Mid-America Seminary Named National Training Center for Biblical Counseling
Furthering its position as one of the nation’s premier institutions for equipping biblical counselors, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary has been selected as an official Certified Training Center for the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).
The newly established Mid-America Institute for Biblical Counseling will be recognized during the ACBC Annual Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, October 3–5, 2022, cosponsored by Mid-America Seminary and hosted at Bellevue Baptist Church.
The ACBC is one of the largest and fastest growing biblical counseling training and certification organizations in the world. The announcement means that certificate training which Mid-America has already been offering fulfills the Fundamentals training course requirement needed for certification by ACBC.
The training makes biblical counseling certification accessible for a wide range of individuals who may not have the time, resources, or educational background to complete a degree program, yet still want to be well equipped to provide biblical counseling.
The honor from ACBC is the latest in a series of developments that sets Mid-America at the forefront of the rapidly growing field of biblical counseling. A key step forward occurred in 2020 when Mid-America added Dr. John Babler to its faculty as Chairman of the Biblical Counseling department.
An alumnus of and professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for 28 years, Dr. Babler is nationally renowned as a leader in the growing movement of biblical counseling that views Scripture as fully sufficient for applying God’s truth to people’s lives. Dr. Babler also serves as a Fellow and Trustee for the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors.
Committed to the sufficiency and inerrancy of Scripture since its founding 50 years ago, Mid-America gained such a reputation for academic excellence and conservative theology that in 2015 its biblical counseling department received another boost from Dr. Jay E. Adams, the founder of the biblical counseling movement and the Institute for Nouthetic Studies. In 1970, Dr. Adams wrote Competent to Counsel, the book that began the biblical counseling movement, and he has authored more than 100 other books. Mid-America partnered with Dr. Adams to build a counseling curriculum that is faithful to the Scriptures, academically rigorous, and intensely practical.
The legacy of excellence in biblical counseling training continues under Dr. Babler’s leadership. Dr. Babler said, “The Biblical Counseling programs at Mid-America have a great heritage having been begun by Dr. Jay Adams. As we look to the future we are excited about having continuing impact as we work to prepare students, pastors, and laypeople to counsel and help them achieve the certification offered by the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors.”
Today, Mid-America’s biblical counseling program offers students the highest quality training in biblical counseling, including five fully accredited degree programs, plus two certificate options—a total of seven levels, one to fit everyone desiring to become competent to counsel.
As a Certified Training Center of ACBC, the Mid-America Institute for Biblical Counseling offers two ways in addition to formal degree programs by which men and women can fulfill the requirement for Fundamentals training in the pursuit of ACBC certification. One is the certificate program developed by Dr. Babler called “Counseling by The Book,” and the other is a training curriculum created by Dr. Adams through the Institute for Nouthetic Studies.
Individuals interested in biblical counseling training can receive more information about Mid-America’s certificate programs and degree programs at mabts.edu/biblical-counseling. Information about ACBC certification is available at biblicalcounseling.com.
Mid-America Seminary and College as well as the Institute for Biblical Counseling are located in Memphis (Cordova), Tennessee. Founded in 1972, Mid-America offers 38 fully accredited degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as certificate programs, such as those for biblical counseling. All programs are available on campus and online. For more information, visit mabts.edu or contact the school at 901-751-8453 or info@mabts.edu.