Christian spirituality is the continual growth in love and service to God by
becoming more like Christ, which is then evident through actions of compassion
toward others. By remaining engaged on this journey through obedience to the
Great Commandment, one becomes more God-focused and less self-focused,
resulting in being other-focused. The positive changes start internally with adopting
God’s desires and thoughts as one’s own through the power of the Holy Spirit,
and thus manifesting externally in one’s speech and behavior.
b b b b b b b b b b b b b b Secular spirituality involves many of the same activities as Christian
spirituality (Watts, 2000). Though the observable behavior in a specific situation
can appear the same, the motivations are often very different since secular
spirituality ultimately elevates the self. Given the same situations, the differing
motivations will reveal over time as divergent choices and actions when comparing
the ongoing practice of one type of spirituality to the other.
b b b b b b b b b b b b b b The values of the counselor are usually passed to the client. Some
counselors do this in the guise of neutrality while others state their values upfront
(Powlison, 2010). Since a secular therapist can never truly understand the depth
of Christian spirituality without a personal relationship with Jesus, there is only so
much he can do to align his training of spirituality, even if trained in Christian
spiritual formation, to meet the needs of his Christian client. I believe that a
properly trained and spiritually sensitive secular counselor may be effective for
short-term care where attention is targeted toward techniques and solutions with
minimal relationship building (Garzon, 2011). However, I do not believe thoughtful
attention and respect can be given to the counselee in the case for longer
counseling because the secular counselor’s personal values will have an impact
on the Christian client.
b b b b b b b b b b b b b b I conclude that it is preferable to seek treatment from a Christian
counselor over a secular one. I am not implying that positive results from secular
counseling are impossible. After all, change comes through the client’s growing
self-reflection and sensitivity to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. However, the
client may spend more effort in questioning nuanced advice before accepting it
and the additional skepticism may slow the process of trusting and connecting with
the therapist.
References
Garzon, F. L. (2011). Spirituality in counseling. Faculty Publication and
Presentations, 62. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/ccfs_fac_pubs/62 Links to
an external site.
Powlison, D. (2010). The biblical counseling movement history and context [Kindle
iOS]. New Growth Press. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MTP9FWZ Links to
an external site.
Watts, R. E. (2000). Biblically-based Christian spirituality and Adlerian therapy.
Journal of Individual Psychology, 56, 316-328.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265161440_Biblically-
based_Christian_spirituality_and_Adlerian_therapy
