Choose one of the three atonement theories that mostly align with your understanding of atonement. Explain how you might use your theory of cho

HERE’S A QUESTION I (Mark) have been asked many times over the course of my career: “How often do you share your faith in the context of counseling?” Of the many integration questions I have received over the years this is perhaps the most difficult, and my answers have always felt clumsy and inadequate. Indeed, this question is so common and intimidating that I have come to think of it in uppercase terms as “the Question.”

Even as I sputter out some words in reply, my mind spins with the complexity of it, and the only thing I feel certain about is that my answer isn’t very helpful. Recently, with Megan Anna’s help, I have been able to place the Question in the context of a much bigger question: What is God up to in the world? At first glance speaking of religious beliefs in counseling may not seem very connected to this bigger question of God’s activity in the world, but we attempt to make this connection clear in this chapter. And, as is true of every chapter in this book, we hope our ideas will promote further conversation among those who read this book such that our collective wisdom will evolve into something much greater than the two of us can offer here.

Early in my career, my answer to the Question tended to be guilt based. I included a general statement about my Christian faith in my informed consent form, and occasionally I would venture into conversation about how Jesus can save us from our self-focused ways and offer a more abundant life, but most often I did not. With almost every patient who did not identify as a Christian I had this nagging feeling that I might be doing something pallid and shallow in my therapeutic work. I pondered whether I was colluding with them to look at the little stories of human life without considering the bigger story that could ultimately lead to abundant and eternal life.

Midcareer, during my years as a psychology professor at Wheaton College, I taught professional ethics in our doctoral program. Ethics standards look closely at issues of power and persuasion, so in those days I would often stumble through some answer about balancing ethical practice with our calling as Christians to spread the good news of Jesus. This already-tricky balancing act is further complicated because our professional licenses make us accountable to state regulatory bodies and national professional organizations. Being a licensed psychologist or marriage and family therapist or professional counselor means we are expected to act in ways that are congruent with what our jurisdiction mandates and our patients expect. If you were to ask the Question in those days, I would probably say something about attending to the deep spiritual questions of our patients, offering what we can while staying congruent in our roles as licensed professionals, and then referring people to clergy to further address these questions. Still, even as I offered these words I would feel internally guilty for not sharing enough about Jesus with my patients who seemed to be searching for some greater meaning in their lives.

Now in my late-career years, and in conversation with Megan Anna, I have come to a place of personal peace with this. In all those prior years I tended to nuance and parse the answer to the Question without spending much time pondering its connection to the larger topic of God’s character and activity in the world. What I’ve discovered is that making this connection allows for simplicity, peace, and wisdom.

Locating Mission

We know from psychology that the human brain likes categories. We interact with thousands of sensory inputs every day and need categories to make sense of it all. And yet the categories we use change how we experience a thing. Take anxiety for instance. If you study anxiety under the category of biology you may focus on physical symptoms, the sympathetic nervous system, and biological interventions. If you study anxiety under the category of relationship you may focus on attachment, current social stressors, and protective factors. If you study anxiety under mental health interventions, you may focus on cognitive restructuring and psychological techniques to reduce anxious thoughts. Clearly, the categories we use influence our experience and interpretation of a construct. Theologians are not immune to this, as they too tend to study concepts under umbrella categories. This is helpful, except for when it isn’t. Some things fit into categories more easily than others. Mission is a nomadic topic that has been studied under many different umbrella themes. Given that categories shape how we understand a thing, this has influenced our Christian approach to mission.

Mission and soteriology. In the twentieth century it was common to study mission under the umbrella category of soteriology—the doctrine of salvation. From this vantage point, one of the most important things we Christians can do is go out into the world to save lost souls.

In middle school, having just learned Bill Bright’s Four Spiritual Laws, I (Mark) recall sitting down with a peer after we played a baseball game and explaining to him how all of us are sinners, that Jesus has built a bridge through the sacrificial death of Jesus, and that he could have the gift of eternal life by saying a prayer and inviting Jesus into his heart. It took incredible courage for me to approach this friend and share with him, but it was all worth it when it worked! He said the prayer and became a Christian. I spoke of it freely in my youth group and probably would have gotten lots of high-fives except that we did low-fives back then.

Though I’m about to criticize myself for this individualistic view of mission, I should first say two good things about this story. First, I take Jesus to be quite serious when he offered words of Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). Jesus revealed God’s heart for mission with these words and invited us to be participants in that mission. My clumsy, awkward conversation with my middle school friend came at least partly from a desire to obey Jesus, and I take that to be a good desire. Second, God really does save us. My understanding of God and humanity today doesn’t fit as well with the Four Spiritual Laws as it did back in middle school, but I still hold firmly to the conclusion that Jesus invites us into the salvation we long for. Back then I thought only in terms of eternal life, which should not be minimized, but now I’ve come to think that we make the word