They don’t want to seem dismissive, so they unknowingly affirm the person’s bad takes on everything from what it means to be happy to how they see themselves. They get caught up in a person’s experience and feel uneasy offering commentary. I’ve seen pastors commit the other error, too. Instead, make it clear that Truth helps you understand how your unique experience matters. As a pastor, you should never imply, Your unique experience doesn’t matter. The false teaching threatening the church in Galatia as opposed to what was threatening the church in Corinth mattered. Peter’s occupation as a fisherman mattered. When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, he did so as if her domestic situation mattered. The biblical authors themselves don’t ignore individual experience, but address it in light of higher realities. And we rob our people of the explanatory power of the Word for personal experience. Pastors can commit both errors.Īs in the opening example, I’ve seen pastors dismiss the experiences of their people because those experiences seem odd, unsettling, or “worldly.” Dismissal is almost guaranteed to send your people looking to others who will help them understand themselves. Your job as a pastor is neither to overlook the importance of personal experience nor to venerate it as sacred. Pastors address personal experience as neither unimportant nor all-important. This includes an individual’s personal experience, too. The redemptive work of Jesus is the only way to ultimately make sense of human experience. It is the great privilege of human experience-a privilege restored to humanity by God himself becoming a man (Heb 2:10-11). God designed people to love him and others (Matt 22:37-40), and this design purpose is how we understand healthy functioning. Rather, it means he helps people see their experience from a much broader perspective-how God designed people to relate to himself and to his sacred ordering of creation. But that does not mean he overlooks personal experience. I’m merely pointing out what therapy as an enterprise is trying to do.Ī pastor is not a therapist. My purpose here is not to argue the benefits and drawbacks of various therapeutic models. Generally speaking, therapy is the attempt to help a person live effectively and consistently according to that perception of wholeness. Human experience is understood not from the external reference point of sacred order, but rather from the internal reference point of perceived happiness. The problem is that therapeutic models have largely emerged from a secular culture characterized by a deep valuing of what Carl Truman describes as expressive individualism. People see therapists to make sense out of their own experience. People want to understand their own experience. A pastor’s job is not to dismiss personal experience, but rather to help people see it differently-specifically, to see it according to who God is and the chief purpose of his design for human life. In this article, I’ll explain what I mean by this. In fact, a pastor is tasked with helping in ways a therapist isn’t. But that doesn’t mean he opts out of helping folks with their personal troubles. To gain insight into Scripture, you have to study hard to gain insight into individuals, you have to do the same.Ī pastor is not a therapist. Here’s what I’ve learned: Speaking the timeless Word to timebound individuals requires deep insight into both. Years of pastoral ministry since have confirmed this tension. The tension I felt was between my belief in the power of the preached Word and my awareness that even people eager to receive the Word still struggle deeply with personal troubles. Yet I couldn’t get around the thought, But people I know at your church are in therapy and you don’t even know it. I was a rookie pastor then and knew my experience was far less than this veteran’s. I probably did so myself, though I remember feeling conflicted. Around half-cleared plates and coffee mugs, everyone nodded their heads. The words were clean and decisive, captivating the handful of pastors who’d asked the conference speaker out for breakfast. If people listen, they’ll be able to handle their own problems.”
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