Wayne Mack

Posted on by Greg E. Gifford

By Oksana Zherebnenko

 

I. Known For

Wayne Mack has been identified as a seminal contributor to the Biblical Counseling movement. He studied and taught biblical counseling and Christian living in numerous universities. Mack has served on the board of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC) and on the board of the Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals (FIRE). Mack has spoken at various counseling seminars and has also helped establish biblical counseling programs in the United States and in South Africa.

II. Biography

Wayne Mack was born on June 7, 1935. His hometown is Carlisle, Pennsylvania but he lives in Pretoria, South Africa for the majority of the year with his wife, Carol (@WayneMack, Facebook, April 30, 2019). Wayne married Carol in 1957 and they have four adult children and thirteen grandchildren [1].

Wayne Mack received a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College. He then received a Master’s of Divinity (MDiv) from Philadelphia Seminary and a Doctorate of Ministry (D.Min) from Westminster Theological Seminary.  He has studied psychology at LaSalle University. He also studied counseling, theology and the church at Eastern Baptist Seminary, and theology at Wheaton graduate school and Trinity Theological Seminary [1].

III. Theological views

Wayne Mack is a promoter of nouthetic counseling. Within nouthetic counseling there are three main ideas: 1) Scripture is necessary when confronting a counselee about their problems 2) Counseling is always done to the benefit of the counselee and 3) The counselee is striving to change in order to be more like Christ, who is the standard [2]. Wayne Mack is marked by a dedication to the Word of God and all of his work is immersed in Scripture [3]. Mack does not write as a philosopher who explains theological epistemology, but instead he teaches as a pastor would, explaining how to help people according to a biblical framework [4].

IV. Works/Publications

Wayne Mack has written 27 books on biblical counseling and Christian living.  His books include Strengthening Your Marriage, Homework Manual for Biblical Living, Anger and Stress Management God’s Way, and Humility: A Forgotten Virtue. His article entries have been published in Reformation Today, The Journal of Pastoral Counseling, The Journal of Biblical Counseling, and The Master’s Journal. He has a number of audio and video messages on counseling and Christian living distributed by Nouthetic Media [5].

V. Influence on Biblical Counseling

Wayne Mack has taught college and graduate school courses in biblical counseling at various bible colleges and seminaries. He has conducted biblical counseling seminars and conferences all over the world. Wayne and his wife moved to Pretoria, South Africa to teach biblical counseling to pastors. Wayne Mack supervised the development of the Master of Arts Biblical Counseling program at The Master’s University in Santa Clarita, CA. He is a charter member of ACBC and he helped found ACBC Africa. He served on the board of FIRE and is on the Board of Directors of Publicaciones Faro de Gracia. He works with Strengthening Ministries Training Institute to distribute books, audio and video tapes on counseling to churches and Christians all around the world [1].

VI. Bibliography

“About Dr. Wayne Mack,” Strengthening Ministries International, accessed April 28,

2019, http://www.mackministries.org/docs/about.shtml.

“About Wayne Mack,” Nouthetic Media, accessed April 28, 2019,

https://noutheticmedia.com/about-wayne-mack/.

Adams, Jay E. “What is ‘Nouthetic’ Counseling,” Institute for Nouthetic Studies,

accessed April 28, 2019,

http://www.nouthetic.org/about-ins/what-is-nouthetic-counseling.

Lambert, Heath. 2011. The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams (Foreword by

 David Powlison). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=nlebk&

AN=1140468&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

“What others have to say about Strengthening Ministries,” Strengthening Ministries

International, accessed April 28, 2019,

http://www.mackministries.org/docs/endorsements.shtml.

  1. Strengthening Ministries International, “About Dr. Wayne Mack”
  2. Institute for Nouthetic Counseling, “What is ‘Nouthetic’ Counseling”
  3. Strengthening Ministries International, “What other have to say about Strengthening Ministries”
  4. Lambert, The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams, Ch. 4.
  5. Nouthetic Media, “About Wayne Mack”