As CCEF strives to “Return Counseling to the Church,” our classes equip you to think biblically about people and their problems. Our program has blessed the ministries of many pastors, elders, church leaders and interested lay people. We have also trained many others in the helping professions including counselors, medical doctors and social workers who want to help others grow in wisdom. Our students leave the classroom encouraged at the way Scripture speaks profoundly to all issues of life. 

Classes may be taken for credit, either as a single class or to work towards a CCEF certificate. You may also choose to audit a class at a reduced tuition rate, receiving the benefit of learning from lectures without the time constraints of deadlines for assignments. 

Dynamics of Biblical Change is required for students in the Distance Education program and recommended as a starting point for onsite students. After completing Dynamics, courses may be taken in any order, but the following chart provides a suggested class sequence.  

NOTE: Courses marked with an * are presently available only onsite, either as a weekly class during the normal class terms or in an “intensive” format scheduled periodically throughout the year.

Biblical Interpretation: Using Scripture Wisely in Counseling

All of scripture is sufficient for counseling, but how do you connect God’s word effectively to the lives and struggles of people around you? Do you always turn to the same familiar passages, and are less confident in using others to communicate the power of God’s love and faithfulness in the Gospel? How do you use the Bible’s redemptive story in counseling so that counselees grow in their knowledge of and love for the sovereign Lord? This course will help you understand both people and the Bible more thoroughly and is designed to help you become more confident and grow in your ability to rivet Scriptural truth to real-life ministry situations. Through lectures, class discussion, and interpretive assignments, you’ll develop your skills in interpreting and applying any passage of scripture in a way that is sensitive to the counselee’s context, the text’s author, and the text itself. It will help you to use the Scriptures to help people grow to love God and others more fully in the midst of their complex, daily lives.

Listen as Dr. Emlet discusses his course:

Syllabus Spring 2010  (on-site)
Reading List (on-site)
Reading List (distance education)
Sample Syllabus (distance education)

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Counseling & Physiology: Understanding Body and Spirit

A biblical view of man begins with an understanding that we are both body AND spirit. There may indeed be physical or medical conditions that affect a person’s emotions, thought processes, and behavior, but these need to be examined through a biblical lens that balances the spiritual with the physical components of a person’s suffering. In this class, you’ll look at issues such as psychiatry, psychoactive medications, and other kinds of issues that people struggle with (i.e., OCD, bipolar disorder, homosexuality, and other things that may have both physical and spiritual components) in a way that considers both aspects of who we are as human beings. Through lectures, group discussion and case studies, you’ll learn a biblically-based view of the connection between physical events and behavior, emotions, perception and thought processes. 

Listen as Dr. Emlet discusses his course:

Reading List (on-site)
Sample Syllabus (on-site)
Reading List (distance education)
Sample Syllabus (distance education)

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Counseling Children & Adolescents (formerly Human Growth & Development)*

Today’s children and teens struggle with many common counseling issues, such as depression, eating disorders, broken relationships, suicide, and peer pressure, to name a few. At the root of these problems is a heart struggle that the Lord wants to redeem and transform through the application of Gospel truths. Through practical, hands on project assignments and creative class exercises, you’ll learn how to build a relationship with a child or teen and apply Scripture in a way that gives life. You’ll also have lectures and assigned readings that help you understand a biblical method of family counseling; issues of learning and development; and develop an understanding of common counseling problems with children and teens. While this course focuses on applying counseling skills to children and teens, the skills you’ll build are applicable to counseling adults as well, learning to draw them out and feel comfortable discussing their problems, and applying Scripture. (NOTE: This course presently offered only onsite.)

