In the 1980’s people responsible for pastoral care in churches
were increasingly aware of the insights coming from counselling and
psychotherapy but they were struggling to relate these to Christian
faith. The pastoral counselling movement in America were happy to use
the language of emotional ‘healing’ and point out its close
connection with ‘salvation’ in the Bible. A sharp
counterblast was circulating in some churches.
A popular book claimed that, apart from physical damage to the brain,
all mental distress is spiritual and should be approached by pastoral
carers in a moral and behaviourist way. Bible texts from Proverbs were
often recommended as rules to live by.
Among those teaching counselling skills to Anglican clergy at that time
were Frank Lake and Roger Hurding. Lake focussed on Jesus’ sense
of identity and worth as expressed in John’s gospel and he
related this closely to the model he used in counselling. Hurding was
taking his starting point in the creation story: human beings are made
in the image of God but the image is damaged and needs restoring.
Differences of practice emerged, as Lake’s methods tended to have
an element of Gestalt or primal therapy whereas Hurding more typically
taught empathetic listening skills.
Interest in charismatic gifts in many churches was bringing to light
the powerful effect of pictures and images to open up emotional wounds
and bring to light long-standing patterns in people’s lives.
Groups and organisations focussing on prayer for healing were
developing, And some of their members could see the need to consult
experienced counsellors about safe practice. Also in the 80’s
there was a similar growth of interest in spiritual direction and
retreats. Gerard Hughes’ book, God of Surprises encouraged many
people to explore Ignatian approaches to reflecting on biblical
passages in relation to the journey of our lives.
Churches began setting up Christian counselling agencies and those
involved felt the need for a forum to explore these issues. In London,
the organisation Care and Counsel held a private conference in 1983
with the theme: Towards a Theology of Counselling. The papers were
given by a theologian, two counsellors, a social worker and a spiritual
director and they invited John Gladwin from the Church of
England’s board of social responsibility to chair.
In 1986 Care and Counsel linked up with a number of other
organisations, including the newly formed Oxford Christian Institute
for Counselling and Network Bristol, to hold a more open conference in
Bristol. Interested people were enabled to have face to face
conversations about therapeutic and theological understandings. The
response of those taking part was positive. Another conference was
arranged two years later and so the biennial pattern became
established, with the Hayes conference centre, more or less in the
middle of England, as a well-equipped and increasingly comfortable
venue.
Robust disagreements and rumbling suspicions between the participants
were inevitable but the conference aimed to promote a model that was
inclusive and gave permission for various emphases. Roger Hurding in
his writings in the late 1980s suggested that there are different
pathways leading to the goal of promoting wholeness. He characterized
them using five biblical images for ministry: prophet, healer, wise
counsellor, shepherd or priest. People within the different groups may
not have agreed with the way
they were being labelled. We all like to think we represent the perfect
balance of all these qualities. But conference participants valued the
rich mixture of counsellors, spiritual directors and people involved in
various ministries of pastoral care or spiritual healing who were being
attracted to the conference. For a while it was known as the Pathways
Conference, and a broadsheet Pathways News was produced to keep people
informed about what was coming. The 1994 theme expressed this thinking
and Hurding, though far from well, laid it out in an opening address.
He later wrote up his reflections in Pathways to Wholeness, Hodder
& Stoughton, 1998.
By the mid 1990s needs had changed. Counselling had now become a
more clearly defined profession.
Church-based groups had had to decide whether they were offering
counselling with its appropriate
boundaries and standards of training. There was a greater understanding
of the alternative category pastoral care, where listening and
counselling skills are important but where care takes place in more
diverse, less boundaried setting. Much more theological reflection had
taken place about what it means to offer counselling or pastoral care
in Christian contexts or in other contexts. A new generation of
conference goers were coming along who stood on the shoulders of their
predecessors and no longer fitted the Pathways typology. The 1996
conference decided to focus less on the path and more on the journey.
Its theme, Continuing the Journey has become the conference name.
The conference continues to attract a mixture of practising counsellors
and people who use counselling insights in pastoral care or spiritual
direction.