Pastoral Counseling

Pastoral Counseling--Some Common Criticisms

An exploration of some common criticism against pastoral counseling.

C. E. WITTSCHIEBE, Professor of Pastoral Care, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Some time ago the editor of THE MINISTRY magazine asked me to prepare an article on pastoral counseling. Wonder­ing what might be the most help­ful and most timely subject, I asked my current classes for sug­gestions. After all, they represent, to a large degree, a cross section of the denomi­nation's working force. Their comments led to the conclusion that some of the more common criticisms of pastoral counseling should be dis­cussed. The students stated, in their own words, the sort of objections they had heard.

Here, then, are some which appear with rel­ative frequency. Owing to the limitations of space, only a few criticisms can be dealt with, and the answers to them are, of necessity, rather sketchy. One significant objection, in the stu­dent's own words, was stated like this:

Only a few months ago I asked an ex-con­ference president, now ready to retire, what he thought of counseling. He told me to avoid this subject in school, for it is nothing less than taking the place of the Holy Spirit and His work. "If you don't watch out," he said, "you'll be converted after the modern order of things, too."

To begin, let us take the phrase "the modern order of things." In terms of time, this is, of course, a reference to the present period in which we are living. Inevitably we are involved in many evils that arise out of this time. Ought we not to remember, with deep contrition, that we, as God's people, have no reason for being here—that we could have been in the kingdom several decades ago? Because of our wandering "in the wilderness" we find ourselves faced with problems and situations that would never have arisen if we had responded to the urgency of the message and had made a total commitment. That same generation which decries everything "modern" has its responsibility for allowing time to go on to this point. What we need to do now is to separate the wheat from the chaff in this period and put all good things into the serv­ice of the Master for the finishing of the work.

The criticism that pastoral counseling is "nothing less than taking the place of the Holy Spirit and His work" certainly has some merit. There are ministers, doubtless, who are trying to find in psychiatry and psychology substitutes for the power lacking in their ministry. They use these areas Of knowledge in place of the Holy Spirit instead of in service to the Holy Spirit. However, pastoral counseling is not the only part of the minister's work in which the Holy Spirit may be absent. He may conduct evangelistic efforts and depend largely on ad­vertising, personality appeal, "extras," and "salesmanship." He may administer the business of a conference, carrying out his duties and achieving his ends simply by the use of the machinery of committees, calls, goals, and budg­ets. He could become a business executive with only a light and thin spiritual veneer.

In short, the presence or absence of the Holy Spirit is not necessarily any more likely to occur in pastoral counseling than in any other facet of the minister's task. It is the man who is Spirit guided, not the activity. The man who surren­ders himself to the control of the third person of the Godhead will reveal His workings in every­thing he does. It will be seen that any knowl­edge he has, any abilities he possesses, are em­ployed in the service of the Master.

In recent council action the denominational leadership recommended that our people give attention to the wholesome elements of psychol­ogy and psychiatry. The pastor who is doing his best to help his people meet the increasing threat of mental and emotional illness, with all the consequent problems arising out of this, tries to get all the assistance he can from our in­creasing knowledge about the workings of the mind, the importance of the emotions, and the way the personality develops. Mrs. White warned us that Satan in these last days would take tremendous advantage "of the science of the human mind." In my opinion, the danger in this science is greater than any we have yet faced. But this does not mean that the study of the human mind is "off limits" for Seventh-day Adventists.

Truth, wherever it is found, is from God. It is He who gives to men whatever light they have. This is true of the men who pioneered in the study of the mind, and of those working in these areas today. We need to winnow the wheat from the chaff and make good use of the grain in our service for God. The fact that a scientist is an evolutionist does not stop us from using every contribution he makes to our body of knowl­edge. In medicine we employ every modern dis­covery to protect our health. In ministering to the hearts and minds of men we have a right to adopt any practice or idea that is sound. The fact that it is labeled "modern" does not im­peach its value.

Is Counseling Taking the Place of Preaching the Gospel?

