Goals of Biblical Counseling
Biblical counseling has many goals, but our primary goal is
to help you develop a whole-hearted love for God and others. Strange as it may
sound today, our purpose is not to simply help you "feel better" or "find
happiness," but to help you grow in personal holiness and spiritual maturity
for service in the body of Christ. Another goal of biblical counseling is to
help you meet the various challenges of life in a way that will always please
and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
Uniqueness of Biblical Counseling
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer to your most basic
problems. The Bible is the counselor's main tool. The Holy Spirit imparts
gifts to the counselor to guide and give hope through the Scripture. Prayer
and dependence upon God are essential parts of biblical counseling.
Biblical counselors have resources for helping you that
unbelievers do not have—resources that are unique, sufficient, and superior to
anything the world has to offer.
Biblical counseling is comprehensive in that it recognizes
the importance of the past, the present, and the future in your life. Both
walking with God in this life and knowing Him in eternity are our concern for
you.
Using the Scripture in counseling requires understanding
your problems from a biblical perspective and then applying step-by-step
biblical solutions to those problems. The counselors who serve in the Biblical
Counseling Ministry of Grace Bible Church know how to bring the Word of God to
bear on sinful and hopeless situations. Hope can be found and change can be
accomplished as the Word of God is ministered in the power and working of the
Holy Spirit.
The Sufficiency of Scripture
The Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments are
authoritative and sufficient for all the issues facing you in life. Many
people say they believe in the authority of Scripture, but their practice
denies its sufficiency to meet their needs. For example, "Christian
psychology" attempts to integrate various psychological theories and
humanistic philosophies with the Scriptures because it lacks confidence in the
Word of God to deal with a person's "real" problems.
Biblical counseling on the other hand, both in its message
and method, is conducted with a commitment to the absolute sufficiency of
Scripture as the means by which a Christian's spiritual problems must be
addressed and solved. Christ taught that learning and applying Scripture is
the starting point of change in our lives. Jesus prayed to his Father,
"Sanctify them in the Truth; Your Word is Truth" (John 17: 17).
Attempting to integrate secular psychology and Scripture is
a rejection of the Bible's claim to be sufficient for us! This approach to
counseling only leads to confusion by blurring the lines between humanistic
behavior modification and genuine spiritual sanctification.
To claim that the Scripture is sufficient, though, does not
mean that reading the Bible is all that is needed. For example, working with a
physician is certainly sensible and wise whenever there is a possibility of
physical or organic causes relating or contributing to your problems.
Referring to the Scripture, the apostle Peter said, "His
divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him Who called us" (2 Peter 1 :3).
Biblical Change
Your circumstances are not the cause of your problems, rather they are tests which reveal the condition of
your heart and which purify your obedience to God. It is only through an
accurate biblical understanding of who and what you are that the true nature
of your problems and their appropriate solutions can be known.
Biblical change first takes place in your mind. Your
thinking must be brought into alignment with the Word of God. Biblical
counseling focuses on genuine heart change; not merely changing your
circumstances or behavior.
The Holy Spirit is the One who works in all areas of
sanctification. He can change your thinking, attitudes, and behaviors,
ultimately bringing you into complete conformity to Christ.
You as a believer in Christ have the ability and necessary
resources to glorify God and to live pleasing to Him. Counseling, when blessed
by the Holy Spirit, helps you to become pure in heart, to have a peaceful
conscience, and to sincerely trust God in order to live for His glory.
Counseling is a
Ministry of the Church
The church is the means by which Christ has ordained to
help believers grow into His likeness. Biblical counseling is not to be an
optional ministry of the church. Preaching, teaching, evangelism,
discipleship, and counseling are all vital parts of the church's ministry.
Counseling is most effective when incorporated as part of
the local church. You need the help of all combined church ministries. You
need to hear the preaching and teaching of God's Word to motivate growth and
change. You need the love and fellowship of other believers for relationships
that will assist and encourage you. You need godly leaders who themselves are
growing and changing to teach you by their example.
The church encourages, motivates, and challenges believers
to "love and good works" (Heb. 10:24). A counseling
ministry provides practical, relevant help based upon sound biblical
principles that enable you to be adequately equipped for every good work (2
Tim. 3: 17).
What is Nouthetic Counseling?
Nouthetic counseling is biblical counseling. The New
Testament was
written in Greek, from which the noun nouthesia (verb:
noutheteo) comes. This Greek word is sometimes translated
"admonish, correct, or instruct." It literally means "to put into one's mind."
This term occurs in such passages as Romans 15:14, "I myself am convinced
about you, my brothers, that you are full of goodness, filled with all
knowledge, and competent to counsel one another." In that passage, the apostle
Paul was encouraging all the believers in the church at Rome to do informal,
mutual counseling. Whereas, church leaders are called to formally counsel nouthetically as a regular part of their ministry.
Nouthetic counseling involves warning others about the
consequences of sin. It often requires lovingly admonishing others to turn
away from wrong thinking and behavior.
Nouthetic counseling involves the following:
Nouthetic counseling provides genuine hope. Such hope is
grounded in the character of God Himself, His Word, and the power of the Holy
Spirit.
All counseling, biblical or otherwise, attempts change.
Only God's Word tells us what we should become as the result of counseling: We
should think and act more like Jesus Christ, He is the Standard.
National Association of
Nouthetic Counselors
The National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC) is
a fellowship of Christian pastors and other believers who have joined together
to promote excellence in biblical counseling. NANC was founded in 1975 to
address several needs in the biblical counseling community.
NANC is first and foremost a certifying organization. The
certification process consists of the completion of an approved training
course, the completion of both a theological and a practical counseling test,
several references, and a minimum of 50 hours of supervised counseling
experience.
NANC promotes the cause of biblical counseling and the
doctrine of the sufficiency of the Scriptures. NANC exists to help pastors and
those who would be ministers of the Word of God by providing training and
encouragement.
The Biblical
Counseling Ministry
of Grace Bible Church
Biblical solutions for marriage, family, and other life
dominating problems provided by qualified and experienced counselors - all at
no charge to you.
Grace Bible Church
7415 E. 15th Street
(Between Sheridan and Memorial)
Tulsa OK 74112
918.834.4440
NANC
Certified
Pursuing Excellence in Biblical Counseling
