Posted on 11/13/2021 12:03:53 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
“Pastors cannot be expected to have the same level of skill, training and experience as professional therapists,” said Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). “Pastors have a shepherding and counseling role to play, but should refer when people need the next layer of care. Pastors should also play a role in minimizing stigma around seeing therapists.”
Several evangelical leaders noted that a key challenge for pastors is discerning when they have both the skill and the necessary time to help, and when they should refer. Most leaders indicated that pastors deal well with mental health issues when they refer to trusted counselors. However, leaders noted that in some areas the referral network is thin, expensive or both.
Kimberly Reisman, executive director of World Methodist Evangelism, said, “Our world is more complex than ever and the vast array of mental illness can be overwhelming. I believe pastors need much more support in dealing with these issues and need to have a strong network of professionals that they can lean on as they minister to the needs in their congregations.”
Steve Moore, president of nexleader, added, “Pastors I know are looking for professionals they can trust in their church or community who offer mental health services from a biblical point-of-view at a reasonable price point. That can be difficult to find in some communities. Perhaps we need an infusion of mental telehealth services.”
Pastoral counsel and professional therapy should complement each other. Don Sweeting, president of Colorado Christian University, said, “Mental health issues have not been traditionally taught at seminary, which is not to say it is completely overlooked. Mental and spiritual health overlap, but it is complex. Mental health is not simply a spiritual issue. Nor can mental health be completely separated from spiritual issues.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nae.org ...
They mean their own.
“professional therapists,”
Every kid I knew who was going to college to be a psychiatrist or psychologist was a wack a doodle and really trying to find out what was wrong with themselves.
That’s because they AREN’T equipped. But most pastors THINK they have the answer — they don’t.
The closest I’ve seen that works is the 12 step programs. Yet, the AA guys, who never ‘front’ sobriety, will front emotional sobriety like it was free candy.
Chiropractors will note that their training includes unusually broad study of infectious diseases, even compared to M.D.s, and they are trained to always and quickly refer any such cases to experts to treat them.
Mental illness are also very widespread and complicated, so I will complement pastors who can spot them and refer such cases to psychological experts. People can need ministrations as well as having other problems attended, but first things first.
Most psychologists, too. That is why they also have to see psychologists.
Same experience here !
IMO the glue that holds the entire 12 step process together is the “be of service to others” step.
I am not a friend of Bill, but friendly to friends of Bill. He tried for years, usually without success, to help people get sober. He couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working. His wife said “but it is working, for you” and then it dawned on him... His helping others was helping himself.
Psychological health and spiritual health go hand in hand but they are not the same. Neither one alone can help make a person whole again. While many pastoral counselors do harm by overestimating their competence, , many psychologists do harm by ignoring the spiritual dimension, or pretending it doesn’t exist,
Many years ago I attended a Bible study conducted by an elderly Catholic priest at a location near a college campus. A young woman started showing up, claiming that she was being tormented by demons. I think the priest either didn’t believe it, and/or didn’t feel capable of dealing with it, so he encouraged her to seek psychiatric help. We later found out somehow that she ended up killing herself.
I agree entirely.
I agree entirely.
The demons gave her a hand.
Interesting idea. And yet another example where we married men have to admit our wives are pretty darn perceptive and we need them. Not that we tell them so often enough.
“Every kid I knew who was going to college to be a psychiatrist or psychologist was a wack a doodle and really trying to find out what was wrong with themselves.”
Oh, my God, yes! Even some of the professors acted crazy.
When Jesus came up to the pool of Bethesda, He healed only one man rather than all of them. He could have entered by way of the front portico in all glory, but He chose to come from the side exit where even the lowest of the low were placed because the guy couldn’t even get to the waters when they were stirred.
By healing the one man, He established His authority over the evil of the disease. And every last one of those guys at the pool eventually died — at the very least, the paralytic was healed of his own spiritual deficiencies. Even though he was healed, he still died in this physical life.
Jesus doesn’t heal everyone from mental health issues, just like everyone eventually dies. But He DOES heal everyone of their spiritual deficiencies with the simplest assent to His sovereignty over one’s life.
Similar to when Paul was denied healing of the thorn in his side but obviously was healed of his spiritual depravity, many who suffer from mental health issues are in the same boat.
One issue that has risen is the fact that some pastors believe that psychologocsl counselling outside the framework of scripture is wrong and does not produce the desired results to begin with.
John McArthur is one such pastor. I think he deals with this in his book Reckless Faith published in 1994.
Completely agree. A most I knew were hot chicks.
Most aren’t equipped for the pulpit either.
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