This online Christian Ministries program at North Greenville University leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree in Christian Ministries (BACM). One of the key features of the Christian Ministries program is its emphasis on knowledge and action. It is essential that Christians, who are all ministers of the Gospel of Jesus in varied capacities, both know the key tenets of the faith as well as communicate them in a winsome way to the world at-large.
The BACM offered by NGU Online at North Greenville University seeks to impart the same high-caliber education offered by NGU’s traditional campus program of study in Christian Studies. It has intentionally used much of the course allotments to ensure that NGU’s culture and values are inculcated during a student’s tenure in NGU Online. To ensure this high quality, Christ-centered education, the BACM requires that students complete 48 hours in a core curriculum of study that teaches them what Scripture is, how it fits together in the one story of God, historical developments in crucial doctrines in the Church, and practical guidance in areas of ministry (world missions, evangelism, biblical spirituality, and ministry practice). Considering that NGU Online seeks to serve adult professionals, the BACM has been structured to provide future career guidance to its participants within the already existing program structures. The primary way this career guidance is achieved is by offering concentrations (or foci). Concentrations allow students in the BACM to focus on a particular area of interest that will serve their future goals of ministry.
The Student Learning Objectives of the BACM are to enable students to:
- Articulate a foundational knowledge of the Christian faith;
- Analyze and integrate primary and secondary sources of biblical, ethical, historical, and theological thought;
- Apply Christian theology to everyday life;
- Master proper academic standards in writing and critical thinking skills;
- Demonstrate competencies for variegated spheres of ministry- biblical studies, children’s ministry, church planting, international missions, non-vocational ministry, pastoral ministry, and youth ministry;
- Apply content and skills to his or her career and develop a professional identity;
- Articulate and defend how they may become difference-makers in his or her chosen vocation and realm of service or ministry.
The faculty in Christian Ministries are proven in both the academy as well as in practice. The courses are taught by well-respected and experienced individuals in their respective fields who are integrally involved in their local churches. This ensures that the education given in BACM is first practiced in the real world-thereby, allowing the academy to inform practice and practice to inform the academy. Further, in order to encourage a broad range of education and offer a focus in a particular area of interest, students will have two courses of a ministry practicum as well as the ability to earn a minor in a particular area of interest such as Business and Leadership, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Educational Studies, or Psychology.