Course Descriptions

Fundamentals of Biblical Counseling (Year 1)

In this course, the following topics will be covered in detail:

• Definition of Biblical Counseling
• Comparison of different models of counseling (secular counseling compared to biblical counseling)
• Godly virtues of the Christian life
• Compassion
• Gathering and evaluating information
• Guidance for counseling
• Giving hope
• Homework that brings about change
• Memorization of pertinent Bible passages

Systematic Theology (Years 1-2)

Everyone is a theologian, even the atheist. Thus, the crucial question is: am I a good or a bad theologian? All people have a theology because all people have a set of beliefs about God. These beliefs are only true if they agree with what the Bible says, because Scripture is the only source that makes truthful and inerrant statements about God and His work.

Over two years, the following areas of theology are examined and presented systematically:

• The Bible (Bibliology)
• God: The Trinity, God the Father, Jesus Christ, the
• Holy Spirit (Theology Proper, Christology, Pneumatology)
• Angels, including Satan and Demons (Angelology)
• Humanity (Anthropology)
• Sin (Hamartiology)
• Salvation (Soteriology)
• The Church (Ecclesiology)
• Last Things or Eternity (Eschatology)

At the same time, there is an emphasis on apologetics, the defense of the faith.

This course is not intended to serve as a tribune for theological debate, but rather to provide an opportunity to know and love God more deeply. With the Bible in hand, the student is to know the majesty of God and be led to worship. This course is taught jointly with students from Expository Preaching and demonstrates the relevance and applicability of biblical teaching in both fields.

Marriage and Family (Year 1)

Many biblical counseling cases that arise in the church context are problems related to marriage and family. This course elaborates on the principles for biblical counseling in these critically important areas and explores how these principles can be applied in practical life. The Bible student is given insight and knowledge to adequately explain to counselees how to repent from sinful thinking and behavior in order to live out God’s purposes in their marriage and family.

Character Development (Years 1-2)

This course focuses on personal character development. It is taught separately by gender. The goal of the course is to:

• Enrich and deepen the student’s personal life and relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Create a better understanding of how to identify and classify problems the student will face in biblical counseling (of self and others)
• Provide a practical framework for understanding the process of counseling from a biblical perspective

Observation & Analysis (Years 1-2)

In this course, the student will learn how biblical principles are applied to specific counseling situations. This is done by watching, analyzing, and evaluating various videos of counseling cases. This course has been compiled using videos from IBCD (in cooperation with Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries, Dr. John Street, Dr. Jim Newheiser, and Dr. Heath Lambert).

Applied Hermeneutics (Year 1)

The student will receive an introduction to the science and art of biblical interpretation (including an overview of the most significant interpretive approaches used throughout church history). The goal is to equip the student to accurately interpret passages of the Bible according to the various literary genres of the Bible. The normal grammatical-historical method of interpretation is emphasized.

Biblical Counseling Practicum (Year 2)

In this course, each student will provide counseling to an individual(s) from a personal or church setting with whom they will work over the course of the entire year. In doing so, he/she will keep detailed records of the content and process of the counseling. Subsequently, the counseling case will be presented and discussed anonymously in class. The student will receive constructive feedback from the teacher and classmates for his/her actions.
The goal of this course is for the student to apply what he/she has learned in his/her environment, family, profession, and community by caring for the soul of his/her neighbor through intensive discipleship relationships.

Methods of Biblical Change (Year 2)

In this course, the student will learn how to use the Scripture to identify and correct unbiblical ways of thinking and behaving.

ACBC Theological and Practical Exam Questions (Year 2)

These two subjects prepare students for possible ACBC certification. To this end, specific questions related to the theology and practice of biblical counseling are discussed and examined.