In the past several decades, many Christians have become more familiar with a new type of credentialing program within and around the church called “biblical counseling certification.” Many churches now find within their midst pastors, elders, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, and even regular church members who are certified biblical counselors. After many meetings, a Christian may learn that their mentor carries this title of “certified biblical counselor.” Therefore, a person may wonder, “What does it mean to be a certified biblical counselor? What is ‘biblical counseling certification’?”
Biblical counseling certification first appeared in the 1970s as a way to provide structure and accountability for those who received training in order to practice biblical counseling, an approach to counseling developed by pastor, professor, and counselor Jay Adams. The first and largest certifying organization is the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC), now known as the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC). Other parachurch ministries that offer biblical counseling certification include the Association of Biblical Counselors (ABC) and the International Association of Biblical Counselors (IABC). In 2022, the Institute for Reformed Biblical Counseling (IRBC) began to offer biblical counseling certification for those receiving their counseling training and for counselors practicing within the Shepherd’s Way Counseling Ministry Network.
This article will help pastors, church members, and potential counselees to understand the nature of biblical counseling certification by addressing several misconceptions surrounding biblical counseling certification and clarifying the incredible role that certified biblical counselors can play within any local church community.
What Biblical Counseling Certification is Not
There are several misconceptions that Christians can adopt when first encountering a certified biblical counselor. A biblical counseling certification is not (1) a training certificate, (2) an academic degree, or (3) a state or clinical counseling license.
Biblical counseling certification is not a training certificate.
Part of the confusion over the nature of biblical counseling “certification” is the differences between a biblical counseling “certificate” and biblical counseling “certification.” A biblical counseling “certification” or a “certified” biblical counselor communicates more than a biblical counseling “certificate.” A biblical counseling “certificate” is commonly awarded to someone who fulfills the requirements of a training course as a documented acknowledgment of their efforts. A certified biblical counselor is someone who has completed training and has further demonstrated their competencies to serve as a counselor through examination and coaching or mentorship.1
For example, the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) offers biblical counseling “certificates” (official documentation of completing courses within their curriculum) but not certification. ACBC, ABC, IABC, and IRBC offer certifications. A certificate communicates that an individual has received training in counseling. A certification communicates that an individual has demonstrated a level of basic competency to serve as a biblical counselor and is accountable to a certifying parachurch ministry.2
Biblical counseling certification is not an academic degree.
There are many times when a church member will meet with a biblical counselor who is also a pastor or a seminary graduate. In these situations, those receiving counseling should know that their biblical counseling certification is not an academic degree, even as these individuals have received advanced training. A Master of Divinity degree from an accredited Reformed seminary requires between 88 to 114 credit hours, or between 1,600 and 1,700 hours of in-person instruction. Most biblical counseling certifications require somewhere between 30 and 50 hours of instruction—or roughly one three-credit course at a seminary or graduate institution.
Biblical counseling certifications and academic degrees have different requirements because they serve different purposes. An academic degree is an advanced professional program that follows national accreditation standards and offers a full curriculum covering topics such as original languages, theological studies, church history, and applied ministry. Biblical counseling certifying organizations are parachurch ministries seeking to strengthen local churches by focusing on training and equipping members in one-on-one discipleship and counseling.
Due to the nature of biblical counseling certification, the Institute for Reformed Biblical Counseling understands that its curriculum and counseling certification is fundamentally oriented toward lay counseling training. Although not an academic institution, there is still much good that can be accomplished for Christ’s kingdom through training and equipping elders and laypersons in the interpersonal ministry of the Word. That need has been part of the “DNA” of IRBC from the very beginning, as our organization’s founders saw the great need within Dutch Reformed churches to equip elders in their responsibilities of shepherding and caring for their flocks. Thus, our Level 1 certification is oriented toward serving Reformed congregations in offering lay training, lay examination, and lay counseling mentorship for lay counseling.
At the same time, we understand that many people who pursue degrees from academic institutions will be interested in biblical counseling certification. Many seminary graduates see the great need for further training in biblical counseling, especially in the early years of their ministries. Thus, our Level 2 certification is oriented toward pastors and graduates of Reformed seminaries who desire to demonstrate their competencies as counselors and be accountable to an organization as they conduct their counseling ministries. Level 2 certified counselors complete more challenging examinations and total counseling hours as appropriate for their higher levels of education.
Biblical counseling certification is not a professional or clinical license.
Like the seminary degree, biblical counseling certification is often confused with professional or licensed clinical counselors. This misperception is entirely understandable. Most counselors in the world today are licensed by the state. Furthermore, both biblical counselors and licensed professional counselors (LPC, LPCC, LMFT) claim to have counseling “supervision” as a prerequisite for their “certification” and “license.”
But there are significant differences between a certified biblical counselor and a licensed professional counselor. While some certified biblical counselors are also licensed professional counselors, licensed professional counselors are licensed by the state and report to national associations that provide ethical oversight for their counseling. IRBC certified biblical counselors operate independently of the state and are ultimately accountable to the ecclesiastical leadership connected to their church membership, in addition to the ethical requirements of their certifying organizations. If biblical counseling is an extension of Christian ministry that involves the application of biblical truths to the problems of life within the context of a local church, then biblical counseling sits under the umbrella of a Christian’s free exercise of his or her religion. Biblical counseling and licensed professional counseling also differ in content, as biblical counseling approaches counseling from the perspective of Scripture, while most licensed counseling is informed by various secular paradigms for understanding human experience. Whether one reports ultimately to the state or to the church can have significant ramifications for counseling practices within an increasingly secular age.
As a final comment on the differences between biblical counseling certification and professional licenses, biblical counselors should humbly acknowledge the greater stringency of clinical counseling requirements. While most biblical counselors are expected to complete between 50 and 100 hours of counseling for certification, licensed counselors must complete between 2,000 and 3,000 hours of clinical counseling. Because of the differences in these expectations, IRBC intentionally avoids the language of “supervision” and its connotations, referring to the counseling phase of the certification process as “mentorship” and “coaching,” language that more accurately describes the counselor-supervisor relationship in Phase 3 of our counseling certification.
The fact that professional licenses require more hours of supervised counseling does not mean that an LPC is de facto more competent than a biblical counselor, but biblical counselors should be humble concerning their skills, competencies, and the need for continual growth in their counseling practices after receiving their certifications.
Conclusion – What is biblical counseling certification?
This article has sought to answer the question, “What is biblical counseling certification?” As we have seen, biblical counseling certification is not a training certificate, an academic degree, or a professional or clinical license. Rather, biblical counseling certification is a church-based credentialing program that offers education, examination, and mentorship in counseling to pastors, church leaders, and laypersons who desire to grow in their ability to apply God’s Word to the problems of life. Biblical counseling certification is not a capstone program, but a credential that communicates to the broader Christian community that an individual has completed an intensive period of counseling training and mentorship and may be useful in intentional discipleship relationships and bringing God’s wisdom and counsel to those in need of care.
In this way, a certified biblical counselor should be seen as a gift to any local church community who desires to see all her members reach full maturity in Christ (Eph 4:13).
Interested in learning more about biblical counseling certification? You can visit our certification overview page here. You can also visit our certification portal here.
- This comment does not communicate that a certified biblical counselor is competent to counsel all issues upon receiving their certification. Those who are interested in receiving biblical counseling should still inquire about the experience and expertise of any potential biblical counselors. ↩︎
- Having introduced other biblical counseling organizations within this article, it is important for readers to know that the Institute for Reformed Biblical Counseling does not speak on behalf of these other organizations and is presenting biblical counseling certification from the perspective of our institution. ↩︎
