The Value of Training in Biblical Counseling
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By Brad Brandt
Thirty-three years ago, the Lord privileged me to become the pastor of Wheelersburg Baptist Church, in Appalachian southern Ohio, where I presently serve. At the time, the church was 109 years old. I was 26 and had just finished four years of Bible college and another four years of seminary. I believed the Bible was the inerrant, infallible, trustworthy Word of God. I was committed to preaching it, making disciples by it, and equipping this precious congregation to live by it.
Then it started. People began opening up to me, saying things like, “Pastor, we’re having marriage problems.” And “Pastor, I’ve been told I’m bipolar.” And “Pastor, they say our child has ADHD, and we’re overwhelmed.” Then came the question, “Pastor, can you help us?”
I responded by listening, praying with them, expressing my concern and support, reading a Scripture or two, but that was about it. I sensed they needed more, but I didn’t know how to provide it.
Consequently, I saw a couple of things happen. First, some of the strugglers went outside the church for help. Unfortunately, though well-meaning I’m sure, this “professional” help typically didn’t increase the hurting person’s confidence in Christ, His Word, and His church. In fact, at times it undermined this confidence. A second outcome I observed was that some hurting people continued to limp along in isolation, receiving little or no help, convinced that no help was available.
Recognizing the Need
After seven years of pastoring this way, I knew something needed to change. I needed to change. The Lord had called me to shepherd His flock, and I wasn’t doing it. Frankly, I didn’t know how to do it.
But it was more personal than that. I didn’t know how to deal with problems in my own life. I would walk through the door into my home in the evening, and my wife would ask, “How was your day?” My standard answer was, “Fine, dear. It was fine.” It didn’t matter if I’d been putting out church fires all day. Everything was always fine. I thought that’s what the good Christian response was. Just be positive. Don’t get angry. Things will work out. But they didn’t.
Please don’t misunderstand. New people were coming. The giving was good. The church was growing. We had programs and activities for all ages, with lots of people serving. But something seemed amiss. In reality, a storm was brewing.
Twelve Long, Valuable Mondays
About 26 years ago, in God’s incredible kindness, I heard about and signed up for a 12-week course in Biblical counseling hosted by Clearcreek Chapel near Dayton, Ohio. It was there I learned from three pastors what the Bible says about the real problems my people were experiencing, that I was experiencing. That was a tough stretch, leaving the house at 6 a.m., listening to lectures in the morning, doing case studies in the afternoon, observing Biblical counselors in action in the evening, and then driving home, pulling in the driveway somewhere between 9 and 11 p.m. It was tough … and life-changing.
A pastor friend of mine recently said, “I wouldn’t be in the ministry today if it hadn’t been for Biblical counseling training.” I agree. That practical course opened my eyes to the reality that God’s Word is not only inerrant and authoritative, it is sufficient to deal with the complex challenges hurting people are facing.
The training produced a series of changes, starting with me and my family. I learned from God’s Word how I could, instead of clamming up, deal with problems God’s way. I learned there is no such thing as a problem-free life or family or church and that God’s kind of life, family, and church is one that deals with its problems His way. He shows us what His way is in the Book.
Next it began to change the church. I began a Sunday evening series, “Biblical Answers for the Problems of Life.” We learned together what the Bible says about marriage, parenting, fear, worry, depression, and much more. I also began to do Biblical counseling with people in the church and community, and I went through the rigorous yet valuable process of becoming certified with what is now the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors.
Good things were happening, but not everyone was pleased. In 1998 our church went through a firestorm; by the time the flames subsided, we had lost one-third of our members. There were many contributing factors (differences over doctrine, music, methodology, etc.), but at the root it had to do with a vital clarifying question.
The Clarifying Question
We had to ask ourselves, Are we going to be a truly Biblical church? Specifically, Do we believe that the Bible is sufficient? Will we deal with our problems by heeding this Book God has given us? When we have conflict, will we lay aside our Baptist-subculture expectations and affirm that this Book is the key to life and godliness?
It was so painful; and, frankly, in a very real sense it still is. We looked like a severely pruned tree after the departures finally stopped. But as is the case with a pruned tree, we were now ready for a remarkable season of fruit-bearing that not one of us could have anticipated.
Twenty years ago, as a church we realized that God had given us something we could not keep to ourselves. So we began our first year of training in Biblical counseling. About 50 people from nine area churches were in that first class. The next year we offered a second track. The following year we began offering an advanced track, as well as continuing our fundamentals track. Eventually others in our church family began counseling and teaching. We started going on the road to do training in other places, even overseas.
I don’t even know the numbers for sure, for they don’t really matter—a lesson the Lord has been teaching me for three decades. Many hundreds of people from mostly small churches in the region of southern Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia have participated in our courses. Ministry is all about God’s glory, and His glory is manifest when He works through weak vessels like us to accomplish His eternally significant plan to transform hurting sinners into His Son’s likeness. Our counseling team has been offering free counseling to our Tri-State region for 20 years now. Dozens of people every year are finding hope from the Scriptures. Marriages are being restored. People struggling with depression, fears, and anxieties are learning to experience the joy of Christlikeness in their struggles. And for this we say, to God be the glory!
