By Ginny McCabe
Christian higher education institutions continue to reach and train students with creative and alternative approaches that are geared to those who want to prepare for ministry in the local church. In addition to traditional four-year colleges and universities, online and non-degree options are helping to fill the ministry pipeline in local churches.
Christian Standard spoke with some of the top Christian college and university officials to find out more about the convenient, accessible, and affordable nature of these programs.
A Changing Landscape in Christian Higher Education
There are challenges facing the traditional education model, and many colleges and universities, including Christian higher education institutions, are moving toward non-traditional and online models.
“There’s a thinning of the heard going on in American higher ed that goes well beyond just Christian colleges,” said Silas McCormick, LCU’s former president and Executive Director of Lincoln Christian Institute.
Lincoln Christian University ended its operations on May 31, but its work continues through Lincoln Christian Institute and Lincoln Seminary at Ozark Christian College.
“We announced in October of 2023 that we were ceasing academic operations, so we no longer grant degrees,” McCormick said.
LCU, an 80-year-old Bible college in Illinois that was founded in 1944, gifted Lincoln Christian Seminary, its intellectual property–syllabi, programs, ideas, and some of its personal property–to Ozark Christian College, and Ozark recently launched Lincoln Seminary at OCC, he said.
The school’s legacy will also continue through Lincoln Christian Institute (lincolnchristianinstitute.org), which offers non-accredited training to pastors and Christian leaders, primarily in the Midwest, through retreats, conferences, and two certificate programs.
The Lincoln Christian Institute offers two five-course, non-accredited certificate programs–one in Bible and Theology and one in Christian Ministry.
The courses include seven weeks of reading, reflection, and on-your-own learning. On the eighth week, participants gather for a two-day, in-person retreat with fellow students, which is designed to build community. Courses are taught by experienced teachers and LCU faculty members, who are subject experts.
The cost of a Christian Ministry course is $200 for each course, and the ministry retreat occurs at a church. (Usually, there’s an additional cost for meals and housing during the retreat.) The Bible and Theology courses are $450 each, which includes the course, the retreat at a retreat center, meals, and housing.
Lincoln Christian Institute will also continue to host two of its staple programs, including the Midwest Ministers Retreat in the fall and the Church Leaders Conference in the spring.
Additionally, Lincoln Christian Institute will continue to offer pulpit supply preaching to local churches, as well as resources for practical instruction.
Going Beyond the Walls of a Classroom
Ozark Christian College’s NextLevel Online courses (occ.edu/resources) provide Christian leaders with learning opportunities outside of the traditional classroom.
“When it comes to creating these non-traditional resources, that really does fit within our mission. Our mission is to train men and women for Christian service, and we do that inside and outside of the classroom,” said Jim Dalrymple, Professor of New Testament and Executive Vice President, at Ozark Christian College. “We provide both free and paid resources to help ministry leaders train in a non-traditional way.”
Ozark Christian College currently has 63 free NextLevel series available on the OCC website and through partner platforms, such as RightNow Media and Churchapps.org. The program provides over 550 free episodes of training materials for ministry leaders, all targeting Bible and ministry, which is core to Ozark’s mission.
“We have reached over 7 million views across all our platforms. Over 60,000 viewers are being trained by this content every three months on RightNow Media alone,” said Dalrymple.
Topics include “Healthy Churches: A Study in 1 Timothy,” “Navigating with the Lord’s Prayer,” “Nehemiah,” “The Wisdom Way of Life,” and many more.
NextLevel Online courses are accessible, trusted, Bible-based resources that can be used both for personal study and/or church groups or classes.
The courses are “highly adaptable” and “easily accessible,” and they can be studied at any time.
Ozark will also be launching a new initiative called OCC Academy, which will provide affordable courses designed for more intensive ministry training. Similar to a continuing education unit, these courses will be fully online, fully on-demand, and targeted for ministry leaders seeking additional training in a non-traditional format.
“OCC Academy is designed to meet a growing need, and we fully expect it to thrive as we also continue to expand our course offerings,” Dalrymple said.
The first wave of courses that are projected to come out in 2025 include: “How to Study the Bible” with Dr. Michael DeFazio and “How to Preach the Bible” with President Matt Proctor. A shorter course for high school students interested in going into ministry will focus on God’s calling and ways to start preparing for ministry, even before college.
