Christian Clients Preferences Regarding Prayer

Verneen Madry

Liberty University

Christian Clients Preferences Regarding Prayer

Summary

This article covers a massive amount of information as it relates to the use of prayer as a counseling intervention. The article discusses spirituality as a whole and the effects that it has on individuals of the Christian faith. According to the article, spirituality is becoming increasingly recognized as being important by many secular counselors in which they have began incorporating prayer into their counseling sessions. This is because many secular counselors have a spiritual connection of their own that they deem important and relevant in their personal daily lives. According to Sorenson (2002), prayer is the most frequently used spiritual intervention by Christian counselors. The litigious atmosphere of including prayer in counseling requires careful reflection of ethical issues. This article addresses the junction of spiritual interventions, particularly prayer, with client welfare, multicultural sensitivity and values.

Traditionally, religion and psychology have been mutually sole influences. According to the literature, spirituality in the clinician’s office has been somewhat controversial. In the history of religion, ethical, multicultural and developmental perspectives seem to have challenged clinicians to correct the controversies. In addition, main beliefs related to knowledge, skills and awareness that are applied when working with those from different racial and ethnic cultures and backgrounds may also be applied to clients with particular religious or spiritual beliefs. Also, there have been established guidelines to help clinicians match different interventions with clients’ spiritual developmental stages and beliefs.

There have also been specialty fields that have evolved that offer guidance to clinicians and practitioners. For example, within the Christian counseling specialty the most often used techniques used by clinicians to evaluate...