Why Biblical Counseling Won’t Work in Some Churches
A culture of caring for one another through biblical counseling thrives in many different churches. It has a life-changing impact on the churches that commit to loving one another through compassionate, biblical counseling. However, biblical counseling often fails to gain traction in two particular types of churches: liberal and legalistic. While both liberal and legalistic churches truly desire to care for the hurting, these churches will struggle to gain traction with a biblical counseling ministry. Liberal churches struggle because they don’t view the Bible as relevant to the difficult issues of life and probably would never consider biblical counseling. Legalistic churches fail because they too often focus on maintaining their particular standards by reforming external behaviors rather than aiming for the internal balance of progressive sanctification.
This article seeks to explain why legalistic churches will often find themselves frustrated when seeking to build a culture of biblical counseling.
Common to legalistic churches is a struggle to define and control how their people embrace the expected standards. Consider the following scenarios:
- A church board member laughs about trying marijuana gummies on the golf course with his friends on their annual golf trip to San Diego.
- A youth worker confesses they needed a designated driver after the Super Bowl party they attended because they weren’t sure if they were legal to drive.
- A young adult children’s worker who teaches Sunday School regularly posts provocative pictures on social media, eliciting comments from strangers and old friends.
As biblical counselors and leaders, we regularly encounter individuals involved in unhealthy patterns of behavior. Many biblical counselors serve in churches that respond to any sinful behavior by creating more rules and standards expected of all. Legalistic churches have often responded to unwanted behaviors by making a strict policy with clear expectations for church leaders or members. Break them, and you are done!
Some examples of hastily written behavioral standards in response to the above scenarios are:
- Using any improper substance will result in removal from all church leadership.
- Any leader who drinks alcohol will not continue to serve in any leadership capacity.
- Leaders must limit their social media and agree to use it in ways that don’t draw undue attention to themselves.
While these standards clearly define behavioral expectations, biblical counselors are called to shepherd hearts rather than just seek compliance to specific behavioral patterns. A rules-based legalistic approach looks for quick solutions to address surface issues and rarely moves deeper into the heart issues. Rather than addressing the heart of the issue, legalism seeks to simply regulate outward behavior. It creates new laws that emphasize outward compliance while neglecting the greater emphasis in Scripture on loving God and neighbor, creating a culture that undermines the goals of good biblical counseling. Legalistic policies are rooted in bad theology and lead to unhealthy patterns of leadership which undermine effective discipleship.
Harmful Outcomes of a Legalistic Approach
When leaders take a legalistic approach to serious struggles, these harmful outcomes can be expected to increase:
1. Sin is not confessed; it is hidden (1 John 1:9, James 5:16). Legalistic churches focus on outward compliance and outward appearance, resulting in a culture where sin is hidden rather than confessed. If admitting sin results primarily in punitive responses, church members and leaders often respond by concealing sin rather than getting help through confessing sin to one another. When people fear judgment rather than expect grace, serious sin is covered rather than confessed (Prov. 28:13).
2. Fear motivates behavioral change rather than a love for Jesus (1 John 4:18). In our system of laws, we hope that fear of going to jail or fines will result in compliance with laws such involving taxes and speed limits. However, complying with civil law is different than having a change of heart. Fear of man or circumstances is not a healthy motivator; fear of God is the ultimate motivator because it produces a healthy respect and understanding of how God intends life to work. Legalistic churches rely upon fear rather than godly heart motivation to assure outward compliance. However, once the fear of consequences is removed or distanced, their people have little understanding of the “why” of making godly choices. Fear does motivate, but that is behaviorism. Fear of God matures into obedience out of love for Jesus (John 14:15, 21). As leaders, we should focus more on helping our people understand how to pursue the right things motivated by the right reasons.
3. Churches don’t pursue a true restoration process (Gal. 6:1-5). Jesus creatively taught and answered the most important questions about life during His earthly ministry. The heart of Paul’s message to the Galatians was to engage in restoring conversations that bring about the maturity that God desires. Some churches focus more on the public response to problems rather than the restoration of the person. Other churches outsource their care rather than providing counsel that disciples their people toward Christlikeness. Whether you are a church leader or a church member, we are all to represent Christ as we embrace both our Great Commission and restorative duty. This calls us to speak into harmful and sinful behaviors, but we need to take great care that our message reflects Christ’s heart of love, grace, and mercy as we point sinners to the path of sanctification (1 Cor. 6:9-11).
4. Leaders are less likely to engage to help one another with struggles (Matt. 9:36). Many leaders in legalistic churches would prefer not to know the struggles of their people. As long as your marriage looks ok, it doesn’t really matter if it is. As long as you are serving or giving, you must have some spiritual credibility. However, because legalistic churches have to punish those who struggle, it too often leads to a culture of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Jesus intends for leaders to engage as loving shepherds, ask the difficult questions, and offer help in response. Legalistic cultures assume that outward compliance is the most reliable measure of spiritual health. This leads to the same responses as the Pharisees, where they managed to follow the rules but violated the very heart of what Jesus was teaching.
5. Shame results in a relationship that is almost always damaged and lost (Ezek. 34:3-6). One of the most difficult things about a legalistic church culture is the shame that is created when sin becomes public. This most often results in a lost or severely damaged relationship of the shamed person to the church. Rather than working with a humble understanding of the depravity of man, legalistic churches imply they have arrived when outward compliance to the rules is achieved. Sadly, many walk away with their heads down in shame, wondering if they will ever be viewed as healthy or whole again. Shame is a strong motivator, but it never leads to a good place, suffocating rather than leading to life. God provided redemption because He knew we would fall, but He wants His redeemed to rise again and again (Prov. 24:16). Our goal as biblical counselors is to help them up!
Conclusion
Legalistic churches and biblical counseling can be a problematic mix. Rather than practicing a heart of grace and restoration, some unwittingly use biblical counseling as a way to further punish and shame those caught in sin. When this happens, people get hurt, and Christ is not represented well. So how should legalistic churches that desire a culture of biblical counseling move forward? Simply put: address the legalism first. Find Christ’s heart of forgiveness of sin. His love covers ALL sin. Otherwise, legalistic biblical counseling becomes another burden and expectation to crowd out grace and compassion. True biblical counseling produces heart change and thrives in a culture of grace and truth in love.
Questions for Reflection
- How have you seen legalistic responses to sin create harmful outcomes within the church?
- How can we cultivate a culture of grace focused on heart change rather than merely behavioral change?