VCI serves local churches worldwide by training biblically sound, skilled and spiritually mature disciples and leaders. Students are required to do their practical ministry assignments in their local church. VCI consequently values the feedback from churches where students do their practical work. Church leaders are asked to evaluate the program as well as individual student behavior, character and their activities in the church.

Individual student growth

The chart below displays the average growth per student as perceived and reported by their church leaders from when they became our students to the time they finished the MDiv program (4 MDiv graduates of the 2017 San Antonio Cohort who graduated in 2021). A scale of 5 was used with 1 the lowest and 5 the highest score. The “Before” graph represents the evaluation at the start of the program and the “After” graph at the completion of the program. The benchmark for the evaluation at the time of completion is 3.5.

Student growth by categories

The chart below shows the average assessments of students in various categories, as perceived by their church leaders. The first number indicates the leader’s assessment of the student at the start of the program, and the second indicates the same assessment at the program’s completion. A scale of 5 was used with 1 the lowest and 5 the highest score. The results indicate a substantial improvement in student behavior, character and actions. It is evident that growth occurred in each one of the categories.

The benchmark for the final assessment is 3.5.

Average student change by categories

The chart below shows the aspects in which the greatest growth has been reported in descending order. The aspects in which church leaders saw the most improvement in the students were efficiency in evangelism and attending church activities. Growth in aspects such as efficiency in evangelism and effectiveness show that the program cultivates definite skills as students learn to understand and apply Biblical absolutes better through the program.

 This cohort comprised students that already displayed a high standard of the core values one would expect of future church leaders, such as being a consistent Christian example, good moral standards, effectiveness, honesty, reliability, and good relations with others. For this reason, there is a smaller variance in the pre- and post-test results on these topics, as there was little room for growth.

The chart shows that there was no growth in students’ honesty. This is because church leaders allocated the highest possible score (i.e. outstanding or a score of 5 out of 5) to students for this characteristic trait in both the pre- and post-evaluations.