The Master of Divinity incorporates the Master of Arts in Biblical Ministry.

The Master of Divinity is a professional degree designed to:

  • be appropriate for students in Christian ministry
  • reflect the VCI Graduate School’s unique Competency-Based Theological Education (CBTE) approach of Integrated Leadership Development (ILD)
  • provide a graduate qualification for people in Christian ministry whose first degree is not necessarily in theology.

Educational Objectives

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:

  1. form an overview of Scripture so that their theology can be based on an understanding of the overall message of all the Bible books
  2. 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 those of leading commentaries
  3. discern the absolutes of a passage on which exegesis has been done and apply them to their local ministry context that they have analyzed
  4. apply the biblical absolutes in such a way that a biblical worldview is cultivated
  5. 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 educational objectives of the Foundation Training are incorporated in the MDiv. Therefore, if students have achieved these educational objectives before enrollment, and as the MA in Biblical Ministry is a requirement for enrollment, the remainder of the MDiv will typically be done over two semesters.

Should VCI decide to run MDiv 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 semesters.

As the qualification is offered within a cohort, students who do not complete within the two semesters will need to obtain special permission to continue to work on the qualification and be required to pay a continuous enrollment fee.

Prerequisites

To be considered for admission, a student should have all of the following:

  • successful and timely completion of the MA in Biblical Ministry (any exceptions will be at the sole discretion of the Graduate School)
  • a suitable position in Christian ministry.

For general requirements: See General Admission Policies and Procedures in the Catalog.