The Master of Arts in Children's and Family Ministry

The Master of Arts in Children’s and Family Ministry (offered through the InMinistry program) is designed for the emerging cadre of professionals who minister to the special needs of children and families. This program is specially designed for those ministering in churches, child evangelism organizations, Christian schools, professional organizations, and missions agencies focused on ministry to children and families. The program allows non-resident students currently serving in professional or lay volunteer ministry to complete the degree requirements through a distributed learning format, with a mixture of distance courses and on-campus intensives taught at the St. Paul or San Diego campuses. The 24-course sequence is accomplished in approximately 40 months.

A hallmark of this program is the link between classroom learning, peer interaction, and practical application in the day to day ministry context of the student. This program includes 12 courses focused on biblical and theological foundations. These include hermeneutics, both Old and New Testament, systematic theology, and church history. In addition, the professional emphasis of this degree program focuses on ministry to children and families in a congregational context. Special emphasis is placed on spiritual formation in children, human development and family systems, curriculum and program development, dynamics of staffing leadership, and current trends in children’s and family ministry.

The seminary confers a Master of Arts degree in Children’s and Family Ministry upon students who satisfactorily complete the prescribed program-related requirements. These include the completion of course requirements, participation in the assessment and evaluation program, the writing of a satisfactory personal statement of faith, achieving a grade point average of C (2.0) or above, financial clearance from the business office, and participation in graduation ceremonies. Graduation is not automatic when academic requirements have been met. Since the seminary aims to graduate men and women who qualify as Christian leaders, the faculty and administration will evaluate a student’s qualifications in terms of spiritual, doctrinal, and professional standards as well as academic standards.

The suggested sequence of courses for the Master of Arts in Children’s and Family Ministry degree is listed below.

Degree Requirements

Master of Arts in Children's and Family Ministry

BT501	Hermeneutics	4
HS503	Church History Survey	4
NT501	The Gospels	4
NT502	Acts and Pauline Letters	4
OT501	Genesis - Ruth	4
OT502	I Samuel - Song of Songs	4
OT503	Isaiah - Malachi	4
SP500	SPF: Foundations and Traditions	4
TL501	Culture and Ministry	4
TS501	Systematic Theology I	4
TS502	Systematic Theology II	4
TS503	Systematic Theology III	4
TS505	Christian Social Ethics	4

Concentration Courses and Electives

CF501	Intro. to Children's and Family Ministry	4
CF502	Development Across the Life Cycle	4
CF622	Advocacy for Children	4
CF651	Curriculum Development and Assessment	4
CF652	Creativity and Models of Content Delivery	4
CF661	Dynamics of Staffing and Leadership	4
CF662	Children's and Family Ministry Admin.	4
DC/PC742	Ministering to with Families	4
PC/DC745	Family Systems	4
PC713	Pastoral Care of Children & Families	4

Supervised Ministry and Other Requirements

CF551,2	Mentored Leadership Development	4
SP001	Formation Assessments	0
TL001	Vocational Assessments	0
	Senior Statement of Faith	0

A minimum of 96 quarter credits is required for graduation from an M.A. program. The student is responsible to meet all graduation deadlines and requirements.

Follow this link for a description of the Children's and Family Ministry courses.

The Bethel Seminary Catalog is provided online as a convenience for those who desire course information in electronic form. The printed version of the Bethel Seminary catalog is the official version, and it will be treated as the document of record in all seminary business.