Dear Editor,
I agree with the main point Steve Midgley was making in his column ‘C is for Counselling’ (en Jan 2016), that the church should not feel pastoral care is second best to secular counselling and that we need to leave valuable emotional support to the ‘experts’. I believe strongly in using the Bible as the basis of Christian living and pastoral ministry. I have been to one of the Biblical Counselling UK conferences and think their teaching is excellent.
However, I would like to take issue with the use of the word ‘counselling’ as I think this word has now been given a special meaning in our culture and that the church needs to accept and recognise that.
I am a Christian counsellor and member of the Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC). ACC is one of several professional bodies which holds an accredited register of counsellors from the Professional Standards Authority and only counsellors who are accredited counsellors or have a minimum level 4 qualification in counselling can join these registers. Soon only counsellors who are listed on this or other PSA registers will be recognised. This is to protect those who go to counsellors for ‘expert’ help, so that they will be seeing someone who is properly trained and competent.
Using the term ‘Biblical Counselling’ in the future may be confusing to those who are looking for expert help. Therefore I suggest the term ‘pastoral care’ would be more appropriate than ‘counsellor’ for those who want to use biblical principles to support and encourage people in our churches who have emotional as well as spiritual needs.
Yours faithfully,
