Introduction to Biblical Counseling - Level I

These courses provide a foundation for biblical counseling, presenting a basic biblical model, essential "how to" principles, and overviews of their everyday applications. They work together to answer these basic questions: How does change take place in a person's life? What can I do to help a person change? Where are my opportunities to help others change? How can the local church function as a primary community where this change flourishes?

The three courses for the Level I certificate are described below. For tuition, see Academic Policies.

  1. Dynamics of Biblical Change

    Listen as Dr. Powlison discusses his course:

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    Through a first-hand understanding of progressive sanctification, students learn to connect biblical truth to case study realities and life details. Topics covered include the nature of idolatry and faith; the relationship between motive and action; the way Christ's past, present, and future grace intersects with and affects how people live their daily lives; and the interplay of suffering and other situational factors with a person's actions and reactions.

    (This course is a pre-requisite for all Distance Education courses. This does not apply to on-site)

  2. Counseling in the Local Church

    Listen as Dr. Lane discusses his course:

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    This course shows you how to make everyday relationships more consciously biblical and helps you to apply biblical counseling principles in many settings. It seeks to help you discern where you could serve as a biblical counselor. It's purpose is to build a thoroughly biblical understanding of the local church as a ministering community where everyone plays a part. Students are helped to find their place in ministry within the context of the local church and to help others do the same. This class emphasizes the importance of both public and private ministry of the Word of God and how they interrelate.

    Topics include a biblical foundation for private ministry of the Word; the role of community and relationships in the process of sanctification; developing a practical ecclesiology; and developing an eye for ministry opportunities such as conflict resolution, evangelism, and church discipline.

    For spring 2010 this class will start on Feb 16th and the last class will be April 13th

  3. Helping Relationships (formerly Methods of Biblical Change)

    Listen as Dr. Welch discusses his course:

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    This course seeks to help students develop a functional biblical counseling worldview. Students are taught to understand the importance of heart change as a methodological goal and to develop an understanding of the role of Scripture in biblical counseling. Topics covered include how to build a counseling relationship, how to gather and interpret data, how to function as an agent of repentance, and how to guide and assist others as they seek to apply change in daily life.

**Distance Education lectures and materials additional. Click here for details.

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