The role of the counselor in
counseling
The
counselor should see their own personal need of constant discipleship. It behooves the counselor to be humble and
sympathetic with the shortcomings and sins of his counselee. Quite often dealing with other people’s sins
will bring about a revelation of our own personal condition. God can greatly use this in the life of a
counselor to improve his abilities.
The counselor’s
attitude should be that of an ambassador of God. Essentially they are a bridge of
understanding for the one who needs encouragement, direction, and explanations
of the grace of God. For a counselor to
be effective he or she must be equipped with many additional
characteristics. A heart of empathy, an
unbiased attitude, and skill at being firm yet establishing hope are all
indispensable.
A
shepherding counselor seeks to honor God and love the counselee by dealing with
the cause of the problems, not just the symptoms. And no better imagery comes to mind than that
of shepherd. As in Psalm 23, the
counselor is taking a suffering person and leading them step by step through
valleys and pastures, training them in righteousness. The counselor will answer to God for his
faithfulness to the bible as God’s word for life.
To be effective,
the counselor calls sin sin.[1] We must remember that language is important
to biblical counseling. He does not
soften the reality of transgressing against God. In the same context the counselor does not
soften the abundant forgiveness and restoration of God when one repents.
Each
week it is the counselor who evaluates the progress of the counselee. This is critical to giving hope as well as
keeping the student on track for success.
Many counselees will try to manipulate situations or dominate the
discussion. The counselor however must
be keen to these diversions and prepared to keep the goal of sanctification in
sight.
Because
the counselee is looking to a counselor for help, the counselor must again be
humble and a man or woman and of impeccable character. They should posse great listening skills and
communication practices. Patience will
also be required as they attempt to train sinners in righteousness while being
a sinner themselves. The problems of
counselees will weigh heavy upon their own hearts and will reveal their
personal sinfulness.
That
being said, the counselor must be someone who has a solid theology, knowledge
of the word, and of prayer. An excellent
counselor is one who has experienced deliverance from a gripping sinful habit,
and recognizes their present shortfalls.
Counselors
are the pace setters of the weekly meetings.
Many counselees come to a biblical counselor after having experiences
with secular psychologists. Some will
tell the counselor their previous and self diagnosis. Counselees that have accepted the labels of
psychology will need to see how God views them.
Others will inadvertently command much of the session time by zealously
talking about their thoughts on the matters at hand. These presuppositions of the counselee can
become problematic. They tend to focus
on problems rather than solutions. By
monopolizing the time they are in effect avoiding the truth and listening only
to what they want to hear. The role of
the counselor is to pilot the ship of sanctification. The counselor needs to be aware of these
pitfalls to progress and should lovingly but firmly direct each step of the
process.
In
all that the counselor does it is essential that they build hope into the life
of the counselee. Through theology,
listening, and even confrontation, the counselor, equipped by God, can see
incredible results through the building of hope. Without instilling hope the disciple will
give up. With hope from the counselor
they will exercise faith and persevere in the trials ahead. The counselor’s most direct access to the
heart is with the hope found in the scriptures.
[1]
What the bible calls sin a counselor should call sin. It lessens the severity of the offense
against God to call adultery an affair.
By agreeing with God in the language of the bible the counselee can
begin to see the widespread consequences of their sin as not only against their
victim, but even more so against God.
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