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Omitting the Christian Label – Sharing the Christian Label,
Omitting the Christian Label
By Lisa Wardle, LCSW-C, CBIS
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Iam a disciple and follower of Jesus Christ, and I am a therapist. A few years ago, I needed to delineate this for myself while talking with a friend of mine who referred to me as a Christian Counselor. My response was more adamant than I would like to admit. To her surprise, I quickly interjected, “please don’t call me a Christian Counselor.” It was at this point that I searched inside myself to learn why I reacted so strongly. Ultimately, I realized, it came down to the perception of what the term “Christian” has evolved to mean over time. This perception could include those who have been hurt by the Church or who don’t believe in the Word of God at all. I’ve felt this way for many years; however, these last few years have led me to separate myself from the title.
In his book When Bad Christians Happen to Good People, author Dave Burchett writes:
Evangelical Christians are much maligned in our society — and some of that reputation is earned. The word evangelical has become a pejorative among many unchurched folks and former churchgoers. In the course of doing research for this book, I searched the Internet to examine the popular perception of evangelical Christians.
Dozens of anti-Christian sites later, I was stunned, amazed, disturbed, and frankly discouraged by the amount of venomous verbiage directed toward Christians.
The connotation of a Christian therapist, to some, can be interpreted as judgmental, narrowly minded, sin-focused and very politically based. Now more than ever, I believe folks have trouble separating their Christian values lens from their political views lens. In addition to the political perspective, over the last few years, many pastors and churches have ended up in the media because of their actions, words and poor choices.
The decision to separate the title Christian from my therapy title isn’t only about politics. In the mid-1990s, I sought out a counselor, and as a Christian, I thought I needed to see a Christian Counselor because that was what I was “supposed to do.” The perception from the church and other Christians around me was that non-Christian therapists would give me a worldview outside Christian values and morals and, therefore, steer me in the wrong direction. So, I searched for and found a Christian counselor who had a practice in her home. Once I arrived, she immediately greeted me with a hug. After that, I did not hear a single word she said. I was uncomfortable for the rest of the session and could not wait to leave. That was my first exposure to Christian
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counseling. Later, I wondered why she believed she could hug me — a vulnerable stranger who took a risk for the first time to seek help and guidance. Did she do that to all her clients? Was it because I was a Christian that she took such liberty? Although I wasn’t a therapist at the time and hadn’t yet gone to graduate school for social work education, something didn’t feel right to me. I felt my personal boundaries had been broken. I’m sure she hadn’t intended it to feel intrusive; however, I thought it to be pretty presumptuous, and it took me a few years before I again sought counseling.
The next time I tried counseling, I decidedI would just use my own discernment during therapy with a “secular” therapist. I practice discernment everyday with what I watch, read and listen to in the world, so why not with my therapist? The therapist I found practiced as a licensed psychologist. I felt safe as she and I worked on issues and made progress together to build better strategies. Little did I know this psychologist was a Christian but had not advertised as such. I found out years later when I called her practice to pick her brain about an issue I was having, and it was during this time, she shared something she had learned — I could tell her beliefs and mine were aligned.
Looking back, I observed we had the initial trust and safety within the therapeutic relationship to share our personal beliefs. Isn’t that good therapy? It’s love and acceptance no matter who is sitting across from us, where they’ve come from, how they identify or what they believe in? I truly believe I can be an example to more people who are hurting by omitting that I am a Christian therapist.
Jesus called himself the Son of God
— not a Christian.
It took a trip to Israel to open my eyes further about Jesus and who He really is according to scripture and not just what I grew up hearing interpreted to me. During this trip, my mind was opened to what I was taught to believe – that Jesus was white, blond, blue-eyed and placed in a nice-looking wooden manger filled with straw. It wasn’t until I was well into my adulthood, unfortunately, that I learned Jesus was of Middle Eastern decent and at birth was placed in a dirty feeding trough. Middle Eastern culture isn’t America. Jesus isn’t an American Christian. I wondered if others felt the same way I did. Did they know this too? At that moment, sitting on a stone wall at Masada, was when I no longer wanted to refer to myself as a Christian but, rather, as a follower of Jesus.
I believe the word Christian means something different in today’s society than it did in Jesus’ time when the church in Acts was being established. As a result, I find the need to separate myself from it. I choose to refer to myself as a follower of Christ first and then live through the gifts of shepherding and exhorting He has given me to be a therapist. I could not do this without Him. I do my humanly best to approach my clients objectively, welcomely and nonjudgmentally so I can see, hear and lean in to others’ perspective and life. Jesus’ greatest command to us is so straightforward:
Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all
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your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ — Matthew 22: 36-39
The followers of Jesus back in His day were not perfect; however, they were inclusive and did not use God’s words as a weapon. They learned from Him and loved the leper, the widow and the foreigner. Jesus taught peaceand acceptance. I have sat across from many folks who state they are believers but feel ashamed of the things they’ve done and would never step into a church. I get the privilege of talking to them about that and exploring their relationship with God if they chose to bring it up. I believe Jesus led his ministry by just being who He is — and through what His Father called Him to do and He loved whoever was in front of Him. Not because they might have believed in who He was — but because he loved them first. Each person who sits in my office has been created by God regardless of how the world sees them or how Christians and the church may view them.
Lastly, I worked for many years as a therapist within an elite group of active-duty military members, and now I work within a therapy practice that serves the Metropolitan Police. My clients experience trauma daily, and they need to be able to express, unhindered, what they are thinking and feeling in a world that doesn’t make sense, isn’t fair and, certainly, isn’t just. I can have discussions with people about their belief system knowing they have no idea where I stand. I can sit and listen to them, care about them and process through with them about what they’ve done or the gruesomeness they have seen without their tendency to hold back because of their perception of what I believe based on the label of Christianity in the year 2022.
Lisa Wardle, LCSW-C, CBIS is a National Capital Region Social Worker and a member of the DCBC Mental Health team.
The DCBC Enlistment Committee Needs You… The Enlistment Committee of DCBC is soliciting nominations to fill upcoming vacancies on the Board of Directors and Committees. Committee members are reaching out to engage you and enlist your support to fill open positions on the Board and the following committees: Bylaws | Program | Human Resources | Enlistment | Stewardship | Membership
We need your creativity and commitment. Questions? Contact Rev. Dr. Lisa Banks-Williams, Enlistment Committee Chair | lbw1221@verizon.net
