What is the Difference Between Pastoral Counselling and Pastoral Care?

One of the roles of pastors is to be there for people in their congregation when they are going through a hard time. This may be called pastoral counselling or pastoral care. Except, those are not the same thing.

Pastoral counselling is a specific kind of pastoral care. True pastoral counselling requires specific training because it includes psychological principles and is a type of therapy.

I hear a lot of pastors talk about doing counselling even though they don’t have the necessary training. Either they are providing unqualified counselling or they are doing something other than counselling.

I do not provide pastoral counselling. I provide pastoral care. I listen to the people who come to me. I may ask questions to help them understand their situation. I pray for them and continue to walk with them through their journey.

I suspect there are pastors who slip into counselling without the necessary training. This can be dangerous.

If you are interested in counselling, I suggest that you get the training. It may be a valuable asset to your pastoral ministry.

But otherwise, stick to pastoral care and refer people to trained counsellors as needed.

Liked it? Take a second to support Stephen Bedard on Patreon!