Christians face countless worldly worries and doubts when they live in the secular world. There are several realistic problems about work, life, and family. When brothers and sisters talk about these problems with church people, they would mostly receive advice like these:
“You should pray.”
“I will pray for you.”
“God will help you.”
“Be humble.”
“You have to be tolerant and patient”…
Although these spiritual exhortations are quite relevant, they may not solve the practical problems believers face.
Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mark 12:17) Spiritual solutions can solve spiritual problems, but they are not always appropriate to solve earthly problems. There’s a passage from James in the Bible: “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, ‘Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” (James 2:15-17)
Those who believe in Jesus Christ do not immediately return to the Father’s paradise but still live on earth to fulfill God’s will, so they cannot avoid facing a worldly life. Since there is no way to avoid realistic problems, we must find ways to solve them.
That’s why there are many counseling courses in the secular world. Family counseling, marriage counseling, parent-child education counseling, Bible counseling, and other courses are now quite popular.
Mr. Xu is a national second-class psychology consultant who has been dedicated to training and counseling for ten years with more than 6000 working hours. At the same time, as a Christian, he has helped many troubled Christians using biblical methods.
When he was a child, Mr. Xu and his mother once worshiped ghosts, and also suffered a fire. He moved to a remote mountain area in order to live a peaceful life. The presence of several young believers in that area gradually influenced Xu into accepting Christ and rejecting evil spirits. In 2008, he was still working as a preacher. His first access to counseling was in a theology class. After that, Xu worked as a tutor using the approach introduced by “Gaotai EQ”, a counseling system created by an indigenous Christian counselor, for two years. In the process of being a tutor, he gradually found that a person’s inner world is very rich and complex.
He confessed, “When you evaluate a person, you can not only look at his/her outer appearance. You should get to know the unrecognized inner world behind the person’s behavior.” However, Mr. Xu’s findings did not play a role in helping brothers and sisters solve their problems when they asked him for help.
In 2010, Mr. Xu had the chance to attended a tutorial training called “Simple Biblical Counseling Method”, also known as “Prayer Resolution Method”, in Zhengzhou, and began to practice and promote this guidance method.
In a recent interview with Christian Times, a Shanghai-based Chinese Christian newspaper, Xu shared how biblical counseling could contribute to the cuhrch.
Christian Times: Why do you think Christians need the “Simple Biblical Counseling Method”?
Mr. Xu: For thousands of years, the church has attached great importance to preaching. At the same time, the church is also advancing with the times, and the church’s ministry also adapts with the needs of the times. For example, there is the ministry for senior citizens, which helps to take care of the elderly and help them enjoy their later life.
There are many alarming problems in this era, both in the church and in the secular world - marital breakdowns, teenage rebellion, depression, various forms of suicide, and self-harm. We may be deluding ourselves to think that believing in Jesus would prevent us from having these problems. Christians have the same problems, but less often than the people in the secular world. And these problems can’t be solved by just relying on the Bible and preaching. After all, the problems of life are complicated.
For example, one sister wants to know what she could do about her child’s adolescent rebellion. In our traditional way, we would reply, “You can pray faithfully”, “I will pray for you”, “You should repent. You cannot teach your child the way you want, but as God wants you to”, etc. – These are all good answers, but they also provide no practical help to the sister. If you use the “Prayer Guidance Method”, you can have a good talk with the sister and her child to understand the real situation between them, the child’s situation, the causes of the child’s rebellion, and so on. After fully understanding these, we can pray together to solve the problem.
Another example is if a sister says she wants a divorce, simply telling her that the Bible does not allow for divorce and giving her relevant biblical texts may not be helpful either; because she is probably already familiar with these common scriptures. We should sit down and talk to her about why she wants a divorce, what recently happened, the conflicts between the couple, any difference in the children’s education or personality conflict, etc. We should find out the specific reasons why she wants a divorce, and then try to help her solve the problem.
Some people may ask, “Is it wrong for us to tell him the scriptures and pray for him?” No, there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just not deep enough, not targeted enough, and not professional enough. When we don’t understand why the child rebels or why the sister wants a divorce, how can we help them? How can we pray when we don’t know enough about the actual stories and details?
The Prayer Resolution is also known as the “Simple Biblical Counseling Method”. It is a kind of more targeted prayer that takes about 30-60 minutes with a full understanding of the situation and the individual’s emotions and feelings. This method is suitable for the church to carry out targeted and individual pastoral care. Just like when Jesus was shepherding the sheep, he would sometimes hold the lambs.
