Statement of Faith

1. We believe the God of the Bible is the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of the universe and that He is one God, eternally existent in three persons:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
2. We believe man was created in God's image as a responsible being.
3. We believe sin, which is thinking or acting independently of God, results in misery both temporal and eternal.
4. We believe the Bible is inspired, infallible, totally sufficient and the only complete and authoritative book which was written specifically to provide both the answers to man's behavioral problems and the means for man's behavioral change.
5. We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection, His ascension and He is at the right hand of the Father; His personal return in both power and glory.
6. We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful man, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
7. We believe that a person becomes justified by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
8. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is progressively sanctified and finally glorified.
9. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; those who are saved unto the resurrection of life, and those who are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
10. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ and that we ought to manifest that unity wherever and whenever possible.

Statement of Policy Regarding Gender, Sexuality, and Counseling 

I.  Introduction:  Source of Authority

Tallahassee Biblical Counseling Ministries, Inc. (TCBM) is a ministry that seeks to advance the glory of Jesus Christ by pursuing excellence in biblical counseling.  Our ministry identification is located within the classic Christian tradition.  Our sources of authority are the 66 books of Scripture in the Old and New Testaments, the constitution and by-laws of ACBC, the Standards of Conduct of ACBC, and the Statement of Faith of ACBC.

TBCM is a private, non-profit, Christian ministry confessing that the Bible is the only authoritative rule for faith and practice.  As such, we are not bound by the counseling standards of any other organization, the State of Florida, or licensing agency.  We are, furthermore, not required to adjust our conceptions for and practice of biblical counseling in light of any current cultural practice.

The cultural context of the Twenty First Century makes it popular, and politically expedient, to adjust traditional views of gender, sexuality, and counseling.  Many fashionable views abound.  In particular, numerous voices in our culture embrace, as normal and proper, same-sex desires and behavior, same-sex marriage, transgender identification, and malign - as evidence of ignorance and cruelty - efforts to counsel people away from such behaviors.

As a ministry bound by the authority of Scripture, and our own guiding documents and the documents of ACBC which grow out of these Scriptures, TBCM rejects any demand that we conform to cultural pressure to embrace any of these unbiblical views of gender, sexuality, and counseling.  We desire, instead, to reaffirm the following theological and practical commitments:

II. Theological Commitments

1. God created every person in His own image as male or female.  This sexual distinction and complementarity establishes a normative connection between the biological sex and gender (Gen. 1:26-27).
2. The fall of mankind corrupts this created good in both physical and spiritual realities creating confusion and pain in the lives of each person who struggles with the difficulty of physical brokenness regarding gender, and the torment of sinful desires regarding sexuality (Gen. 3:1-7; Rom. 3:9-18; 5:12-17).
3. In the midst of a broken and fallen world, God's Word continues to affirm the sanctity of one's biological sex.  Because of this reality, the Bible affirms that marriage is exclusively between one man and one woman for life.  Marriage is thus the only proper context for sexual desire and behavior (Mark 10:1-8).
4. The Bible regularly and consistently condemns same-sex attraction and behavior as sinful, requiring repentant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness (Rom 1:18-27; 1 John 1:8-9).
5. Though we reject any triumphalism that insinuates easy, quick fixes, TBCM wholeheartedly affirms the biblical truth that the powerful grace of Jesus Christ is able to change and purify the desires of those struggling with same-sex attractions and behaviors (1 Cor. 6:9-11; 2 Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:1-17).

III.  Counseling Practice

​TBCM and all TBCM counselors believe that homosexual desires and behavior are at odds with human joy and flourishing.  Based on that reality we believe that it is an act of Christian love to call to repentance those struggling with homosexual sin.  We further believe that it is unkind and unloving to fail to point human beings to the goodness of God's commands concerning gender, sexuality, and counseling.  We do not participate with or cooperate in any efforts to prepare for or perpetuate same-sex relationships.  In that light we believe that a uniquely Christian form of counseling faithfulness regarding this issue requires:

1. An affirmation of God's goodness in creating mankind as male and female.
2. A rejection that a human being could possess a gender other than the one indicated by biological sex.
3. A rejection that homosexual desires, behavior, or marriage is an acceptable or moral lifestyle.
4. An affirmation that the Christian process of change is often lengthy and is ultimately incomplete in this life.
5. An affirmation that the powerful grace of Jesus Christ ultimately and certainly sanctifies the most engrained sinful desires, including homosexuality.  A Christian can know meaningful change in this life and will know the fullness of change in the life to come.

​(Adopted from the Association of Certified Biblical Counseling)