The Big Idea 

In today’s post, we learn 3 central questions we need to address in order to richly answer the question, “Who am I as a biblical counselor?”

A Fun, Popular Post 

Yesterday, I posted, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Biblical Counseling. It was a fun post to write.

According to Google analytics and to social media interactions, it was a popular post to read. Talking about our biblical counseling DNA and historical lineage is fun. It’s an “easy” way to self-identify the influences on my approach to biblical counseling.

There’s More to Our Biblical Counseling Identity 

Please consider today’s post something of an addendum to yesterday’s post. I want to expand on how we identify our approach to biblical counseling.

If you ask me, “Who is Bob Kellemen?” I’m not likely to only answer with,

“I’m primarily Romanian on my father’s side and primarily English-Irish on my mother’s side.”

Unless I’m at a meeting of a genealogy society, that’s not the primary way we tend to think about our identity. It’s a fun way. It’s one way. But it really doesn’t get at, “Who am I?”

Instead, it gets at, “What is my ancestry/lineage/DNA/biological/genealogical history?”

Likewise, when someone asks me, “Who is Bob Kellemen as a biblical counselors?” I’m not only going to answer this question with,

“I’ve been most influenced by the Bible and people in church history before the 1960s.” 

That answer, like yesterday’s blog, highlights my biblical counseling identity in terms of ancestry, lineage, genealogy. It addresses the question,

“Historically, what human stream of biblical counseling leaders, thinkers, teachers, equippers, and mentors most influenced me?”

It answers this lineage question with,

“I’m a biblical counselor most influenced by the theory, training, writings, approach, and model of this/these particular biblical counseling leader(s).”

Who Am I? 

Imagine that we’re enjoying lunch together, and you want to get to know me better. You ask me, “Who are you, Bob Kellemen?” There are a lot of ways I might answer that question.

• At some point, perhaps, I’d talk about my ancestry/DNA history.
• Likely, I’d share something about my personal history and upbringing: where I was born, my parents, my siblings.
• As the conversation continues, I’d probably talk about my current life and relationships: my wife, my kids, my grandkids, my extended family, my friends…
• If we keep talking, I’d likely share about my interests, likes, activities, what I do for fun, my hobbies, what I do for a living.
• If you’re a good, interested listener, and if we keep talking, I might start sharing more about my personality: who I am, what makes me “tick,” what interests me.
• If we’re having a really long, intense lunch, and I feel safe with you, I might even start sharing about my dreams, concerns, fears, hopes…
• If our lunch is a seven-course meal and you’re a friend I trust, I may even start talking about my beliefs, convictions, what motivates me.

It’s obvious, right, that being part Romanian and part English-Irish is just one way of answering the question, “Who is Bob Kellemen?”

So also, being influenced by the Adams-stream, or the Powlison-stream, or the diverse third generation-stream, or the pre-1960s-stream is just one way of conceptualizing my biblical counseling identity.

“Who Are You As a Biblical Counselor?”

So, while yesterday’s post was fun, it was not final. While our BC DNA or lineage of training is one way of thinking about our BC identity, it is not the only or even the primary way.

If we’re having that seven-course lunch conversation and you ask me, “Who is Bob Kellemen as a biblical counselor?” I’m going to share more than, “I’m primarily a 4^th gen BCer influenced by the Bible and Christian soul care givers who lived before the 1960s.” If I trust you and we have a safe relationship, then I’m going to go deeper than that.

While our conversation might move in a whole lot of directions, in today’s post, I want to keep it a little simpler by thinking about our biblical counseling identity in two primary ways.

1. A Valid Way of Conceptualizing Our BC Identity: Lineage of Training

2. A Vital Way of Conceptualizing Our BC Identity: Line of Thinking

Yesterday’s post was about lineage of training.

Today’s post is about line of thinking. This is a much more involved, detailed, and nuanced issue. It addresses questions such as:

1. What are the areas of emphasis in my theology/theory of people, problems, and solutions?

2. What are the areas of emphasis in my methodology/practice of the personal ministry of the Word?

3. What are the areas of emphasis in my epistemology/source of truth for developing my theology and methodology of biblical counseling?

