About Becoming A Professional Christian Counselor

One of the first questions that comes to mind for prospective Christian counselors is, "If I am in the ministry, can I be paid for being a Christian counselor?" The answer is, "Yes." provided that you set up your ministry in an accountable and legal fashion.

Every state has laws regarding people who practice "counseling." And every state has provisions to treat those who practice counseling under the auspices of religion differently than those who practice with a license from the state. The idea is that if you are practicing under a religious covering, it must be apparent to those who seek your help, and you need to have a higher religious authority to be accountable to.

From a practical standpoint, those who practice Christian Counseling set themselves up in one of three ways:

As an ordained, licensed, or certified member of local church.
As the principal or employee of a non-profit religious corporation.
As a member of a church designed to cover and hold accountable those who are trained and practice counseling.

Pastoral Counseling Center is pleased to inform you that we have materials, courses, links, and connections that will help you determine just where you fit. So, if you are unsure, know that there is a right place for you, and we will help you find it. There are wonderful sources of support for every aspect of operating as a professional Christian Counselor.

Become Educated

Once you know that you have been called to the ministry of Christian counseling and understand the difference between secular education and licensing and Christian education and licensing, then the next major step is being your studies.

The educational program offered by the NCCA and Pastoral Counseling Center is based on the truth that God created us, and created us with a temperament. Jeremiah 1:4,5 says "The Word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you..." This tells us God knew who we were going to be before He made us. As a Christian counselor, you can have a very powerful tool that will help you understand how God designed any individual. The system of counseling that has grown up out of this truth is known as Creation Therapy. The foundation of the entire method offered by the NCCA is based on the temperament and Creation Therapy.

By the use of a powerful temperament inventory, the counselor is able to skip months of learning about the person they are trying to help. With the help of the temperament analysis provided by the APS temperament report, the counselor is typically able to formulate a productive treatment plan within one or two meeting with a new client. Unlike many counseling models in use today, Christian counseling, at least using the NCCA method, is very practical, to the point, and really helpful.

The nature of how we relate to one another is largely built in by our Creator before we are born. A profile of our relationship needs and desires is known as our temperament. The fact that our temperament comes as standard equipment at birth has been verified by countless scientific experiments and confirmed by multitudes of parents.

Human beings are equipped with a temperament at birth. They come pre-designed with needs, wants and desires at a very basic level. The "tabula rasa" or "blank slate" idea has been thoroughly disproven. We know from scripture that God himself has knit us together. However, God has also equipped us with a "free will" that gives us the ability to live by our decisions rather than just our nature.

At a fundamental level our relationship needs are quantifiable. The three areas of relationship needs that have been identified are

Inclusion - Our need to have social relationships: friends and co-workers and our willingness to participate in this type of relationship.
Control - The need to influence others, and our willingness to have others influence or control us.
Affection - The need to have close personal relationships and our willingness to provide this kind of relationship to others.

More about the process of becoming a Christian Counselor

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