, and
hypothetical case studies, I was sold. Overall, this book challenged me significantly and I am
grateful.
Analysis
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McMinn’s perspective on Christian counseling comes with a lot of positives to it and
includes some things that set it apart from other Christian counseling books. The aspects that
were most helpful to me and unique included his reflections at the end of each chapter, his
dedicating nearly an entire chapter to exploring an element of Christianity with non-Christians,
and his hypothetical case studies (McMinn, 2011). As a hands-on learner, having someone share
not only their ideas but what they have seen work and fall short within those ideas is extremely
beneficial. In each of the reflections, McMinn notes challenges, encouragements, transparent
sharing, and learning opportunities from his mistakes (McMinn, 2011). I thoroughly appreciated
this because anyone can claim what they say in a book is true and helpful but where’s the proof?
In McMinn’s case, the proof is present and therefore makes his wisdom on other things more
credible to me.
Another aspect of this book that stood out was the hypothetical case studies and
dedicating a good portion of the chapter to helping non-Christians. As a pastor, I encourage
many to go and make disciples. The thing that I’ve wondered however as I’ve gone through this
counseling course study is what if they don’t know Jesus? What if someone invites a non-
Christian to church and they seek counseling with me? That complicates things. By McMinn
addressing this and giving practical applications for this in the redemption chapter, I felt
empowered to not only counsel Christians but potential non-Christians who may walk through
the doors on a Sunday morning or in my office. Everyone is searching for something, they just
don’t know that the “something” they’re after has a name and it’s Jesus.
Finally, the hypothetical case studies are extremely important to me. Yet again, ideas,
theories, and thoughts can be written in a book, but what does this look like in real life? We
don’t counsel robots. Having stories of counselors A-D, Wendy, and Ms. Trodden, etc. helps
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bring life to McMinn’s concepts and wisdom and the Christian counselor can see firsthand what
certain approaches may be more beneficial than others. In addition to this, it also helps the
counselor identify what type of counselor they might be (McMinn, 2011). Alot of us are learning
new skills as we gain knowledge, wisdom, and experience in this field, and having hypothetical
approaches in front can give us clarity on what our strengths in counseling could be. This helps
not only the counselor but the client as well.
The only major challenge I had with McMinn was his level of caution with certain things.
As someone who has utilized and been the recipient of prayer counseling, I have seen great
benefits and healing from them, yet McMinn would say this technique in counseling is risky. Not
only in prayer was this seen but scripture and other elements of Christian counseling too. Overall
McMinn, does not appear to be a risk taker and is very cautious to put it kindly. In his defense,
he does share that with his readers (McMinn, 2011) and the caution does appear to be rooted in
care and not fear but sometimes as shepherds, we need to be bold, courageous, listening to and
following the leading of The Spirit and not just stick to the status quo. Other than this, I found
McMinn’s books to be extremely helpful.
Application
As a discipleship pastor, I see alot of people who are seeking counseling. Truthfully,
when I entered the ministry 7 years ago, I had no idea how much counseling I would be doing. I
found out the hard way very quickly that I was underequipped. That being said, because
McMinn’s book has alot of hands-on practical advice in addition to a significant amount of detail
and research, there is much that can be applied from the book. 5 things stick out that can be
applied right away.
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The first application is filtering my interventions and techniques through a filter of
helping to restore a person’s sense of need, self, and healing relationships. When McMinn
introduced this concept in chapter 2, it was obvious to me that I would be using it. The reason for
this is that it’s a simple filter, but has the opportunity to provide great results. If a client comes to
me and let’s say they are struggling with loneliness and depression but they have a history of
hurting others in relationships and see nothing wrong with that, right away I can sense that at a
minimum, their sense of self is off. The interesting part about this filter is that each of these
modalities of sorts feeds into the other which gives me a bouncing-off point to address a variety
of things.
The issue I need to work on is moving from two areas of competence to three. This was a
common thread in every chapter challenging the counselor to expand their horizons and depth of
skills and knowledge into spirituality, psychology, and theology. Most people look at integration
as psychology and theology, but McMinn suggests that we are missing a key piece to Christian
counseling which is spirituality or as he looks at it, spiritual formation (McMinn, 2011.)
Truthfully, I would say I am only professionally competent in one of these areas: theology. I plan
to read two books this next year, one about spiritual formation and one about Christian
psychology.
The third application is doing more thinking when I counsel people. One thing I have
noticed is that like most people, there are times that I listen to respond, not to understand.
Because of this, I may misread a person or their problem and jump ready to solve their problem
when that may not be what’s best for them. Asking the question that McMinn proposes: what
techniques and approaches work best for what clients in what situations approach instead
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(McMinn, 2011). Doing this requires slowing down my mind to think and reflect on what’s best
for the client and not being afraid of silence.
Another point of application was the forgiveness scale. One thing I’ve learned especially
in the last few years is that hurt people hurt people and there are a alot of hurt people in the
church seeking to be forgiven or forgive others. The forgiveness scale will be exponentially
beneficial for getting to the root of a person’s desire to forgive others. By knowing their motive
or root of forgiveness this allows me to address additional issues. For example, if a client comes
in and let’s say he was sexually abused by his father growing up but feels he needs to forgive
because it’s the Christian thing to do, I might explore why he has this sense of duty and not
desire. Exploring this could lead to some faulty thinking about why a Christian is called to
forgive.
The fifth and final application I plan to make is informed consent when people seek me
directly for counseling. I will have to draw this up and run it by our elders and lead pastor first
but I have found this tool in more than one book and feel that this would be helpful for people in
the church to know exactly what they’re getting into. I believe this helps to establish trust and
builds rapport with the client. On another hand, I believe it can also protect the church as people
won’t be caught off guard or accuse the church of doing something other than what the client
consented to in counseling such as prayer counseling.
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References
McMinn, M. R. (2011). Psychology, theology, and spirituality in Christian counseling. Tyndale
House Publishers.
New American Standard Bible. (1995) The Lockman Foundation.
