Practicing Therapy as a Christian: The Way I See It

Categories: AACC BLOG

by John Eklund, MSW, LCSW

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” – C.S. Lewis

What if I told you that everything we do in life—and, for that matter, everything we don’t do in life—is a product of our worldview?

Worldview is just that: how we view the world. And worldview is definitively what Lewis was writing about when he submitted a paper called “Is Theology Poetry,” punctuated with the above quote to the Oxford Socratic Club in 1944.

When people ask me about practicing therapy secularly as a Christian, I basically tell them that I don’t. I don’t do anything in my life secularly, or at least I certainly try not to.

I refuse to practice Christianity as if I were a band kid bringing his instrument home to work on the school Christmas concert—bleating heartfelt, slightly off-key notes for 30 minutes a day, then setting it aside to go outside and have some real fun. I don’t practice Christianity, I am a Christian.

Christianity is the lens through which I see, interpret, and traverse the landscape of life. I believe when our Lord instructed His disciples to “. . . seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. . .” (Matthew 6:33), He was preaching an otherworldly worldview and inviting people to an otherworldly way of life.

Christ preached a kingdom meant to be planted within a man, like a seed, that produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit in all seasons, situations, and settings—including the counseling office.

I am a Christian who is a therapist, and the relational nature of my profession demands authenticity of me.

In his seminal book, The Gift of Therapy, Dr. Irvin D. Yalom writes, “What is the therapist’s most valuable instrument? Answer (and no one misses this): “the therapist’s own self.” My authentic self is a believer in Jesus. To be other than this would be a great betrayal—not just to my Savior, but to my clients.

My therapeutic empathy comes from the Man who wept for the friends and family of Lazarus. My therapeutic discernment comes from the Man who challenged the motives of a duplicitous rich young ruler. My therapeutic ethic comes from the Man who said He did nothing except that which pleased His Father—and the love I have for my clients comes from the Man who gave His life on a cross thousands of years ago to save me from the penalty of sin.

So, how does one practice their Christianity as a therapist? By being a Christian.

That’s the way I see it.

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John Eklund, M.S.W., is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and ordained minister. John has been serving individuals and families as a social worker, counselor, and pastor for over two decades. Having worked as a national director for one of the largest faith-based recovery programs in the world, John has helped hundreds of churches throughout the country start and grow recovery ministries. John currently works as a therapist at One-Eighty Counseling and as the Pastor of Recovery at Temple City Church. John is also the founder and national director of a Christ-centered 12-step program he founded in 2020 called Recovery Alive. John lives in Smithfield, North Carolina, with his wife of 25 years and his four beautiful daughters.