What Does it Mean to be a Faith-Based Practice
Having a Faith Based Practice means you have a practice that is clinical, but also has faith as part of it. I like to say “it's business with a twist of faith” because faith influences the work that I do. I'm doing the work to honor God and to help people and practices get healing. Faith-based practice just simply means the work I do has a faith-based component to it.
Two ways to be a Faith Based Practice
Faith-based practices or are more overt and some are more covert. Overt just means they are talking more about faith, making that more in their branding and in their marketing. And then a covert practice would be a faith-based practice, but they don't talk about it as much. Someone who sees a practice with faith-based branding and marketing knows that it's a Christian practice. You're going to do your marketing and your branding to meet the need at the ideal client that you're trying to bring in. If you are overtly faith based, get Christian branding in your name. People are going to be Googling Christian counselor. So, if you could say Atlanta Christian Counseling or Savannah Christian counseling, then you're going to be doing great with Christian in the name.
And then there are other practices that are not so overt in their presentation.
Faith is not the only thing they're talking about in their business, but faith is still a part of what identifies the practice. Water's Edge Counseling, my practice, is an example of a “covert” faith-based practice. We are here in Savannah, Georgia. The name Waters Edge Counseling is a place to rest and be restored. Cause that's how I think of therapy. People who are not faith-based will come to the website, read about it and see the Christan terms like “rest and restoration” and be ok with the treatment we do. Some don't even notice that I do have a Christian counseling page on my website. But other than that, there's nothing on the website that says Christian at all. But it's amazing how Christians come and see that and understand that we have that background. A faith-based practice can be covert. It doesn't have, it can be overt, it can be anything that you want it to be, when faith is influencing the work that you do.
Faith And the Business Owner
Faith is a personal thing. And our businesses are personal. So then faith becomes a part of that. There's a spectrum of what faith-based practice means for different people. That’s totally okay. One person's faith-based practice does not have to look like another person’s. When I do talk about being a faith-based practice owner, there are definitely some challenges that we face that could be a little different than what some other practice owners or maybe just not necessarily different. More challenging is a lot of faith-based practice owners have a lot of guilt about making profit in their business. We grew up in cultures and churches that sometimes told us that it wasn't okay to make a lot of money, or you need to give away all your money. Or making the business “your ministry” and feeling guilty for making money and being successful. That's just an example of kind of something that's a little different from faith-based practice owners than other practice owners. Even though other practice owners do struggle with that same thing, it's just not taught the same way as it is in churches.
Support with your Unique Challenges
When you're a faith-based practice owner, you have your own set of challenges owning a business. And so, this is our area that we can come and be able to talk with one another and help one another with starting, growing, and building our faith-based practices. I love this work. You can probably tell, and I did not go into all the nuances of a faith-based practice, but I want you to have some freedom.
Owning a Faith Based Practice doesn't have to look a certain way
It doesn't have to be something that someone else has told you. It has to be you. You can have creativity, you can enjoy it, and you can also let the Lord lead you in what it's going to look. So wanted to remind you though, if you are reading this and you're thinking, “Oh, I really want to have more connection with other faith-based practice owners”, connect with me and the other members of our faith based community. You can find support in our Facebook Community, the membership community, and through the blogs and tools on our website. I look forward to hearing about your journey.
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