The question is an important one because there are too many out there who don’t know how to help other Christians to solve their problems God’s way. They offer advice which they can’t even pretend to have biblical roots. They suggest whatever seems best to them—or what they have learned in some psychology class years ago.

This sort of thing is going on all over the Christian world. And it needs to be remedied.

Because those who have good desires don’t always have the right information, while intending to help, they actually hinder.

“So what should a person like me do?”

You can read books. There are plenty of them available—see our online bookstore. You can take courses (you should be sure, however, that they are biblical and comprehensive). You can study with us at INS, where you will find a truly biblical, in-depth program.

The main thing is to harness your basically good desire to that which will give you the ability to achieve it in ways that please God. As important as helping people is concerned, your deeper concern ought to be to honor God and His Word in what you do. There are too many out there trying to solve others problems when

1. They haven’t solved them themselves
2. They haven’t thought through what to do ahead of time
3. They don’t know how to go about it
4. They have too little scriptural and theological understanding
5. They have uncritically adopted views and methods of unbiblical sources.
6. They know little of how to locate in the Bible passages that are pertinent to a wide variety of problems
7. They have only a meager ability in confronting others
8. They are unwilling to face and overcome resistance
9. They become discouraged when things go wrong
10. They find it difficult to talk about sin.

These, and many other factors need to be dealt with before you will truly be able help others. If you’re earnest about this desire—you will find the help you need.

Check out our online courses, including, Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling and  The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to counseling others:

1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. How to Help People Change by Jay Adams
4. The Use of Scripture in Counseling by Jay Adams
5. Sanctification and Counseling by Jay Adams
6. Critical Stages in Biblical Counseling by Jay Adams
7. Check out our Bookstore for all the best counseling books!

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For more biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
– Instagram: @noutheticstudies

The post Is All Help Truly Help? appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

Objections will come. You should become prepared to meet them. Most objections will take the form of “Who do you think you are to be doing counseling?” Your answer, of course, is that you are a child of God; that He has commanded to do so. The Galatians 1 passage, along with Colossians 3:16, along with Romans 15:14 are warrant enough for you to respond to a fellow believer. Learn all you can about those passages in order to be able to satisfy those who want a reason for the ministry you’re engaged in. Of course there are other passages such as 2 Timothy 3:15ff, and 1 Thessalonians 5:14 to which you might also wish to turn as well. But don’t confuse the discussion by citing too many passages. Know a few well, and indelibly impress them upon your listener’s thinking. Remember, in all of those passages the noun “nouthesia” or the verb “noutheteo” is used. And don’t forget that the word has the three elements: loving Confrontation, out of familial Concern, in order to bring about God-pleasing Change.

The object isn’t always to win the objector. Rarely, will you “convert” anyone to biblical counseling on the spot. But get them thinking biblically. Urge them to study the passages you’ve mentioned. Try to set up another time for further discussion. That, of course, is what you do with believers. So far as unbelievers are concerned, you will want to explain that you don’t knowingly counsel unbelievers, so he has nothing to worry about! But you might tell also him that you do pre-counsel [evangelize] people like him. Then, go ahead and do so. In all cases, you need to be able to give a thorough, reasoned response to objectors. Remember II Peter 3:15, 16.

As you do more and more counseling, you will eventually have people who can testify to the effectiveness of God’s word in their lives. Many of the people you have counseled will be willing to testify to the facts should you need them to do so. But never appeal to their testimony as the fundamental reason for doing Nouthetic Counseling. Always rest your case on Scriptural authority. Their testimony is merely illustrative; God’s Word needs no corroboration. And never ask anyone to testify unless he has agreed to do so beforehand.

My hope is that many people will object to your counseling. Not because I wish for difficulty to come your way. But because I hope you will make such an impact upon those around you that they can’t keep still about it. When people object, it’s usually because something is happening. Actually, many object because they are interested and want to understand. “There’s no better way to find out whether there’s anything to this Nouthetic stuff,” they assume, than to put some hard questions to its adherents. That’s good. And when you’re prepared to meet all of their objections, that’s very good!

