Counselling is a profession oriented toward helping people solve problems and make decisions to improve their life situations. Christian approaches to counselling utilize the best of the social sciences and psychological understanding of people, in combination with the basic tenants of the Christian faith, to accomplish this task. "Christian counsellors are people who apply their God-given abilities, skills, training, knowledge and insights to the task of helping others move to personal wholeness, interpersonal competence, mental stability, and spiritual maturity."

Counselling students learn how personalities are formed, how decisions are made, how careers are chosen, how people respond to crises, and how to make clinical assessments of problematic situations and help clients develop strategies for addressing the challenges. Students study marriage and the family - why one family structure may be better than another, how families vary according to cultural expectations, and how to use the family structure to overcome any problems that may exist. The four counselling goals are healing, guiding, sustaining, and reconciling.

Christian counselling students study the same foundational premises. However, what makes these programmes unique is the spiritual element integrated into the general curriculum - students take specific theological classes to develop a Christian worldview. Whereas traditional counselling teaches that people hold within themselves the answers to life’s problems (or at least the ability to find those answers), Christian counselling maintains that the way to reach the goals mentioned earlier - healing, guiding, sustaining, reconciling - is by realising that God is the one with the answers, and that He wants the best for everyone, including wholeness, joy, and love. In addition to clinical treatment, the Christian counsellor can draw on church groups, the Bible, and prayer to help a person solve problems. Although Christian counselling graduates may choose to go into traditional clinical fields, many decide to use their expertise as pastors, in church counselling departments, or as part of community-based agencies.

At institutions such as Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, counselling degrees fall under the School of Theology and Missions. While there are excellent counselling programs at secular universities, such focused institutions believe in the whole-person philosophy, which holds that spiritual, mental, and physical aspects are interrelated, and that true wholeness comes from a personal relationship with God.

Tulsa is a city of 390,000 people located in the northeast corner of Oklahoma. It is referred to locally as 'Green Country' because of the abundance of trees in the city and surrounding area. It is known for its parks, friendly people, and large international community. Tulsa is an easy city to travel in, with an intricate system of city bus routes that enable people to travel to any part of the city with a minimum of difficulty. It also houses several museums, numerous private and public universities, an international airport, and an extensive library system. Oil and gas production, telecommunications, aerospace, and manufacturing make up the basis for the area's booming economy.

Equally important is the number (over 600) and variety of churches in the city. In fact, while this region of the United States is known as the 'Bible Belt' because of its Christian heritage and culture, Tulsa is considered 'the buckle of the Bible Belt.' Many large local, national, and international ministries are based here.

Many students from around the world have already taken advantage of the opportunity to study in Tulsa, as they have found it to be practical and applicable to their respective cultures. In fact, ORU alone has a large international
student population (with students from 70 countries around the world), and classes are enriched by the wealth of cultural backgrounds.

For more information on Christian counselling, please call + 001 918-495 6989, or go to the Oral Roberts website at: www.oru.edu

Author:
Edward E. Decker, Jr. Ph.D.
Oral Roberts University