In a classic article written for Christianity Today in 1975, Gary Collins suggested that today’s Christian counselors fall into five categories.
The first category Collins called “the main stream.” Main stream pastoral counselors generally have taken Clinical Pastoral Education training (CPE). The CPE approach takes a pastor with a theological education through an essentially secular training program in counseling. The clinical pastoral education movement has historically been theologically liberal and somewhat antagonistic toward conservative evangelical theology (Collins, 1975).
The next category that Collins outlined were the “evangelical pastoral counselors.” The most outspoken of such counselors is Jay Adams, professor of practical theology at Westminster Seminary. Adams advocates Biblical Counseling, in which only the bible is used to support a counseling approach that is primarily educational and confrontive.
The third category of Christian counselors are the “Christian professionals.” Examples of the Christian professionals would include Clyde Narramore (considered to be the father of Christian counseling), James Dobson, Bruce Narramore, Frank Minirith and Paul Meier, and Gary Collins. The Christian professionals have been trained and have received degrees and credentials in the secular counseling approaches, but who also have a strong commitment to biblical evangelical theology. Each of these counselors have developed a model for integrating their knowledge and skills from the field of psychology with biblical truth.
The fourth model Collins defined were the “theoretician researchers.” The theoretician researchers are those who have taken a scientific, scholarly and research approach. These are generally university professors who are in the process of developing and testing theory.
The fifth and final category that Collins outlined are the “evangelical popularizers.” The evangelical popularizers would include Bill Gothard, Tim LaHay, Charlie Shedd, and Norman Wright. The evangelical popularizers produce useful but simplistic self help material for the lay public.
(Adapted from our corporate web site: cfitulsa.com)
