About IABC

Our Approach


IABC Statement of Faith


Because of the specialized calling of the International Association of Biblical Counselors, we desire to allow for freedom of convictions on other doctrinal matters, provided that any interpretation is based on the Bible alone and that no such interpretation shall become an issue which hinders the ministry of biblical counseling to which God has called us.

IABC Members and Certified Biblical Counselors are Asked to Affirm the Following:

  1. We believe that the Bible was uniquely, verbally, and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit and that it was written without error in the original manuscripts. We accept the Bible in its entirety, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, as the sufficient and final authority for guiding man to faith in God then to walk in victory (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Corinthians 2:13, 10:11; John 19:35).

Statement of Purpose

 

IABC is Committed to staying out of the Ditch of Legalism

At IABC, we begin with Scripture. Therefore, we are committing to staying away from any kind of teaching that would lead our counselees into a “performance trap” of trying to earn the favor of God’s deliverance, joy, or peace through a merit system or some form of biblical discipline. Our counselees are desperate for hope. Galatians 2:16 makes it clear that there is nothing anyone can do or not do to change justification, apart from which we are all hopeless. IABC counselors (or pastors, church leaders, biblical caregivers, helpers or servants) point counselees (fellow believers) to the one and only relationship they extremely and essentially need – Jesus Christ.

IABC is Determined to Point People to Christ

With awareness of the danger of counseling apart from relationship with Christ, our constant aim is saving relationship with Jesus Christ. In that context, we seek to move counselees from infancy to a deep knowledge of God, while maintaining that true maturity is possible only through Scripture (Hebrews 4:12, 5:12-6:3).

IABC is Purposeful in Beginning with Truth

From within the guardrails of grace and truth, we understand that truth gives grace context. We are convinced and desire to convince our counselees, that the Word of God is the authoritative absolute truth that provides super-sufficient and relevant counsel for our lives.

IABC is Motive-Driven, not Mode-Driven

With serious intent to avoid blindly following after other gods, we reject modes driven by motives that reject the One True God. We carefully stand firm on God’s Word as the only protection to shield us from adopting Godless theories or motives.

IABC Recognizes the Role that Cognition Plays in Biblical Counseling

We know that lack of biblical understanding hinders spiritual growth, that unbiblical mindsets and worldviews arrest faith. Our counselees’ greatest need, contrary to cultural definitions, is not remembering a painful past, opening old wounds, nor venting feelings in the safety of an empathic relationship. Our counselees’ greatest need is to fear God and thus seek His wisdom.

IABC Counsels Victory

We are not ashamed to declare that the great, ultimate, final victory of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection that defeated sin and conquered death is the crucial need of our counselees. It is the reality of this gospel that our counselees need in order for their lives to be characterized by the joy and peace they seek. Romans 8:6 teaches that only in the power of the Spirit of God can their lives exhibit the life and peace of God.

Statement of Practice

Biblical counseling is based on the inerrancy, authority, and sufficiency of the Word of God. To safeguard against misguided and imbalanced practices of counseling which may be labeled “biblical,” some standards of practice need to be established. The following criteria are chosen as stimulants for excellence and, at the time, to be a means of providing some measure of trustworthiness for general referral.

Accordingly, IABC members and counselors are asked to affirm the following:
  1. I agree that the Scripture is sufficient, through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, to address all of man’s needs (2 Peter 1:3-4; 2 Timothy 3:16). Therefore, my counseling methods, practices, and techniques will be based upon the clear biblical principles and not upon theories of personality, model of man, psychotherapies, or philosophies derived from secular sources (1 Corinthians 3:19).

Counseling God's Way

“Counseling God’s way is more than a catchy phrase. It’s a commitment to take the Scriptures seriously and to help God’s people apply His truth to their personal lives in practical ways.”

One of the distinctives of IABC is our International Ministries. To date, IABC has had the privilege of ministering in Romania, Uganda, Brazil, Albania, Ireland, and other countries throughout the world. In addition to the training conferences we’ve offered, IABC has Certified Biblical Counselors and/or IABC Members in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Uganda, and Nambia.

IABC is also reaching into the Amish communities through Biblical Counseling training.

Light from darkness.


Counseling God’s Way is as different from psychological counseling as light is from darkness. You see, genuine Biblical counseling doesn’t merely sprinkle a few Bible verses here and there to make the counseling appear Bible-centered. In contrast to psychologically-integrated systems, Biblical counseling seeks to carefully discover those areas in which a Christian may be disobedient to the principles and commands of Scripture and to help him learn how to lovingly submit to God’s will.

Counseling God’s Way.


That is what psychological counseling produces: spiritual nearsightedness and blindness and a return to slavery to the very sins God has freed us from. As a result, “they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning,” (2 Peter 2:20).

Counseling God's Way

is totally different, because it relies on the wisdom of God, not on the false precepts of humanistic philosophies and theories.

Would you like to know more about counseling God's way? Then we invite you to order a copy of the book, How to Counsel God's Way, by Bob Hoekstra. It could be the turning point in your ministry of counseling as we encourage one another.

Order Bob's Book Online

God has Given Us


Biblical counselors take Colossians 1:28 seriously, presenting Christ without shame, lovingly confronting sin, and teaching Biblical principles in order to produce maturity in the life of the counselee.

 Psychological counseling, on the other hand, is based on “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ,” (Colossians 2:8). That’s why Paul warns, “See to it that no one takes you captive” through such empty concepts.

Biblical counselors truly believe that God “has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness,” (2 Peter 1:5). If we apply God’s principles to our lives and grow in our character qualities, Peter promises “they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive,” (vs.8), but if we fail to do so, Peter says we are “nearsighted and blind” forgetting that we have “been cleansed from [our] past sins” (vs.9).

 

Biblical Counseling.


In contrast to the false stereotypes of Biblical counseling, effective Biblical counselors do not automatically diagnose a counselee’s problems as flagrant and willful rebellion and prescribe a couple of verses with the promise of instant healing. On the other hand, a genuine Biblical counselor does not assume that every problem is biologically caused, requiring years of intensive psychotherapy and psychotropic drugs.
While recognizing that many problems of thinking and behavior are physically caused, Biblical counselors recognize that many physical symptoms are generated by wrong patterns of thinking and action.

International Ministries

One of the distinctive of IABC is our International Ministries. To date, IABC has had the privilege of ministering in Romania, Uganda, Brazil, Albania, Ireland, and other countries throughout the world. In addition to the training conferences we’ve offered, IABC has Certified Biblical Counselors and/or IABC Members in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Uganda, and Nambia.

IABC is also reaching into the Amish communities through Biblical Counseling training.