Care & Discipleship Course
About the Course
The Care & Discipleship Course is designed as an entry-level biblical counseling program. Many churches and individuals use it as a standalone course for equipping in one-another care. Through the course, participants can expect to learn the basic methodology and fundamentals of biblical counseling, as well as biblical strategies for dealing with common difficulties, like anxiety, depression, marriage conflicts, and more. The course is also approved as an ACBC Fundamentals Training Course and can be used to fulfill the requirements for ACBC Certification. If you are planning to use this material for ACBC Certification, please read our ACBC Information Page first. You will be required to fill out a registration form.
About the 2026 Update
We’re please to share that as of August 2026, our Care & Discipleship Course boasts 19 fresh training sessions, featuring new and/or updated teaching from Dr. Jim Newheiser and Dr. Scott Mehl. This update includes free digital handbooks for IBCD Connect subscribers. Curious about what topics are covered? Check out this spreadsheet and subscribe today to get access to these premium training resources!
About the Process
The Care and Discipleship Course instruction consists of 38 Sessions and 2 case studies. For the exam requirement, each level should be submitted one level at a time. Once you have received confirmation that you have passed level on, you may submit level 2, and so on.
LEVEL 1 | Basic
Level 1 teaches people how the sufficiency of Scripture shapes the way we view all of life’s struggles. It begins by laying the foundation of general principles involved in biblical counseling and then applies these principles to situations involving anger, conflict, depression, fear, worry, temptation, and trial.
These materials will help believers learn to handle common issues of sin and sanctification in a biblical way.
Level 1 of the Care & Discipleship Course entails the following 5 steps:
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1. Instruction
CDC Level 1 Training consists of 20 sessions, approximately 1 hour each. This instruction can be watched at your leisure by subscribing to our on-demand video streaming platform, IBCD Connect.
If you’re studying as a group, purchase a community subscription through IBCD Connect.
2. Exam
Once you have taken the 15 hours of instruction, you can take the Level 1 Exam. It consists of 10 questions and is open notes, open Bible. Please do not directly copy the notes as you write this exam. It is important that you use your own thoughts and words for this exam.
To submit, email the completed exam to [email protected]. You can download the exam below. Please attach all answers in one file.
3. Electives
The general material in the Care & Discipleship Course is supplemented by the opportunity to listen to 3 electives from IBCD’s messages on specific counseling issues. Any message on the website (other than those in the Care & Discipleship Course) count as electives. Hearing messages live at a Spring Seminar or Summer Institute counts as well. Indicate these three message titles on the Level 1 Application Form.
4. Interview
The Care & Discipleship course is meant to instill a love for intentional, one-another care. It’s important for our participants to be connected to a local church. In order to receive a certificate of completion, one must have an interview with a church leader who deals with pastoral care. Biblically speaking, this must be a male leader.
The interview is simply discussing the provided questions. You do not need to fill out the form, but the church leader must sign and date the CDC Interview form indicating that this interview has taken place.
To submit, email this form to [email protected]. Please scan the signed form and send it as one email attachment.
5. Application
Once you have fulfilled all of the requirements, please complete the application form below. An application fee of $75 is also required. While we prefer the digital method of payment, you may also mail it to us at our Slidell Office: 4141 Pontchartrain Drive, Slidell LA 70458.
LEVEL 2 | Intermediate
Level 2 continues with a wealth of practical wisdom for helping people seek true gospel change in the areas of marriage and family, parenting and biblical decision-making. Participants will explore the interplay of body and soul in relation to medicine and mental disorders.
Anyone with a heart for discipleship or leadership will find these materials a valuable tool.
Level 2 of the Care & Discipleship Course entails the following 5 steps:
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1. Instruction
CDC Level 2 consists of 20 Sessions (approximately 1 hour each) as well as two 1-hour observation case studies. This instruction can be watched at your leisure by subscribing to our on-demand video streaming platform, IBCD Connect.
If you’re studying as a group, purchase a community subscription through IBCD Connect.