I hope the church people, especially the pastors, turn their attention to the weakest lambs. In the face of today’s social situation, we need to be sensitive to God’s will and quickly respond to reality.
Christian Times: So, what is “Prayer Resolution” (PR)?
Mr. Xu: The Prayer Resolution comes from a couple who are two North American missionaries and translators from the Wycliffe Bible Translators International in the United States. They are Richard & Connie Smith, holding Ph. D. in Translator Linguistics. When they were on foreign missions and working as Bible translators, they found that the people they worked with encountered a lot of real-life confusion and doubts. This couple prayed and searched before God to help them deal with their real-life problems, and finally founded a Bible-based counseling method while translating the Bible.
This is a simple way to help people solve their problems by praying step by step with a few key points. It is also called the “Prayer Resolution”.
The tutorial process of Prayer Resolution can be divided into two halves. Let’s take “I’ve recently been very anxious” as an example to show the tutorial steps of Prayer Resolution.
The first half begins with a simple prayer. Take anxiety as the center, and start a specific, detailed and all-round discussion for 30-60 minutes, covering all aspects. The contents of the discussion can include the degree and time of anxiety, the immediate and distant causes of anxiety, personal feelings, personal character, the impact of anxiety, personal responsibilities and the responsibilities of others, etc. The most important thing in this process is not to ignore the person’s responsibility. Tutors should also not give advice or quote the scriptures without understanding all aspects of the problem.
Then the following second half shall constitute a prayer lasting 30-60 minutes. Through the discussion during the first half, we already have a clear understanding of the whole issue. At this time, through prayers, the counselor can help the person bring to God his/her questions, emotions, grievances, sadness, anger, confusion, pain, sin, etc., and what they owe to others and God.
After praying, God will respond through the work of the Holy Spirit or help people change their minds and solve their problems.
Christian Times: What do you think are the similarities and differences between Prayer Resolution and psychological counseling in the secular world?
Mr. Xu: Personally, I think there are three things in common between Prayer Resolution and psychological counseling in the secular world: the adoption of counseling, the purpose of helping people in real life, and the need for formal training. We should be careful not to become the three friends of Job in the Bible, whom Job described as useless doctors who had only passion but could not help and comfort Job in his afflictions.
On the other hand, there are three major differences between Prayer Resolution and psychological counseling in the secular world:
1. Difference in origins: The Prayer Resolution is based on the Bible. It is centered on God and Christ, and guided by biblical truths, while psychological counseling is about some psychological laws, principles, and methods.
2. Difference in approaches: Psychological counseling involves the ways and methods used to solve problems summed up by various schools of psychology. The Prayer Resolution uses a method that all Christians agree on - prayer.
3. Difference in footholds: Psychological counseling is more about being a victim. Even if you choose to forgive others, it’s still the forgiveness from a victim. But as a Christian, there is no room for self-pity and self-love. The Christian cannot just be a victim but must come to the real victim, Jesus Christ - the Lamb of God. The Prayer Resolution lets us see that we may be victims, but we are sinful victims, and only Christ hanging on the cross is the truly innocent victim.
Christian Times: In recent years, many different kinds of psychology in society have had a certain impact on the church. How do you think of this phenomenon? Do you have any advice for the church on how to deal with this situation?
Mr. Xu: In this era, people are no longer struggling with basic necessities. People’s living standards have improved, and their spiritual needs have also begun to increase. In this context, psychological counseling is now an inevitable demand, which has brought a certain impact on the church. It is also a good phenomenon, which urges us forward.
Rather than oppose it, the Church should first examine itself: Why does psychological counseling lure away believers? Is there a loophole in the pastoral care of the church? Are the needs of some believers being ignored? What is the better way to shepherd believers?
Some people may say, “Believe in Jesus and you can have eternal life. What else do they want!”. Just imagine believing that Jesus can bring us eternal life, all while some people may still be hungry; those two things are completely different. If we can get someone to believe in Jesus and also help them professionally with their marital problems, psychological counseling won’t be as appealing to them.
The mind is God’s creation, and all of God’s creation has rules. Psychology refers to the rules of the mind, including the rules of human thought, emotion, will, and so on. The most famous psychologists in modern history are almost all nonbelievers, and in this respect, Christians have lagged far behind.
