BA in Religion leading to the Ministry

Good Morning, I am trying to help someone who is interested in working in the ministry, currently holds a job at a mission but is lacking in a degree. He graduaed from a now out of business CIS school, is intelligent and could probably test through many of the courses. Price is a huge consideration. What is the cheapest dl ministry degree a person can acquire. Thanks. Hille

 

Prairie Bible College offers a number of DL and 'missionary' friendly (i.e., low/condensed residency) options. They are currently under some refocusing but I don't think that the Distance Ed dept is impacted.

migwec
Jeff

 

Briercrest Bible College offers a 100 hour BA in Christian Studies, with a very heavy emphasis on ministry. Great school, great reputation.

Pug

 

In my opinion, cost should be the least of one's concerns with something as important as a ministry degree. But, of course, I realize that a sentiment like that doesn't adequately recognize the financial realities of many degree-seekers.

That having been said, if I may make a very specific course-of-action recommendation that I believe will fix-up your friend, but good...

You came to a distance education forum, so I'm assuming that that's what you're looking for for your friend. If so, I know of a terrific (and I really want to stress the word "terrific") little BA program that's not only good on its face as a pastoral studies program, generally, but after chatting a bit with its creator I've learned that it's a pastoral studies program specifically created for people in your friend's position, to wit: Persons already called to some form of ministry and who are actively doing it, but who realize that they really need to get some kind of degree in ministry and/or pastoral studies in order to be able to sleep at night knowing they're both sufficiently knowledgeable and credible. Mind you, it's not an MDiv program, but it's unique in that it's darned close... and I mean darned close.

There's a little Methodist college in Kansas in a decidedly rural (and, to some degree, somewhat poor) area that's offering this sweet little BA in Pastoral Studies purely by distance learning. And the program is 100% regionally accredited.

The college's chaplin -- an ordained Methodist minister with whom I chatted at length about the program a while back -- originally set out to build a truly non-denominational pastoral studies residential program at the undergraduate level that was specifically geared toward the many rural preachers in the college's general geographic area who have been preaching for some time, and who have no degree in ministry or theology, but who have always known that they really needed to get one somehow, someday. But the college quickly realized that the program would be valuable to preachers and others interested in ministry in far more than just their geographic area -- including many in the military, which is one of the college's focus areas -- so it added the program to its list of distance learning offerings... with no residency requirement, whatsoever!

If one looks closely at the program's 57 credit hours of concentration core courses and electives, one will quickly see that it covers very much the same subjects as a typical MDiv (except for biblical languages). It's a highly practical BA in Pastoral Studies specifically intended to give anyone interested in ministry the bare minimums (and a bit more in many areas) that he/she would need in order to do his/her job.

Technically, it's an adult degree completion program in that the college prefers that the student enter the program with an Associates Degree of approximately 63 credit hours from... well... from pretty much wherever, really... that is, as long as it's regionally accredited... and then continue to completion of the BA in Pastoral Studies by taking their 57 hours of concentration core and elective courses. The minimum number of associate-level (lower division) credits needed to enter the BA program, if I recall correctly, is 31 hours, meaning that even without an associate's degree one could enter the BA in Pastoral Studies program and just make-up the lower division deficit from courses offered by the college.

There are, of course, several very nice BA in Pastoral Studies or Pastoral Ministry or Biblical Studies programs offered by other colleges -- mostly conservative bible colleges, to be candid. But from the ones I looked at (and that was pretty much all of them), none really prepared their graduates for the practicalities of ministry quite like this one does. From that standpoint, this one is truly unique -- and intenionally so, from what its creator told me. From my research -- which was quite thorough -- this little-known, rarely talked-about program is just about the best in its class.

The college offering it is Southwestern College of Winfield, Kansas, and the program is its Distance Learning (D/L) Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Pastoral Studies.


SOMETHING ELSE TO CONSIDER:

If your friend has at least 31 hours of undergraduate coursework from a regionally-accredited college or university, then he could enter the Southwestern BA in Pastoral Studies program right now and that would be that. However, if he is just beginning his undergraduate studies, then I'd like to humbly recommend yet another terribly interesting little D/L program -- an Associates-level program -- that I think makes an excellent foundation for Southwestern's BA in Pastoral Studies program...

This Associate of Arts (AA) program is also regionally-accredited, so its 60-or-so hours of credit will easily transfer into the Southwestern BA in Pastoral Studies program. There are two ministerial and/or biblical studies concentration areas that I think are particularly apropos, to wit: Either the Associate of Arts in Biblical Studies program; or the Associate of Arts in Justice Administration program with the Ministry (Chaplaincy) concentration.

The entity offering these two interesting, accredited AA programs is the Center for Lifelong Learning at Taylor University in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

Of the two AA programs, I'm particularly partial to the AA in Justice Administration, with the Ministry concentration because it includes 6 hours of credit earned by attending the two week residency program at Taylor University's American Chaplaincy Training School (ACTS).

This AA degree will probably not qualify anyone for chaplaincy in many (maybe even most) places -- certainly not mainstream chaplaincy programs -- since most mainstream chaplaincy programs require an MDiv, recommendation by one's denomination, sometimes at least a unit of clinical pastoral education, and a whole bunch of other criteria this this AA program clearly does not meet. However, it's nevertheless excellent education and training that makes a wonderful foundation to Southwestern's BA in Pastoral Studies program that provides practical chaplaincy training that even most MDiv programs don't offer. And, who knows, the two degrees, together (the Taylor AA program and the Southwestern BA program) might just pass muster with some chaplaincy program administrators who might be willing to think outside the box and consider them, together, as education enough, from a very practical standpoint. Or not. Who knows.

All I'm saying is this: Even if one never does chaplaincy based solely (or or even partly) on the chaplaincy training in this Taylor AA program, as long as one has to get an AA somewhere before moving on to Southwestern's BA in Pastoral Studies program, why the heck not make it something really relevant and interesting like practical chaplaincy training?

Anyway... those are my suggestions -- cost not being a factor, of course -- for whatever they're worth. Hope it helps.