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Master's Programs

Master in Biblical Counseling

Gateway's Master of Arts in Christian Counseling equips church leaders and ministry partners to care for and counsel people in a context based on biblical and theological foundations.

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Master's Programs

Master in Biblical Counseling

The Master in Biblical Counseling (MBC) degree equips students with a skillful grasp of the theology, theory, and methodology of biblical counseling. The MBC curriculum cultivates confidence in the authority, sufficiency, and relevance of God’s Word for addressing the full range of human experience, equipping students to minister God’s wisdom and resources in ways that promote lasting change and healing.

50 Credit-hours
The MBC is a 50 credit-hour degree that many students complete in two years.
Locations

The MBC is available at the Los Angeles campus, the Arizona campus and through Gateway Online.

Skill Development
The MBC degree equips students with a skillful grasp of Scripture and the theology, theory, and methodology of biblical counseling.

What Will I Learn?

The MBC program will prepare students to:

  • Develop a philosophy of biblical counseling grounded in Scripture and reflecting Scripture’s perspective of interpersonal gospel-centered ministry.
  • Construct a cohesive biblical and theological framework for strategically providing gospel-centered counseling ministry in contextualized environments.
  • Demonstrate the ability to evaluate human experience and apply biblical and theological truths to the lives of individuals, couples, and groups by utilizing a graduate level understanding of the Bible and Christian theology.
  • Exhibit mastery of biblical counseling methods and skills through practical ministry application.
  • Critically evaluate the utility and limitations of research, data, and resources external to Scripture for biblical counseling ministry from a biblical worldview.

Curriculum Spotlight

Theological Foundations for Biblical Counseling (P2537 - 3 Credit Hours)
This course examines scriptural, theological, and historical foundations of the biblical counseling model. Emphasis is placed on the study of Scripture and the theological themes that establish and govern the biblical counseling model’s theory and methods. Students will also analyze the historical development of the biblical counseling movement and its model. Completion of this course fulfills partial requirements for counseling certification with the Association of Biblical Counselors (ABC).
Common Counseling Problems (P2536 - 3 Credit Hours)
This course will teach students to apply a biblical counseling approach to common counseling problems. Students will learn to biblically and theologically conceptualize common counseling problems with Christ-centered solutions. This course focuses on problems such as anger, anxiety, depression, addictive behaviors, abuse, relational conflict, and suffering.
Marriage and Family Counseling (P2532 - 3 Credit Hours)
This class addresses premarital, marital, and family counseling issues from a biblical counseling perspective. Students will be equipped to counsel couples, spouses, and families from a biblical and theological framework of marriage and the family. Topics covered in this class include parenting, conflict, intimacy and sex, communication, divorce, and infidelity.
This degree is also offered as a diploma
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Why a Master in Biblical Counseling

The MBC program equips male and female students to pursue and practice biblically faithful counseling for ministry opportunities such as:

  • Biblical counseling in diverse settings (local church, counseling center, virtual, etc.)
  • Chaplaincy (healthcare, disaster relief, correctional, and more)
  • Church leadership and staff roles (Pastor/Elder, counseling staff, Director of Counseling or Discipleship Ministries, etc.)
  • Missionary and global ministry work
  • Teaching biblical counseling and leading training center
  • Lay ministry within the local church (community group leadership, member care, hospitality, discipleship groups, GriefShare, Re:generation, Re|engage, Celebrate Recovery, etc.)
  • Supplemental training to strengthen your Christian witness within your profession (e.g., teacher, physician, nurse, therapist, residence director, physical therapist, mother, father, etc.)

Graduates of the MBC degree are well-prepared to expand their biblical-theological training in pursuit of the following degrees at Gateway:

  • M.Div
  • Th.M.
  • D.Min.
MBC Catalog listing coming soon! For now, you can access the MACC catalog listing below:
Degree Description
Course Listing

Gateway Seminary will consider applicants lacking an accredited undergraduate degree for admission to its basic master’s degrees. A student must request admission under this provision in writing through the Office of Enrollment and may initiate this request only after all qualifying criteria have been met:

  • Applicants must demonstrate their ability to do graduate-level work by entering the Seminary as a diploma student and by completing at least 15 hours of Gateway Seminary coursework required in the master’s degree sought (at least 6 hours of introductory courses in New Testament, Old Testament, history, or theology) with a minimum GPA of 3.2. Electives, transfer credits and ADVANCE courses may not be used to satisfy this requirement.
  • This provision will not be granted to previous students who graduated with diploma degrees.