Listen as Mrs. Lowe discusses her course:

Spring 2010 Syllabus
Reading List for Spring 2010

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Counseling in the Local Church: Formal and Informal

Biblical counseling – is it just for the pastors and elders? Or for trained professionals? What does it look like to restore counseling to the local church? This course aids church leaders and lay people alike to broaden their definition of “counseling.” Counseling is found in both the formal and interpersonal interactions and advice we give and receive within the body of Christ on any given day. We all are counselors – from the casual hallway conversations, to the over-the-fence neighborly chat, to the more formal counseling and ministry structure of a church for conflict resolution, evangelism, and church discipline. This course benefits pastors and church leaders who are thinking about how to create structures and systems for pastoral care and how to equip leaders for counseling ministry. This is also a course for lay people in the church who are not counseling in a formal way, but desire to use their gifts in ministry within the local church. Case studies, reading, and project assignments will help you apply what you are learning to your own current ministry situation and to develop a practical understanding of how counseling ministry functions effectively within the church.

Listen as Dr. Lane discusses his course:

Spring 2010 onsite syllabus & reading list
Reading List (distance education)
Sample Syllabus (distance education)

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Counseling Observation*

What does actual counseling look like? It’s one thing to learn about biblical counseling through reading books and listening to a lecture, but it’s quite another to learn by actually seeing it done. You’ll have the opportunity to observe various CCEF counselors and faculty members as they counsel actual cases, either live or on video. You’ll experience the unscripted, unpredictable, and often messy aspects of face-to-face personal ministry, and be introduced to the artfulness, skill, and utter dependency on the Spirit that is needed to counsel wisely. Class discussion will focus on topics that arise out of each counseling session, and you’ll learn how to make effective progress notes to document your own counseling sessions. (NOTE: This course presently offered only onsite.)

Listen as Mr. Smith discusses this course:

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Counseling Problems & Procedures

The Bible offers a rich and deeply theological perspective on life’s issues – even if they are not explicitly mentioned in Scripture! God’s Word clearly addresses common age-old problems such as suffering, anger, fear, and anxiety. But it also speaks clearly to other “modern” problems in the church such as guilt, abuse, legalism, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, anorexia and bulimia, and addictions. Through case studies, lectures, and outside readings, you’ll learn to move towards people with any type of struggle in a way that is helpful and Christ-centered. You’ll learn to identify the heart issues underlying specific struggles and how to apply Scripture in a way that is engaging and brings hope to those who are hurting.

Listen as Dr. Welch discusses his course:

Reading List (on-site)
Spring Syllabus 2010 (onsite)
Reading List (distance education)
Sample Syllabus (distance education)

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Dynamics of Biblical Change: How People Change

True, lasting change begins in the heart, and is the result of understanding how the Gospel – Christ’s past, present, and future grace – applies to how we live our daily lives. The truths of Scripture provide life-giving answers to questions such as: What are you facing? What should you be like? Why do you do what you do? How do you change? How should you live now? Wrong answers or half-truths presented as the whole truth lead both the counselor and counselee in the wrong direction. Wise counsel thinks out and lives out the truth that answers each of these questions. 

This is course about people. It is about how people change into the “image of Jesus Christ.” Through case studies, class lectures, assigned readings, and Scripture, you’ll explore these practical questions, and learn how understanding and applying the Gospel produces lasting heart change. A self-counseling project, worked on throughout the semester, will help you to practically apply the concepts learned in class to your own life and help you to grow in grace.

Listen as Dr. Powlison discusses his course:

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Essential Qualities of a Biblical Counselor*

An effective biblical counselor exhibits character qualities of love, humility, faithfulness, and spiritual maturity, and continues to grow and develop in these areas. Through lectures, group discussions, practical assignments and hands-on one-to-one counseling sessions during the course of the class, you’ll be encouraged to identify your strengths and weakness as a counselor and to develop a practical plan for growth.

The principles taught build upon the foundation taught in Dynamics of Biblical Change and Helping Relationships, which should be taken first. There is a lab fee of $30 for this course. (NOTE: This
course presently offered only onsite.)

