Thursday, August 13, 2009

Thinking about Seminary - Grow Where You are Planted

Graduate school of any kind is a huge investment and usually means uprooting your life and putting it on hold for a few years. That's also the case for seminary... usually. Rockbridge Seminary is a 100% online seminary offering M.Div. and Master of Ministry Leadership degrees, allowing students to continue their lives and ministry as normal while studying towards a seminary degree. As they like to say "Grow Where You Are Planted."

Rockbridge has just made it extremely easy to get started - enroll now for the term Sept 1 - Oct 26 and they will waive tuition for your first course. Rockbridge has a unique approach that is extremely practical while providing a solid biblical foundation. In addition to coursework there is an emphasis on doing projects right in your church/ministry setting to display proficiency in a series of ministry competencies. I've been studying at Rockbridge for about a year now, half-way through the Master of Ministry Leadership program, and I can't recommend it strongly enough! The classes are excellent, highly interactive, and I can do all the work on my own schedule. It's a serious investment, in time and resources, but for those wanting to build a firm foundation for effective ministry, it's a great investment.

For more information on admissions see:  http://www.rockbridgeseminary.org/admissions

Applicants to either the Master of Ministry Leadership degree program or the Master of Divinity degree program must be at least 22 years of age and must be actively serving in a local church ministry role (either as a lay ministry volunteer or as a paid staff member). A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university and a church endorsement are required for admission to these programs.

6 comments:

Dr. Matt J. Carlson said...

Free, eh?

Makes me want to scope out their youth ministry options if they have any.... :)

Larry Baxter said...

Great point Matt! I should have mentioned that their first course is a required one for all students. It's called "Developing the Focused Life". Before I took it I was disappointed that I had to take this before getting to the "real" courses but soon into it realized how much I needed this course! It guides students in an examination of their call to ministry (whether vocational or not) including their unique design and shape. It also has the student reflect on the time line of their life to see how God has been at work which often provides great clues for answering the question "So what AM I here for?" (BTW, no specialization in Youth Ministry just yet, but Rockbridge is very popular for Youth Ministry Leaders. I would say about 1/4 of the people in my classes are Youth leaders wanting a better foundation for ministry in the face of their major challenge!

Larry Baxter said...

Excellent post by Craig Groeschel asking the question "How important is seminary?" - http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/2009/08/17/how-important-is-seminary/ - join the conversation there

Jonathan Hill said...

Larry I saw your post on swerve and am curious about Rockbridge.
My real questions center around scheduling time around family, work, and ministry. How have you handled that?

Jonathan Hill said...

Also if you could blog about financing options that would be great.

Larry Baxter said...

Jonathan, excellent questions! In fact, important enough that I'm going to reply to that in a new post rather than just the comments here.

For the financing, I don't know much about that. From what I've seen it works pretty much like this: the tuition payments are on a course-by-course basis. When you sign up for a course, the tuition payment is due. It can be covered in one payment, or split into two parts. For other options you would need to contact Rockbridge directly. What some classmates do is take one course, then take the next term off, so the cost per year is closer to what they can afford.

If you have other questions after I post tonight, let me know! -- Larry