Training that helps Christians care for the hurting.

The most important aspect of any biblical counseling training is helping students understand that the power and purposes of God are not dependent on us. We strive to prioritize the good news, the scriptures, and the importance of progressive victory over sin.

• Our training is online and self-paced but has opportunities for you to get to know BCC Counselors. Our school offers opportunities to interact with teachers online or through our live video Q&A sessions each month.
• Our target audience is church leaders, whether paid employees or volunteers. Most pastors that have gone through our program say they never experienced a course quite like this in their formal training, and most volunteer leaders tell us this is the most practical discipleship training they have ever taken.
• Our tools are practical, printable, tested, biblically accurate, and immediately usable. Our resource center has more than 500 articles and resources for our students.
• Our teachers have more than 200 years of counseling experience combined. Many have advanced degrees and expertise you can glean from.
• Our tests are all Pass/Fail, open note, and require you to answer practical case studies. You don't need to be able to memorize large amounts of info or worry about writing or grammar struggles. Additionally, you can also retake the final if you don’t pass, and you'll receive feedback as to why.

Foundations of Biblical Counseling contains 25 lessons and is good for any believer who wants to learn the basics of counseling biblically. It lays out the philosophy and process for biblical counseling and teaches you to counsel others through emotional struggles, relational conflict, forgiveness, and more. Even though this course is an introduction, students say the class has depth and is also very practical.

The Lay Counseling Certificate is designed for those who want to develop as a lay biblical counselor or get more in-depth counseling skills to shepherd others well. The certificate is earned after successful completion of three classes. The Certificate begins with Foundations (See above), continues with Portraits (split-screen observation of BCC Counselors in Action) and concludes with Contemporary Issues, which further develops the philosophy of biblical counseling and includes units on Mental Struggles, Sexual Brokenness, and Abuse. Most students complete this in about 1 year.

ACBC Certification Prep- BCC partners with ACBC to allow students to pursue ACBC Certification. Our Foundations Class and the Portraits class meet the basic training requirements. Our Essentials ACBC exam guide helps students move through the exams more quickly and with greater precision. After successful completion of the exams, most of our students will request supervision through BCC as well. This process is rigorous, but well worth it. Most students complete our Prep Course in 12-16 Months.

BCC is committed to be both a quality counseling center and a teaching center. Last year, our team in Chicago counseled nearly 5000 hours. This means that our training is based on extensive experience.

BCC has a dedicated staff position to oversee the online school, and all of our Sr. Staff is actively involved in training counselors, interns, and online students. We also offer a help desk and regularly host live video Q&A where students and teachers interact.

Generally, we give students 1 year to complete either Foundations or the Lay Counseling Certificate Program. For the ACBC Certification Course, we allow 16 months to complete your work.

At the end of your course time, you may ask for an extension of two months. After the two months extension, you can request to continue but you must pay a monthly subscription fee to keep your course going. As long as you're making progress, we will work with you.

Learning with a small group is the best way to learn biblical counseling for three main reasons:

• Small Groups help you learn to practice mutual ministry and to work on listening skills.
• Small Groups hold one another accountable to commit to and complete the training.
• Small Groups help you grow spiritually as your understanding is greater together than on your own.

We offer group discussion guides so that your small groups times can be structured and meaningful learning. However, we stress that your group should value people over process. Completing every page is not the goal; learning together is best.

If you're looking to start a counseling ministry at your church, read about our Launch partnership!