Curative Theology

The ultimate goal of Christian counseling is to bring about change in a person by helping them to have a healing encounter with Jesus Christ.  This is facilitated by the counselor, who helps the person “get unstuck” and progress to spiritual maturity and psycho-social-emotional health (Clinton, Hart & Ohlschlager, 2005).  This is accomplished in a “triune approach” by helping the individual focus on becoming like Christ.  In every Christians life, God is at work in their life to make them more like Christ through sanctification (salvation) of their sins and working toward the ultimate goal of glorification (Clinton, Hart & Ohlschlager, 2005).

When a Christian approaches a Christian counselor, he is at a point where all of his own efforts to solve a particular problem have failed.  His basis of felt needs have gone unresolved through their own efforts and they have become “stuck”, not knowing what else to do.  The Christian may have prayed, repented, sacrificed, fasted, etc. all to no avail.  The Christian counselor then facilitates a way for the individual to become “unstuck” by helping them to have a “healing encounter with the living Christ” (Clinton, Hart & Ohlschlager, 2005).

Many Christians believe that to acknowledge that they may have some sort of disorder, they have failed to have faith or even have denied Christ Himself. They believe if they are not completely cured, then they have nothing. If they have not been healed, then they have denied Christ and His healing power through a distorted understanding of scripture (Clinton, Hart & Ohlschlager, 2005). The counselor must facilitate and understanding through the Holy Spirit that sanctification is a lifelong process. While some may be healed immediately, God sometimes may not choose to heal at all, or their healing may come through the very pain they may endure (Clinton, Hart & Ohlschlager, 2005). As Christian counselors, we must help people to understand this process and that we live in a sin filled world. Even the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7 about this dual nature of his life, “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want” (Romans 7:19, NASB).

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References

Clinton, T., Hart, A. D., & Ohlschlager, G. (2005). Caring for people god's way, personal and emotional issues, addictions, grief, and trauma. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission