Applicants would normally have completed the certificate programme offered by Biblical Counselling UK or have equivalent training and experience.

As biblical counselling is still relatively new to the UK, this scheme aims to help churches discover the benefits of a biblical counselling approach.

Many churches recognise that their resources to help people with ‘problems of daily living’ are more limited than they would wish. This scheme seeks to develop local resources and foster a culture within the local church that mobilises the body of Christ in ‘one-anothering’ ministry.

Each intern is linked with a mentor who has experience in pastoral ministry to encourage the intern’s personal development. We also provide monthly training groups and peer supervision where interns meet together, either electronically or in person, to provide mutual encouragement and as a stimulus to further reading and study.

Where needed, Biblical Counselling UK is able to offer grants to churches to support the living and working expenses of an intern. Please read the Before You Apply document for more information.

In some cases an intern might also support the provision of training events to stimulate an interest in biblical counselling ministries in other local churches as well.

Instead of a ‘one size fits all’ approach, internships adapt to local situations and reflect the strengths and experience of each individual intern. While an internship may involve establishing new ministries, often the focus will be on improving existing ministries rather than starting something new.

Where an internship works well, we expect a vision for richer personal ministry to develop across the church community. As more individuals learn that God would have them move toward others in their difficulties and as ‘one-anothering’ becomes a more routine part of discipleship, we hope the culture of church life would begin to change.

Most interns will provide biblical counselling and train others.

Their ministry to individuals might happen in the context of an established church-based counselling ministry but usually it will be part of the church’s ordinary pastoral care. We encourage them to run training courses for members of their local church and where possible to make these courses available to other churches in their area.

Each intern needs a local supervisor from their own church with responsibility for their supervision and accountability. The local supervisor liaises with the intern’s mentor as required.

For further details, please see the Before You Apply document in the Application Information section below.

For enquiries about the Scheme, please email interns@bcuk.org