Four Bethel Seminary Programs Move Fully Online
News
January 27, 2017 | Noon
By Suzanne McInroy, director of communications
Bethel Seminary responds to the needs of students and makes it more convenient to earn a seminary degree by moving four degree programs fully online. Beginning fall of 2017, four Bethel Seminary programs will be offered entirely online:
- Master of Divinity
- Master of Arts in Ministry
- Master of Arts (Theological Studies)
- Doctor of Ministry in Transformational Leadership
“For over two decades, Bethel Seminary has led the seminary world in using online courses to equip future leaders in the church,” Vice President and Dean of Bethel Seminary David Clark says. “Now, with entire programs going fully online, we will take a next step in online seminary education as we develop students into whole leaders who are prepared to serve wherever they’re called.”
In 1994, Bethel Seminary became the first seminary in the country to start offering classes online through a distance learning model called InMinistry. The program put students’ needs first by offering them the chance to earn a seminary degree while continuing their ministry work anywhere in the world. Students took many courses 100% online, and then came to campus for week-long intensives that were part of “hybrid” courses. That entrepreneurial approach to online learning served as a model for distance learning at seminaries across the country.
Today, Bethel Seminary is again responding to the needs of students by re-evaluating the on-campus intensives requirement of the program and moving four programs fully online.
Bethel Seminary’s online programs remain fully accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), making the online Doctor of Ministry program among the first of its kind in the country.
“We have also worked hard to maintain the excellent, ‘three-centers’ educational approach we offer in all our programs,” says Clark. “In our online programs, students will still receive a sound biblical and theological foundation, strong leadership skills, and the opportunity to grow in their personal and spiritual formation.”
For more information about the online seminary programs, contact seminary admissions or attend an upcoming info session.