2. Exam
Once you have taken the 15 hours of instruction, you can take the Level 2 Exam. It consists of 10 questions and is open notes, open Bible. Please do not directly copy the notes as you write this exam. It is important that you use your own thoughts and words for this exam.
To submit, email the completed exam to [email protected]. You can download the exam below. Please attach all answers in one file.
3. Electives
The general material in the Care & Discipleship Course is supplemented by the opportunity to listen to 3 electives from IBCD’s messages on specific counseling issues. Any message on the website (other than those in the Care & Discipleship Course) count as electives. Hearing messages live at a Spring Seminar or Summer Institute counts as well. Indicate these three message titles on the Level 2 Application Form.
4. Interview
The Care & Discipleship course is meant to instill a love for intentional, one-another care. It’s important for our participants to be connected to a local church. In order to receive a certificate of completion, one must have an interview with a church leader who deals with pastoral care. Biblically speaking, this must be a male leader.
The interview is simply discussing the provided questions. You do not need to fill out the form, but the church leader must sign and date the CDC Interview form indicating that this interview has taken place.
To submit, email this form to [email protected]. Please scan the signed form and send it as one email attachment.
5. Application
Once you have fulfilled all of the requirements, please complete the application form below. An application fee of $75 is also required. While we prefer the digital method of payment, you may also mail it to us at our Slidell Office: 4141 Pontchartrain Drive, Slidell LA 70458
LEVEL 3 | Observation & Reading
This final level of the course is aimed at the integration and development of all that has been covered in Levels 1 & 2. Applicants are required to observe 10 hours of counseling with an ACBC Certified biblical counselor. While we believe that live observation is best, we also understand that this can be difficult for many people to complete. That’s why we’ve created IBCD Observation Videos to satisfy this requirement. Some required reading of essential counseling texts are the final part of this training process.
Level 3 of the Care & Discipleship Certification process entails the following 4 steps:
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1. Required Reading and Response Papers
Level 3 requires interacting with biblical counseling texts which will be helpful in the care and discipleship of people within the local church. The applicant is required to read the following two books and submit a response paper for each one.
Ken Sande, The Peacemaker.
Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands.
Download Reading Response Form (To submit, email this form to [email protected].)
Looking for more Biblical Counseling Books?
Please visit our friends at BiblicalCounselingBooks.com.
2. Counseling Observation and Reflection Paper
Level 3 requires at least 10 hours of observing an ACBC certified biblical counselor see biblical counseling principles in practice. There are 2 ways that the 10-hour requirement can be accomplished. One may choose to do either of the following or a combination thereof.
- Find an ACBC certified counselor in your area by searching the ACBC website and arrange to observe their counseling sessions.
- If live observation isn’t available to you, you may meet this requirement by watching IBCD Observation Videos via a subscription to IBCD Connect. For those pursuing ACBC Certification, note that all our case observations are approved for your fundamentals training requirement with the exception of “Counseling Care for Domestic Abuse” and “Counseling Care for Regrets.”
Once you have completed the 10 hours of counseling observation, write a 2½ – 3 page response which includes the following subjects:
- What was your overall impression of the biblical counseling process?
- Was there anything about the counseling that was surprising to you?
- What did you observe that you think will really benefit you in your counseling interactions with others?
- When you think about helping others in your church, in what areas do you feel you still need to be better equipped?
Download Observation Form (for Observation Videos)
Download Observation Form (for Live Observation)
To submit, email these forms to [email protected].
3. Interview
The Care & Discipleship course is meant to instill a love for intentional, one-another care. It’s important for our participants to be connected to a local church. In order to receive a certificate of completion, one must have an interview with a church leader who deals with pastoral care. Biblically speaking, this must be a male leader.
The interview is simply discussing the provided questions. You do not need to fill out the form, but the church leader must sign and date the CDC Interview form indicating that this interview has taken place.
To submit, email this form to [email protected]. Please scan the signed form and send it as one email attachment.
5. Application
Once you have fulfilled all of the requirements, please complete the application form below. An application fee of $75 is also required. While we prefer the digital method of payment, you may also mail it to us at our Slidell Office: 4141 Pontchartrain Drive, Slidell LA 70458