Would like to be a pastor/chaplain!

So did we come up the lowest cost distance M.Div that has the best transfer policy?

 

Well, for starters, Liberty's 72 hours M.Div may not be the best choice. One of the main chaplain endorsers for the military, The Coalition of Spirit-Filled Churches decided not to accept those with the 72 hour M.Div. It just came out this October.

The Coalition of Spirit-Filled Churches
See hint #16.

 

This seems like solid advice, regardless of the goal.

 

A respectable ABHE program that has had good success with graduates moving on to ATS programs is HSBC Holiness Online Bible Degree - ADE Online Degree Program.

 

What about Indiana Wesleyan or Northwest Nazarene?

 

James,

You will find a comprehensive list of seminaries accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (US and Canada) at: Home | The Association of Theological Schools Being a Pastor\Chaplain can be a tough gig both personally and economically. An Alban Institute study from the late 90's revealed 40% to 50%. of all seminary graduates who get a call to serve a church are not successful. Many of those leave the religious life completely, never to return. In the seminary business we sometimes joke that Jesus wouldn't make it through the process.

To be successful a good undergraduate degree and good emotional health are essential. Most seminaries will require you to keep a minimum 3.0 average. Some will summarily dismiss you if you have received three grades less than 3.0.

ATS does allow most seminaries to accept up to 10% of applicants (per program) who do not have a baccalaureate degree. This is not possible in Pennsylvania where state law dictates that no school, public or private, can enroll persons for a graduate degree without an undergrad degree.

Any good seminary will have scheduled "prospective student" events. I would urge you to go to these several of event at your earliest convenience. Seminaries compete to get students and you may find if you ask they will offer to pay some or all of your flight costs and they will generally take care of your local transportation and food costs.

If learning about different denominations and religious is important to you the quality of the institution should be paramount in your decision making process. It's best to study with actual practitioners of a faith tradition, not to get a watered down version in a World Religions class. The three best locations for this are the consortiums in Boston, Chicago, and Berkeley. Of these the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley is the biggest and most comprehensive. Students there also have cross-registration and library privileges with University of California Berkeley. For full disclosure, I am a GTU alum.

lifelonglearner

 

This, too, impresses me as being very solid advice.