Is “Biblical Counseling” the Best Term for Church-Based Soul Care?

Some Preliminary Ponderings 

Here are some preliminary ponderings for discussion on the topic of: Church-Focused Soul Care & Biblical Counseling…. Basically, I’m “thinking out loud” and inviting you to interact with me…

I Wonder…

I wonder at times if “counseling” was the best word to choose when the “modern nouthetic/biblical counseling movement” launched in the 1970s. For a movement that so carefully highlights not using the world’s ideas, would it have been better to not use “counseling”?

Now, I recognize that various OT Hebrew words and NT Greek words can be translated into English as “counseling.” I also recognize that “counseling” in the 1970s and in the 2020s has a very specific meaning, and format, and definition in the world’s mind.

The Great Cloud of Witnesses 

Perhaps using words from church history (translated from various languages over the past 2,000 years) might have been better? Perhaps we should have and still should consider words like:

Soul physicians, spiritual friends, soul care, soul caregivers, spiritual direction, spiritual directors, spiritual formation, one-another care, gospel conversations, etc.

I certainly thought this in 2004 when my first two books released:

Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction 

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