Therefore, I recommend that we Christians establish a Christian counseling system based on the Bible. Since many people find psychological counseling helpful, we need to build a Christian counseling system to help replace or even transcend psychological counseling and bring people back to the Bible and to God.
Especially in emerging urban churches, there are many church groups made up of intellectuals. Their spiritual needs have surpassed those of other groups. Urban churches need to take the lead in developing Bible-based counseling and set an example and then lead rural and grassroots churches to fully develop Christian counseling systems that are our own, without secular roots (psychological counseling).
In addition, it is necessary to establish the counseling ministry within the church to provide in-depth counseling for the complicated and changeable minds of modern people.
Psychological counseling in the secular world is done by nonbelievers, and it is not based on the Bible. Thus, sometimes there will be some misguidance. Therefore, it is of great importance to establish a guidance system based on Christian truth. Otherwise, some problems will become bigger when we miss the prime time to deal with them.
The first step is to start by serving the believers in the church. The second step, after accumulating considerable experience, is to serve the community.
I hope that the church will respond in this regard by establishing and developing a Christian counseling ministry.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
基督徒在世上生活总会面对很多世上的思虑和疑惑，无论是在工作、生活还是家庭中，都有很多现实的问题。当弟兄姐妹们把这些问题带到教会，多数人会收到这样的建议：
“你祷告吧”、
“我会为你祷告的”、
“神会帮助你的”、
“你要谦卑”、
“你要包容、忍耐”......
——这些属灵劝勉虽然非常中肯，可是许多面对的现实问题却没有因此迎刃而解。
耶稣说：“凯撒的物当归给凯撒，神的物当归给神。”属灵的方法可以解决属灵的事物，可却不一定适合解决属世的事物。圣经中雅各书里有一段经文：“若是弟兄，或是姐妹，赤身露体，又缺了日用的饮食，你们中间有人对他们说，平平安安地去吧，愿你们穿得暖吃得饱。却不给他们身体所需用的，这有什么益处呢？”
信靠耶稣基督的人不是马上回到天父的乐园里，而仍是在地上生活成就神的旨意，那么就避免不了要面对柴米油盐酱醋茶的生活。既然无法避免这些问题的存在，就要想办法解决问题。
所以现在社会有很多辅导课程应运而生，家庭辅导、婚姻辅导、亲子教育辅导，还有圣经辅导等课程盛行。
徐老师是一位委身培训辅导事工十年、个案咨询超过6000小时的国家二级心理咨询师。与此同时，他是一位基督徒，对于如何使用圣经性的辅导方法帮助许多现实中有需求的基督徒有负担。
小时候，徐老师曾经和母亲一起拜鬼，还曾遭受了一场火灾，便跑到一个陌生的山沟子想要过自生自灭的生活，在山沟里有很多信主的年轻人，在他们的影响下，徐老师开始接受基督，摆脱了邪灵的搅扰。2008年，徐老师还在做传道人。一次神学课上，他第一次接触到辅导类的信息。在那之后，徐老师做过2年 “高台情商”的辅导老师。在做辅导老师的过程中，他逐渐发现人的内心世界是非常丰富和复杂的，“看一个人不能只是凭借他的外在表现，而是这个人行为表现背后所不为认知的内心世界”，就如圣经所说：“耶和华是看内心。”可是，徐老师的发现在弟兄姐妹求助的时候并没有发挥作用，帮助弟兄姐妹解决问题。