Nouthetic counselors ought to be savvy about what they are doing, and why they do it. But they will not get that wisdom and knowledge apart from study. There are plenty of books to help. And that’s one reason why the Institute for Nouthetic Studies exists. If we can help you to be able to give a reasoned response to objectors by offering training in Nouthetic Counseling, please let us do so.

Check out our online courses, including, Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling and  The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to counseling others:

1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. How to Help People Change by Jay Adams
4. Check out our Bookstore for all the best counseling books!

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For more biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
– Instagram: @noutheticstudies

The post Objections to Biblical Counseling appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

That’s the way it may begin. Where it will go from there, no one but God can know beforehand.

I’m talking about a counseling session, of course.

Because it may take any number of possible turns from that moment on, it will be necessary for a biblical counselor to be able to handle each one—no matter what direction counseling takes.

You may have to deal with a husband’s resistance to help, a wife’s weeping, a son’s wild behavior, a . . .

You name it—and the seasoned Nouthetic Counselor has faced it.

Now, if you want to counsel effectively, so as to help rather than hurt people, you will need three basic things:

1. Ability to exegete the Scriptures
2. A thorough understanding of theology
3. A biblical method of counseling.

If you are interested in training in Nouthetic Counseling, be sure that any program in which you enroll has at least those three elements.

Other things are very helpful, as well, but those three are absolutely essential.

There are a number of training programs out there, but not all are the same. In order to evaluate the training offered, it might be well to compare the offerings of any given training with that which you will find in the curriculum of INS.

If, in investigating programs that are available in your area, you discover that what they offer isn’t satisfactory, remember INS is here to help. Give us a call.

Check out our online courses, including, Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling and  The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to counseling others:

1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. How to Help People Change by Jay Adams
4. Check out our Bookstore for all the best counseling books!

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For more biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
– Instagram: @noutheticstudies

The post Sufficient or Insufficient? appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

To serve the Lord Jesus Christ by helping His people help others through biblical counseling.

Think of the parts of that purpose statement:

1. To serve the Lord Jesus Christ. That, of course, is the life purpose of each of us, as individuals, and therefore, of all that we do.
2. Service is just another word for ministry. To serve the Lord is to submit to His will in the Scriptures and to do His work according to His will
3. Helping is one way in which Jesus taught us to live—live so that what we learn, do, say and teach helps other believers. We all need help from time to time, but there are some of us who can help in one way and some who can help in others.
4. Through biblical counseling. Counseling is assisting people who know Christ, but have become stalled in their growth to get the sanctification process moving once again.
5. And, of course, the only way to do that is through the application of Scripture to people’s problems.
6. But, note, we seek to help those who want to help others through counseling. There are a lot of people who want to do this, but don’t know how. We think we can help them. There are people out there who want to help others, but are afraid they’d do more harm than good. We can help them do good rather than harm.

Whatever it is we can do along these lines we are not only prepared to do, but the Lord has demonstrated by the help those studying with us have received, that we can do. Can we help you—help others?

Check out our online courses, including, Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling and  The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to counseling others:

1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. How to Help People Change by Jay Adams
4. Check out our Bookstore for all the best counseling books!

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For more biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
– Instagram: @noutheticstudies

The post Can We Help? appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

It’s true that, informally, this is a task of every Christian (Colossians 3:16; Romans 15:14), as he encounters a brother caught in sin (Galatians 6:1). And it is the task of an elder to formally counsel the members of the flock by virtue of his office (I Thessalonians 5:11, 12). All believers are required to counsel.

The word “counsel” may not appear in your version in these verses, but where they translate “admonish,” or some similar word, the term is noutheteo, which, in Paul’s usage, means “to counsel.”

Now, if you are deficient in your ability to counsel, know that you are, and want to do something about it, I encourage you to consider the program that INS offers on this website. I know of no other program—let alone a distant learning program—that offers so many hours of training. Moreover, you can be certain that the instruction you will receive is truly Nouthetic. I say that because you can no longer be sure that this is so just because someone uses the word. I’ve noticed in recent days that the counseling that some groups offer on the internet, though they may say that they are “Nouthetic,” is as far from being so as pure eclecticism is. Here at INS, however, you can be certain that you’ll receive the real thing.

