I have many opportunities to talk to people about biblical counseling, but I am often surprised at how little people know about the origins of the biblical counseling movement. To help address this situation, this article will present a brief overview of the history of biblical counseling, or “The Biblical Counseling Movement 101.”
The history of biblical counseling is a testimony of our God using unsuspecting and imperfect people to do amazing things. It is a story of personal and ministerial crisis, providential turning points, and God’s people responding to the call to recover the care of souls. For every David Powlison or Jay Adams, there are countless men and women laboring faithfully and anonymously within their local church communities. For these people, this story must be told.
Historical Context
The story of biblical counseling cannot be told apart from the background of twentieth-century evangelicalism. The previous century observed two dominant themes. First, orthodox Christians in America faced increasing challenges. As evolution and higher criticism entered the academy, conservative theological positions faced intellectual attacks at levels previously unseen. Central theological doctrines—such as the virgin birth of Jesus Christ and the historicity of the bodily resurrection of Christ—were openly challenged by scholars and abandoned by pastors within mainline denominations and institutions. These conflicts coalesced into the fundamentalist-modernist controversy (1920s), between those who held to the “fundamentals” of the faith (from a series of tracts known as The Fundamentals outlining conservative theological positions) and those entertaining moderate theological positions.
By the 1930s, fundamentalists had lost many institutions to theological liberalism, as illustrated by J. Gresham Machen’s departure from Princeton Seminary and the founding of Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, Pennsylvania, in 1929. Over the next several decades, most Christians holding conservative theological positions retreated from public life and broader academic engagement, compared with the prominence Princeton Seminary faculty had previously experienced in America. Many of these Christians devoted themselves to church planting and missions, until several leaders, including Carl F. H. Henry and Harold Ockenga, called for Christian reengagement with the broader culture and academy. This group would become neo-evangelicalism.
Second, while conservative Christianity slumbered, the disciplines of psychology and psychiatry were busy at work. Once relegated to a subdiscipline within philosophy and providing custodial care for patients long condemned to “madness,” psychology and psychiatry respectively exploded in activity, popularity, and, importantly, institutional support in government funding. The story of psychology and psychiatry’s rapid growth in the twentieth century defies simple explanations. But Freud’s novel theories of the subconscious and human motivation, European trenches that tested the mind’s resilience in the face of unspeakable horrors, and the increasing individualization of Western society, morality, and philosophies of living created a concoction that drew attention to the inner self like never before. Thus, as conservative Christians were beginning to reengage with the broader culture and academy, it was only a matter of time before Christians would give serious attention to the discipline of psychology and psychiatry.
The Beginnings of Biblical Counseling
The beginnings of the biblical counseling movement initially seem inconsequential. In 1963, pastor and recent PhD graduate Jay Adams participated in a standard procedure at Westminster Theological Seminary—receiving his assigned courses for the upcoming semester. His list included a fateful class on pastoral counseling.
Jay E. Adams (1929–2020) was a pastor, professor, and institutional builder best known for his contributions to pastoral theology. He graduated from Reformed Episcopal Seminary, Johns Hopkins University, Temple University, and the University of Missouri. His ministry experience spans pastorates across the Bible Presbyterian Church, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. At Westminster Theological Seminary, Adams confronted the challenge many conservative and Reformed pastors face: a lack of biblical resources for pastoral care and shepherding. Most available resources were filled with concepts and frameworks from secular psychology, instructing pastors to refer and defer more complicated cases to “experts” in psychotherapy and psychology. In response, Adams developed his Bible-based method of pastoral counseling, approaching pastoral care issues through the simple method of expounding relevant Biblical texts and theological concepts to the issues of church members. This approach was memorialized within the book, Competent to Counsel, a clarion call to churches to recover their responsibility in the care of souls. Adams also played a pivotal role in establishing multiple institutions, including the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (previously the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors) and the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF).
Another leader within the biblical counseling movement was David Powlison. Many consider David Powlison (1949–2019) the most important leader of the second generation of biblical counselors. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was led to faith by a friend at Harvard. He later received his Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary and an MA and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1978, Powlison became an intern at CCEF, a position that would lead to roles as editor of the Journal of Biblical Counseling, faculty member at Westminster Theological Seminary, and executive director of CCEF. A prolific writer and wordsmith, Powlison mastered the art of short-form writing, publishing many seminal essays that continue to inform biblical counseling theory and practice to this day. These essays include “Cure of Souls (and the Modern Psychotherapies),” “X-ray Questions: Drawing Out the Whys and Wherefores of Human Behavior,” and “Think Globally, Act Locally.”
Biblical Counseling Today
Fast forward fifty years, and biblical counseling has grown into a movement likely beyond the wildest dreams of those original founders who desired to see counseling restored to the church. Today, biblical counseling has international and interdenominational representation. The Biblical Counseling Coalition (founded in 2011) brings together biblical counseling leaders from across the globe each year for encouragement, support, and resources for local counseling ministries. Biblical counseling is being practiced within non-denominational, Calvary Chapel, Southern Baptist, Reformed, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Independent Baptist churches, and more. Every year, more pastors, elders, and church members receive training and pursue biblical counseling certificates and certification. Leading institutions include the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC), The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF), The Association of Biblical Counselors (ABC), and the Biblical Counseling Coalition. Biblical counseling is also experiencing growth within parachurch contexts. Graduates of biblical counseling programs are founding counseling ministries that come alongside local churches to augment pastors’ care and shepherding when more complex problems require further specialization. Virtual platforms are also increasing access to biblical counseling for men, women, and children without a biblical counseling ministry in their local community.
Along the way, many smaller organizations have developed to reflect different nuances and niches within particular church contexts. The Institute for Reformed Biblical Counseling represents one of these developments. The early leaders of IRBC are the product of biblical counseling training taking root within the Dutch Reformed context. Having experienced organic growth within several smaller Dutch Reformed denominations, IRBC is taking several next steps to broaden our ministry reach and impact as we look to celebrate our twentieth anniversary next year in 2027.
Conclusion
If the Lord tarries, future generations will be unable to trace the history of pastoral care and counseling within the church without mentioning Jay Adams and the modern biblical counseling movement. Today, biblical counseling is experiencing some growing pains as it expands into different ecclesiastical contexts and ministry settings. Nevertheless, these small conflicts should not overshadow the many reasons for encouragement. In local churches worldwide, more and more men and women are receiving counsel from the Scriptures for life’s problems.
For this reason, we should all give thanks to God for Jay Adams and the modern biblical counseling movement.
