World Federation of Christian Pastoral Counselors 

Traditionally, Christian counseling distinguishes itself from other forms of counseling by the Holy Spirit's presence and the Word of God informing and guiding both counselor and counselee in resolving the counselee's spiritual issues by working in a relationship modeled on the Trinity. However, given the intimate relationship between the mind and soul, the psychological is imbedded in the spiritual such that when psychological truths are applied consistent with the Gospel they become additional gifts of counseling from God for use in addressing the emotional issues that present to Christian counselors in their calling to relieve human misery through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And, because of the psychospiritual nature of the soul, a spiritual problem such as faith may have its origins in the psychological development of basic trust while a psychological problem such as a broken human relationship may have its basis spiritually in a broken relationship with God.  Furthermore, because humans have been created as physical beings, a spiritual obsession with unanswered prayer or not knowing God's will, may be masking a clinical state of anxiety or depression.  Therefore, Christian counseling that approaches healing like Jesus did during his earthly ministry needs to address both body and soul because of our being created  as whole integrated beings. 

This makes it important for the Christian counselor to be able to discern the psychological in the spiritual, the spiritual in the psychological and when the psychospiritual is masking or presenting physically. For example, when Jesus physically cured ten lepers, one of them returned to Him and as a result was spiritually healed or saved as well.  Also, Jesus questioned the invalid at Bethesda to address his psychological will to get well, and possibly from a behavioral standpoint, his willingness to let go of the secondary gain associated with his earning a living as a beggar, prior to physically healing him.  And, Jesus spiritually healed the man in the region of the Garasenes by casting out Legion, which restored not only his mental health but his position in society as well.  However, regardless of the nature of the healing involved, all healings are a gift from God and due to the power of the Holy Spirit, not the power of man. 

The need to discern problems like Jesus raises the important issue of being able to recognize the limits of one's ability as a Christian counselor. It means knowing whether one has the background and experience to address the issues and problems the counselee is presenting with or whether someone else
may be better prepared to address the situation such that referral, consultation and/or collaboration may best serve the counselee.  Decisions such as this need to be made based on one's ability to discern the spiritual from the psychological, the psychological from the spiritual, and the psychospiritual from the physical together with whether one's overall counseling gifts and abilities will best serve the person presenting with the problem, whether obtaining consultation is necessary or whether referral to another Counselor to work in collaboration with would best serve the counselee.
 
With these issues in mind, the WCICC through its ministry, the World Federation of Christian Pastoral Counselors (WFCPC) has developed three membership types for Christian counselors in order for the WFCPC to begin providing assistance to Christian counselors to help equip them in the areas they want assistance with. The resources and assistance that the WFCPC's will provide will be based on the needs of the different Types of Christian Counselors as determined by the feedback and requests the WFCPC receives.

Membership in the WCICC is required to participate in the training or membership of the World Federation of Christian Pastoral Counselors.