Listen as Mrs. Kim discusses her course:

Reading List (on-site)
Sample Syllabus (on-site)

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Helping Relationships: Helping People Change

Biblical change occurs in the context of our relationships. In this course, you’ll be encouraged to develop richly personal, biblically-based relationships with others and assist them as they seek to apply biblical change to their daily lives. You’ll learn the importance of applying Scripture in biblical counseling and practical skills such as listening, data-gathering and interpretation. Case studies, lectures, and group discussions will help you grow in your ability to listen well, interpret another person’s story from a biblical perspective, and offer biblically-based truth that will motivate that person to repentance and change.

Listen as Dr. Welch discusses his course:

Reading List (on-site)
Syllabus Spring 2010 (on-site)
Reading List (distance education)
Sample Syllabus (distance education)

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Human Personality: A Biblical Perspective on People

Who are we? How do we act, based upon our understanding of who we are? Who are other people? How do we talk or ask questions of people because of how we view them? Scripture is crammed with answers to these questions. This course draws out many of these answers in such a way that we know God better, know ourselves better, and are led into faith and joyful obedience, growing in our love for and respect of others. This course also emphasizes methodology and demonstrates Scripture’s breadth and depth through an examination of both Christian and secular counseling case studies and approaches.

Listen as Dr. Welch discusses his course:

Reading List (on-site)
Sample Syllabus (on-site)
Reading List (distance education)
Sample Syllabus (distance education)

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Marriage Counseling: An Introduction

Marriage can be an incredible gift from God and an opportunity to taste and experience His goodness. But it is also God’s workshop for change, as in a day-to-day and practical way it forces us to come face-to-face with some realities of who we really are and our need to know Christ more deeply and to walk more closely with Him. Today’s church, your friends, and your neighbors are facing a host of marital issues. The world suggests taking the “easy way out” through divorce, and popular marriage counseling offers techniques and solutions that do not produce lasting heart change. In this introductory course on marriage counseling, you will walk away with a working model for how to make sense of marriage problems. You’ll understand simple, basic, and Biblical categories that can handle all of the mess and hardship that marriage counseling and marriage problems will throw at you. You’ll also have model that in every way connects the truth of the Gospel to everything that you are going to see in marriage problems.

Listen as Mr. Smith discusses his course:

Reading List (on-site)
Sample Syllabus (on-site)
Reading List (distance education)
Sample Syllabus (distance education)

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Seminar in Professional Orientation: Caring for People Wisely

If you are part of a lay counseling ministry in a church, there are standards for professional conduct and care, as well as legal and ethical implications in counseling. In this class, you’ll explore how these standards of care may impact counseling in both church-based settings and secular contexts. Through lectures, class discussion, and assigned readings, you’ll be equipped to think critically about the role and context for Biblical Counseling, while becoming acquainted with standards of professional practice. The class covers a wide range of topics, including: standards of care, licensure, informed consent and competency, multiple relationships, record keeping, privacy laws, termination procedures, diversity and cultural issues, reporting child abuse, life-endangering clients, counselor self-care, and professional development. (NOTE: This course presently offered only onsite.)

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Theology and Secular Psychology: Biblical Perspectives on Counseling Theories

People today view life’s problems through the lens of modern psychology, even within the church. Today’s psychologies shape the culture we live in and the way people we minister to interpret their problems. While many psychologists see life’s situations clearly and care about them deeply, these things are interpreted apart from and often in contradiction to biblical truths. Through practical assignments, group discussion, lectures and assigned readings, you’ll develop skills to engage lovingly and wisely with the ways others have sought to understand, love and care about the problems people face. You’ll develop your ability to reinterpret the things they see and care about most deeply with a richer understanding that is offered by the Bible. The class also will help you to understand where biblical counseling fits within our cultural context, both within the church and the surrounding mental health system.

Listen as Dr. Powlison discusses his course:

Reading List (on-site)
Spring 2010 Syllabus (on-site)
Reading List (distance education)
Sample Syllabus (distance education)

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