Some have said that small group leaders are not qualified to fill the role of Christian counselor; it is best to leave it up to the professionals they say. I, personally, am not a trained counselor. I have spent some time with Christian counselors, and I have spent time listening and reading what several respected counselors have to say about small groups. I have determined that while small groups and small group leaders may not think they can be Christian counselors, Christian counselors widely say the people they work with need to be in small groups as part of their basic treatment!
While there is debate about how much counseling a small group leader should or should not do, the fact is that healthy Christian community is seen as essential in the perspective of many Christian counselors. A healthy functioning small group will do Christian counseling whether the group or anyone else thinks they can or not. Here's what a few professional Christian counselors have said:
"Certainly I've emphasized the need to trust God, to know Him, to surrender ourselves to Him to quit trying to explain Him, to immerse ourselves in His Word, but, like most Christians, I've put a great deal of stock in self-awareness and self-discipline. Know yourself and choose wisely. And that's pretty good advice.
It's become clear to me, though, that God handles things a bit differently. He does, of course, rebuke and exhort, and his Spirit does search our hearts for hidden matters that interfere with trust. But the absolute center of what He does to help us change is to reveal Himself to us, to give us a state of what He's really like, and to pour His life into us. And a critical element in the revealing process is to place us in a community of people who are enough like him to give us that taste firsthand. If that is true, if a powerful experience of God comes through others, then connecting plays a vital, indispensable, powerful role in effectively addressing the core issue of our souls, the issues that lie beneath all our persona, emotional, and psychological problems."
-Larry Crabb, taken from Connecting, pg. 9
"Years ago, I went through a period of depression when many of my life ideals weren't panning out and I was dealing with some physical injuries. I prayed fervently to God that He would heal me—zap me and make me better. I thought that was God's 'Plan A.' I thought that was God's preferred way of working.
During my depression, I joined a small group Bible study that a fraternity brother invited me to—I thought, 'What could it hurt?' In the group, I learned things about myself and how I related to people. The members of this group taught me that I was emotionally detached and did not let people get close to me. They showed me I knew very little about love and most of my life had been based on performance and accomplishment, not abiding intimacy. They challenged all of my relational patterns. When I was wrong, they confronted me. At first I felt bad and guilt-ridden when confronted, but later I learned the freedom that comes with being confronted in love. I found out people could discipline me and at the same time be for me and not against me. Another thing happened in this same community. The leaders said that I had a particular gift for understanding the Bible as it relates to counseling issues and the gift of insight into those matters. For my part, I was feeling an increasing desire to study the Bible. The two paths, the external one and the internal one, merged, and before long I knew God was calling me to go into the field of Christian counseling. One day, sometime later, I realized my depression and feelings of emptiness were gone. I actually felt good about life, about me, and about how God could use me.
I remember thinking that I was a little disappointed that God didn't 'zap' me when I prayed for healing from the depression, but I thought, 'oh well', God uses people too. One day, later, I was reading Eph. 4:16: 'From Him [Jesus], the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does it's work.'
And it occurred to me that 'zapping' people is not God's Plan A. For Christians, God's Plan A is God working through people in relationship with one-another. People with a variety of gifts are all necessary to create 'health,' spiritually speaking. It's not that God delegates the process to people; it's more like He wears people as uniforms! He basically heals people through us. That's why small groups are so critical to spiritual maturity and to psychological healing."
-Dr. Henry Cloud, Guest Speaker, Willow Creek Small Groups Conference 2002
"People in today's society struggle to cope with drug abuse, sexual abuse, family fragmentation, loneliness, lack of community closeness, high crime, and numerous other difficult problems. A longing for meaningful relationships is prevalent. The Church can be the agent through which this longing can be filled. Small groups can provide a non-threatening environment where people can build trust in each other and help each other deal with his/her own struggles."
-Dr. Jimmy Ray Lee, taken from Understanding the Times and Knowing What to Do
These professionals, along with many other Christian counselors, seem to agree that their work in isolation is not sufficient. Small groups are vital to the overall process of healing, support, and spiritual growth.
From my own experience as a small group leader, I have had people in my groups that did not seem to progress in their life crisis or situation until they committed to working with a trained Christian counselor. I am tempted in those situations to assume that our small groups were not able to give these people what they needed. And, in many of those cases, the group and the leader was, in fact, not equipped to help them with their very specific needs.
However, the Biblical process of healing and restoration is always closely linked to the Holy Spirit working through people, both Christian counselors and small group members. And, according to Christian counselors, small groups and small group leaders should never assume they cannot help people in crisis, because simply being a healthy Christian community is of vital importance to healing and growth.
