Here are three current approaches to biblical counseling,

Approach #1: CHBC (My Approach): Christian Historical Biblical Counseling

This approach builds its model on the Bible and is informed by 2,000 years of Christian soul care/Christian pastoral care throughout church history (100-2025).[i]

Approach # 2: CIBC: Clinically-Informed Biblical Counseling

This approach builds its model on the Bible and is informed by clinical research.[ii]

Approach #3: CNBC: Classic Nouthetic Biblical Counseling

This approach builds its model on the Bible and is informed by Jay Adams’s modern nouthetic approach (1970-2025).[iii]

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If you had just four letters for an acronym (like CHBC, CIBC, or CNBC), how would you label your approach to biblical counseling?

Notes

[i] For more about my approach, see, 6 Biblical Counseling Convictions. I summarize my model as follows: “As biblical counselors we seek to be: Gospel-Centered/Christ-Centered, Theologically-Saturated, Relationship-Focused, Church History-Informed, Research-Aware Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls.” For more about the history of Christian soul care see my PhD. Dissertation, and see my three books on historical Christian soul care.

[ii] For more about CIBC, see 15 Resources About Clinically-Informed Biblical Counseling.

[iii] Many who describe themselves as classic/historic nouthetic biblical counselors actually diverge significantly from Jay Adams original nouthetic model. They overlap with Adams, are informed by Adams, yet they differ from Adams in many ways. Perhaps a more accurate title might be, DNBC: Divergent Nouthetic Biblical Counseling, or perhaps NNBC: Neo-Nouthetic Biblical Counselors. Heath Lambert’s dissertation and book (The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams) outlined numerous differences between Adams and subsequent nouthetic biblical counselors. Many additional differences have surfaced in the years since Lambert wrote his dissertation/book. While Lambert labeled these views a “second generation” of nouthetic biblical counseling, Donn Arms and Jay Adams saw Lambert’s views as having moved outside the bounds of Adams’s model.