Course Description

This course is designed to help the student think biblically about conflict and how to respond to life’s conflicts in a way that glorifies the Lord (I Corinthians 10:31). In particular, the student will be taught the importance of understanding the heart, the inner man, which according to Scripture is the origin of conflict in our lives (James 4:1-3). The biblical description of the human heart will provide students with a tool that can be used in helping themselves and others understand the heart of conflict. (Mark 7:20-23)

Students will also be introduced to the topic of Relational Wisdom. The Bible describes the wisdom that can help us minimize but not eliminate conflict while remaining biblically driven in our thoughts and behavior. Students will be shown that there is no formula in existence that can guarantee a conflict free life but there are biblical models that can help us resolve conflict. (Phil 2:1-5)

This course will further give students the tools to evaluate their own typical patterns of response and ways they seek to resolve or ignore conflict. Lastly, they will be taught how to think through the struggles they may face in their relationships. While the principles in this course will apply personally to each student, they can also be applied to business, the church, and family difficulties (Matthew 7:1-5).

This course can be transferred into the Brookes Bible College Bachelor’s Program and the Masters in Biblical Counseling Program.

Course Lecturer

Doctor Sybrand de Swardt has been the pastor of Lynnwood Baptist Church since 2009, and is married to his wife, Beth. Together they have two children, Carol-Marie and Thomas-Wayne.

Dr. de Swardt is an expositional preacher who also ministers through extensive counselling and teaching on counselling related issues. Dr. de Swardt has received a Master of Arts in Biblical Counselling from The Master’s University. He also obtained a Doctor of Educational Ministry from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His doctoral project developed a thirty-hour contextualised Biblical Counselling course. Dr. de Swardt has been a certified ACBC counsellor since 2018, and he is now serving as the director of SMTI, which offers advanced training in Biblical Counselling.

He has extensively trained many in counselling related issues through SMTI as well as independently in Ireland, Holland, Italy and Africa. Furthermore, Dr. de Swardt is a guest lecturer at Mukhanyo Theological College in South Africa, as well as an adjunct faculty member of Brookes Bible College in St Louis, Missouri. He has also been a speaker for the Association of Certified Biblical Counselling (ACBC) annual conferences.