The concentration in Biblical Counseling provided by this track will prepare students for a wide variety of biblical guidance ministries in local churches. Students completing the M.Div. or M.A. degree programs in the Biblical Counseling track will be prepared to serve as a chaplain or on a local church staff with special responsibilities for counseling, pastoral care, and family ministries.
Philosophy of the Biblical Counseling Program
The guiding foundation for Southeastern’s Biblical Counseling program is that the Holy Scriptures are the written Word of the Living God and are sufficient for understanding people as spiritual, moral, relational, and psychological beings (2 Timothy 3:14-17; Psalm 1). God has provided all things necessary for life and godliness: His risen and reigning Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; His written Word, the Holy Bible; His indwelling Holy Spirit; and His churches, local communities of baptized believers committed to the historic Christian faith and living out their personal faith through deeds of love (2 Peter 1:3-4; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Galatians 5:6). Southeastern intends to equip men and women of God to become wise, merciful counselors, thoroughly and completely equipped to minister both God’s grace and truth.
We believe that counseling is a part of the local church’s mission to make disciples and to teach them to obey the Lord, and is therefore best practiced under the authority of a local body of believers. Our primary goal is to play an active part in restoring to our churches’ practical biblical wisdom in the care and cure of souls. Counseling is a ministry of God’s Word, a type of individualized discipleship, which in concert with the other ministries of a church facilitates the process of sanctification for each member and the subsequent purification and strengthening of the Body of Christ (Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:14; Romans 15:14).
The Seminary’s counseling program intends to prepare students to counsel from within the framework of a biblical anthropology, developing a biblical, God-related understanding of human problems, and implementing truthful, graceful, timely, relevant, and practical Christ-centered methods of problem solving and change (Psalm 1:1-2; Hebrews 4:12-13). In addition, we believe the character of the counselor and the quality of the relationship between counselor and counselee are as important as practical skill. Christ-likeness, relationally manifested through the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23; James 3:13-18), is the ideal for the counselor and the goal for the counselee. The ultimate goal of all aspects of the counseling relationship is to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17).
While biblical counselors can benefit from the empirical findings of the human and medical sciences, we believe the Bible is the only infallible source for counseling theories and models. Our perspective is that the theories, practices, and institutions of the secular mental health establishment are not essential for constructing a Christian counseling model or for providing an effective cure for the soul, psyche, or mind. Particularly in the counseling domain, secular and naturalistic personality theories and psychotherapies are fundamentally flawed because they excise the God of the Bible from the human equation (Psalm 10:4; Psalm 14:1; Proverbs 28:26).
Degree Description
The M.Div., B.C. track is better preparation for those with long-term local church ministry goals. The M.A. in B.C. is for those who will be specializing primarily in vocational counseling ministries. Pastoral candidates seeking a specialization in counseling ministries are advised to complete both the M.Div. following the Pastoral Ministry track and the M.A. in B.C. The Registrar can help a student design a program of study leading to the completion of both degrees.
Degree Requirements
In the Master of Divinity Biblical Counseling track, students complete the 70-hour M.Div. Foundational Core and 18 hours of specialized track requirements for a total of 88 hours with an overall GPA of 2.0 or better.
In addition to the M.Div. Core *, students specializing in Biblical Counseling must complete the following courses:
*In the M.Div. Core, Biblical Counseling students need to substitute BCO 7501 - Counseling Practicum I for PMN7900 Mentored Internship, and BCO 7502 - Counseling Practicum II for PRS6500 Bible Exposition II/CED6270 Women and Communication.
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