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Q: "Mr. Parkins, I have been in counseling with another counselor for several months. I think the counseling had helped me a lot, but I am not able to talk about some things I am dealing with at my church because my counselor is not a Christian. In your expert oppinion, do you think I should find an new Christian counselor?"
A: That is a good question. It is very important for a person to feel both comfortable with his or her counselor and confident in their ability as a therapist. You indicated that you have found therapy to be helpful up to this point, so I am assuming you have at least a fair amount of trust in your counselor's abilities. It can be difficult to talk about your faith with a counselor who does not share or believe the same as you do. However, you referred to "things I am dealing with at my church." If these problems are relational issues, your current counselor should technically be qualified, by the nature of his/her license and training, to help you deal with these relational issues. But if these issues are closer related to faith issues, or you do not feel your counselor is able to understand and/or respect your faith, then I do recommend considering switching to a Christian therapist.
It is also important to mention that the "theraputic relationship" is a relationship. One of the advantages of this unique relationship is the insight into other relationships it brings by duplicating relational patterns so they may be identified, reinforced, and/or changed. Generally speaking, I believe it is very important to try to first work out any issue you may have with a current therapist, with the goal of working through the issue. For some people, it may be the first time in their life they have been able to work through a problem in a relationship, and a therapist or counselor should be the safest relationship to practice in.
That being said, I find that most Christians I encounter strongly prefer to see a counselor or therapist who shares their faith. It would hinder counseling if you felt you had to hide or surpress this part of yourself. Most of the Christian clients that I have seen have chosen to pay for counseling out of their own pocket to see a Christian therapist, rather than use their insurance for a non-Christian counselor. This speaks volumes to me about the importance of sharing their faith with their counselor.