These courses will be affordable, but paid, and they will be intensive ministry training courses. The plan for OCC Academy is to produce and release one or two new courses a year, over the next several years.
“NextLevel Online and OCC Academy are two ways that we are trying to provide training in a non-traditional way, in addition to our undergraduate and seminary degrees,” Dalrymple said. “We see the need and demand in the church.”
Over the past few years OCC has invested in these initiatives by building a recording studio and establishing online platforms.
Ozark Christian College is devoted to training men and women for Christian service at every level, including NextLevel Online, OCC Academy, online undergraduate, and traditional undergrad, and seminary degrees.
Opportunities to Grow Enrollment
Point University has experienced growth through partnerships with local churches and businesses, while remaining true to its mission of educating students for Christ-centered service.
Formerly Atlanta Christian College, Point University (point.edu) was founded in 1937. The university rebranded to Point University in 2011, and the main campus was relocated from East Point, Georgia to West Point.
“Over the past two decades, we’ve seen more and more churches who are trying to train their own, or who are developing pastors and ministers from their own congregations, instead of sending them to Christian colleges and universities,” said Dean Collins, President of Point University.
He said one great example is Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama. The church started their own college with the intention of training ministers.
There’s also an influx of those who are already working in the church, or have church leadership roles, who are seeking more Bible training
“The church in that case believes they can teach the practical skills, but they’d love the person to have more Bible knowledge, so we have partnerships with several churches, where the church member is getting a Bible certificate to deepen their understanding of God’s Word,” Collins said.
The Bible certificate program was started a few years ago, and there have been close to 30 Bible certificate graduates who are part of churches that paid for the students to participate. The certificate program can be customized, such as a Certificate in Campus Ministry or Christian Ministry.
Point University’s “Elevate” program is another success story. It’s another non-traditional option, where students can be enrolled in the program and study ministry, but they can also be in a program to study accounting or psychology.
“We think that Scripture is pretty clear, that God calls all believers to ministry; it’s not just the paid staff,” he said. “We are focused on making sure we equip all of our students to be effective Christian leaders in the world.”
“Elevate” originated with Chick-fil-A and is geared to small and mid-sized businesses. As part of the program, a business signs a contract with Point University, and they pay an annual fee that allows their employees to go to college with no additional expense, and the students’ graduate debt free.
The program is in its third year, and it has produced 110 graduates. This year, another 240 students will graduate from the program. Students work and go to school at the same time. All the instruction is available online.
“The non-traditional programs are definitely producing graduates,” Collins said.
Point University’s largest program is “Elevate,” followed by dual-credit and traditional, on-campus programs.
“Out of our Elevate program, we have what we call GAP, which stands for Generational Advocacy Program,” Collins said. “Churches make a contribution, and that allows their members to go to college without any debt. So, we negotiate the price of that donation tailored to how many people there are from that church who might come to college.”
Innovative programs like Elevate and GAP have led to enrollment increases.
The current enrollment is around 2,400 students.
Lack of a Ministry Pipeline
Crossroads Church Partners (crossroadschurchpartners.org) is a continuation of Crossroads College, a Restoration Bible college founded in 1913 in Rochester, Minnesota.
In its final year of operation in 2016, Crossroads College had about 90 students enrolled, and very few of those were pursuing ministry degrees (about 10 percent.)
Last year, Crossroads had 122 students taking classes solely in Ministry and Bible.
Dr. Curtis McGinnis, Executive Director of Crossroads Church Partners, said there’s a “lack of a ministry pipeline” and “a lack of ministers, who are actually being trained for ministry.”
Reversing the trend will require churches, Christian leaders, and higher education institutions to strengthen and rebuild the ministry pipeline by using the resources and technology that are available.
“Part of our effort is to rebuild the ministry pipeline for our churches up here, so we currently offer, in our partnership with Hope International University, four one-year ministry certificates,” McGinnis said.
Certificates are available in Care Ministries, Bible, Practical Ministry, and Biblical Leadership.
“In this last year, we started offering a 54-credit Advanced Ministry Certificate, which includes 36 class hours of traditional coursework. It also includes one year of guided spiritual formation where a student is linked with a spiritual mentor, and two years of supervised, hands-on ministry experience,” McGinnis said.
The Advanced Ministry Certificate consists of 12 classes, taught over three years. Plus, it has the additional component of a year of spiritual formation and two years of residency.
