By Gary Weedman
Johnson Bible College, Knoxville, Tennessee (www.jbc.edu)
Johnson Bible College offers a Master of Arts in New Testament by distance learning that targets both first-career and second-career ministry staff. The program focuses primarily on preachers who want to deepen their study of the New Testament and refine their preaching skills, but it also offers tracks for individuals who may want to change careers and who have earned degrees from accredited colleges without undergraduate Bible majors.
The programs provide students with several options. First, the Master of Arts in New Testament and Preaching allows first-career ministers to pursue graduate-level education in both New Testament and preaching. Second-career ministers without a Bible college education take several additional graduate courses to complete the MA in New Testament and Preaching. First- and second-career ministers who want to specialize in professional ministry other than preaching can choose the Master of Arts in New Testament and Contract Cluster in which students combine graduate New Testament studies with professional areas other than preaching, by transferring approved graduate courses from another institution in place of the preaching courses. Johnson also offers other options.
Students complete all course work online and have two or three short campus visits for orientation, final project, and comprehensive examination. The standard curriculum includes 18 hours of Bible, 3 hours of Greek, 9 hours of preaching (or another elective cluster), and a three-hour integrative project. Students without sufficient undergraduate Bible are required to take an additional 6 hours of Bible. Students without Greek must take a course in using Greek study tools. In general, the program requires 30 credits for Bible college graduates and 39 for graduates from other accredited institutions not offering a Bible major.
The second program that might be useful for second-career ministry staff is the master”s degree in Marriage and Family/Professional Counseling. This 61-credit-hour program is offered in 12 two-week sessions during regular semesters and three three-week summer sessions on campus. Students must complete work both before and after the on-campus sessions. In addition to the course work, students arrange for 500 hours of direct clinical experience and 100 hours of supervision in their own communities. Most of Johnson”s graduates work in churches or church-related settings. Graduates are potentially eligible in most states for licensure as a marriage and family therapist and/or licensed professional counselor, and nearly all JBC graduates who desire licensure receive it. Requirements, of course, vary from state to state. Prerequisites for this program are 20 credits in counseling or a related field and 15 credits of undergraduate Bible. The Bible requirement can usually be met by distance learning.
Gary Weedman is president at Johnson Bible College, Knoxville, Tennessee.
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