AS CHRISTIAN COUNSELING IS drawn into greater intimacy and service to the Church, pastoral counseling and lay helping ministry is mushrooming. This is a wonderful development, and goes far toward fulfilling the promise of Christian counseling in the 21st century.2 We recommend that churches everywhere adopt Pastor Clemmons’ three-part policy above as the practical framework for the conduct of churchbased counseling. However, with the explosion in church-based counseling of all kinds is an increasing concern over the ethicallegal issues of such ministry. Calls to the AACC for consultation and training about lay helping ministry and its ethical practice have seen an exponential rise in recent years. In this article we address the most frequently asked-about legal and ethical concerns not covered in other articles in this issue, and making particular reference to the AACC Christian Counseling Code of Ethics.3 Ethical decision-making is mired in crisis and confusion in our values-relative and pluralistic world.
The moral elasticity of our post-modern, post- Christian culture has even infected the Church. Whether it is pulpit exaggeration, printed hyperbole, the abuse of conferred power, sexual misconduct, or other serious forms of client/parishioner exploitation, too many church leaders and counselors today are losing the battle of moral purity and ethical integrity. Although we are witnessing an increasing frequency of lawsuits against clergy, we believe that the majority of these lawsuits are preventable. We noted in Law for the Christian Counselor4 that most suits were a function of these problems: • Counseling beyond your competence, ability or training. • Advice against medical or psychological treatment, including instruction on medications. • Sexual involvement with a counselee. • The administration, interpretation and scoring of personality and psychological tests. •
The improper care of records. • Inadequately trained and supervised lay and pastoral counselors. • The failure to give credence to violent intentions or statements. • Misdiagnosing psychotics (or others) as demon-possessed. • Misrepresenting one’s title, position, degrees, or abilities. • Recommending for or against divorce. • Violations of confidentiality (by minister or staff secretaries). • Denial of the existence or severity of a psychological or psychosomatic disorder. • The belief that all problems are spiritual or physical with denial of the emotional and psychological dimensions, and that pastoral and lay counselors need only biblical training to solve such severe problems as neuroses, psychoses, suicide, and the like. Counseling by Pastors and the Body of Christ It is naive to presume that the average pastor with a minimal of counseling training is able to effectively help the broad range of people who need counseling help. Also, becoming a pastor, even an ordained minister, does not imbue that person with a mantle of giftedness in the counseling arena.
Many sincere pastors have seriously wounded or inadequately helped needy members of their flocks due to this type of naive and faulty thinking. However, it is nonsense to conclude that pastors are generally inept and should do little to no counseling. Christians will rightly approach their pastors and priests as the first and usually most effective resource in the myriad problems faced in living. Most ministers have the wisdom and skill to help their flock or know when and to whom to refer when further help is needed. God gives gifts throughout his Church in order for the body to function as a unit for benefit of the other members and the world. This benefit seems to be best served by a diversity of gifts working in a complimentary fashion with one another.
His better corporate philosophy of counseling ministry stems from I Corinthians 12 and Romans 12. “There are different kinds of gifts… there are different kinds of service… there are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men… The body is a unit… in fact, God has arranged the parts of the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be… so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other” (1 Cor. 12:4-6,12,18,25; also see Romans 12:4-6a). One cannot say “I have no need of you,” nor can one say, “I am enough in myself.” God’s way supports the validity of the pastoral gift but the fulfillment of these Godly goals requires the intervention and help of the entire church. One of the key roles of the pastoral call to ministry—that of preparing the entire church for this work of ministry and coordinating its outworking —supports this corporate call. Above All, Do No Harm The first rule of ethics in any profession —especially the counseling professions —that serves human need is: do no harm. At first blush this may seem absurdly obvious and simple.
On reading and reflection the depth and importance of this rule comes to light. Consider both our general statement of harm avoidance and one of its applications—here, since end-of-life and bio-ethics issues have been so prominent in the news of late, to euthanasia and assisted suicide: 1-100 First, Do No Harm Christian counselors acknowledge that the first rule of professional-ministerial ethical conduct is: do no harm to those served. 1-101 Affirming the God-given Dignity of All Persons Affirmatively, Christian counselors rec- W ognize and uphold the inherent, Godgiven dignity of every human person, from the pre-born to those on death’s bed. Human beings are God’s creation —the crown of His creation—and are therefore due all the rights and respect that this fact of creation entails.
