In exactly one month, on October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors will have its 41st annual conference on biblical counseling. Our theme for this year is biblical counseling and the Protestant Reformation. But before I talk with you about that, I want to remind you about the whole reason for the Protestant Reformation to begin with.
In the year 1517, Martin Luther nailed, 95 theses to the door of the castle Church in Wittenberg Germany. His point in nailing those theses to the door was to debate the Roman Catholic practice of indulgences as it related to the Biblical teaching on repentance. Luther did not know that in his attempt to spark a debate, he would actually spark a Reformation that would change the whole world. The reformers ultimately believed that the gospel was at stake in the debate between themselves and the Roman Catholic church. And as they argued for faithfulness in the gospel, they actually recovered the gospel, and they did change the world. This year’s annual conference at ACBC is meant to commemorate the Protestant Reformation. And here’s the thing, on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation everybody is commemorating the Reformation.
But our conference at ACBC is going to be very different. We at ACBC think we can offer you a unique take on the Reformation. We’re not just talking about history and we’re not just talking about theology, as important as those realities are, but we’re talking about the history and the theology of the Reformation as they relate to the care of human beings in the ministry of counseling. And here is the issue that the church faces with regard to counseling, we are in a state of complete chaos, and we are in need of a recovery of the gospel in counseling today just like the gospel needed to be recovered over and against the Catholic Church 500 years ago. And out of that spirit, we are having an annual conference on the Protestant Reformation and biblical counseling.
In order to prepare us for that annual conference, I wrote a document called 95 theses for an authentically Christian commitment to counseling. Its 95 statements are meant to argue for the ways that Christians can recover an authentically Christian approach to counseling. We’ve put this document online on our website, and I’m obviously not going to read the whole thing, but I want to read to you the first thesis, the introductory thesis, out of 95. And here’s what it says, “Christians in the 21st century live at a time when the counseling practice of many evangelical churches is marked by chaos and confusion regarding the nature of counseling.”
I believe, with all my heart, that that statement is true. The reality is that the practice of so many Christians in counseling Ministry has been completely distorted by over 100 years of therapeutic influence on Christian Ministry. And I believe with all my heart that on the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, one of the most significant ways that we can continue the Reformation and indeed perpetuate the Reformation is by defending the proclamation of the Gospel as it relates to the practice of counseling. You should not be confused. The gospel is at stake in this issue. We exist in a Christian culture where many of our brothers and sisters who love the Lord Jesus Christ have made a bargain with the state that they will not speak of Jesus Christ when they speak to troubled people. They’ve made a bargain with the secular therapeutic culture, that they will not call counselees to repentant faith in Jesus Christ even though Jesus Christ himself commands that that happen. The problem is that if people’s greatest problem is their separation from a Holy God, and if the solution to that problem is Jesus Christ. Then how can counselors who say they want to help people block them from the ultimate solution to all of their problems? The gospel really is at stake as to whether we have an authentically Christian commitment to counseling.
And so, I want to invite you to look at the 95 Theses for an authentically Christian commitment to counseling, and I want to invite you to the ACBC annual conference this year in Jacksonville, Florida. We are thrilled to be able to welcome speakers like Ligon Duncan, Page Patterson, Jim Newheizer, and others who are going to explain to us how the five Solas of the Reformation touchdown in and motivate Counseling Ministry. You are invited to join us in Jacksonville, Florida, for these three days, and I hope that as you read these theses and as you attend our conference, you will be motivated with us to recover the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the ministry of counseling.