When I coined the term, I had no idea that Nouthetic Counseling would become a movement with wide-ranging ramifications. So, I didn’t copyright the word. Now, all sorts of people are using it—many of whom, I’m sure, think they’re Nouthetic, but have only a slight understanding of what that means.

So,

1. don’t come knocking at my door if what was called Nouthetic turns out not to be so—I’ve warned you;
2. if you want training that’s authentic, then turn in here where we’ll open the door to the genuine article!

Blessings!

Originally Posted on August 1, 2009

The post Competent to Counsel appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

I rehearsed for him my typical thoughts on the subject—I am very busy, our friends and students are busy, I don’t want to annoy people with unwanted email, folks will think I am trying to get money from them, Jay does not like to promote himself, if people are interested they can read the website . . .

At that point my friend cut me off. “Donn, shame on you! For over 50 years Dr. Adams has had an important ministry in the lives of thousands of people and for the past 12 years you and the Institute have had a life changing ministry to hundreds of students and, through them, thousands of counselees. These people love Jay, and they love this ministry. You simply must do a better job of communicating with them. Hundreds would love to help you if only they knew how!”

Well, of course I was chastened. It has been several weeks since that conversation and this letter is the fruit of my thinking since then. It is longer letter than anything I plan to publish in the future but I have some catching up to do. Please indulge me while I share with you, in some detail, what has been happening at the Institute and some plans for the future.

God is Prospering the Institute

Compiling exact statistics would require expending more time than the principle of good stewardship allows but the Institute now has thousands of students who have enrolled in at least one of our courses and hundreds of graduates who have completed our entire curriculum. These students and graduates are having important ministries in their local churches and are offering the hope only the Scriptures can give to hurting counselees on every continent around the world.

Our website is visited by hundreds of people every day. It not only provides information about the Institute and the training we offer but visitors can also find:

1. a treasure trove of information about Nouthetic counseling, much of which is out of print and can be found nowhere else
2. a daily podcast by Dr. Adams that features 8-9 minute discussions of every counseling issue imaginable (and some you never imagined)
3. our blog featuring recent articles by Dr. Adams as well as, from time to time, classic articles which Dr. Adams has written in years past that can be found nowhere else
4. our online bookstore
5. our Facebook page which has over 1700 “friends” (Are you one of them?)

Our opportunities continue to grow. One of the most exciting partnerships we have developed recently is with Mid-America Baptist Seminary in Memphis where we are helping establish PhD, DMin, and MA programs in Nouthetic counseling. I taught for two weeks in January and will be returning to teach again in June. Next month (April 7-9) Jay and I will be speaking at their first conference on biblical counseling along with Martha Peace and Lou Priolo. More information can be found at their website.

Dr. Adams’ health continues to concern us. While God has given him a degree of improved strength he still deals with a number of challenges every day. Jay continues to write blog articles, Jay and I recently contributed an article to the new Theological Journal to be published by Mid-America Baptist Seminary, and recently R. C. Sproul’s Tabletalk magazine published an interview with Dr. Adams. When I am asked about Jay’s health I like to report that he is “full of sap and very green” (Ps. 92:14). I stopped by his home unannounced several weeks ago and found him reading Basil of Caesarea in the original Greek!

Our training continues to be the single most comprehensive, foundational, and convenient place to study Nouthetic counseling. That may sound like self-serving bluster but please hear me out. We have many friends, and we know of scores of others, who do a fine job of teaching biblical counseling in a number of venues—formal academic institutions, well-structured conferences and seminars, and local church training centers. Each of these, however, owes their existence to the foundational work done by Dr. Adams. Our advice to those seeking training in biblical counseling is to study under Dr. Adams first and establish a firm foundation studying under a teacher they can trust before navigating the wealth of good training (and the plague of poor training and exegesis) available in other places.

But We Have Challenges

Our growth and opportunities have required that we try to do more and more with the same amount of resources. The day to day operation of the Institute is handled almost exclusively by our Executive Director. His daily responsibilities include bookkeeping, taping and editing video lectures, writing and editing curriculum notes, maintaining our websites, interacting with students by phone, recruiting students, teaching, counseling, and answering email. In addition to these daily responsibilities he is working on several writing projects, speaking at counseling conferences, and teaching in an adjunct role in Seminary.