Acts 20:20 Ministry
In the twenty-first century, we need Acts 20:20 ministries. So, pastor friend, I commend to you the value of a 20:20 ministry, the kind of Word-centered ministry the apostle Paul described in Acts 20:20, “I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house” (NIV). There is a need, says Paul, for the ministry of the Word on two fronts. There’s the public ministry of the Word (preaching). But there’s also the private, house-to-house ministry of the Word, which is what Biblical counseling is all about. When we preach, we take the Word to people. When we counsel, we take people to the Word.
Training in Biblical counseling is worth the effort. If you have never received such training, I urge you to consider it. Check out https://biblicalcounseling.com/training/training-centers/ to find the ACBC training center closest to you. Take a course and pursue certification. Encourage others in the congregation to do the same. You won’t regret it.
Reposted with permission from Baptist Bulletin © Regular Baptist Press, all rights reserved.
Brad Brandt (DMin, Grace Seminary) is pastor of Wheelersburg (Ohio) Baptist Church. He is a certified Biblical counselor and fellow with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. He and his wife, Sherry, have served Wheelersburg Baptist Church since 1987.
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Reading this article brought to mind a few observations:
- I know several of the elders at ClearCreek Chapel, including Russ. Good guys. Small world.
- I’m thankful for Brad’s faithfulness to God’s church through the “firestorm,” as he phrases it. Most young pastors would probably have resigned and gone somewhere else. There’s a mindset today that believes if ministry gets hard that must be God telling the young pastor to move on to greener / easier pastures. I’ve seen too many young pastors pull out the “God’s will” card when deciding to leave their current churches during a difficult experience. God is looking for faithful shepherds to lead his flock, not hirelings.
- Biblical counseling can be a very consuming ministry, especially if you open it up to the general populace.
- Biblical counseling can also be a very divisive ministry. We had two ACBC-certified counselors in our church. One of them spent her time complaining about the marriage counseling ministry of one of our elders because he was an “integrationist.”
- Biblical counselors need to practice what they preach. Both of the ACBC-certified counselors in our church ended up leaving our church because of unresolved conflicts they had with others in the church. As I commented in another thread, I’m less and less impressed by ACBC-certification. I haven’t seen it produce much good fruit. On the other hand, I have seen the “integrationist” elder and his wife have a fruitful ministry in our church.
What are some of the major differences between the ACBC approach and the integrationist approach?
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Integrationist approach uses a lot more psychology than does ACBC. (hey, isn’t that a band from Australia….?)
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
ADHD, bipolar? Go see a doctor.
To be clear, I don’t have an issue biblical counseling. In fact, I prefer the approach. I just have not had good experiences with ACBC-certified counselors. In my mind, certification should mean these people are good at what they do (i.e. provide biblical counsel and live their own lives accordingly). In reality, certification means these people think they are good at what they do, and they want you to think they are good at what they do.
It’s not precisely ACBC, but it’s worth noting that the BJU approach of Jim Berg seems to resemble ACBC in many regards, and that model really took it in the chin when Boz Tchividjian reviewed their handling of sexual assault allegations a few years back. It’s also what Megan Lively reported as the approach with her sexual assault at SEBTS, I believe.
The overall gap is that (IMO) the approach tends to try to fix the symptoms, and not enough emphasis is placed on understanding the cause. I see this a lot with many fundagelicals’ approach to anger—anger is too often seen as the problem, instead of asking the question “why is this person angry?” There is a huge difference in the anger, say, of a rape or assault victim, and that of a person blowing his top because the guy won’t get out of the left lane fast enough.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Yes, BJU is a proponent of biblical counseling. So is Southern Seminary, Master’s Seminary, etc. I agree with BJU’s decision not to jettison their biblical counseling approach even though GRACE didn’t like it. Many counseling professionals dismiss biblical counseling out of hand as flawed, uniformed, and simplistic. That said, many biblical counselors dismiss psychology out of hand as flawed, unbiblical, and humanistic.
Biblical counselors would tell you it is psychology, not biblical counseling, that treats the symptoms and not the root cause of non-organic issues. Psychology doesn’t have an understanding of sin and its devastating effects on the soul and body of the individual. Psychology seeks to remove guilt instead of seeing guilt as a diagnostic indicator. Psychology doesn’t view and treat non-organic issues in light of the process of sanctification. Etc.
In BJU’s case, the deans shared the competing interests of regulating student behavior (i.e. student discipline) and providing biblical counseling. They erred in treating the abuse situations primarily as student discipline issues instead of as biblical counseling issues. BJU’s deans / counselors were also ill equipped to handle the issues and trauma involved in abuse situations.
ACBC is Jay Adam’s old group. It’s nouthetic counseling. Jay Adams had disagreements with the direction of the group, so he split off and formed his own Institute of Nouthetic Studies, which has found a home at Mid-America Baptist Seminary. Donn Arms, who comments here occasionally, was heavily involved with Adams and the entire movement and can speak much more responsibly (and accurately!) than I can! All I can recall about Adams’ beef with what is now the ACBC is that he disagreed with the “idols of the heart” paradigm for understanding sin.