2010年，一次偶然的机会，徐老师在郑州参加了一个名为“主内圣经简易辅导法”又称作”“祷告解决法”的辅导课培训，从而开始实践和推广这种辅导方式。
基督时报：您认为基督徒为什么需要“主内圣经简易辅导法”？
徐老师：千百年来，教会都非常重视讲台。同时，教会也是随着时代发展与时俱进的，教会的事工也随着时代发展的需求而存在。比如，老年人多就有老年事工，帮助照顾老人，让老人享受晚年生活。
现在的时代，无论是在教会还是世上，都有很多触目惊心的问题——婚变、青少年叛逆、抑郁症、各种自杀和自残等。我们以为信耶稣就不会有这些问题了，这可能是一种自欺的想法。基督徒同样会有这些问题发生，只是频率比世上低了一些。而这些问题不是仅仅依靠圣经和讲道可以解决的。生命的问题本身就很复杂。
比如，一个姐妹分享自己的孩子青春期叛逆该怎么办。按照我们传统的方式，就会回复她，“你好好祷告吧”、“我会为你祷告的”、“你要悔改，你不能照着自己的意思教导孩子，要照着神的意思”等等——这些回答都很好，可是对这个姐妹并没有实际的帮助。如果用“祷告辅导法”的方式，可以和这个姐妹、和她的孩子好好聊一聊了解真实的情况，了解孩子的情况，了解孩子叛逆的前因后果等，对这些充分了解后，再一起祷告解决问题。
再比如，一个姐妹说要离婚，只是告诉她圣经不让离婚，给她圣经中相关的经文，可能也是无效的帮助。因为她可能对这些常见的经文都非常的熟悉了。不如坐下来谈谈，问她为什么想要离婚，最近都发生了什么事情，夫妻有什么矛盾，在孩子教育上有分歧吗，性格不合吗等，找到她想要离婚的具体原因，再想办法来帮助她解决。
有的人会问：“我们给他经文，为他祷告，难道有错吗？”是的，没有错，只是深度不够，针对性不强，专业性不强，没有了解孩子为什么叛逆，也没有了解姐妹为什么离婚。当我们缺乏对事情的内幕、详情、细节和内容等不足够了解，如何为此祷告？
“祷告解决法”又称为是“主内圣经简易辅导法”，是用30-60分钟的时间，充分了解事情与你的情绪和感受在进行祷告，更加有针对性。这种方式适合教会进行有针对性、个别性的牧养。就像耶稣牧羊时，怀抱着小羊一样。
希望教会，特别是牧者们，能够把目光转向那些最软弱的小羊身上。面对现在社会的情况，我们要敏锐察觉神的心意，迅速针对现实情况有所回应。
基督时报：那么，什么是“祷告解决法”？
徐老师：“祷告解决法”来自美国威克理夫（Wycliffe）圣经翻译协会的两位北美宣教士、翻译员语言学博士理查德和康妮·史密斯夫妻。他们在外派做宣教和圣经翻译的时候，发现一起工作的同工会遇到很多现实生活中困惑和疑虑。为了帮助这些同工解决现实生活中遇到的问题，这对夫妻在神面前祷告、寻求了许久，终于在翻译圣经的时候发现了以圣经为基础的辅导方法。
这个辅导方法很简单，通过一步步几个要点的祷告的方式来帮助人解决问题，又被称为是“祷告解决法”。
“祷告解决法”分为上下两个半场的辅导讨论。以“我最近很焦虑”为例分享“祷告解决法”的辅导步骤。
上半场是以一个简单的祷告开始。以“焦虑”为中心，从各个方面具体细致而全方位地进行30-60分钟的探讨。探讨内容可以包括：“焦虑”的程度和时间、“焦虑”的近因和远因，个人的感受，个人的性格，“焦虑”带来的影响，自己的责任和别人的责任等。这个过程中最重要的一点是不能忽略“自己的责任”。辅导老师也不可以在没有全方位了解问题的时候，给予任何意见和经文。
紧接着，下半场是30-60分钟的轮换祷告时间。通过上半场探讨，对整个问题都有一个清晰明确的了解。这时，辅导老师可以帮助求助者带着自己的疑问、情绪、委屈、伤心、愤怒、困惑、伤害和罪等，还带着自己对人、对神的亏欠，来到神的面前来祷告。
在祷告之后，神会通过圣灵的工作给予回应或者帮助大家改变想法、解决问题。
基督时报：您认为“祷告解决法”和世上的“心理辅导”有什么相同点和不同点？
徐老师：我个人认为“祷告解决法”和世上的“心理辅导”主要以下3个相同点：采用辅导的方式、以帮助大家现实生活为目的和需要正规的培训。我们要小心不要成为圣经中约伯的3个朋友，约伯评价他们是无用的医生，空有一番热情并没有实际地帮助和安慰到处在苦难中的约伯。
另外，“祷告解决法”和世上的“心理辅导”主要以下3个不同点：
1.本源的不同。“祷告解决法”是以圣经为根基，以神为中心，以基督为主，一切的指导都以圣经真理为原则。而“心理辅导”是以心理学总结的一些规律和心理学的原理和方法。
2.方法不同。“心理辅导”是以心理学各个流派总结出来的方式和方法去解决问题。而“祷告解决法”是用基督徒都认可的方法——祷告。
3.落脚点不同。“心理辅导”更多是停留在自己是一个受害者的角色。就算是选择饶恕别人，也是作为受害者的饶恕，自己是一个胸怀大度的君子。但是作为基督徒，是不可以自怜自爱的，基督徒不能只是领留在一个受害者的角色，而是要来到真正的受害者耶稣基督——神的羔羊面前。“祷告解决法”让大家看到自己虽然可能是受害者，但是我们是带着罪性的受害者，而唯有那一位被挂在十字架上的基督才是真正无辜的受害者。
基督时报：近年来，社会上许多形形色色的心理学对教会产生一定的影响和冲击，您怎样看待这个现象？对于教会如何面对这样的情况，您有什么建议？
徐老师：这个时代的人已经不在温饱线上挣扎了，人们的生活水平提高了，精神需求也开始提高。再这样的背景下， “心理辅导”已经成为了一个必然的需求，这种需求对教会带来了一定的冲击，同时也是一个好现象，它给我们带来了督促。