Because the courses are offered in partnership with Hope International University, all the classes are regionally accredited, and they can roll into a four-year degree with Hope International.
He said the cost is often a significant barrier for students who want to pursue Christian higher education.
Full scholarships are available for the one-year certificates as well as the Advanced Ministry Certificate. Students can take any one of the classes, or pursue a certificate, tuition free. Last year, over $150,000 was awarded in scholarships.
“We think this is a great opportunity to invest in students, particularly those who are considering vocational ministry,” said McGinnis
Making Ministry Sustainable
4C Ministry Institute recognizes there is a deficit of Christian leaders going into ministry, and they have worked to create programs that will help fill those gaps, making ministry sustainable.
“We believe that the best hope for any community is a healthy New Testament Church, living out the Great Commission. So, that’s our foundation, but we also recognize that to achieve that vision, we need to have effective, relevant, and sustainable ministers to lead those congregations,” said Jeffrey, Derico, President and Executive Vice President of 4C Ministry Institute, and former Russell School of Ministry Dean. Students in 4C Ministry Institute’s two-year Certificate in Ministry program gain experience, skills, knowledge, networking, credentials, and financial freedom to achieve effective, relevant, and sustainable ministry goals. The Certificate in Ministry is a consecutive two-year, intensive program.
“We want to get out of the pattern where we are losing people from the ministry in the first five to seven years,” Derico said.
4C Ministry Institute also offers a Certificate of Apologetics, which is designed to equip students with the tools to confidently defend their Christian faith in an ever-changing world. The Certificate of Apologetics program is comprised of five online courses, making it accessible.
The third offering through 4C Ministry Institute has lecture content available to church volunteers who want to serve, teach, or lead.
4C Ministry Institute (www.4cministry.org) is an unaccredited educational ministry. 4C Ministry Institute doesn’t charge tuition or fees, so students can complete the certificate programs debt free.
4C Ministry Institute has partnerships with nine accredited colleges, so some units will be accepted toward undergraduate and graduate degrees. 4C Ministry Institute has plans to expand both nationally and globally.
A Vision for Training Internationally
NationsUniversity, an accredited, online Christian university associated with the Restoration Movement, will soon celebrate its 30th anniversary.
The school was founded to educate students where they are, all over the world. NationsUniversity has been offering online education since 2005.
“We have been ahead of the online curve, and I know many other universities are doing a phenomenal job to catch up with that to serve people,” said John Baxter, President at NationsUniversity. “That’s a space we’ve been part of for a while, so we have quite a bit of experience with non-traditional students in trying to find creative ways to meet the needs of students.”
Nations (nationsu.edu) offers undergraduate certificates and degrees, including a Certificate in Biblical Studies, a Certificate in Christian Ministry, and a Bachelor of Religious Studies as well as graduate certificates and degrees, including a Graduate Certificate in Biblical Studies, Master of Theological Studies, and a Master of Divinity.
“Everything is at a local level, so students are taking what they’re learning and applying that in a local context.” said David Srygley, Chief Academic Officer at NationsUniversity.
A Certificate in Biblical Studies offers a Biblical foundation to those in ministry positions. The program is 21 hours or seven courses. Students can enroll anytime, and study at their own pace.
“Students are looking for ways to receive an education that equips them with skills that they need for ministry service. Ultimately, their goal might not be a degree at the end,” Baxter said.
Those in developing countries pay zero tuition for accredited courses. Students living in developed nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom, pay a low quarterly tuition rate of $450 for as many courses as a student chooses to take. (That’s $1,800 per year.) There is a discounted rate of $1,200 annually available for those directly working in ministry. All students pay a one-time $25 registration fee. All the textbooks and reading materials are provided to students through a student learning portal. (These costs exclude the Doctor of Ministry program.)
One of the reasons NationsU can keep costs low is that they don’t operate a traditional brick and mortar campus. About 90 percent of the NationsU student body receives an accredited education at no tuition cost, because they live in a developing country.
Rooted in the a cappella Churches of Christ, NationsUniversity was founded in 1995 to provide a biblical education for international students.
In June, NationsUniversity announced a new partnership with 4C Ministry Institute to offer students a Certificate in Apologetics, which can be applied to the Bachelor of Religious Studies degree.
Ginny McCabe is a journalist, author, and freelance writer living in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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