Therefore, regardless of how we respond to and challenge harmful attitudes and actions, Christian counselors will express a loving care to any client, service-inquiring person, or anyone encountered in the course of practice or ministry, without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual behavior or orientation, socio-economic status, education, denomination, belief system, values, or political affiliation. God’s love is unconditional and, at this level of concern, so must that of the Christian counselor. 1-102 No Harm or Exploitation Prohibitively, then, Christian counselors avoid every manner of harm, exploitation, and unjust discrimination in all clientcongregant relations. Christian counselors are also aware of their psychosocial and spiritual influence and the inherent power imbalance of helping relationships —power dynamics that can harm others even without harmful intent.
1-120 Refusal to Participate in the Harmful Actions of Clients Christian counselors refuse to participate in, condone, advocate for, or assist the harmful actions of clients, especially those that imperil human life from conception to death. This includes suicidal, homicidal, or assaultive/abusive harm done to self or others—the protection of human life is always a priority value. We will not abandon clients who do or intend harm, will terminate helping relations only in the most compelling circumstances, and will continue to serve clients in these troubles as far as it is possible. 1-122 Application to Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Christian counselors refuse to participate in, condone, advocate for, or assist clients in active forms of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
We may agree to and support the wish not to prolong life by artificial means, and will often advocate for hospice care, more effective application of medicine, and other reasonable means to reduce pain and suffering. Regarding patients or clients who wish to die, we will not deliver, nor advocate for, nor support the use of drugs or devices to be utilized for the purpose of ending a patient’s life. We recognize that the death of a patient may occur as the unintended and secondary result of aggressive action to alleviate a terminally ill patient’s extreme pain and suffering. So long as there are no other reasonable methods to alleviate such pain and suffering, the Christian counselor is free to support, advocate for, and participate in such aggressive pain management in accordance with sound medical practice, and with the informed consent of the patient or patient’s representative.
For physicians the call to ‘do no harm’ may mean doing nothing medically, or always considering the least intrusive action first. For example, the risks of a preferred medical intervention—invasive spinal surgery to alleviate a pain problem—may be so high that other, less invasive, less risky interventions should be attempted first. Hence, the pain sufferer may be referred for physical therapy, exercise and movement training, or for psychotherapy or biofeedback training to reduce pain by non-invasive methods. Christian counseling also presumes this all-encompassing first ethical rule: that to help someone, we must first ensure that we do not harm them. This is not as easy or as obvious as it seems, accepting that harm is possible in any kind of human intervention. Even though saved by Christ and sanctified by the Spirit, humans remain susceptible to sin and wrongdoing (and do frequently sin on a regular basis). Research indicates that negative outcomes affect a stubborn minority of all counseling cases.
Hurtful, yet unintended, consequences are an unyielding phenomenon of human interaction, a core principle of social systems theory and an ethical first principle that all Christian counselors should take seriously. We give children the grace to continually say, “But I didn’t mean to hurt them.” As adults, we are usually allowed only one or two such excuses before we are barred from doing the thing we hope will be helpful, not harmful. Supervision and Training in the Church We are opposed to all forms of ‘lone ranger’ ministry, and do not sell or distribute our lay helper training programs without a clear commitment to pastoral oversight and supervision in the Church. Pastors and counseling professionals in the Church should be involved in every step of the selection, training, and supervision of lay helpers and church counseling staff.
ES2-100 Base Standards for Supervisors and Educators Some Christian counselors serve in senior professional roles—as administrators, supervisors, teachers, consultants, researchers, and writers. They are recognized for their counseling expertise, their dedication to Christ and the ministry or profession to which they belong, and for their exemplary ethics. These leaders are responsible for the development and maturation of the Christian counseling profession, for serving as active and ethical role models, and for raising up the next generation of Christian counselors and leaders. Web counselor plays a vital role for the welfare of society.
2-110 Ethics and Excellence in Supervision and Teaching Christian counseling supervisors and educators maintain the highest levels of clinical knowledge, professional skill, and ethical excellence in all supervision and teaching. They are knowledgeable about the latest professional and ministerial developments and responsibly transmit this knowledge to students and supervisees. 2-111 Preparation for Teaching and Supervision Christian counseling supervisors and educators have received adequate training and experience in teaching and supervision methods before they deliver these services. Supervisors and educators are encouraged to maintain and enhance their skills through continued clinical practice, advanced training, and continuing education.
