Truth in Love Biblical Counseling
Statement on Biblical Counseling and Soul-Care [1]

• The Bible comprehensively explains people, problems, and solutions, providing the authoritative basis for and is what guides and informs authentic biblical counseling ministry as Scripture is properly interpreted and properly applied. 
• Wise counseling requires ongoing theological work to diligently study and understand Scripture, people, and how to help them change in Christ. 
• Human beings are fundamentally dependent on and accountable to God. The ideal for human functioning is faith working through love rooted and grounded in Christ. 
• The fundamental human problem is moral - evil done by us and happening to us. Our own sin is the primary issue. The Bible speaks eloquently to how to face the full range of problems in living, from sin to human frailty and all the interconnected dynamics. 
• The solution to human sin and misery is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. God acts personally to redeem us through His past, present and future grace, including through wise biblically based counseling and soul-care.
• The goal of counseling is conversion followed by lifelong progressive sanctification (transformation) - growing in Christlikeness in all aspects of life.
• The primary expression of discipleship and soul-care is meant to occur in local churches under pastoral leadership. Sadly, not every local fellowship is biblically solid nor their leadership faithful to the mandates of Scripture for Christ’s Undershepherds. Where this is true, the practitioner may need to pursue accountability within the broader Body of Christ.
• Secular psychotherapies and theories are fundamentally flawed and compete with Christ as the solution. Secular disciplines and professions can contribute some knowledge but cannot align a system of faith and practice for wise counseling ultimately. 
• We need to be careful to employ terminology that maintains the clear differentiation between biblical categories and definitions and those employed by secular practitioners.
• Personality theories, psychotherapies, self-help theories are incomplete theologies and forms of soul-care that are often based on man-made precepts and are person-focused instead of God-focused.
• All of human life involves informal counseling as people inevitably influence one another's beliefs, desires, and choices through their interactions. Formal biblical counseling and soul-care are an extension of this, not the domain of mental health professionals. This must properly be evaluated through God’s Word.
• Counseling is never neutral - it either leads people toward or away from Christ by how it interprets people and prescribes solutions. The psychotherapeutic professions incorrectly presume a medical model and professional roles to deal with problems that are inescapably moral and spiritual in nature. While medical conditions can be catalytic for mental, emotional, and spiritual problems, they are not causal.
• Effective biblical counseling and soul-care depend on the Holy Spirit developing a conviction about these truths worked out in the details of wise, loving, Christ-centered ministry to hurting people. Biblical counseling that is Christ-centered and grounded in Scripture will prove powerful to evangelize, instruct, and persuade in the modern psychologized world as its wisdom is demonstrated in effective soul-care. 
  

[1] Adapted from David Powlison, “Affirmations & Denials: A Proposed Definition of Biblical Counseling,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling, Volume 19, Number 1, Fall 2020