Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Helping Relationships
School of Biblical Counseling Online-Course Syllabus
Course Objectives
At the successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
To love others, using words, with increasing skill.
To locate the seed of all counseling ministry in two people praying together
To develop an attractive and adaptable ministry method
To identify and practice the basic methodological principles that are emerging in Biblical
Counseling.
Articles
All articles listed will be available on SBC Online in the week in which they are due to be read.
*Extensions for final papers, projects, and exams require pre-approval from Student Services.
Students who fail to submit these assignments by the due date given will be downgraded 10 points off
per day, up to four days. After the fourth day a final assignment is late, you will automatically fail the
course.
Grading Rubrics:
The goal of the weekly journal and response papers for this class is for students to be personal and
thoughtful in applying the class lectures, readings and discussion to their personal relationships.
Personal means to be affected by the information that was presented to you in the lecture or
reading. Being personal is not simply amassing information, but it is processing and responding
to the information.
Being thoughtful includes synthesizing material, making connections to other lectures, offering
creative and useful metaphors, seeing parts and the whole, making connections to Scripture,
and keeping the general direction of the course in view.
Your Journal and Weekly Response papers will be assigned after various class discussions
throughout the semester, as shown in the chart of assignments. They will be graded as one paper,
based upon the following general criteria:
Clear writing with no significant grammar or spelling errors is expected. Poorly written papers
will be reduced in grade accordingly.
Assignment is complete. All required elements specified for that week are included (i.e., journal,
readings, class lecture response, etc.). Points will be deducted for missing elements.
Writing: evidence of thoughtful, personal interaction with the various elements in the
assignment; not a rushed stream of consciousness response that lacks depth.
o Everyday conversations: Are you having thoughtful interactions throughout the week,
and is there evidence of continued growth as the semester progresses?
o Counseling time with another person: Are you actually in a counseling relationship, and
what is the quality of these conversations?
o Class lecture responses: Have you interacted thoughtfully with the content of the
lecture? Are you asking questions that demonstrate you are thinking about the content
and how to apply it personally?
o Reading responses: Have you identified the one thing in the reading that grabbed your
attention? Does your response show that you grasp the core of what the author is trying
to communicate? Are you able to find what is provocative and useful in the reading? Are
you interacting personally? Is your writing humble and respectful if you disagree with
the author?
o Self-assessments: Are you personally and thoughtfully interacting with the different
methods of help mentioned in class?
The following table will provide a general guideline for use in considering what is expected in the various
assignments; not every element will apply to every assignment.
A B C D/F
Discussion Discussion is insightful, Discussion is Discussion is Discussion is
thorough, and interesting. interesting but lacks uninteresting and/or
interesting. depth. too shallow for the
assignment.
Understanding Demonstrates Demonstrates fair Demonstrates partial Demonstrates lack of
thorough understanding of the understanding of the understanding.
understanding of the material. material.
material.
Application Applies several key Applies at least one Implies key Does not apply class
concepts from class key concept from concepts, but concepts.
resources to personal class resources to doesn't make clear
observations and personal link to class
experiences. observations and resources.
experiences.
Grammar, Clear writing with no Clear writing with Multiple grammar or Numerous spelling
Mechanics, grammar or spelling minimal grammar or spelling errors. or grammar errors.
Spelling, and errors. spelling errors. Mechanics get in the Difficult to read.
Sentence way of clarity.
Structure
presented.
2. Community Groups (5%)
You will be assigned to a community group with two or more classmates that will meet every other
week during the semester. (The groups will be assigned with geographic information in mind. Our
goal is to keep time zones together.) It will be up to your group to determine if it will be a
conference phone call, Skype, Google hangout, etc. There will be rotating conveners for each group,
but each person in the group should take ownership for the time together. You will self-report your
attendance in community groups at the end of the course.
You are allowed to miss one community group during the span of the class if you need to. If this
happens, please adhere to the following procedure:
Meet with someone in your own community and share with them what you are learning in
the class. This meeting should be about one hour.
Type up a summary of your meeting and email it to your RI. Please indicate at the top of
your paper that this is your one excused absence.
Please let your class community group know that you will be absent in advance so they will
not be waiting on you to join the group.
weekly meetings, but these should be rare exceptions. If your counselee cancels
your weekly time together, you are still expected to submit the required
assignment regarding your counseling time that week. You may use another
intentional conversation as a substitute. This substitution is permitted only twice
during the term. If your counselee continues to cancel, then you need to find a
new counselee who can meet weekly.
Assignment Format:
1. All submitted papers/projects should be typed, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, Times New
Roman, and double-spaced unless indicated otherwise in the specific assignment directions.
2. Assignments will be uploaded in SBC Online on the assigned due date.
3. Papers should be submitted with one of the following file extensions: doc or docx. This format
ensures that your Recitation Instructor will be able to open it.
4. Be sure to pay careful attention to word count requirements.
5. Please type your name at the top of the first page of any assignments that you submit.
6. When submitting your paper you are to use the title of the file provided in this syllabus.
7. Please note that you may be downgraded for not adhering to these guidelines.
Class Administration
Administrative tasks (such as keeping track of completed assignments, missing assignments, late work, and
requests for extensions) can be complex. The SBC Course Policies Handbook details policies, procedures, and
administration of our SBC Online program. Information that is relevant to all classes, including grading standards,
academic policies, and general Community Board instructions are provided in that document. Please read it
carefully (along with this course syllabus) before the class begins, and refer to it throughout the semester.
The Course Policies Handbook is located in the header section of your course.