An “integrationist,” as I understand it, is someone who accepts insights from psychology and marries them to biblical principles. Immediately, we begin talking past one another on this one because OF COURSE everyone accepts valid insights from everywhere, so the whole thing often being tedious very quickly.
Heath Lambert has a book floating around, The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams, that charts the biblical counseling landscape. I know it exists, but will likely never read it. But, it’s probably a good place to start to understand the landscape.
If I could pick one practical skill I need to get better at, it’s counseling. If I could pick a program, I’d probably opt for something integrationist. As it is, I’ll likely never seek certification from anybody. I’ll probably just read books.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
I started my biblical counseling journey by reading Jay Adams. I still have and refer to several of his books. I’ve also read Mack, Scott, Tripp, Sande, and Powlison.
I don’t do a lot of proverbial hand holding when it comes to counseling. I probably should be more warm and fuzzy, but I tend to think in process flows and view things in black and white. What is your issue? Is it organic or non-organic? If organic, go see a doctor. If non-organic, what does the Bible say about the issue or what biblical principles apply to the issue? How will you implement what Scripture says about your issue? And, if necessary, why aren’t you willing to implement what Scripture says about your issue?
I don’t know if this is a problem, but I quickly run into a wall because (1) I explain what the bible says, then (2) the person doesn’t want to do it. At that point, I’m basically done. My time is being wasted. I suppose you could say I feel I lack the ability to convince the person to do what the bible says, but I really have no patience for that sort of thing.
I’m not sure if this is a simplistic perspective of mine, or if I have it right. But, I’m basically done if, after some effort to convince, the person doesn’t want to do what the bible says. In that respect, counseling is pretty simple. I don’t know if I’m being simplistic, though. The touchy-feeley stuff is nice, and I can be very empathetic, but at some point we must decide to act. Either you want to act or you wish to produce excuses.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Tom, I’d argue that it goes further than just Berg’s former position with student discipline. It’s really the assumption that the person in front of you definitely has some sins to repent of, and when you go in with that assumption, you’re going to tend to dwell on their sins and not the fact that they’d been grievously sinned against.
I don’t think that it’s a death knell to the nouthetic/ACBC approach, but it is something that needs to be patched in it.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
[TylerR] The touchy-feeley stuff is nice, and I can be very empathetic, but at some point we must decide to act. Either you want to act or you wish to produce excuses
As counselors, we must understand that the individual before us is on a spectrum of sanctification, as are we. Sometimes counseling requires patience and perseverance as you work with the individual to move along that spectrum. Jesus continued to work with his disciples through their repeated unbelief and misunderstanding of what he told them.
When the person refuses or rejects the biblical counsel they receive, that is a different matter.
Thank you TylerR for the opportunity to clarify some things:
- Neither Jay Adams nor I split off from ACBC. Jay continued as a member until his death last fall, although ill-health kept him from active participation the last 20 years of his life. I am a Fellow and continue to supervise folk through the certification process.
- We formed the Institute for Nouthetic Studies to serve as a vehicle by which we could train counselors by extension before online training was a thing. Mid-America liked what we were doing and invited us to join forces with them. It has been a wonderful relationship that has grown to include the publishing of most of Jay’s books.
- We all have disagreements with our friends. I would not call them “beefs.” Do you not read SI regularly?
- I do have a “beef” with my friend Heath Lambert’s book which you can read about here.
- It is now my great joy in life to be editing and republishing Jay’s books. I am convinced that if folk would actually READ Jay Adams rather than simply read about him, most of the controversy surrounding biblical counseling would melt away.
Donn R Arms
I suppose the bit about you being more accurate was correct! To clarify:
- I didn’t mean to imply anything sinister about any disagreements between Adams and other biblical counselors. I recall reading an article (or something) by Adams in which he expressed some grave reservations about the “idols of the heart” paradigm and the general drift of what is now called the ACBC. If I am mistaken, I apologize. I may be conflating some of your own concerns you wrote about years ago with Adams. Again, my apologies for any inaccuracies.
- I agree that if folks read Adams, they’d clear a lot up. We read Adams at seminary. How To Help People Change and Solving Marriage Problems are my favorites. My point about people talking past one another was that people do not, in fact, often read things from the other side and so they … talk past each other.
- I own about 15 of Adams’ books, and recently bought his New Testament translation on Logos. It is very helpful.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Though no “professional”, I have counseled with Scripture minus psychology for about 25 years. If people listen and do what the Bible tells them to do the success rate is very high (I do have certification through SWTS for what it’s worth). If they even do half of what they’re told things improve. I think Adams’ work was very significant and I am thankful for his biblical common sense, even if I disagree here and there.
I don’t know how many times I have had to un-teach counselees what they have been told by psychologists, secular or Christian; especially regarding the “this is the way I am” belief. Having said that I have known several “Biblical Counselors” who h=treated people like sin machines instead of people with different challenges and, like Tyler said, at different stages of sanctification and comprehension.
Further, i do believe that some of the observations and illustrations of psychology are helpful.
Dr. Paul Henebury
I am Founder of Telos Ministries, and Senior Pastor at Agape Bible Church in N. Ca.
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