Summary Of Christian Counseling

Summary In McMinn’s (2011) text Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling, he discusses the concept of integrating theology and spirituality into therapeutic and counseling sessions. He starts off in the first two chapters by explaining challenges, both professionally and personal, Christian counselors may face when they attempt to integrate both psychology and Biblical principles. Real-life experiences, the frontier of integration, and a more complex way for Christian counselors to assist their clients are some ways in identifying the most important concepts from the first couple of chapters of McMinn’s (2011) foundation. He often emphasizes the importance of how a counselor’s personal life and worldview may hinder

According to McMinn (2011), "Christian counselors are concerned with spiritual growth as well as a mental health" (p. 39). He believed both spiritual and mental well-being intertwined together, which creates a sense of self, true understanding of healing relationships, and true sense of need (McMinn, 2011). All of these create an integration of spirituality, theology, and psychology

Throughout these chapters, he repeatedly talks about when and how these elements are appropriate for a Christian counselor to use as Biblical principles during sessions. The first spiritual discipline is prayer. Prayer, for example, is a "more than a counseling technique. It is the primary vehicle of growth in the spiritual life" (McMinn, 2011, p. 105). Various methods of prayer are explored that can be used in counseling sessions and it’s noted that more research is needed in using these methods during sessions. McMinn (2011) also notes sometimes prayer is not the best discipline to be used during sessions as well. "Despite the power and importance of prayer, bringing it into the counseling office is not a simple task. Counselors should carefully consider the potential effects of various forms of prayer before using them in counseling. Some forms of prayer, such as counselors privately praying for clients, are always useful; whereas other forms of prayer, such as routinely praying aloud in counseling sessions, introduced both potential benefits and risks to clients” (McMinn, 2011, p. 105). The point he’s trying to make is, although prayer and Scripture are important, some client’s aren’t in a place to receive those things as of yet. But eventually, once they are in a spiritual