Joshua L. Kerr
English 202a
Dr. Jolowitz
4/4/08
Pastoral Counseling: Ethical Dilemmas Service to God and service to Others.
Being a pastor you are called on to perform many tasks and duties. Some of these
tasks are preaching, teaching, administration and counseling. But at the core of these
pastoral duties are service to God and service to people. Pastors are Biblically called in
John 10 to be a provider, protector and guide for their flock. However, these two
seemingly coexistent callings come into conflict often. For example, a couple comes to a
pastor for counseling on a divorce. Pastors have to remain accountable to God and
counseling against divorce, while trying to counsel the couple with their best interest in
mind. Pastors must be conscious of their duty to God and his duty to people through out
his day. They have a commitment to teach and edify his congregation with Biblical truth,
which guides and directs their life. They also, are to uphold the truth found in the Bible
above everything else.
Pastors have many different roles that are very time consuming and it is very
important that they set boundaries on their activities in hopes to best satisfy their calling
to serve God and to serve people. Throughout the week pastors must set apart time for
their own spiritual edification, growth or maybe their own counseling. This is very
important that a pastor spends time on his own faith so that he may lead and counsel
more effectively those who he is put in place over. However, this time of personal
spiritual growth can come into conflict with the growth of the church. Members of the
church may need counseling and guidance, which can interfere with their own faith time.
Pastors must be prepared to serve others at anytime, but what happens when this comes
into conflict with service to God. One pastor, Dr. Bill Blackburn said that he sets apart a
certain amount of time each week for counseling and then other church activities, such as
preaching, teaching and administration. Furthermore he stated that “ I cannot be the,
husband, father and pastor I need to be and also be constantly available for counseling.”
However this may be true, ethical conflicts still arise. Just because boundaries have been
set does not mean they will always be met. There are always times of crisis when a
pastor must lend his support. There will always circumstances out of ones control, which
cannot be planned for. Pastors must make an ethical decision on when to help and how
much to help. Furthermore, they must set not only time boundaries, but boundaries for
who they will counsel as well. There will always be someone in need of counseling, but
that is not the soul duty of a pastor he must fulfill his commitment of service to God
through performing his other pastoral duties as well. Pastors must personally draw these
ethical boundaries personally or situation by situation.
When is someone’s need for counsel greater than the need for preparation of
teaching? When upholding one’s calling to serve God as well as others in counseling
conflicts may arise. When counseling a pastor may not always be counseling someone
of the same faith and background as he is. A pastor is still called to uphold Biblical truth
and authority in every situation, but how does he do this while still effectively counseling
a person of a different faith. Dave Barr (personal communication, April 3, 2008) , a
youth pastor at Peters Creek Baptist Church addressed this issue by saying, “You should
use your faith to guide your answers, but in order not to offend or turn anyone away use
your ethic code because you can agree on right and wrong. For example, if I counseled a
young Jewish man and in order to be effective I worked to find a common ethical ground
and went from there.” Finding a common ground is important it can make therapy seem
less threatening and allow for a more relaxed environment. This further allows pastors to
fulfill their commitment to serving others. It is important that pastors remain true to their
Biblical commitment to service of God through this process, while balancing the needs of
their client. It is very difficult to walk that line, because the end goal of any counseling is
to bring salvation to that person. Furthermore, it is important to recognize in pastoral
counseling that God is always present; He is not someone to be called on when needed
and then discarded when He is not. Thus, in all times pastors must be aware of their
commitment to serve Him even in times of counseling someone of another faith.
In counseling it is important that pastors adhere to their qualification level,
despite their desire to help someone. Even though they are committed to serving others’
they have a commitment to serve God and lying or over stepping ones boundaries is not
in line with their commitments. The American Association of Pastoral Counselors states
in their code of ethics that pastoral counselors are not to practice outside of their
qualifications. Though the code of ethics states that pastors should not practice outside of
their qualifications, pastors still want to help and don’t want to feel they’re alienating
anyone in their church. Counseling is a very intimate process where a lot of private
matters are revealed. It is important that a client does not feel exposed or cheated
especially by someone who is practicing outside of their qualifications. Even though
pastors have a strong commitment to serve the people of their congregation, maybe the
best service is a referral to someone who can adequately meet their needs. However,
referrals may cause an ethical dilemma in their commitment to serve God and your
commitment to serve others. Pastors need to realize when they cannot sufficiently
counsel someone and they need to refer them to another professional, despite their desires
to help. They have made a commitment to serving others and they need to keep their best
interest in mind. That includes selecting the best help available. In order to give a
referral ethically pastors should know other professional “reputation, training, experience,
professional supervision, network of professionals and faith commitment or appreciation
of such a commitment in the client.” Pastors should also give the client the referral
personally and tell them how to get in touch with them. Furthermore, they should keep
updated on the clients’ progress with the other professional.
There will always be ethical dilemmas between service to God and service to
others that will cause frustration to many in the field of pastoral counseling. There is a
large amount of pressure on pastors to have all the answers and provide the best care for
people in their church while teaching and growing them spiritually. However, in some of
these instances pastors run into ethical dilemmas. The best way for pastors to adhere to
his commitment to serve God and to serve others is to conduct themselves and his
practices as biblically as possible. Furthermore, it is important he abide by the code of
ethics in his field. While the code of ethics may not directly answer his dilemma it can
give him proper direction in his decision making process. The Bible should hold the sole
authority in their life and practice and the Bible should be what they bases his decisions
off of. By using the Bible as his sole authority they will ensure that he is keeping his
commitment to serve God, while serving others Biblically and as best they can.
Sources
1. Blackburn, Bill. (2001). Ethical Issues in Pastoral Counseling. Christian Ethics
Today. [online]. Retrieved March 27, 2008, from
http://www.christianethicstoday.com/Issue/021/Ethical%20Issues%20in%20Pasto
ral%20Counseling%20By%20Bill%20Blackburn_021_22_.htm
2. American Association of Pastoral Counselors. (1994). [online]. Retrieved April 1,
2008, from http://www.aapc.org/ethics.cfm
3. American Psychological Association. (2002). [online]. Retrieved April 1, 2008,
from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code2002.html
4. American Counseling Association. (2005) [online]. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from
http://www.counseling.org/Resources/CodeofEthics/TP/Home/CT2.aspx
5. Barr, David. Personal Interview. 3 April. 2008.
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Ethical Issues in Pastoral Counseling By Bill Blackburn
Issue/020
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Theme: Service to God Service to people
Others faith
Personal faith time
Qualifications
Crisis
referral
Use your faith to guide answers so you don’t offend or turn them off so use more of your
ethical code because they would believe in right and wrong based on common ground
and background.