The gospel is the good news of salvation from sin and the gift of righteousness by faith. Pasto­ral counseling is a relationship between the pastor and his parishioner in which the pastor helps the latter to achieve a healthy and mature Christian personality. These two are not at all the same. One, on the contrary, works in the service of the other. In the gospel, and in it alone, we find justification by faith, repentance, the new birth, sanctification, and righteousness by faith. In this God takes the initiative in rec­onciliation and supplies the only power by which the change from sinner to saint can be effected.

Pastoral counseling has no point or meaning outside of the gospel. It seeks, as one facet of the pastor's role, to give point and meaning to these great truths in the relationship of man to man. The pastor is an ambassador for God. Many, largely the immature and the emotionally sick, will form their opinions and ideas of God from the relationship the pastor has with them. In order to make God known to men, the pastor has to understand man. It is relatively easy to make God real to individuals who have healthy personalities. (Here "healthy" is a relative term, used only in the human sense—for sin has made all of us sick to some degree.) He must, however, also be made real to those with sick minds and unhealthy emotional patterns. Phy­sicians of the body are expected to have knowl­edge and skill in dealing with bodies. Physicians of the soul, dealing with the most sensitive and delicate part of man, with eternal issues in­volved, need adequate knowledge and fine skill to do their work well.

Another objection is based on the fear that there will be an overbalance in this pastoral area because it is something comparatively new, and because even with limited knowledge and experience it can be somewhat successful. In other words, this can, with some, become the panacea of all pastoral problems.

This comment should not be dismissed lightly. Some men have tried to make counsel­ing the panacea for all problems arising in the ministry. For some, it is apparently easy to take one course, read several books, and then become authorities in the field. For them all roads lead to Rome, and Rome is pastoral counseling.

Pastoral counseling is an important part of the minister's work, an important element in his role as shepherd of the flock and physician of the soul. But it is only a part and only one ele­ment. We must not depreciate the place of the­ology, church history, archeology, liturgy, ad­ministration, and evangelism. As I mentioned in an earlier article, the words of Jesus may be applied here: "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."

Until recently, preparation for this phase of the ministry has been neglected in almost all seminaries. In survey after survey, ministers of experience have said that their seminary train­ing was seriously lacking in this area. Courses and learning situations are now being provided to supply the needed training. When a neg­lected area is given attention, however, there is always danger of overemphasis. Whenever any­thing works and works well, there is the danger that it will become a fad. We Americans are particularly prone to go overboard in our en­thusiasms. In situations like this our friends can be more embarrassing than our enemies.

From hundreds of students, in seminary classes and in extension classes in two nearby conferences, from men with no years of experi­ence to men of forty years and more of experi­ence, I have learned that our workers in general feel a definite need for help in this area. In the Seminary we are trying to meet that need in a satisfactory manner, and without any fanfare of trumpets or announcement of a crusade.

Pastoral Counseling has been stigmatized as the Protestant approach to the Roman Catholic confessional.

This criticism points out what may, and some­times does, happen. There are ministers who give pastoral counseling a sacramental charac­ter, almost approximating that of the confes­sional. This is probably more likely to occur in communions where the minister regards his role as that of the priest. However, I recently heard a nationally known leader in this field speak in this vein, and yet he is a Methodist, and teaches in one of that denomination's seminaries.

If we always understand clearly what we mean as Seventh-day Adventists when we set a man aside as an elder, we can never become in­volved in anything that has the nature of the confessional. We know that the Roman Catholic Church proceeds on the assumption that it has power to change the law of God, power to de­cree holydays, power to excommunicate even the angels. We know that in the daily perform­ance of the mass finite mortal priests assume that they create and consume their Creator. For a church with such self-deified claims it seems natural to say to any man, "I absolve you." When the Roman Catholic communicant enters the confessional box, he speaks to one who pro­fesses to hear the confession of sins, on the as­sumption that he has the power to absolve the sinner from his sins.

Surely, such arrogant travesty on the function of the minister cannot arise in the Seventh-day Adventist ministry. The very genius of our message is opposed to all that such a perversion stands for. This does not mean that we should not always be on our guard. There are also po­tential dangers in other phases of the minister's life. Keeping the law, without the Holy Spirit, may become legalism. Liturgy, without the Holy Spirit, may become formalism. Being a minister may lapse into a means of livelihood, a position of power and prestige, or a pale type of Protes­tant priestcraft. Leadership may degenerate into selfish satisfaction of the need for power and influence.

