Sufficient or Insufficient?

“What can we do to help you?”

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.

feedback@nouthetic.org

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Institute for Nouthetic Studies Blog on 11 March 2012