Part 4: Four Models (Strengths of Biblical Counseling)
Part 1: “What is a Christian Counselor?”
Part 2: “Four Models of Christian Counseling (Levels of Explanation & Integration)”
Part 3: “Four Models…” (#3 Christian Psychology)
Part 4: “Four Models…” (#4 Biblical Counseling | Strengths)
Part 5: “Four Models…” (#5 Biblical Counseling | Weaknesses)
PART 4: FOUR MODELS OF CHRISTIAN COUNSELING (#4 BIBLICAL COUNSELING | STRENGTHS)
In Part 1, we showed that “Christian Counseling” can mean very much, or very little, depending on the counselor. Counselors radically differ in the way they try to hold three things together: Theology (our understanding of God), Psychology (the way we answer questions related to humanity, abnormality, health, and how people change) and sometimes Ecclesiology (the role or lack of role we give the church in helping people change).
In Part 2, we looked at the way these beliefs show up in two counseling models: #1) Levels of Explanation & #2) Integration, including how these tend to show up in counseling practice or church.
In Part 3, we examined the model of #3) Christian Psychology, including strengths, weaknesses, and describing how this might look in practice.
Today, we’ll look at #4: Biblical Counseling. Because our relationship with this one is closer, there’s quite a bit to say. So for now, we’re going to focus on it’s strengths, but in our next post (Part 5) we’ll outline what we see as its dangers and weaknesses.
**Tim Keller’s article Four Models of Counseling in Pastoral Ministry (available here) masterfully summarizes these tensions and positions, especially as they relate to churches.
All four models might be shown in this visual spectrum:
MODEL #4-A: STRENGTHS OF BIBLICAL COUNSELING
“Let’s rely fully on the Bible as the only source needed for true change and counsel. Psychology cannot help because it begins with false ideas about our world, our problems, and our needs.”
Biblical Counseling is focused on the Bible as the most important tool of any Christian or counselor. If God is our creator, then understanding his design for us and model of change would be best. Like Counseling Psychology, Biblical counseling begins with the belief that the Scriptures were given by God, to reveal himself, and show us not just the nature of ourselves, but the way to true living, understanding suffering, and how to deeply change. In many ways, Biblical counseling was bound to emerge from the Scriptures because the Scriptures deeply speak to the categories that counseling seeks to address: What is wrong, what is health, what is man, what is our world, what is our purpose, what is our destination, etc. Because of this, the Bible is seen as the most important source needed for help and counsel. Psychology, according to this model, will mostly likely be rejected as it gives competing and different answers to these categories, as it falsely poses as an “objective” science. In short, therapies are understood to be competing theologies, leading people into false understandings of healing.
According to Biblical Counseling, our main problem is worship, and so the answer to our problems cannot come from simply thinking differently, examining the past, understanding emotions, or other focuses that are described by alternative models & their processes. The best way to care for Christians is to help them worship Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit, and obey God’s wisdom as the author of our souls. Because of this, Biblical counselors believe the church is the best setting where real counseling can occur.
Biblical counseling, although being the most unified of these four camps, also has some variation, which might be divided into two approaches: The Older and The Newer.
THE OLDER APPROACH
(Jay Adams, NANC, ACBC)
The older approach, which was devised by Jay Adams, emphasized changing behaviors by adopting patterns (and actions) of biblical living. This has now been criticized as simply a Christian version of “behavior therapy,” which sees people (and their difficulties) as simply a result of their behaviors, good or bad. This painted a picture of human nature which seemed to ignore the heart, its motivations, and other data the Bible clearly describes in humanity. Still, Jay Adams is revered as the father of Biblical counseling, and his impact was far-reaching. His writings started a movement of equipping & empowering Christians to re-enter the care of souls.
THE NEWER APPROACH
(CCEF)
Conversely, the newer approach seeks to avoid defining behavior as the fundamental issue; Instead, it emphasizes worship and faith. Biblical Counseling asserts that our basic problem as humans is that we worship and put our faith in lesser-god things (ourselves, others, money, sex, comfort, etc). If this is the problem, then neither simple acts of the will and right thinking (favored by more conservative counselors) nor loving relationships and emotional exploration (favored by still other Christian counselors) will provide more than superficial help. There are some exceptions to this, as the CCEF wing of the Biblical Counseling movement does incorporate insights from psychology but only seldom and very carefully.
STRENGTHS OF BIBLICAL COUNSELING:
1) A deep love and reliance on the Scriptures. Biblical counseling, asserts that if one believes in special revelation (knowledge from God) from the Scriptures, then that would be the starting point for understanding who we are, what’s wrong, what is health, how we change, etc. They also believe that something spiritual is happening every time we open the Scriptures. Because of this, there is a deep love and passion for the spiritual disciplines, and their inclusion in the counseling process.
2) Helping others know and find God. Biblical counseling won’t skip the notion that we are spiritual people who were made for God, to know Him and be known by Him. They also believe that knowing Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit is the foundation for real inward transformation. Because of this, I know that many people have come to love & trust Jesus, as a result of these counseling sessions (which is a goal of Biblical Counseling).