The devout Roman Catholic lay man is ex­pected to confess his sins to the priest. In this way he receives absolution for them. The Prot­estant is under no obligations to confess any­thing to his pastor at any time in his life. The Seventh-day Adventist minister listens "with sympathy to heartbreaking recitals of wrong, of degradation, of despair and misery."—Gospel Workers, p. 184. He represents One who for­gives, and he directs the troubled soul to Him. At the same time the accepting love he manifests makes it easier for the distressed person to be­lieve in the reality of God's love and in the real­ity of the offer of forgiveness. The minister makes it possible for the individual to see the real guilt and the real need, and to pray more intelligently and earnestly for forgiveness and for help. In his relationship with the pastor-counselor he learns to deal more honestly and understandingly with himself, with others, and with God.

Some feel that the pastors will spend all of their time trying to set up and conduct a coun­seling program and neglect the other programs of the church.

Each minister will have to determine how much of his time he can allot to this phase of his work and then try to keep more or less within that schedule. The church needs a bal­anced program for wholesome growth, and the pastor's program has to allow a fair proportion of time for every part of his ministry. He must take into account, too, the limitations of his own strength, and the paramount claims of his family. In addition, an honest appraisal of his knowledge and his abilities will keep him from going far beyond his depth in dealing with men­tal and emotional illness.

The minister who gives practically all of his time to counseling may be one who should have entered a different profession. Perhaps he is at heart more of a psychiatrist, or psychologist, or social worker, than he is a minister. These are honorable occupations, but they should not be practiced in the guise of the ministry. The latter is a calling and a profession unique in itself, and should not be a watered-down composite of other interesting non-ministerial vocations.

The chief psychologist at St. Elizabeth's told me, two years ago, that the Rorschach patterns for seminary students and for psychologists were very similar. The implication is that the men in the two groups are not too different in motiva­tions, drives, and interests. This makes it doubly important that a man know what he wants to do. Both of these are professions, but only one is a calling. If a man is called to enter the ministry, he should be certain not to be diverted into re­lated fields. The Lord surely will not accept other ways of "helping people" as a substitute for being in the ministry. There is danger today, in my mind, that some of our more promising prospects for ordination may allow themselves to be sidetracked into less demanding types of service, and will then salve their consciences with pious rationalizations.


Ministry reserves the right to approve, disapprove, and delete comments at our discretion and will not be able to respond to inquiries about these comments. Please ensure that your words are respectful, courteous, and relevant.

comments powered by Disqus

C. E. WITTSCHIEBE, Professor of Pastoral Care, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

November 1957

Download PDF
Ministry Cover

More Articles In This Issue

To Our Pastors—Our Unsung Heroes

A special note of thanks to our faithful pastors around the world.

The Church Pastor

Why a true church pastor is a gift from the Lord.

Qualities of Christian Scholarship

In giving consideration briefly to Christian scholar­ship, the selection of certain basic qualities by which a scholar might be identified would seem to be of value.

Public Relations on Church and Community Level

Because public relations as such is a relatively new innovation within the church, eyebrows have been raised and the prospects of change have been by some viewed with alarm. But it can be effectively used in the cause of Christ.

"He Maketh a Path to Shine After Him"

Do we exert a negative or positive influence?

Community Relations Army Style

The US Army lays a heavy stress on the importance of good community relations. What about the church? Shouldn't we do the same?

The Pastor's Throne

The most sacred spot in the world is the pulpit.

Thou Shalt Covet

We need to covet earnestly the best gifts of the Spirit.

Reviving the Delight of Reading

Encouraging reading in the SDA household is paramount and crucial.

View All Issue Contents

Digital delivery

If you're a print subscriber, we'll complement your print copy of Ministry with an electronic version.

Sign up
Advertisement - SermonView - Medium Rect (300x250)

Recent issues

See All
Advertisement - SermonView - WideSkyscraper (160x600)