President's Message
The
need for Christian counselling has become very urgent in the Church today as
many Christians have become causalities of hectic and stressful modern living.
Consequently, Christians seeking counselling has increased in the recent years.
On the one hand, it has been my joy to be able to counsel and help Christians
in their spiritual journey especially in their marriage, family and personal
life. On the other hand, it has been my burden to see that Christians are appropriately
helped lest the Evil One would manipulate their circumstance and wreck their
faith.
Though some Christians seek help from their church but unfortunately there is
hardly any professional counselling available. This is because most pastors
are not trained in professional counselling and as such they may feel inadequate
to deal with serious marital, family and psychological problems. If we fail
to meet those stated needs, Christians would likely turn to private (mostly
non-Christian) family therapists or psychotherapists. Some Christians may instead
go to Family Service Centres for help but many of them cannot provide Christian
counselling.
Hence, it is my ardent desire to provide a platform for those involved in Christian
counselling to foster cooperation and champion the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In that light, I have gathered some like-minded Christian counsellors to set
up the Association of Christian Counsellors of Singapore (ACCS). Through this
association, Christians who are involved in the counselling ministry can share
their expertise to develop and advance Christian counselling as a discipline
in Singapore so that Christians can be helped effectively.
ACCS would be organising counselling seminars, conferences and training in the
future to equip Christians to do counselling more proficiently. This would also
help raise the level of professionalism in the counselling ministry. We would
likely run a quarterly newsletter to update members of ACCS events or activities
as well as to touch base with each other.
I am very confident that the founding of the ACCS would strengthen and advance
the counselling ministry in Singapore. In doing so, the Christian community
can be helped along effectively in their spiritual journey.
Blessings.
Spencer Lee
Founding President.