In this short article, I’m interested in telling you something about why you should become a full-fledged Nouthetic Counselor, and something about what counseling will be like. There is much in other parts of this website that explain what Nouthetic Counseling is, what our program offers and how you may go about becoming a part of it. Therefore, those are matters that I shall not consider.

If you truly believe that the Bible is the written Word of God—as much His Word as if you heard Him speak it, then you should be interested in Nouthetic Counseling. If you believe that, for a wide variety of reasons, many of your fellow Christians are in dire trouble, from which they are not extricating themselves, you ought to be interested in Nouthetic Counseling. If you think that the church is severely weakened by these Christians who are so caught up in their own problems that they have little time or gumption to fight the wars of the Lord, then you probably will be interested in Nouthetic Counseling. If you care for the church, the body of Christ, as God’s precious possession, and are saddened at the psychologizing of its preaching and counseling, then you will be interested in Nouthetic Counseling.

I say this simply because all of these things, and much more, are a concern and ministry of Nouthetic Counselors.

When we counsel, we are convinced that God has provided all things necessary for life and godliness in the Scriptures. For that reason, Nouthetic Counseling is based solely upon the Bible. Not only are our counseling principles Bible based, but our practices are derived from those principles as well. That means—from top to bottom—Nouthetic Counseling is Scriptural. We tell our counselees that whenever we give a direction or use a means in counseling, that they ought to feel free to ask for a biblical reason for it, and we will gladly give them a rational from the Word of God. If a Nouthetic Counselor should ever require anything of a counselee that he cannot support biblically, we tell them that he should admit it and cease and desist from it in the future.

Nouthetic Counselors are human beings. They are sinners, like those they serve. At times they fail; the Word they minister never does. They subject themselves wholly to God’s will as it is expressed in the Bible. That means that they not only urge their counselees to obey it, but that they also wish to do so themselves. All sinners, though saved, err. That is a part of our present condition, as those who are still being sanctified. However, since they attempt to keep as close to biblical teaching as possible, they are far less likely to go astray in their counseling than others whose counsel is not biblically-based.

“Why should I seek training in Nouthetic Counseling? Can’t I learn how to use the Bible to counsel people on my own?”

Of course you can. But will you? The development and pursuit of Nouthetic Counseling has been going on since the 1960s, and much has been learned about how to counsel people from the Scriptures over that time. Does it seem reasonable for each Christian to go through the process of developing, on his own, what other Christians have already developed and are ready, willing and able to share with him?

Nouthetic Counseling is, as you can read elsewhere on this website, an application of the biblical practice of nouthesia, a term used by the apostle Paul for counseling. In it are elements of admonition, instruction encouragement and some others, but most of all it has a familial note that rings of loving brothers and sisters who are in trouble. So far as I know, while those qualities of loving concern might be found in the church in other venues, it is in Nouthetic Counseling alone that they are an essential part of the work itself.

I said I’d be short. There is so much to tell, that it is impossible to do so in this one article. But, perhaps, something in the article has stimulated your interest, and you’d like to know more, if so, contact Donn Arms at darms@mabts.edu, and he’ll take care of you. Blessings!

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

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Life is full of activities—God has designed things that way; so that’s good! But it does mean that if you are going to do anything worthwhile that takes time and effort, you probably must schedule your work. If you’re having trouble finding time, then you must look for it—it’s there.  We all have 24 hours a day—it just depends on how we cut the pie!

Notice JESUS HAD A SCHEDULE. Often it is pointed out that His hour had not yet come.  But when it did, He said He came for that hour. If Jesus thought it important to set times for what He was doing, don’t you think we might do so too? I suggest that if you’re having some difficulties, that you set aside about two hours at least once a week, and work on the course at hand.

Blessings as you study,

Jay

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Counselors-to-be, if it were possible, we’d sit down from time to time and talk to you personally about how you are doing, questions you may have, and the like. But with some of you on every continent but Antarctica that’s obviously out of the question. Some day, sooner or later, if it is ever practical, it would be great to hold an international conference of our students and our graduates. It’s not yet time to think about that except in our day-dreaming hours, but—who knows—in one way or another (if God so wills) it could happen.

At any rate. Hang in there, keep on studying, and the Lord bless and use you.

feedback@nouthetic.org

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I was reading Philippians 3 this morning and wondered about the difference between worldly-mindedness and spiritually-mindedness. What is worldly-mindedness anyway? How does it relate to how I treat and talk to others?

Worldly-mindedness is thinking about things the way an unsaved person does. It means thinking horizontally rather than vertically about matters—leaving God out of your thinking. In decision-making you act as if you were God, making your ideas the basis for your decisions. In Isaiah 55, God says that our thoughts are not like His thoughts. We must learn to think God’s thoughts after Him, and act according to them in daily living. They are found, of course, in His Word. You must deal with others according to proper, biblical thinking.

The post Student Q & A appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

The post Attention—INS Students, Graduates! appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

I recently learned that in the few short years the INSTITUTE has been in existence, we have already graduated over fifty students from our full time 160-hour course. Congratulations!

From time to time we hope to be contacting you with information, suggestions, general thoughts, and the like. Today, let me say a word about how to get started. Just in case you haven’t yet been able to begin counseling and were wondering how to begin, here are five suggestions:

1. Contact your pastor and volunteer to help with overflow counseling. You don’t want to replace him or do his counseling for him. But you might be able to relieve him a bit.
2. Offer to sit in on counseling sessions with the pastor or elders of your church whenever he must counsel a single woman. He will want a third party present. Perhaps the elder or deacon who usually sits in is not available on some occasions. At such times you might make yourself available.
3. When someone calls and wants to get something off his/her chest on the phone, say something like this: “This matter is too important to discuss on the phone. Let’s set up some regular time to get together to discuss it.”
4. Spread the word over the congregation (with the pastor’s permission) that your are available. Be wise as a serpent in doing so—and as harmless as a dove. Don’t cause trouble; use finesse.
5. Approach persons who need help on the basis of Galatians 6:1 (See Ready to Restore). It should not be embarrassing to do so since you are not taking fees. Again, be sure that you are not working at cross-purposes with your congregation. When the word gets out that you can help people, you’ll soon have to get others to take this course so they can help you.

If you are a recent graduate who hasn’t yet done any (or much) counseling, get ready to do so. I say “get ready” because surely the Lord doesn’t want you to waste the knowledge and training that you have received. If the Lord wants you to do counseling—you will counsel!

feedback@nouthetic.org

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