Each of these questions has numerous sub-questions and categories, such as:

1. What are the areas of emphasis in my biblical counseling theology/theory of people, problems, and solutions?

• What is my biblical counseling theory of people?: This is biblical/theological anthropology. This is about creation. How did God design us? What is our make-up: what does it mean to be relational beings, spiritual beings, social beings, self-aware beings, rational beings, volitional beings, emotional beings, physical beings, embodied-souls?
• What is my biblical counseling theory of problems?: This is biblical hamartiology—the study of sin. This is about the fall of humanity into sin and it’s impact on us. How did sin impact who we are? What is our core problem? What is the impact of being sinned against?
• What is my biblical counseling theory of solutions?: This is biblical soteriology/sanctification. This is about redemption. How does Christ save us and change us? How do we change? How do we grow in Christ?

2. What are the areas of emphasis in my methodology/practice of the personal ministry of the Word?

• What is my focus in helping people?: As I relate to people in truth and love, do I focus on nouthetic confrontation of sin? Do I focus on parakaletic comforting of suffering? Do I focus on both?
• What is my journey with people like?: As I relate to people in truth and love, do I focus on sustaining empathy? Do I focus on healing encouragement? Do I focus on reconciling exhortation and exposure of sin and grace? Do I focus on guiding empowering and equipping? Do I focus on all of these as needed by the person at the particular moment?
• What methods, skills, and relational competencies do I focus on as I minister to people?: Here we’re talking about a myriad of options in what we actual do in a “counseling session.”
• What is my “style” of engagement with people?: Am I primarily a teacher/preacher and the personal ministry of the Word is like one-on-one teaching? Or, am I primarily a relater and the personal ministry of the Word is soul-to-soul connecting? Or is it a blend of both?

3. What are the areas of emphasis in my epistemology/source of truth for developing my theology and methodology of biblical counseling?

Let’s stop for a moment before we bullet point this question. Let’s go back to our seven-course lunch meal. We’ve gone deep if and when we get to question three. This is the, “Bob Kellemen, who are you really?” This is the, “Bob Kellemen, how do you answer questions 1 and 2 about your theology and methodology of biblical counseling?”

• What is my source of authority for developing my theory and methodology of biblical counseling?: This gets at all the current discussions and debates in the modern biblical counseling world. I’ve sought to address these types of questions in many places, including here: 55 Resources for Counseling the Whole Person: The Bible, the Body, the Embodied-Soul, Research, Science, and Neuroscience. Some of the follow-up questions we need to ask, include:
  • What do we mean by sufficiency of Scripture?
  • How do we apply sufficiency of Scripture?
  • What is the relationship of common grace to the sufficiency of Scripture?
  • What does Scripture say about extra-biblical knowledge?
  • What does the Bible say about the role and place of science?
  • What are the implications of the Creation/Cultural Mandate on how biblical counselors engage with science and neuroscience?
  • What does the Bible say about embodied-souls and the role of biblical counselors in engaging with people comprehensively?
  • How do we use the lens of Scripture as our gaze for assessing extra-biblical truth?
  • How do we use the lens of Scripture as our gaze for assessing our own and other people’s models of biblical counseling?
  • What are my biblical presuppositions about the noetic effect of sin and its relationship to common grace findings?

It Just Got Much Deeper! 

So…it’s one thing to say, “I’m a 4^th generation biblical counselor.” That’s fun. That’s valid. That’s one way of beginning to identity the historical human influences on our approach to biblical counseling.

However…it is not the only way. It is not the deepest way. Today’s post is likely “less fun.” It is certainly “less easy.”

Now I’m saying something much richer than, “Bob Kellemen part Romanian and part English-Irish.” I’m saying something much deeper than, “Bob Kellemen is a 4^th generation biblical counselor with streams of connection to the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd generations of biblical counselors.”

I’m saying something much more involved like,

“Bob Kellemen is a 4^th generation biblical counselor with streams of connection to the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd generations of biblical counselors who has these specific convictions about my theology/theory of people, problems, and solutions, and specific convictions about my methodology/practice of the personal ministry of the Word, and about my epistemology/source of truth for developing my theology and methodology of biblical counseling.”

Join the Conversation 

How do you begin to answer these questions about who you are as a biblical counselor? 

1. What are the areas of emphasis in my theology/theory of people, problems, and solutions?

2. What are the areas of emphasis in my methodology/practice of the personal ministry of the Word?

3. What are the areas of emphasis in my epistemology/source of truth for developing my theology and methodology of biblical counseling?