Worldview in Counseling
Influences on the Conversation
Imagine two people sitting in a room across from a third person. The first two people are a biblical counselor and a secular therapist. The third man, who is talking, is their client. The secular therapist and the biblical counselor will both hear the man speaking words, yet they will interpret his speech in different ways. How they understand the man and his problems will lead to very different counseling conversations. Further, it will determine how they each listen to the man, ask him questions, and respond to him.
Worldview and the Counseling Conversation
Worldview matters, particularly in counseling. As a counselor positions himself to help his counselee, he does so from a specific position. His position is determined by his worldview, or his beliefs that ground his understanding of the world in which he lives. From his position, he will likely try to shape his counselee’s perspective to be like his own to help the counselee understand his problem and the corresponding solution. Though many secular therapists deny seeking to impose their worldview upon their clients, communication of worldview is inevitable.1 People are not neutral. Their beliefs, desires, and commitments shape every word, for “out of the heart the mouth speaks,” (Luke 6:45 ESV).
Four Questions to Ask
Four major factors contribute to a distinctly Christian worldview in counseling. David Powlison commends these four issues to biblical counselors to help them evaluate other systems of counseling.2
First, how does the counselor view God? Said another way, how central is God to the viewpoint of the counselor? If God is not central in the counselor’s worldview, all of her counsel will be decentralized from that which is actually the center of all things. To not understand that people live coram deo and exist in a world that is supposed to be aimed at the glory of God will be totally and truly disorganized.
Second, how does the counselor interpret human nature? Are people generally good or bad? Are humans to be held responsible for their thoughts, words, and actions? What motivates a person? These questions about human nature will drive the counseling conversation to be therapeutic or transformative.
Third, how heavily does the counselor weigh the circumstances of a counselee’s life? Does a person’s life determine their course or is it the stage on which one lives their life? All counselors understand that the world in which people live influences them, but are the influences viewed as shaping or decisive?
Fourth, how does the counselor surmise the goals of counseling? What the counselor views as the problem will determine the treatment, meaning that “explanations are signposts for solutions.”3 A counselor wants to help, and he will help based on his analysis of the problem.
Responding from a Biblical Worldview
Interactions in the counseling room will be shaped by one’s presuppositions. Interactions include asking questions, listening for and interpreting detail, and responding to the counselee. Bringing a distinctly biblical worldview into the counseling room will totally transform the counselor’s interactions because the biblical counselor’s starting point and ending point will be different in counseling.
The four major factors that Powlison suggests as a framework (listed above) for discerning counseling theories and practices demonstrate how someone counseling from a biblical worldview will be different.4
First, the biblical worldview understands God to be central in counseling. God created the world and everything in it. He was the one who the first people rebelled against and the one to whom all people owe allegiance. The counselee sitting across from the biblical counselor is ultimately not responding to their circumstances but to God. Everything that takes place in and out of the counseling room happens before the face of God (Heb 4:13).
Second, the biblical counselor comes to counseling having a truer understanding of the person sitting in front of them. While secular counseling theories and practices view the counselee differently, they generally fall short of understanding the motivations behind why a person acts the way that they do. Biblical counselors understand that motivation and action are issues of worship. God is central. Because God is central, people are either worshipping him or not. “Biblical wisdom considers all human phenomena while keeping in view, ‘Who or what are you now loving, trusting, serving, and fearing?’”5
Third, the biblical counselor weighs circumstances in the counselee’s life without assigning the circumstances a determining role. Certainly, any counseling process must pay respect to the details of a person’s life. However, biblical counseling and secular therapies attribute different roles to circumstances. Biblical counselors see one’s circumstances as the setting upon which the drama of the heart is played out. Secular therapists often see circumstances as other actors on the stage, forcing the counselee this way and that.
Lastly, the biblical counselor has very different goals for the counselee. Biblical counselors aim at helping the counselee to seek the person of Jesus Christ and to grow in fellowship with him. On the other hand, “in general, the goals of psychotherapy are to gain relief from symptoms, maintain or enhance daily functioning, and improve quality of life.”6 So, while biblical counseling aims at Christ and Christlikeness, secular therapies aim at relief. Relief is a good secondary goal, but it is a misaligned aim.
A Different Conversation
The biblical counselor will listen differently. She will be looking for answers and interpreting them from a framework with is God-centric. The questions she asks will be less circumstantial and more focused on understanding the heart of the person with whom she is meeting. She will respond with the love and compassion of Christ while holding in view the allegiance her counselee owes to God. Hopefully, this makes for a different kind of conversation.
American Psychological Association, “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct,” General Principles, Principle E: Respect for People's Rights and Dignity, https://www.apa.org/ethics/code. Accessed March 20, 2024.
David Powlison, “Vive la Difference!” The Journal of Biblical Counseling, 28:1, 2-7, 2014.
David Powlison, “Modern Therapies and the Church’s Faith,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling 15:1 (1996): 39.
David Powlison, “Vive la Difference!” 3-6.
David Powlison, “Vive la Difference!” 4.
National Institute of Mental Health, “Psychotherapies,” last reviewed February 2024. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/psychotherapies.