Thank you for your interest in beginning course work with the Grace Counseling Clinic Ministry School of Biblical Counseling, a non-accredited orthodoxic and orthopraxic program for pastors to grow in an effective Biblical counseling ministry.

What is counseling and therapy? Are the words "counseling" and "therapy" mutually exclusive or interchangble. Louis Cozolino summarizes, “All orientations to therapy are designed to lessen suffering, reduce symptoms, and increase a client’s ability to cope with the stressors of life.”[1] According to Christian psychologist Gary Collins, counseling is “a relationship between two or more persons in which one person (the counselor) seeks to advise, encourage, and/or assist another person or persons (the counselee[s]) to deal more effectively with the problems of life.”[2] John and Rita Sommers-Flanagan, who discuss the conversational aspect of counseling, offer multiple definitions of counseling and therapy not least, that counseling is “the artful application of scientifically derived psychological knowledge and techniques for the purpose of changing human behavior.”[3] Humorously, John and Rita note that “counseling has an inferiority complex with respect to its older sibling, psychotherapy (Adler, 1958). Or, perhaps, more accurately… psychotherapy has a superiority complex with respect to its younger rival, counseling.”[4] At Grace Counseling Clinic, a ministry of Christ Church of Central Arkansas, psychotherapy means to heal the soul or to care for the soul. This is absolutely something that gets at the heart of Jesus.

Is counseling and therapy a Biblical idea? Or, is the professional work or ministry of counseling and therapy in the Bible? The answer is an emphatic yes. The most common words used for healing in the Greek New Testament are θεραπεύω (therapeuō)[5] and ἰάομαι (iaomai).[6] The term θεραπεύω and the English equivalent, therapeutics, refers to serving, to care for, to treat for the purpose of healing or to make whole.[7] The primary emphasis of θεραπεύω, is to care by providing healing that is beyond medical care.[8] The term ἰάομαι, and its English equivalent, iaomaics, refers to healing, curing, or delivering someone from ills of many kinds or types. The primary emphasis of iamatics is the deliverance from suffering from past evils and the related protection from judgment.[9] ^[10] Another term in the Greek New Testament for healing is the word διασῴζω (diasōzō).[11] Literally, the word διασῴζω means to bring life, make safe, to rescue from danger, or salvation (σῴζω) into the heart or soul of a person. This words speaks deeply of internal healing as the receiving or experiencing of life. Finally, used only once in Romans 11:34, the term σύμβουλος refers to guiding someone in making judgment or wise decisions. It’s a term that implies a shared approach to counseling and advising. Biblical therapeutics and iaomaics are some of the ways that Grace Counseling Clinic staff, both licensed and non-licensed, provide caring and healing service to our clients. In the Greek New Testament, the term βουλή (boulay) means to judge, to give counsel, to help someone define and discover purpose.[12] The term νουθετέω (noutheteō) is related to βουλή, and means to make a judgment, to give advise, direct, warn, or exhort.[13]

Another term critical to the work of Biblical counseling and therapy is the word ἀπολύω (apoluō) which means to be free, to set free, to be allowed to leave, to be released, to release a debtor from his or her debts as in Luke 6:37.[14] Sometimes ἀπολύω is translated as divorce. The most significant use of the term in regards to healing and therapy is found in Luke 13:10-13, “10 Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent over double, and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed (ἀπολύω) from your sickness.” 13 And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she stood up straight again, and began glorifying God.”

The word soul, one of the most important terms relating to counseling and healing in the New Testament, is ψυχή (psyche). Used over one hundred times in the Greek New Testament, the word ψυχή has a wide semantic range including soul, breath, to breathe (because you are alive), life, the vital life force in a human or animal, sentience. However, the primary meaning of the term ψυχή is soul, i.e., the seat of emotions, the mind, the heart, feelings, desires, affections, or aversions. Skilled and biblically-based counseling and therapy is a caring and healing for the soul, i.e., θεραπεύω ψυχή and ἰάομαι ψυχή. In fact, psychotherapy is a conjoining of the words ψυχή and θεραπεύω, i.e., to heal and care for the soul[15] of another person!

Is the word counsel or counseling in the Old Testament? Yes! In the Old Testament, the term תַּחְבֻּלוֹת (tachbulâh) refers to wise guidance, advise, or direction.[16] Found frequently in the Old Testament is the word יָעַץ (yaw-ats). This word is used eighty times and is translated as counsel, advise, give guidance, or to form plans.[17] The word עֵצָה (ay-tsaw') means counsel, give advice, and give purpose.[18] Another term related to healing is the word שׁוּב (shuv) which means to restore, heal, refresh, to bring back, or repair, cf., Psalm 23:3, “… He restores (שׁוּב) my soul (נֶפֶשׁ).” The singular most insightful use of the word counseling or counselor found in the Old Testament is the phrase פֶּלֶא יוֹעֵץ (pele’ yāʿaṣ) which is translated as Wonderful Counselor. This phrase found inn Isaiah 9:6 and describes the identity and functional nature of Jesus the Messiah of God. In Isaiah 53:5, Isaiah writes that through the scourging (cf., stripes) of Jesus, we are healed (רָפָא, rah-phah). The term רָפָא means to be cared for, healed, to be completely restored and refreshed. Peter draws from this text in Isaiah when he writes, “and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed (ἰάομαι)” (1 Peter 2:24). Psychologist Gary Collins, states it saliently when he said, the church “has a divine mandate to care and to heal.”[19] The Biblical mandate to care and heal is the essential core of Grace Counseling Clinic of Christ Church of Central Arkansas.

Requirements to begin course work at the Grace Counseling Clinic Ministry School of Biblical Counseling:

1. Printed copy of all applicable laws of your state demonstrating allowance of the ministry of Biblical or pastoral counseling for your congregation, church, or synagogue.
2. Proof of employment, ministry status, or official status at your church as a pastor, lay-pastor, trustee, elder, deacon, spiritual shepherd, caregiver, or an official designation of your official capacity at your church.
3. Proof of Counseling Liability insurance coverage as an employee or official of your church. Completed registration form.
4. (1) Letter of Endorsement from your Senior Pastor or designee of your Elder or Deacon Board. This letter must state their full endorsement of you in character, spiritual gifting, moral standing, and recommendation to enter the GCC MSBC course work.
5. (3) Letters of Endorsement from members of your congregation (non-familial). This letter must state their full endorsement of you in character, spiritual gifting, moral standing, and recommendation to enter the GCC MSBC course work.
6. Submit a copy of your church's doctrinal statement.
7. Successfully pass state and federal criminal background checks including sex offender registries (fees are associated).
8. Submit your testimony of conversion and baptism.
9. Submit your testimony of daily faith and devotion to Christ.
10. Submit your testimony of why you want to begin or grow in a ministry of Biblical Counseling.