Pastoral Counseling is a unique form of psychotherapy which uses spiritual resources as well as psychological understanding for healing and growth. It is provided by certified pastoral counselors, who are not only mental health professionals but who have also had in-depth religious and/or theological training.

Pastoral ministry involves shepherding the flock. Shepherding involves protection, tending to needs, strengthening the weak, encouragement, feeding the flock, making provision, shielding, refreshing, restoring, leading by example to move people on in their pursuit of holiness, comforting, guiding (Pss 78: 52; 23).

Pastoral care is a general ministry much like the family physician in medicine. Pastoral counseling is a specialized ministry much like the specialists in medicine.

In addition to the church, pastoral counseling is typically offered in hospitals, at both inpatient and outpatient mental health counseling facilities, including addiction and rehabilitation facilities, as well as in private practice. The length of the counseling program is based on the types of issues being addressed.

Aiding a person to find wellness or wholeness from brokenness, injury or disease. In pastoral care we usually mean brokenness, injury or disease in a spiritual and/or emotional sense. Helping a person to restore a relationship that has been broken either with a person, a group of people, or God.

A critical feature of pastoral care is how well staff know their pupils’ unique circumstances so they can learn effectively. Ultimately, the best care is defined on the quality of relationships, strong partnerships, high expectations and how staff respond to the needs of specific pupils and groups.

Pastoral care in education means a whole-school strategic and operational approach to improve learners’ attendance, and to foster an atmosphere that is conducive for learning and promotes tolerance, resilience, fairness and equal opportunities for all, with due regard for protected characteristics.

Pastoral care and Counseling is one of the important ministries in the Church at any place in the world. Our churches are filled with people who experience crisis, lost, loneliness, anxiety, depression, divorced, and family problems. Pastors have a huge opportunity to help people just by listening and encouraging those in household of faith.

Critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of pastoral theological views of contemporary issues: sin, grace, addiction, anxiety, depression, aggression, and violence. Assess the applicability of pastoral theologies to specific situations of pastoral counseling, mental health counseling, and spiritual care.

Another value of premarital counseling is that it affords each partner a better understanding of himself. A value of great importance is the knowledge that each partner gains of the other through the counseling process. The pastor must help the partners to gain a greater understanding of the thought patterns of each other.

In some cases it is just enough to listen and teach biblical principles of living but in the other cases there is the need to be specifically train people for a specialized ministry of counseling with deeper problems. In the context of my Country, Russia, I choose three issues which mostly need response in the churches.