比起反对，教会首先要反省自己：
“心理辅导”为什么会把信徒吸引走？
是不是教会的牧养出现了漏洞？
是不是一些信徒的需求被忽略了？
应该用怎样更好的方式来牧养信徒？
有人会说：”信耶稣得永生，还要满足他们什么需求！” 信耶稣是得永生，可是有些人可能还在饿肚子，这两个完全是两回事。如果我们又能让一个人信耶稣，又能专业地帮助他解决他在婚姻上的问题，那么“心理辅导”对他就不会有那么大的吸引力了。
心是上帝创造的，上帝创造的一切都有规律。而心理学就是指“心”的原理，包括人的思想、情感、意志等的原理。近现代历史中，比较有名的心理学家几乎都是社会人士，在这一方面，基督教界人士已经落后了很大一截。
因此，我建议我们基督徒要建立以圣经为根基的基督教辅导体系。既然很多人觉得“心理辅导”有帮助，我们需要建立基督教辅导体系来帮助代替甚至是超越“心理辅导”，让人回归圣经，回到神的面前。
尤其在现在兴起的城市教会中，有很多知识分子教会群体。他们对精神层面的需求已经超越了其他群体。城市教会需要率先开始发展圣经为根基的辅导事工，做一个榜样，再带动农村教会，带动广大的基层教会全面地打造属于我们教会的、而非世俗根基的基督教辅导体系。
另外，需要建立主内的辅导事工，针对现代人复杂多变的情况来进行深入辅导。
世上的心理辅导是有社会人士做的，并不是以圣经为根基的，有时也会出现一些错误的引导。因此，建立属于基督教的真理为根基的辅导体系就尤为重要。否则，有些问题错过了处理或改变的黄金时间，就积压成为大问题。
第一步，可以从主内辅导开始，服事教会的会众。
第二步，在积累相当大的经验后，服事社会人士。
期待教会能在这方面有所回应，建立并发展属于基督教的辅导事工。
专访 基督徒心理咨询师呼吁：基督徒要建立以圣经为根基的辅导体系
Christians face countless worldly worries and doubts when they live in the secular world. There are several realistic problems about work, life, and family. When brothers and sisters talk about these problems with church people, they would mostly receive advice like these:
“You should pray.”
“I will pray for you.”
“God will help you.”
“Be humble.”
“You have to be tolerant and patient”…
Although these spiritual exhortations are quite relevant, they may not solve the practical problems believers face.
Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mark 12:17) Spiritual solutions can solve spiritual problems, but they are not always appropriate to solve earthly problems. There’s a passage from James in the Bible: “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, ‘Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” (James 2:15-17)
Those who believe in Jesus Christ do not immediately return to the Father’s paradise but still live on earth to fulfill God’s will, so they cannot avoid facing a worldly life. Since there is no way to avoid realistic problems, we must find ways to solve them.
That’s why there are many counseling courses in the secular world. Family counseling, marriage counseling, parent-child education counseling, Bible counseling, and other courses are now quite popular.
Mr. Xu is a national second-class psychology consultant who has been dedicated to training and counseling for ten years with more than 6000 working hours. At the same time, as a Christian, he has helped many troubled Christians using biblical methods.
