The National Christian Counselors Association (N.C.C.A.) is an educational, certification, licensing and training organization that equips people to enter into the ministry of Christian Counseling. The N.C.C.A. was founded by Dr. Richard Arno and Dr. Phyllis Arno in 1981 and is headquartered out of Sarasota, Florida.
The N.C.C.A. is comprised of Ministers, Professional Christian Counselors, Medical Doctors, Attorneys, Educators, and Testing Specialists. Jesus Christ is at the center of the N.C.C.A.’s counseling model, and one of their core beliefs is that the Word of God should direct all that a Christian Counselors does.
The programs offered by the N.C.C.A. and the National Pastoral Counselors Training Center are designed for those who feel God’s call upon their life to counsel. The certifications and credentials earned are normally recognized by Christian’s and non-Christian’s alike.
The counseling model used by N.C.C.A, “Creation Therapy” or “Temperament Therapy” focuses on enabling persons to better understand themselves and their responsibility to establish a spiritual relationship with God. The Scriptural concepts are based on Gen.1:1, “In the beginning God created…” and Psalm 139:13-14, “For You created my inmost being.”
Drs. Arno developed the counseling model over seven years through systematic research with over 5,000 individuals. The counselees sought help for depression, inter/intra-personal conflict, marriage and family dysfunctions and anxiety. The purpose of the research was to: (1) increase the effectiveness of the N.C.C.A.’s therapeutic procedure; (2) measure the percentage of success within a controlled environment; and (3) develop an accurate clinical testing procedure for initial identification of the counselee’s temperament (spiritual genetics). In-depth studies were conducted on all current psychological tests and/or behavioral inventories. For many reasons, the N.C.C.A. selected the FIRO-B, which was developed by Dr. Will Schutz, as its initial measuring device or questionnaire. The N.C.C.A. named its analysis procedure the Temperament Analysis Profile (T.A.P.), which reveals the “hidden problems” that normally take the counselor seven or eight sessions to identify. In November 2000 the N.C.C.A. changed the name from the Temperament Analysis Profile to the Arno Profile System (A.P.S.) in honor of its’developers. Presently, over 4,000 pastors and professional counselors rely on the Arno Profile System to aid them in their counseling efforts. These counselors report an accuracy rate of over ninety percent (90%) in identifying an individual’s correct (in-born, God-given) temperament.
The Arno Profile System offers many advantages. Among them: As a licensure candidate, you will learn the Arno Profile System (A.P.S.) for use in counseling. The A.P.S. is an easy-to-learn counseling technique used by thousands of lay counselors, professional counselors and pastors throughout the United States and in numerous foreign countries. The Christian counselor administers a questionnaire which takes fewer than ten minutes for the counselee to complete. The A.P.S. measures the counselee’s needs, natural traits, strengths, and weaknesses according to temperament.
The National Christian Counselors Association is now one of the largest educational and training associations of Christian counselors in the world!
The National Pastoral Counselors Training Center is happy to be an officially recognized Certified Academic Institution (CAI). We offer and administer the entire N.C.C.A. Christian Counselors Distance Learning Certification, License and Degree Transfer Programs.
NCCA’s Statement of Faith
Article One
We believe the Bible is the inerrant, inspired Word of the living God. The Bible is the final authority on all matters of life, faith and practice.
Article Two
We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Article Three
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father and in His personal return in power and glory.
Article Four
We believe that salvation is an act of God’s saving grace by the work of the Holy Spirit in regenerating and converting the hearts of men by His free gift of saving faith.
Article Five
We believe in the personal return of Jesus Christ, the eternal damnation in a literal hell for the wicked, and everlasting life with the living God for the righteous.
Article Six
We believe that there is but one head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that it is the responsibility of the Church and its institutions to maintain
His Lordship over their activities and not submit that right to any individual, corporate body, governmental agency or head of state, as long as we conduct ourselves as ambassadors of Christ and live as lawful citizens.
Article Seven
We believe that every area of life is to be subject to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We adhere to a world and life view which seeks to make the Lord Jesus Christ preeminent in all things.
