Counselors in the Church

 I've been thinking about the topic of counseling after reading the following comments: 

Just curious, does anyone know of any Bible passages that were used to establish the "evil" of getting counseling? Or was this another extra-Biblical add on

AnonymousMay 9, 2012 4:25 PM
I don't necessarily remember a specific scripture. Someone else might though. I think it was based on the idea that we don't need to be looking to man for our answers - God clearly tells us that mans' ways are not His ways. However, I believe there are many good pastors, friends, and even licensed counselors out there who can point us to God's ways - people who have been through difficulties themselves and/or people who have had time to research the scriptures extensively to bring about coherent, productive study relevant to different topics that one might be struggling with, such as money issues, marriage struggles, struggles with healing from traumatic life incidents or resisting certain sins. Certainly a counselor who points us back to Freud or Jung as the ultimate authority ought not to be trusted - but there are a great many people out there giving counsel and pointing others back to Christ as their ultimate authority. To not seek them out in our time of need is foolishness!

I love the above comment and agree with it completely.

Many churches have trained lay people who serve in the capacity of counselors.  Some churches refer out to Christian counselors.  Lots of pastors and their elders or assistant pastors counsel their flock.   So it occurred to me, why is it that at our church, only one man did counseling, the pastor?   

I've heard stories that the pastor at BGBC did not condone outside counseling. 

In light of the topic of spiritual abuse, I have a few questions for consideration:

Why would a spiritual abuser not want their congregants to receive counseling outside of the church? 

Why would an abusing pastor want to be the only counselor?   Wouldn't it free them up to do other things?  

What could the pastor gain by being the only counselor? 

Why wouldn't an abusing pastor want others raised up to counsel?  

If elders were "equal" with the pastor, why wouldn't they be qualified to counsel?