When he was a child, Mr. Xu and his mother once worshiped ghosts, and also suffered a fire. He moved to a remote mountain area in order to live a peaceful life. The presence of several young believers in that area gradually influenced Xu into accepting Christ and rejecting evil spirits. In 2008, he was still working as a preacher. His first access to counseling was in a theology class. After that, Xu worked as a tutor using the approach introduced by “Gaotai EQ”, a counseling system created by an indigenous Christian counselor, for two years. In the process of being a tutor, he gradually found that a person’s inner world is very rich and complex.
He confessed, “When you evaluate a person, you can not only look at his/her outer appearance. You should get to know the unrecognized inner world behind the person’s behavior.” However, Mr. Xu’s findings did not play a role in helping brothers and sisters solve their problems when they asked him for help.
In 2010, Mr. Xu had the chance to attended a tutorial training called “Simple Biblical Counseling Method”, also known as “Prayer Resolution Method”, in Zhengzhou, and began to practice and promote this guidance method.
In a recent interview with Christian Times, a Shanghai-based Chinese Christian newspaper, Xu shared how biblical counseling could contribute to the cuhrch.
Christian Times: Why do you think Christians need the “Simple Biblical Counseling Method”?
Mr. Xu: For thousands of years, the church has attached great importance to preaching. At the same time, the church is also advancing with the times, and the church’s ministry also adapts with the needs of the times. For example, there is the ministry for senior citizens, which helps to take care of the elderly and help them enjoy their later life.
There are many alarming problems in this era, both in the church and in the secular world - marital breakdowns, teenage rebellion, depression, various forms of suicide, and self-harm. We may be deluding ourselves to think that believing in Jesus would prevent us from having these problems. Christians have the same problems, but less often than the people in the secular world. And these problems can’t be solved by just relying on the Bible and preaching. After all, the problems of life are complicated.
For example, one sister wants to know what she could do about her child’s adolescent rebellion. In our traditional way, we would reply, “You can pray faithfully”, “I will pray for you”, “You should repent. You cannot teach your child the way you want, but as God wants you to”, etc. – These are all good answers, but they also provide no practical help to the sister. If you use the “Prayer Guidance Method”, you can have a good talk with the sister and her child to understand the real situation between them, the child’s situation, the causes of the child’s rebellion, and so on. After fully understanding these, we can pray together to solve the problem.
Another example is if a sister says she wants a divorce, simply telling her that the Bible does not allow for divorce and giving her relevant biblical texts may not be helpful either; because she is probably already familiar with these common scriptures. We should sit down and talk to her about why she wants a divorce, what recently happened, the conflicts between the couple, any difference in the children’s education or personality conflict, etc. We should find out the specific reasons why she wants a divorce, and then try to help her solve the problem.
Some people may ask, “Is it wrong for us to tell him the scriptures and pray for him?” No, there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just not deep enough, not targeted enough, and not professional enough. When we don’t understand why the child rebels or why the sister wants a divorce, how can we help them? How can we pray when we don’t know enough about the actual stories and details?
The Prayer Resolution is also known as the “Simple Biblical Counseling Method”. It is a kind of more targeted prayer that takes about 30-60 minutes with a full understanding of the situation and the individual’s emotions and feelings. This method is suitable for the church to carry out targeted and individual pastoral care. Just like when Jesus was shepherding the sheep, he would sometimes hold the lambs.
I hope the church people, especially the pastors, turn their attention to the weakest lambs. In the face of today’s social situation, we need to be sensitive to God’s will and quickly respond to reality.
Christian Times: So, what is “Prayer Resolution” (PR)?
Mr. Xu: The Prayer Resolution comes from a couple who are two North American missionaries and translators from the Wycliffe Bible Translators International in the United States. They are Richard & Connie Smith, holding Ph. D. in Translator Linguistics. When they were on foreign missions and working as Bible translators, they found that the people they worked with encountered a lot of real-life confusion and doubts. This couple prayed and searched before God to help them deal with their real-life problems, and finally founded a Bible-based counseling method while translating the Bible.
This is a simple way to help people solve their problems by praying step by step with a few key points. It is also called the “Prayer Resolution”.
The tutorial process of Prayer Resolution can be divided into two halves. Let’s take “I’ve recently been very anxious” as an example to show the tutorial steps of Prayer Resolution.
