Certificate in Christian Counseling
If you are looking for graduate-level training to equip you with counseling skills but are not sure you want our full MA in Counseling (MAC) degree, then this certificate program may be just what you are looking for. Courses within the certificate program will emphasize helping/counseling skills, an understanding of a broad range of human struggles, and how we grow and change.
What is Christian Counseling?
Simply put, Christian Counseling is counseling that seeks to impart the love, compassion, and wisdom of God to those who are struggling with life’s problems. The ultimate goals include symptom relief, skill acquisition, insight, and maturation in the faith.
Who is This Counseling Certificate For?
The counseling skills and knowledge gained from our certificate program fit with a professional model but are also useful for pastors, church leaders, and lay leaders who want to improve their work within the church. Small group leaders, educators, and pregnancy counseling volunteers have also found these courses helpful. Mental health professionals seeking distinctly Christian and faith-based counseling skills may also wish to complete the certificate.
Many certificate holders may wish to consider a future MAC degree. Our admissions counselors can walk you through the process.
What Are the Specific Requirements?
The certificate program requires a completed undergraduate or equivalent degree, and completion of a degree application. Upon completion of the certificate, students may choose to transfer appropriately completed courses into the MA in Counseling (MAC) degree program.
Curriculum within the Program
Required Courses – 9 Credits
MAC510 Helping Relationships
MAC500 Human Development and Change
MAC512 Psychopathology
Electives – 6 Credits
MAC525a Ethics and Professional Orientation (2 credits)
MAC602 Counseling and Physiology (3 credits)
MAC704 Models of Counseling (3 credits)
Addictions Series – online (1-3 credits)
Summer Counseling Institute Courses (2 credits)
Optional Courses
The following counseling courses have prerequisites or may require approval before registration:
MAC601 Marriage and Family Therapy – Prerequisite: Helping Relationships or Pastoral Counseling, including a recommendation from the professor
MAC621 Child and Adolescent Counseling – Prerequisite: Helping Relationships or Pastoral Counseling, including a recommendation from the professor
MAC605 Advanced Counseling Skills – Prerequisite: Helping Relationships or Pastoral Counseling, including a recommendation from the professor
(These courses can only be considered after completing all core courses and may be substituted for electives.)
Total Required Credits – 15
Ready to start your journey?
Whether you are looking for more information regarding a program, scheduling a visit, starting the application process, or just wanting to talk to someone about your dreams, our admissions department is always available to assist you and answer any question that you might have.
What are professors saying?
Self-Care Amid Scary, Uncertain Days
Missio graduates will be facilitating free online groups, “Seeking Hope During Covid-19” through Cornerstone Counseling Ministries.
Friday Mornings: Come Pray With Us
Knowing that prayer is the primary work of the people of God, we will be hosting a prayer call via Zoom each Friday morning at 9 AM.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
On April 3, 1968, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his final and what proved to be a hauntingly prophetic speech.
Journal of Urban Mission 5:1
Welcome to volume 5, issue 1 of the Journal of Urban Mission, which finds a new institutional home here at Missio Seminary.
In Defense of Missional Theology: A Response to Mark Galli
Mark Galli, editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, has devoted a four-part series in Christianity Today to critiquing missional theology and evangelicalism’s embrace of the missional purpose of the church: see 1) https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/june-web-only/unfortunate-pedigree-of-missional-church.html; 2) https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/june-web-only/church-does-not-exist-for-sake-of-world.html; 3) https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/june-web-only/purpose-of-world-to-become-church.html; 4) https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/june-web-only/churchs-sickness-unto-death.html. Christianity Today has a well-earned reputation as being the publication of centrist evangelicalism (founded, as it is, by evangelical pillars Billy Graham and Carl F. H. Henry); and Mark Galli, its current editor-in-chief, has a well-earned reputation for level-headed, irenic analysis.
New Perspective(s) On Paul
Hot off the press and well worth the read is this book that does a masterful job of laying out the topography of “perspectives” on Paul and illustrating (with sample sermonettes) the difference the various perspectives make in preaching (and applying) “the real point(s)” of Romans.
The Living Gospel
It is a powerful testimony to the watching world when Christians live out the Gospel amid tragedies such as in hurricane Katrina, the tsunami disaster, the Haitian earthquake or 9/11.
4 Things That Can Derail Missional Leaders
This post by Seth Richardson on the Missional Alliance web page caught my attention. It’s titled, “Addicted to Dysfunction: Healing from Missional Misery.”
The Blessing of Numbers
Don’t you feel bad for the book of Numbers? Seriously, the fourth book of the Bible gets no respect. I think the primary reason the book gets ignored is its name.
A Walk through African American History and Culture
Professor Todd Mangum and Dr. Larry Anderson Reflect on their walk through The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. A number of our Missio grads are serving in leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention in our region. One of the missional, Kingdom strategies being pursued – racial reconciliation. A set of pilot exercises and conversations are currently being conducted in southeast Pennsylvania that could end up impacting the whole convention, including deep into the south of the Mason Dixon line. Now, wouldn’t that be something?