Every Christian needs to change. Every Christian needs to grow. A Christian does not enter the Church as a finished product. Every Christian needs training. Consider the following verses:
“Be diligent to present yourselves approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of Truth” 2 Timothy 2:15
“Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil” Hebrews 5:14
It is the responsibility of the Church to train its members. Church training has four basic parts:
- The biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek and studying the rules of textual interpretation (Hermeneutics) help Christians go deeper into the text. They help Christians achieve greater depth and precision of knowledge.
- Systematic Theology and Old and New Testament study provide depth but also help Christians see and understand the big picture. They help believers achieve breadth of knowledge.
- Apologetics helps Christians defend the Bible against secular psychology, humanism, philosophy, heresy, atheistic science, man-made religion, cults, mythology, superstition, secularism, Post-modern thinking, the occult and other spiritual enemies.
- Biblical Counseling helps Christians apply biblical truth to their thinking so that biblical thoughts and motivations replace unbiblical ones. As a Christian transforms his mind, holy conduct results.