There is a quality all counsellors must have to be successful – empathy.  The “feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions: the ability to share someone else’s feelings” – per Merriam-Webster.  

If you don’t have this quality, all the training in the world will not help you be a successful counselor.  I’m a firm believer that this is true for Christians too.  We must have empathy to win the world for Jesus.

There is no one with greater empathy than Jesus.  A sinless man who not only showed us how to live and love, but who went to the Cross for us.  His ministry was filled with empathetic moments (Luke 8:43-48, John 4:1-42, and John 8:1-11) where He showed us we need to understand where someone is coming from and love them on their level.  Jesus also took all our sins to the Cross and died so that we may live.  There is no greater empathetic act than that.

So, as Christians – the Church, the Bride of Christ – we’ve got to act like Jesus.  Love and empathy, the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, is the only way we can successfully win this world over.