Integrating Professional Counselling into the Church: An Analysis of Knowledge, Attitude, and Perception of Lay Church Leaders of the Church of Pentecost, Sowutuom, Accra

Abstract

Professional counselling services is gradually gaining place and value in ministry of churches in Ghana. This is partly due to the growing awareness of burden of mental health issues among the general population as well as well as the huge treatment gap of mental healthcare in the country. The Church of Pentecost has introduced a counselling ministry into the church’s ministry since 2019. The counselling ministry seeks to rally both professionals and lay leaders in the church to provide psychosocial support for their congregants and the larger community. The paper conducts an empirical analysis of the knowledge, attitude, and perception of lay leaders on the integration of counselling into the church. It was observed that although lay church leaders have appreciable level of knowledge and attitude towards counselling, there are concerns of the role of the Holy Spirit and pastoral authority to provide healing for hurting members. There is, therefore, the need to pursue continuous engagement between church leaders and professional counsellors to promote collaboration for addressing mental health needs of congregants.