I would like to express my gratitude to God for Jeremy Conn who helped me to think about my project from both macro and micro levels. I thank God for them every day and pray that God will keep them in His love.
INTRODUCTION
The first question to consider was, "Who was responsible for counseling believers?" Scripture teaches that the church has the responsibility to train godly and gifted believers to do the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-16). Biblical counseling can be defined as using the Bible to help people with their problems.5 The goal of a biblical counselor is to help a counselor apply the Bible to his specific struggle so that God is glorified and the individual is sanctified.
Applied to Equipping Seminary Students for Certification
One of the unique gifts that Christ gave to the church is the gift of spiritual leaders. Put these things into practice, devote yourselves to them.” The ministry of the Word is the ministry of the pastor.
Applied to Equipping Seminary Students for Certification
Grace and peace come through "knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord". Peter makes a direct connection between a believer's knowledge of the Godhead and the grace and peace that is multiplied to believers. The blessings of God's promises come "by these." The word "these" refers back to the glory and excellence of Christ. Jeremy Pierre and Deepak Reju define biblical counseling as "The ministry of the Word whereby Christians help others to understand how their hearts actively respond to God in the midst of their specific life circumstances and how faith in Christ Jesus changes those responses." Jeremy Pierre and Deepak Reju, The Pastor and Counseling: Basics of Shepherding Members in Need (Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Third, a basic plan should relate the counselee's problems to specific sins (if necessary) in the Scriptures.2 The benefit of relating a person's problems to the sins mentioned in the Bible is that the Bible has the answer to sin issues. In this age, God has revealed Himself more clearly in His written Word.8 The Bible is necessary for counsel, because the Bible is sufficient. MacDonald and Garrett Higbee, “The Power of Confession and Repentance,” in Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling: Changing Lives with God's Immutable Truth, ed.
He writes that "every Christian relationship has the potential to promote sanctification," but that "growing in sanctification is not the goal of counseling." Rather, it is “the.” From this it is important to recognize that “the chief disturbing quality of the heart is its capacity for self-deception.”28 Society is wrong; the heart cannot be trusted. The prophet Jeremiah asked "Who can really know the heart?" His answer comes in the very next verse: "The Lord searches the heart" (Jeremiah 17:10).
Assessment of Knowledge in Biblical Counseling Counseling
First of all, I wanted to assess the level of knowledge and competence of seminarians in the field of biblical counseling. Fourth, I intended to measure students' level of proficiency in biblical counseling after the course. Some graduates may have received undergraduate or graduate biblical counseling training prior to seminary at DBTS.
The second category asked questions about the level of training DBTS students received related to biblical counseling. The key word in that question was "alone." The implication from the response is that students do not believe that fellow church members bear some of the responsibility. Therefore, I considered this question unhelpful in my research on students' understanding of biblical counseling concepts.
Abramczyk, "The Counseling Function of Pastors: A Study in Practice and Preparation." Journal of psychology and theology 9, no.
Development of Course Curriculum
The second and third lessons focused on the theological basis of biblical counseling and the importance of the gospel for biblical counseling. During the development of the curriculum, I read over twenty-five biblical counseling books, while taking notes and developing a methodology. The primary focuses of the course curriculum were the history of biblical counseling, the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture, and a biblical view of progressive sanctification.
I especially wanted each student to be solid in their understanding of the sufficiency of Scripture. The first changes came as a result of the BCA survey that was administered before the start of the class. The second round of changes came as a result of the helpful feedback from the expert panel.
These latter lectures were designed to help students use the sufficiency and authority of Scripture to critique secular and integrative theories.
Evaluation of Participation
The sixth lecture, taught on October 21, 2019, was designed to help students develop their own biblical counseling. The goal was considered met when 80 percent of the class attended (or watched the lectures) out of 90 percent of the classes. This goal was considered successful when 80 percent of students attended more than 90 percent of classes.
The first book, The Biblical Counseling Movement by David Powlison, was due to be read by October 21, 2019. The second book, The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams by Heath Lambert, would be read by. The last book, Descriptions and Prescriptions by Michael Emlet, was due December 2, 2019.
This part of the goal was considered successful when 100 percent of students completed more than 90 percent of the reading.
Measurement of Post-Course Competency in Biblical Counseling Biblical Counseling
Of the fifty responses from the students, ten were scored as the best. The other answers the DBTS students received from the ACBC assessor (best, acceptable, and acceptable with comments) were sufficient for ACBC expectations for the exam. It is with great joy and thanksgiving to God that I am able to present data indicating the success of the four main goals.
The purpose of this project is to obey the commandment of Scripture to train others for ministry (Matt Timothy 2:2, et al). The seminary focuses on training men for the public ministry of the Word, as well as for the interpersonal ministry of the Word. Preparing ministers to give good counsel will serve them and the Church of Jesus Christ.
In line with the purpose of the project, the objectives of this project were both relevant and practical.
Assessment of Knowledge in Biblical Counseling
To achieve its stated purpose, this project focused on four related goals: (1) assess students' current knowledge in biblical counseling; (2) design a 12-week curriculum that meets ACBC training requirements and will equip students for the ACBC exams; (3) track the progress of student participation in class through assigned reading and teaching hours; and (4) measure student progress in.
Development of Course Curriculum
While the majority of the classes were lecture driven, I spent ten to twenty minutes in the last six classes working through case studies with the students. The curriculum was strengthened even more because of the expert panel and their suggested changes. The third objective was to track the progress of student participation in class through assigned reading and instructional hours.
One student read all of the assigned reading, except for 17 pages on one assignment. In each absence, the video of the missed lesson was made available to the student. Four students completed all assigned reading and one student completed 98 percent of the reading before the due date.
The attendance part of the goal was also successful, as 80 percent of the class (that is, four out of five students) attended at least 90 percent of the lessons.
Measurement of Post-Course Competency in Biblical Counseling
I read over twenty-five books on biblical counseling to improve my understanding of the history and methodology of biblical counseling. The teaching of the curriculum is designed to be interactive, to allow examples, case studies and dialogue with the students. If the curriculum had been developed through my research alone, it might have been sufficient, but the curriculum was further strengthened by the evaluation of the expert panel.
Having the expert panel encourage me in developing the curriculum was one thing, but being asked to teach it again is a huge boost to the value of the course. Instead, he said, I should focus on developing curriculum for one course, and then use the principles I learned from that experience to apply to the rest of my development of the biblical counseling concentration. Since teaching this course, the president of the seminary has asked me to teach a marriage and family counseling course in the near future.
The second weakness concerns the evaluation of the curriculum by the panel of experts.
Would Do Differently
Third, I found understanding the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture to be critical to teaching counseling. 3 John Frame puts it this way, “the theologian expresses the facts and truths of Scripture for purposes of edification. While much of the theological foundation was review for the students, I found that for the most part, the students did not have much knowledge or experience in biblical counseling.
The purpose of the instrument is to assess seminary students' current level of theological understanding and self-confidence in offering biblical counselling. Second, a basic plan should include an identification of the problems the counselee are facing. 2 It can be dangerous to always try to identify "the core issue" or the "idol of the heart" because we are more complex than just one issue.
5 If a person goes to the doctor with a broken jaw and he listens to his explanation. 7 This section is adapted from Jeremy Pierre, “Problems and Procedures of Biblical Counseling” (Class Notes. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Summer 2018). Learning how to connect is also important when the session content gets intense.