The first half begins with a simple prayer. Take anxiety as the center, and start a specific, detailed and all-round discussion for 30-60 minutes, covering all aspects. The contents of the discussion can include the degree and time of anxiety, the immediate and distant causes of anxiety, personal feelings, personal character, the impact of anxiety, personal responsibilities and the responsibilities of others, etc. The most important thing in this process is not to ignore the person’s responsibility. Tutors should also not give advice or quote the scriptures without understanding all aspects of the problem.
Then the following second half shall constitute a prayer lasting 30-60 minutes. Through the discussion during the first half, we already have a clear understanding of the whole issue. At this time, through prayers, the counselor can help the person bring to God his/her questions, emotions, grievances, sadness, anger, confusion, pain, sin, etc., and what they owe to others and God.
After praying, God will respond through the work of the Holy Spirit or help people change their minds and solve their problems.
Christian Times: What do you think are the similarities and differences between Prayer Resolution and psychological counseling in the secular world?
Mr. Xu: Personally, I think there are three things in common between Prayer Resolution and psychological counseling in the secular world: the adoption of counseling, the purpose of helping people in real life, and the need for formal training. We should be careful not to become the three friends of Job in the Bible, whom Job described as useless doctors who had only passion but could not help and comfort Job in his afflictions.
On the other hand, there are three major differences between Prayer Resolution and psychological counseling in the secular world:
1. Difference in origins: The Prayer Resolution is based on the Bible. It is centered on God and Christ, and guided by biblical truths, while psychological counseling is about some psychological laws, principles, and methods.
2. Difference in approaches: Psychological counseling involves the ways and methods used to solve problems summed up by various schools of psychology. The Prayer Resolution uses a method that all Christians agree on - prayer.
3. Difference in footholds: Psychological counseling is more about being a victim. Even if you choose to forgive others, it’s still the forgiveness from a victim. But as a Christian, there is no room for self-pity and self-love. The Christian cannot just be a victim but must come to the real victim, Jesus Christ - the Lamb of God. The Prayer Resolution lets us see that we may be victims, but we are sinful victims, and only Christ hanging on the cross is the truly innocent victim.
Christian Times: In recent years, many different kinds of psychology in society have had a certain impact on the church. How do you think of this phenomenon? Do you have any advice for the church on how to deal with this situation?
Mr. Xu: In this era, people are no longer struggling with basic necessities. People’s living standards have improved, and their spiritual needs have also begun to increase. In this context, psychological counseling is now an inevitable demand, which has brought a certain impact on the church. It is also a good phenomenon, which urges us forward.
Rather than oppose it, the Church should first examine itself: Why does psychological counseling lure away believers? Is there a loophole in the pastoral care of the church? Are the needs of some believers being ignored? What is the better way to shepherd believers?
Some people may say, “Believe in Jesus and you can have eternal life. What else do they want!”. Just imagine believing that Jesus can bring us eternal life, all while some people may still be hungry; those two things are completely different. If we can get someone to believe in Jesus and also help them professionally with their marital problems, psychological counseling won’t be as appealing to them.
The mind is God’s creation, and all of God’s creation has rules. Psychology refers to the rules of the mind, including the rules of human thought, emotion, will, and so on. The most famous psychologists in modern history are almost all nonbelievers, and in this respect, Christians have lagged far behind.
Therefore, I recommend that we Christians establish a Christian counseling system based on the Bible. Since many people find psychological counseling helpful, we need to build a Christian counseling system to help replace or even transcend psychological counseling and bring people back to the Bible and to God.
Especially in emerging urban churches, there are many church groups made up of intellectuals. Their spiritual needs have surpassed those of other groups. Urban churches need to take the lead in developing Bible-based counseling and set an example and then lead rural and grassroots churches to fully develop Christian counseling systems that are our own, without secular roots (psychological counseling).
In addition, it is necessary to establish the counseling ministry within the church to provide in-depth counseling for the complicated and changeable minds of modern people.
Psychological counseling in the secular world is done by nonbelievers, and it is not based on the Bible. Thus, sometimes there will be some misguidance. Therefore, it is of great importance to establish a guidance system based on Christian truth. Otherwise, some problems will become bigger when we miss the prime time to deal with them.
The first step is to start by serving the believers in the church. The second step, after accumulating considerable experience, is to serve the community.
I hope that the church will respond in this regard by establishing and developing a Christian counseling ministry.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Exclusive Interview: Christians Should Develop Counseling System Based on the Bible
