Ask FGBC #34: How Much Marriage Counselling Should Pastors Provide?

Jim Butler

A pastor and elder discuss the appropriate scope of pastoral marriage counselling, framing the pastor's role on the model of a general practitioner who handles common presenting problems but refers complex cases to specialists. Most marital conflict, they argue, traces back to a failure to obey the clear biblical commands of Ephesians 5 — husbands failing to love sacrificially, wives failing to submit willingly — making the pastoral response straightforward in principle even where circumstances are complex. The conversation resists both an over-medicalised model that sidelines the pastor and a naive model that refuses any referral.