Counseling

Students will be introduced to skills and competencies necessary for planning and leading purposeful learning activities. Students will learn how to introduce truth, illustrate truth, and illuminate a lack of truth through the use of and modification of known activities or by introducing new activities, games, and initiatives.

This course is designed to help students understand principles and acquire competencies necessary to move participants toward growth in the context of short-term impact ministry environments such as retreats, resident camps, mission trips, and wilderness trips. Key subjects include: group dynamics, relationship building, camper discipline, facilitation, framing, debriefing, processing, and Bible study.

In this course the centrality of the Bible in its relationship to counseling is explored. Emphasis is given to embedding theological truth as the sine qua non of an effective biblical counseling relationship so that biblical change can be embraced by the counselee. The student will develop a foundational theology of counseling that promotes personal and professional growth as a skilled people-helper.

You will formulate and articulate a personalized philosophy of Biblical counseling. The Scripture’s sufficiency in meeting human needs is emphasized. Various Christian counselors’ perspectives are analyzed and critiqued in relation to Biblical counseling. Historical perspectives are considered relative to contemporary issues and milieu in counseling.

An exploration of difficulties experienced by children (up through age 12) and their parents as understood from the perspective of healthy development and biblical guidelines for parenting. Emphasis will be on incorporating parents in the intervention process, supporting their primacy as God’s intended agents for discipling children toward spiritual, emotional, and behavioral health. Additional topics will include interviewing, assessment, treatment planning, how children learn, parent training programs, and research support for biblical wisdom on child rearing.