Heart & Mind
You’ve heard the saying, “Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach.” Is that true? Not in the Master of Arts in Marital and Family Therapy (MFT) program at Bethel Seminary San Diego. Every one of the six 
professors who teaches in the program is actively engaged in the practice of marriage and family therapy or psychology. In fact, we share a total of 156 years of clinical experience among us. It is from this rich foundation that we engage our students in their graduate academic path toward becoming Christian licensed professional psychotherapists.
Though most of our graduates stay and work in the San Diego area, others have taken positions in Colorado, Tennessee, Maryland, and other states. They work for private practice groups, churches, adoption agencies, schools, residential treatment programs, Christian pregnancy centers, rescue missions, parachurch ministries, college campuses, and mission organizations. And we strive to develop them into Christians who intentionally integrate their faith into clinical work and teaching.
Qualified beginnings
When the initial class of 12 MFT students began its studies at Bethel Seminary San Diego in 1997, it was San Diego County’s first fully accredited Christian integrated MFT program. I was happy to join Bethel and establish the charter faculty after 25 years in my own private Christian practice (Family Consultation Service). The MFT faculty at Bethel Seminary St. Paul worked closely with San Diego’s dean to make sure that, from day one, this new California program was fully accredited by the Board of Behavioral Sciences, the state licensing board for marriage and family therapists. Today, it is still the only Christian program in the San Diego area meeting that standard.
We’ve grown five-fold in our eight-year history. In fall 2005, 67 students began the academic year preparing for their MFT degrees, representing Southern California’s many ethnic groups, ages, and the broadest range of denominations. Since most of our students work at least part time (their average age is 35), all of our MFT courses are offered in the late afternoon and evening hours on Mondays and Wednesdays. The schedule does not deter our two full-time and four part-time instructors, who appreciate being the backbone of such a unique training model for Christian therapists. And our students have created an amazingly close and supportive group, especially for a nonresidential campus like San Diego’s.
Serving the culture with relevance
Since Bethel Seminary San Diego is just 25 miles from Mexico and sits on the Pacific Rim, a large percentage of our MFT students are from Latino, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and other Asian backgrounds. We also have a significant number of black students. All of our students are required to look at the impact of their own ethnicity on their thinking, perceiving, and feeling. In-class discussions are often enhanced by the powerful effects of diversity.
Our international students – from China, Taiwan, Japan, Mexico, and South Africa – have enriched each of us with a better understanding of family, marital, and individual health. A number of our graduates sense a pull from God to return to their countries of birth to become, in many cases, the only trained and qualified therapists in their home cities or regions. It is especially exciting to know that these professionals will be establishing the profession of marital and family therapy in their communities from a core of Christian theology and faith.
The ethnically and racially rich culture of our region requires that we focus on diversity issues in each course. The Board of Behavioral Sciences and other professional associations are continually raising their accreditation standards. While this is a challenging expectation, we now offer our students a stronger program than ever before, including these recently added courses:0
| • Sexuality and Intimacy in Couples and Families • Child Abuse Assessment and Intervention • Substance Abuse Assessment and Intervention • Domestic Violence Assessment and Intervention • Aging and Long Term Care |
Throughout our growth and change, however, we have intentionally retained Bethel Seminary’s unique “three centers” approach. Most of our courses contain elements of 1) biblical and theological studies; 2) transformational leadership; and 3) spiritual and personal formation.
Applying the unity of truth
All truth is from God, who reveals many wonderful truths in the Bible. Yet we know that God has left much more of His truth for us to discover through the sciences, arts, relationships, and His natural creation in ways that are consistent with His Word.
Because of this “unity of truth,” we require all MFT
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Counseling Teenagers students to integrate spirituality, theology, and clinical theory and practice in every course. Additionally, they take 10 courses from Bible and theology professors, studying alongside those earning master’s degrees in divinity or theological studies. In this way, MFT students learn solid theory, creative thinking, and clinical methods that incorporate the full orb of a client’s biological, psychological, social, and spiritual needs.
Church historian Jim Smith has created a church history course just for MFT students (Christian Lives in History), in which biographies are read from the vantage point of therapy. Theologian Glen Scorgie and MFT professor Ben Lim co-teach a special theology course (Theology and MFT Theory), in which the doctrines of Jesus Christ, sin, human depravity, and salvation are examined and discussed from theological and clinical perspectives simulataneously. We openly discuss how a Christian marital and family therapist can be faithful to the Great Commission to make disciples of Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18, and Acts 1:7-9) without violating one’s professional code of ethics or the law.
Increasingly, the secular world has seen spirituality as an integral, if not all-important, component of mental health services. We believe Christian therapists can be most effective by practicing “incarnational” therapy (representing Christ) and by obeying the great commandment to love others as ourselves (John 13:34-35). Christian therapists represent and honor God when we embody the presence of Jesus Christ and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit in our therapeutic work. While it is important not to impose an evangelistic agenda on clients, we must not hesitate to raise spiritual issues when they lead us in that direction.
To strengthen our program’s influence for Christ, a small group of students advised by Ben Lim constitutes the MFT Student Integration and Leadership Team. They sponsor Friday evening “Integration Nights,” where food and fellowship with other seminary students are followed by a guest presentation – usually from a licensed therapist – on a subject with integration at its core. Recent topics at these well-attended meetings include therapy with homosexuals, counseling soldiers with trauma reactions, prayer in therapy, and questions about suffering and pain.
Graduating prepared
To show they’ve sufficiently integrated their theological and clinical training, graduating seniors write a minimum 70-page paper and perform at least 500 hours of face-to-face therapy before receiving their diplomas. This far exceeds California’s licensure requirement of 150 hours of supervised clinical experience. We work closely with more than 50 private practice therapy centers, hospitals, hospices, government-funded agencies, church counseling centers, and schools to arrange these trainee positions for our senior students. Students for whom English is their second language often find locations where they can work with clients in their first language: Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
Trainees receive onsite supervision, and back on campus, their counseling sessions are critiqued by fellow students and professors who watch the sessions on videotape. Feedback always involves honing integration of the student counselor’s spirituality and theology. Even when the agency forbids direct discussion of religion, we help our student therapists learn how to internally diagnose and treat individuals, couples, and families in ways that are consistent with the message of Christ.
In action and word
The story of the marital and family therapy degree program at Bethel Seminary San Diego continues to unfold, with ongoing changes and improvements to the ways we train and challenge our aspiring students. It will most robustly carry on in the lives and professional service our graduates provide as they serve in San Diego, across the nation, and around the world. Perhaps the following words, commonly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, best articulate the unspoken wisdom behind our program: “Preach at all times, and if necessary, use words.” Can we reconcile our devotion to the great commission and our occupation as Christian therapists? Definitely yes!