What Makes Biblical Counseling Biblical???

Comprehensive, Compassionate, and Culturally-Informed
Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation

For over a quarter-century in ministry, I have followed a focused mission, vision, and passion. By God’s grace I seek to equip God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth through comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

Many have asked me to summarize the words comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed. In response, I’ve condense my view of biblical counseling and spiritual formation in less than 500 words.

Biblical Counseling/Spiritual Formation Is Comprehensive

Truly biblical counseling addresses the complexity of life lived in a fallen world. The Bible profoundly describes existence through the “CFR Narrative”: our Creation in God’s image, our Fall into sin, and our Redemption in Christ. Only when taken together can we understand people, diagnose problems, and prescribe solutions—biblically.

Biblical counseling follows a holistic approach to the nature of human nature. People are created in the image of God, reflected in our relational (spiritual, social, and self-aware), rational (images and beliefs), volitional (motivations and actions), emotional (responses and reactions), and physical capacities. Only when united can we help the whole person to become a whole person.

Biblical counseling takes a robust approach to counselor training. It refuses all shortcuts as it recognizes the need for equipping in the “4Cs”: biblical content, Christlike character, relational competencies, and Christian community. Only when combined can we produce truly effective soul care-givers and spiritual directors.

Biblical Counseling/Spiritual Formation Is Compassionate

As the modern biblical counseling movement enters it third generation, we must learn to integrate truth and love. We need to listen to the biblical wisdom of passages such as Ephesians 4:15 (speaking/embodying the truth in love), Philippians 1:9 (our love abounding in depth of insight), and 1 Thessalonians 2:8 (we loved you so dearly that we gave you not only the Scriptures but our own souls). No longer can the caricature be true of “take two verses and call me in the morning.” Biblical counselors enter deeply, personally into the lives of parishioners and counselees.

As compassion grows, our focus is expanding. Whereas some early approaches to biblical counseling highlighted almost exclusively confronting the sinning (surely a vital aspect of biblical counseling), current models must equally emphasize comforting the suffering. Historic models of sustaining, healing, reconciling, and guiding are allowing us to combine parakaletic soul care and nouthetic spiritual direction. Compassionate biblical counseling lovingly and humbly addresses suffering and sin through prescribing grace as God’s solution for our disgrace.

Biblical Counseling/Spiritual Formation Is Culturally-Informed

Modern biblical counseling had been the exclusive domain of white males. Now many diverse, new voices are being added to the biblical counseling movement. As we listen to the previously silenced voices of women and minorities, biblical counseling is being enriched.

As we hear their inspiring voices, we learn how to counsel more effectively in intercultural settings. Not only that, but the application and interpretation of this diverse biblical wisdom greatly enhance all areas of biblical counseling theory and practice.