3) Common language, model-consistency, rooted in a community of people. Whether you are a Christian or not, you have to recognize the deep strength of a model that is consistent. This is the same reason that CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) has the greatest body of research and evidence-based practices: They are consistent, using the same language, and each counselor within its practice does (roughly) the same thing. Biblical counselors usually practice within a church, using the similar Biblical language & text, which is reinforced by others in that same community. Because of this, the support & education that a client might receive may come from various sources: the counselor, other congregant members, sermons, shared books, small groups, other marriages, etc. Moreover, when counseling is finished, the continuum of care (and these community supports) go onward. That’s a very cool thought.
4) Stands on tradition and practice spanning millennia. David Powlison (my favorite Biblical counselor) says it this way, “The greatest strength of Biblical counseling is the tradition it stands on. Biblical counseling is coherent with and continues the historical Christian tradition of the hymns, prayers, doctrines, and teaching, which has lasted thousands of years” (2016). It’s not new. It’s not a trend. It’s Christianity. It’s deep and wide, as is its literature, historic record, international community, and dynamic practice.
5) Providing a grand meta-narrative & wide scope of instruction. Biblical counseling relies on the Bible, which speaks to an incredibly wide scope of human understanding and issues. This includes a model of health, explanations for what is wrong with humanity, anthropology, human suffering, narrative of history, notions of purpose, the afterlife, and hope. It also gives practical instructions on relationships, money, sexuality, parenting, societal justice, etc.
6) Allowing spirituality a foundational place in counseling and counselors. Often, Christians who enter the field of counseling only to immediately run into a series of personal conflicts. They are told to hide their faith. They are instructed on the unethical nature of spiritual practices in therapy. This inevitably leads to silence, incongruence, and Christians who learn how to mute important parts of themselves. And if they love Jesus, then they are likely turning off some of their deepest categories and understandings of human healing. In short, they feel incredibly conflicted. Instead, Biblical counseling encourages Christians to live, believe, and practice their faith congruently.
7) A reliance on spiritual resources that are bigger than the client (or counselor). Many counseling theories view the client voice as central (i.e. person-centered). Other therapies view the counselor’s voice as central (i.e. psychoanalytic). Both utilize a model & beliefs to construct a process, which is carried out by one or both of those people (client and/or counselor). Uniquely, Biblical counseling relies on ideas, resources, and (in theory) a power that is not from either the counselor or client. This includes the Bible, prayer, and the Holy Spirit. These have the unique ability to relieve either party (counselor or client) from taking on the responsibility to understand oneself or accomplish change. In my experience, this is one of the most beautiful & transforming aspects of Biblical counseling. God can tell you who you are (even when you don’t feel this way). The Bible can give you identity & esteem that don’t reflect the experiences or relationships you’ve had in the past. God can offer himself as an alternative Father in ways your dad never could be. Prayer can give you a deep well of internal resources and encouragement, when you feel there is no strength to muster within yourself. Understandings of purpose, suffering, history, and even Evil can help you understand the past without having the burden of interpreting these within yourself. Even if you’re not a religious person, there’s a WOW-factor about this depth and capacity of Biblical Counseling.
8) An anthropology that is wide and deep (in theory). Psychological theories tend to latch onto one facet, weakness, data, or problem area of humanity. For example, CBT focuses on thoughts (+ their distortions) and behaviors; psychoanalysis focuses on human drives and unconscious processes; psychodynamic and attachment focus on the past and it’s formation into our present patterns (including relationships); etc. But, if the Bible is true, then it seems that none of these have a wide enough worldview to see the comprehensive effects of sin or comprehensive healing possibilities of grace. Although these therapies capture real, observable human problems, BC understands that each of these categories and observations are simply a stem from the universal problem of sin and its effects. Tim Keller has more to say about this in his helpful article.
DID I SELL IT TOO HARD? DOES IT SEEM TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?
Well, as good as it sounds, it’s delivered and practiced by humans. This means it also has some weaknesses and ugly expressions, which I talk about in our next post “Weaknesses & Dangers of Biblical Counseling.” In some ways, its capacity for harm (when done poorly or insensitively) can be even bigger than other Christian therapies.
HOW DOES THIS SHOW UP?
How this might look in a church: The church trains and uses its own lay-counselors, believing that equipping from the Scriptures is what is needed for healing & transformation. The church usually rejects other forms of counseling psychology and believes them to be inherently anti-Christian.
How this might look in a counseling practice: Frankly, it usually doesn’t, because of Biblical Counseling’s high view and inclusion of the local church in models of care. If you were to find a counseling practice that uses Biblical Counseling, it would likely have strong relationships with the local church.
WHERE DOES NEW GROUND FIT WITH BIBLICAL COUNSELING?
New Ground loves Biblical Counseling and Biblical Counselors. In many ways, we are trying to hold the strengths above within our counseling processes and offices. Many of us are certified with ACBC or ABC Biblical Counseling. We’ve also taught at multiple Biblical Counseling conferences. It largely defines our orientation and approaches. You can read more about this in the “Our Approach” and FAQ pages. We don’t feel the need to grind our axe on the Biblical Counseling community (which the counseling field does excessively, and vice versa). However, we also actively avoid the weaknesses of Biblical Counseling. So with that, let’s move on to our next post, Part 5: “Weaknesses of Biblical Counseling.”
