Ministry sees modification
Nationwide survey spurs School of Religion to construct new department
In a time when the American church is seeing an exodus of young people, Liberty’s School of Religion has a heart to graduate students who will practice biblical
leadership to influence their communities.
Leaders — Students took part in church discipleship opportunities. Pictured from left to right: Corey Anderson, Garret Hutchison, Matt Crawford, Brandon Graves. Photo provided
The undergraduate School of Religion (SOR) recently surveyed students, alumni, churches and ministries about how to best enhance the degree programs. The results led to a new department, the Department of Christian Leadership and Church Ministries (CLCM), which launched January 2015. CLCM replaced the Department of Church Ministries, which housed pastoral leadership, women’s leadership, youth ministries and adventure leadership and outdoor ministries.
“One of the things that we found as we surveyed (was) a lot of students who were interested in our courses felt called to ministry, but not necessarily to be a pastor,” Dr. Jonathan Geukgeuzian, chair of Christian leadership and church ministries, said.
Liberty offered Christian leadership courses online. While reconstructing the school’s programs, administration decided to fold the Christian leadership online courses under the new CLCM department.
“That’s where the department name change came from,” Geukgeuzian said. “We felt it best identified what we were training students for.”
The new department offers three Bachelor of Science degrees with 19 cognates, including global studies, worship and coaching. Many of the cognates are samples of their own bachelor degree programs.
“These cognates are in no way trying to compete with what those majors are already doing,” Geukgeuzian said. “What it’s doing is really enhancing (students’) overall ministry training with these other areas because they would like more knowledge of it, but it’s not something they wanted to major in. We want to take advantage of all that the school has to offer so students aren’t getting just Bible training or theology training, but they’re actually being trained in other areas as well.”
Geukgeuzian said many graduates in the church ministries field might find themselves in a bi-vocational situation where they need to earn a living at a job apart from their service in ministry. Some of the cognates, like technical studies and coaching, give students the opportunity to learn skills and have that option.
“We wanted to package things that would make sense vocationally,” Geukgeuzian said. “We kind of do the combo meal.”
In addition to learning ministry and leadership in the classroom, the SOR recently began offering a ministry fellowship with partner churches and ministries. Geukgeuzian said studying books on theology is essential to ministry, but an important part of ministry is learning the culture in which the student aims to serve.
“The culture in Texas is a lot different than the culture in Maine,” Geukgeuzian said. “We want to implant (students) into those environments and let them flesh out that ministry training alongside a seasoned leader so that they can get their hands to the plow and begin to see what it looks like to do ministry in this area.”
Typically, students work internships during the summer season, which is the slowest season for church ministry. Geukgeuzian said students would often not get the full picture of what ministry looks like because churches operate differently in the summer than during the rest of the year.
The ministry fellowship is a yearlong program during a student’s senior year, which takes place after they have completed the required 120 practicum hours in a local ministry. Fellows will work in one of 17 partner churches across the United States or at the one international partner site.
Liberty requires partner churches to provide housing and utilities for the fellows, but some churches go beyond the requirement and include a stipend. Fellows will earn two internship credits during the year and will maintain residential status by taking two Liberty classes online.
“(Students) gain the experience of being at a ministry site where they’re actually living and breathing ministry,” Geukgeuzian said. “Instead of showing up for class here every day, they’re showing up to the office and the church.”
Those interested can view information on the Department of Christian Leadership and Church Ministries page at liberty.edu.
The Barna Group, a research organization, published an article titled “What Millennials Want When They Visit Church” in March of this year based on results of their surveys. The surveys found that six in 10 Millennials leave church at some point, even if they grew up in church. The results “reveal a general feeling that church is simply not necessary and, for some, that it is harmful.”
Find the full article on barna.org in the Millennials topics tab.
“I can see where they think that church is harmful or it’s just not useful because they’re seeing through the smoke and seeing the façade,” Geukgeuzian said.
Geukgeuzian said many churches struggle in their leadership, which can result in a dysfunctional and unhealthy church.
“I believe Liberty has modeled a healthy view of Christianity and the church,” Geukgeuzian said. “Whenever you have genuine community of believers who are living out biblical (community), people see that authenticity and are drawn to that. We’re trying to train our students to have a healthy understanding, so that when they do get into those environments, they can become the influencers.”
Hoosier is a news reporter.