All of that to say, “We need help!” Our most pressing need is to hire an administrative assistant to handle some of the day to day operations. Coupled with that is the need to find better office space from which to function. Almost two years ago the wonderful office space we were renting in Greenville was sold requiring us to move out. Since then we have been working out of two spare bedrooms and an over the garage bonus room in the Arms home. I still have over 4,000 volumes of books packed away in boxes in the garage. Hiring an administrative assistant will require that we have more functional office space somewhere.

Meeting these needs will require more income for the Institute. Since our founding more than twelve years ago we have been largely funded by tuition paid by our students. We have discovered, however, what every other educational institution has learned—tuition income alone cannot cover the cost of training.

Our tuition is exactly the same as it was twelve years ago. We have never raised it—nor do we plan to. We want to keep training in biblical counseling under Dr. Adams accessible to as many students as possible. We believe raising tuition would keep many from students studying with us and as a result, reduce our income, not increase it. No, we believe the first solution is more students, not higher tuition.

Second, we have been lousy fundraisers. We used to wear this as a badge of honor partly because we do not want to be perceived to be focused on money. While Dr. Adams has had an important ministry to thousands over the years he has never cultivated donors. When he was once asked to become the president of a Seminary he turned them down, in part because he believed his lack of fund raising skills would doom the school financially.

As I said at the beginning of this letter, we have been challenged in recent days by several friends to do a better job of asking friends to help us. They have made the case that there are thousands of people helped by Dr. Adams over the years who would love to see others helped in the same way, and would want to help us if only they were asked.

How Can You Help?

Those are some of our current needs, now we want to boldly ask you to do FOUR things for us.

1. Please make the ministry of the Institute for Nouthetic Studies a priority matter of prayer for the next month. I commit to you that I will do a better job of keeping you informed about the ministry of the Institute than I have in the past. Would you commit to putting this ministry, our students, and Dr. Adams personally, at the top of your prayer list for the next month?
2. Would you help us advertise the ministry of the Institute for Nouthetic Studies?
   
   1. “Like” our Facebook page. Currently, we are right at 1700 likes. Help us increase this to 2,000 by the end of the month.
   2. “Share” our Facebook page with all YOUR Facebook friends and invite them to “like” us as well.
   3. Promote our blog, our podcast, and our website on YOUR blog or ministry website.
   4. Tell your family, your friends, your neighbors, your church family, your pastor, your in-laws, and everyone else you know about us.
3. Would you navigate to our donation page and give as large a gift as you are able to this ministry? We pledge to use your gift carefully. There are no six figure salaries paid here. In fact, I will overcome my reticence to discuss such things and tell you that Dr. Adams has never taken a dime in income from the Institute. He has given of his time, his lectures, and his writings and as asked for nothing in return. As Executive Director devoting full time to this ministry, I have never taken an annual salary of more than 25K. We do not plan to change that until after these other needs are met.

1. 1. Give a gift today. The summer months as well as December are usually lean because fewer people devote themselves to studying during those times. Your gift now would help us prepare for the lean summer months that are just ahead. Would you make, what is for you, a significant gift today?
   2. Register to make a monthly donation. Please consider becoming a partner with us in this ministry by registering on our donation page to make a regular monthly gift. You can also send us an email to let us know you will be sending a check every month. We cannot hire an administrative assistant or secure office space until we have regular monthly commitments to cover those expenses. Your gift to the Institute will multiply several times over as it will not only be a blessing to us, but to those who will be learning how to minister the Word of God effectively in the counseling room, and then to those counselees whose lives will be changed by that ministry.

4.  Finally, would you help us by sharing your testimony with prospective students? Sometime today or in the week to come would you write a thoughtfully worded paragraph describing your experience as a student or graduate of the Institute? How has Dr. Adams impacted your life personally, and how have you used what you have learned to minister to others? We would like to share your testimony on our website. We can tell prospective students what we think and what we are seeking to accomplish but your testimony and endorsement would have a far more effective impact. Would you take perhaps a half hour to write up and share your experience with us?

Thank you for staying with me through this longer than usual email. We treasure your partnership with us in this ministry. May God bless you as you consider how you can help us promote the ministry of the Word of God to hurting people.

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