The Master of Arts in Biblical Ministry incorporates the Graduate Diploma in Biblical Ministry.
The Master of Arts in Biblical Ministry is a professional degree designed to:
- be appropriate for students in Christian ministry
- reflect VCI’s unique Competency-Based Theological Education (CBTE) approach of Integrated Leadership Development (ILD)
- provide a master’s degree for people in Christian ministry.
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to practice independently as Christian ministers, with skills defined in terms of particular cultural milieus and areas of gifting. In particular, they will be able to:
- form an overview of Scripture so that their theology can be based on an understanding of the overall message of all the Bible books
- do exegesis of all the major types of literature applied to all the groups of Bible books using a practical form of semantic discourse analysis and compare their findings with that of leading commentaries
- discern the absolutes of a passage on which exegesis has been done and apply them to their local ministry context that they have analyzed
- apply the biblical absolutes in such a way that a biblical worldview is cultivated
- develop ministry skills that are effective in their own ministry setting.
These five main learning goals are taught in an interdisciplinary fashion, weaving them together as strands through an integrated educational approach. Students are required to integrate spiritual development during the completion of each competency unit.
Duration
The student learning outcomes of the Foundation Training are incorporated in the MA. Therefore, if students have achieved these learning outcomes before enrollment, the MA will typically be done over five trimesters (post acquiring the Graduate Diploma).
Should VCI decide to run MA cohorts for which prior completion of the Foundation modules is not required, this material must then be covered in the program itself, which will likely result in extending the typical program duration by additional trimesters.
As the degree program is offered within a cohort, students who do not complete within the five trimesters will need to obtain special permission to continue to work on the qualification and be required to pay a continuous enrollment fee.
Students who do not complete the program before applications close for the next MDiv program, will not be able to continue their studies with their current cohort. Instead, they will be required to apply to join a subsequent cohort.
Prerequisites
To be considered for admission, a student should have all of the following:
- successful and timely completion of the Graduate Diploma in Biblical Ministry
- a suitable position in Christian ministry
- satisfactorily completed the four non-formal VCI Foundation Training modules as the basic educational skills acquired through the Foundation Training are presupposed and further developed in the MA.
For general requirements: See General Admission Policies and Procedures in the Catalog.