Between Two Worlds: Powlison, Counseling, and Seminary
I agree with Dr. Powlison’s assessment that seminary is necessary for solid biblical counseling. However, I don’t necessarily think it is the primary discussion we should be having among evangelicals. We live in a day when many, if not most, won’t take a man serious in his counseling if he does not have some formal training. The world has created a professional field for such counselors and the church has embraced the mindset. Not that the world would ever come around to accepting theological training as adequate for counseling people with their problems. Only if we bow to their ideology, will they accept our credentials.
The question evangelicals should be having, in my estimation, is not whether seminary is necessry for counseling, but whether training through the local church is essential for effective training. I think we need both in order to be thoroughly trained.
In seminary I took the one required course in biblical counseling and a second course in marriage and family counseling. I’m thankful for my professor, Dr. Stuart Scott, and for the material we learned and thoroughly discussed. My theology classes were imminently relevant to the subject of counseling. The Masters’ Seminary placed a premium on not merely understanding theology in order to merely converse with the world of professional theology (though they trained us to be able to do so). We learned theology and the ramifications it has on daily living, congregational life and cultural trends. We also had to spend a day observing a pastor at Grace Community Church field calls from around the country and listen to how he counseled them. We viewed such a pastor handling people who walked on to the church campus with questions or needs.
Yet, if this is all of the training one had in biblical counseling, it would be woefully inadequate. One day of observation and four years of theological classes cannot possibly prepare a man adequately for what he will really face when he begins his pastorate. Nor should it be. Practical training in biblical counseling is the role of the local church and is another reason why ministerial students should receive heavy doses of intentional local church training in the midst of and probably after their seminary education.
In my estimation, the discussion we need to be having is not whether counselors should go to seminary, but why counselors need to be formally educated in local churches as well.
