Academics

Pastoral care locates the individual within the context of a faith community. It attempts to address the hurt individuals experience in the struggle between social expediency and personal liberation. (Sutherland, 2001, p.386).

A faith community has history that is intertwined with the emotional histories of those who struggle to find a home within its boundaries. Pastoral care seeks to restore the individual to wholeness within a positive relationship to the Church, itself struggling to remain open to the guidance of the higher values of Kingdom as taught by the Jesus of the Gospels

Throughout history and the world, many believe that alcohol and drug abuse, family and relationship conflict, depression and suicide, child and spouse abuse, juvenile and social delinquency, and other problems that face our society today can be lessen – and in some cases erased — by an experience with pastoral care and counseling.

It has been noted that Pastoral Counseling has treatment success rates comparable to those of the highest quality of mental health services. There is a canon of literature that documents and ranks pastoral counseling alongside other forms of psychotherapy. Increasingly, pastoral counselors are being grounded in theory, technique and practicum. Licensed and degreed, ministers are servicing congregation and community as professional pastoral counselors.

Pastoral Counseling brings God into the counseling session and offers those in need the divine opportunity to let God, through Christ and the Holy Spirit guide them through the healing process. It is here that a supernatural exchange of human strength for God’s immeasurable power and ability begins to correct the uncorrectable. Thus, this unique approach to psychotherapy renders the clinician powerful on at least two fronts: spiritual and psychological.

According to Throne, some “seriously question where pastoral counseling ends and secular therapy begins…the beginning of a great merger operation with increasing number of secular therapists acknowledging …that both I and my client are essentially spiritual beings” (Throne, 2001, p.436). Furthermore, in recent decades, the historical use and understanding of the term clinical specialists who are educated, trained and equipped to practice intensive therapy have claimed “Pastoral Counselor”.

People turn to clergy to get their moral footing back. This is often an honest effort to get right with God — people should exercise their rites of repentance. Through this it can become clear that the ethical guidelines of the profession are very similar to ethical guidelines of most secular counseling professions.

Certified Pastoral Care Counselors are ministers or others endorsed by a religious faith group who are mental health professionals. They have

received specialized graduate training in both religion and the behavioral sciences and are certified by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC), the National Christian Counselors Association (NCCA) and other organizations. In addition, the PC may be state licensed as a professional counselor or in a number of mental health specialties, such as marriage and family therapy, clinical psychology, or social work.

There is “a direct link between pastoral counseling and the practice of the Christian religion” (Thorne, 2001, p.436). In a sense, every minister or religious professional is a pastoral counselor. To quote Steward Hiltler, one of the founders of the clinical pastoral movement, “There is a sense in which the aims of pastoral counseling are the same as those of the Church itself…. In another sense …pastoral counseling is a special purpose…Broadly speaking, the special aim of pastoral counseling may be stated as the attempt by a pastor to help people help themselves through the process of gaining understanding of their inner conflict.

The task of pastoral counseling is the task for which every minister or religious professional is expected to have basic skills. Limitations of training and resources have often left ministers unprepared to perform this task satisfactorily. “If a healing relationship is not moving in a more fully mental direction, it becomes abusive, just as any other significant human connection” (Heyward 1994).

Temperament is the God-given, inborn nature of each person determining how he or she interacts and reacts with people, circumstances, environments, situations, and the world. Temperament is who we are on the inside, what the Bible calls “the inner man” (or woman, God is not talking gender here).

The National Christian Counselors Association, in the early 1980s, conducted seven years of research involving 5,000g 5,000
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WP-Bible plugin people in regards to temperament. The research is still continuing. It is now possible, through the use of the Temperament Analysis Profile Report (renamed the Arno Profile System in honor of Drs. Arno who were intimately involved in this research), to determine a person’s temperament and their temperament needs accurately and scientifically.

When a person’s temperament needs are being met by healthy and godly means, stress, anxiety and the problems related to stress and anxiety are greatly reduced. Some of the problems directly connected to stress and anxiety are: depression, dissatisfaction, loneliness, fear, frustration, anger, marriage and family problems, poor work performance, exhaustion and inter/intra personal conflicts. Even the American Medical Association has stated that 80% of physical ailment is stress related.

Sweet Deliverance Pastoral Care & Counseling Training Program believes Temperament Therapy is God’s gift to the church to help people in the area of counseling. Temperament Therapy is Bible based and Christ-centered. We are also convinced that relationship problems are all temperament rooted and we have yet to find a problem, great or small, that cannot be solved with Temperament Therapy.

In 1981, the Arnos established the National Christian Counselors Association (N.C.C.A.) as a non-profit corporation in order to conduct research and develop a therapeutic procedure based on Scripture. The procedure would accomplish three essential goals:

Enable the candidate to learn the system easily and relatively quickly. Save pastors and Christian counselors precious time in counseling sessions. Produce effective, positive, and more immediate results with those being counseled.

As a licensure candidate, you will learn the Arno Profile System (A.P.S.) for counseling. A.P.S. is an easy-to-learn counseling technique used by thousands of lay counselors, professional counselors and pastors throughout the United States and in several foreign countries.

The Christian counselor administers a questionnaire, which takes fewer than ten minutes for the counselee to complete. The questionnaire measures the counselee’s needs, natural traits, strengths, and weaknesses according to temperament. These are identified in the computerized Arno Profile System report, providing the counselor with in-depth information and the best way to counsel the individual. The system enables a qualified counselor to identify the counselee’s temperament problems faster and more accurately.

The training adjusts to meet the needs of Christians with different goals, including:

• Christians who want to be better equipped to minister to those who need counsel

• Pastors who want to learn now to counsel members of their community who are experiencing programs.

• Christians who want to be credentialed and enter the field of counseling as a part-time or full-time ministry.

• Professional counselors who want to become A.P.S. certified and learn Biblically-based counseling model with proven success.

Potential counselors often ask about the benefits of training and obtaining certification or license from the N.C.C.A. Of course, the main benefit is knowledge. The training you receive provides a deep spiritual insight into understand human behavior and relating to others. This knowledge is valuable in every area of life, including your ability to help those who are hurting.

In addition, the certification or license can open many doors. For example, once you successfully complete the program, you may elect to apply for ministerial credentials through the National Conservative Christian Church and qualify to open your own counseling ministry in your community under the authority of this national church organization.

Having N.C.C.A. Credentials ensures that you are recognized within your community as a qualified Christian/Pastoral counselor. The community can be assured that your credentials are authentic and current.

Other benefits available to N.C.C.A. members include qualifying for professional liability insurance, networking with other counselors and the opportunity to earn continuing education credits at seminars and conferences. In addition, the N.C.C.A. offers assistance to its graduates with regard to degree transfer work and fulfillment of academic goals.