Pastoral Ministry, M.A.

Carl Leth, Ph.D., Coordinator

This program has been specially designed for men and women called by God into pastoral ministry, primarily within the Church of the Nazarene and similar denominations. It assumes that the student enters with an undergraduate education in religion/ministry, such as that offered by Olivet’s School of Theology and Christian Ministry. It aims to provide a comprehensive study of Bible, theology, and ministry, sufficient for the practice of ministry as understood by the Church of the Nazarene. By combining focused undergraduate prerequisites with graduate coursework, the M.A. in Pastoral Ministry is able to cover a traditional M.Div. program of study. By including a mentored ministry component in the second year, this program both shortens the residential study requirement and strengthens the transition to ministry for the student. This lessens the personal and financial cost of more extended residential study while providing the student with an optimal ministry “launch.” District Superintendents in the Church of the Nazarene are open to and interested in placing these students in pastoral assignments as a part of this program.

48 hours

Required:

BLIT 632 - Cultural/Historical Influences and Biblical Interpretation
CMIN 621 - Expository Writing for Graduate Students
CMIN 631 - Life Management and Personal Renewal
CMIN 635 - Leadership in Christian Ministry: Committed to Serve, Prepared to Lead
CMIN 650 - Homiletics (may substitute a preaching elective)
CMIN 651 - The Minister as Leader and Administrator
or CMIN 658 - Organizational Behavior
CMIN 670A - Mentored Ministry I
CMIN 670B - Mentored Ministry II
CMIN 691 - Integrative Seminar/Project
PSYC 640 - Marriage and Family Relations
THEO 607 - Theology of Ministry
THEO 693 - Contemporary Issues in Theology
BLIT elective (3 hours)
THEO elective (3 hours)
Two free (BLIT, CHED, CMIN, THEO, YMIN) electives (6 hours)

Note:

A cumulative GPA of 3.0 is required for graduation from the program, no course counting toward graduation may carry a grade of less than a B-.

Program Format

More than most master’s degree programs, the M.A. in Pastoral Ministry uses a wide assortment of course formats and teaching methods: intensive modules, half-semester courses, full-semester courses, lecturing, mentoring, internships, seminars, papers, and projects. For a more detailed explanation of the various course formats, please refer to “Academic Policies: Program Formats ”.

While students in the M.A. program in Pastoral Ministry take a few modular courses during their first year, they take all their courses as modules during their second year. This allows the second-year students to engage in their mentored youth ministry experience on a full-time basis and gives them the option to do that mentored experience at locations quite distant from Olivet’s campus in Bourbonnais, Illinois.