A person's religion may be traditional or it may be an individual belief system or code of conduct. Often, however, actual practices and behaviors do not support what is professed as spirituality, and sometimes beliefs and practices are at odds. These are the occasions that frequently bring people counseling. It is also important to distinguish between pastoral counseling and Christian counseling. Christian counseling is a form of pastoral counseling, but pastoral counseling is broader in scope.
Christian counseling is based upon Christian biblical precepts and is Bible-referenced.
Pastoral counseling addresses the faith tradition of the client, which may or may not be Christianity. The value of bringing the particular tenets of a client's spirituality into counseling is to examine the impact and application of the client's spirituality within the context of his or her life, with particular attention to how if relates to the problems at hand. The pastoral counselor's purpose is counseling, not conversion. A good pastoral counselor will have an understanding of several faith traditions and a tolerance for the particular tradition of his or her client. This is not to say that the pastoral counselor uniformly condones all behaviors of his or her client, as some behaviors may contribute to the presenting problems.