[The following article is a response post I posted on Remnant Counselor Collective in response to their article Should Therapists Take Insurance? Check them out and share your thoughts in the comments about your calling with serving in mental health services or the Church.]
As Christian counselors, we are called to be the hands and feet of Christ to a hurting world. Every day, we enter sacred spaces with our clients, whether they are struggling with anxiety, trauma, broken relationships, or systemic oppression. However, as our profession evolves, we must pause and ask: Who are we truly serving? And perhaps more importantly: Who is being left out?
I recently reflected on this after reading a blog post intended to encourage Christian counselors. It discussed the joys and challenges of private practice, providing guidance on sustainability and self-care. But I walked away feeling discouraged, not because the message was wrong, but because it didn’t reflect the world I serve. In the comment I left, I wrote:
“While I was at Denver Seminary, the last class I ever took there was called Integration by looking at faith and mental health practice. The last day of class before we graduated, they asked us what we loved and what we wished would change. I ended up sharing that they only ever talked about private practice. Nothing in any of my Master’s level classes was in line with community mental health services or the like. You see, my calling is to give voice to the voiceless…”
This isn’t a critique of counselors who work in private practice, serve self-pay clients, or work with affluent individuals. Their work is good and deeply needed. Nor is it to say that Christian counseling should only be done with Christians. We are called to love our neighbor, every neighbor, regardless of faith, race, income, or background.
However, the truth is that many Christian counseling programs and conversations unintentionally center on a narrow population, typically directing students to private practice, where they work with clients who have good insurance or seek out explicitly Christian therapy. In contrast, there is little attention given to the clinicians doing the hard, often hidden work in community mental health centers, residential programs, correctional facilities, research, or Medicaid-funded clinics.
The Call to the Margins
Jesus Himself was often found among the poor, the sick, and the marginalized. His ministry was holistic—He fed the hungry, healed the broken, and restored dignity to the outcast. Isaiah 61, echoed in Luke 4, tells us why He came:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor… to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives… to comfort all who mourn.”
That’s the blueprint for our work.
My own calling is to give voice to the voiceless. I work with clients who often can’t afford even a $5 session. Many have experienced generational poverty, trauma, severe substance misuse, or childhood abuse and neglect. They tend to be people who are “in the system” and need government assistance like Medicaid, thankfully, but are often forgotten in conversations about building thriving practices or integrating faith into treatment.
And I know I’m not alone.
Many Christian counselors are doing faithful, compassionate work in underfunded systems. I am aware of several churches that have hired counselors with federal grants to cover the entire cost of counseling, churches with assistance programs to offset counseling costs for those who qualify for a sliding scale fee, or entire communities that eliminate the cost of counseling and pay counselors a salary to do good work. We are clinicians, supervisors, and advocates. We work long hours, battle burnout, and still come back the next day because we believe in the sacred dignity of every person we meet.
A Bigger Tent for Christian Counseling
So what do we do? We expand the table.
We need to make room in our professional conversations, blog posts, training programs, and conferences for every counselor, whether in private practice, community health, nonprofit work, or schools.
We must equip students and interns not just for business plans and self-pay clientele, but for Medicaid documentation, crisis response, and cultural humility. We should celebrate the success of those building sustainable private practices and those holding the line in overwhelmed public systems.
It’s not an either-or. It’s both-and.
Let’s raise up counselors for every setting and every income level. Let’s make room for those who speak Spanish, work in rural towns, serve in prisons, and walk with the homeless. Let’s remember that Jesus was not impressed with status, He was moved by compassion.
Encouragement for the Undervalued
If you’re a counselor reading this and working in the trenches, underpaid, overworked, yet showing up every day, you are not forgotten.
You are seen.
You are needed.
You are living the Gospel.
I wish I could get you a check to increase your salary or turn the model into one that mimics thriving private practices. But that’s not your calling and you wouldn’t switch it for a higher pay any day of the week. Your work matters deeply, even if it doesn’t pay as well.
And to those in private practice or with affluent clients, thank you for your faithfulness too. You’re also making a difference. May we all, together, hold fast to the truth that no person is beyond the reach of healing, and no calling is more spiritual than another.
Let’s build a Christian counseling community that reflects the full Body of Christ: diverse, compassionate, and deeply committed to justice and wholeness for all.
Let’s keep the conversation going.
Who are you called to serve, and how can we better support one another across the counseling spectrum?
