Pursue Your Passion for Developing Healthy Marriages and Strong Family Units
If you are looking to take your college degree further by opening the door to more ministry and career opportunities, graduate studies may be a good option for you. Your interest in psychology and passion for ministry can come together with our M.A. in Pastoral Counseling – Marriage and Family degree.
Our non-licensure pastoral counseling program prepares you for countless positions in church, counseling, community, and hospital settings. Work to create unity, provide guidance, and help develop strong coping skills for people in need.
As a non-clinical counselor program, you have the ability to complete your entire master’s in as little as one year! A bright and rewarding future is just a degree away. Your master’s in pastoral counseling will prepare you to provide spiritual and psychological attention to your clients and congregation that facilitates healthy relationships.
Award-Winning Campus
At Liberty, you’ll find an affordable, high-quality education that equips students like you for the real world. Our commitment to excellence helped us rank among Niche.com’s Top 3 college campuses in America. Earning your degree from a nonprofit university with state-of-the-art resources like ours can help set you apart from your peers.
Why Choose Liberty’s Pastoral Counseling Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family?
Helping couples and families through difficult times is an incredible ministry opportunity. Choosing to pursue our graduate degree in pastoral counseling will help you gain the skill set you need to effectively minister to those in need.
As a nonprofit, Christian university, our goal is to provide quality academics with biblical integration. All of our pastoral counseling faculty have served for at least 20 years in the counseling field. From hospital chaplains and marriage counselors to intensive in-home crisis counselors, our professors are experts in the world of pastoral ministry. They all hold doctoral degrees and are excited about sharing their experience with you as their student.
Additionally, you will have the opportunity to take your education outside the classroom. Our M.A. in Pastoral Counseling students complete a 225-hour internship in an approved, related setting. You will gain invaluable hands-on, face-to-face counseling experience in individual, relationship, and group therapy. Not only that, but you will also have our faculty by your side, monitoring your completed assignments and ready to provide any assistance you may need.
What Will You Learn in Our Pastoral Counseling Master’s Degree?
Our graduate students studying pastoral counseling explore the multicultural, family, and spiritual issues most often faced in a pastoral setting. As a student in this program, you will receive training in solution-based models so you can apply various behavioral approaches and appropriate biblical teaching in your work. You will also examine the best ways to promote spiritual growth during crises, as well as in premarital and marriage circumstances.
By specializing your degree in marriage and family, you will explore the issues surrounding familial relationships. Your courses will assess healthy problem solving for both married and premarital couples. Additionally, our program will prepare you to address healthy sexuality, family counseling, and counseling for women specifically.
View the Degree Completion Plan, and check out our featured courses below to learn more about what you’ll be studying!
Featured Courses
PACO 603 – Premarital and Marital Counseling
PACO 618 – Advanced Marriage and Family Counseling
PACO 620 – Counseling the Adolescent and Their Families
PACO 687 – Counseling Women
Highlights of Our Master’s in Pastoral Counseling Degree
- Complete your entire master’s in as little as one year!
- Receive opportunities to earn several certificates from the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC). These include Crisis Response, Life Coaching, and Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts (SYMBIS).
- Our AACC student chapter provides the chance for students like you to grow professionally and spiritually as you network and interact with successful counseling professionals.
- Our student-to-professor ratio for residential graduate students is 6:1.
- Our faculty care deeply for their students, praying for and with them throughout their academic journey.
Pastoral Counseling – Marriage and Family Degree Information
- Residential
- 36 total credit hours
- Transfer in up to 50% of your credits
- This program falls under the School of Behavioral Sciences
- View the Degree Completion Plan
- View our course catalog
Career Opportunities for Pastoral Counseling in Marriage and Family Graduates
- Associate pastor
- Church counselor
- Marriage and family counselor
- Non-licensed counselor
Admission Requirements for Graduate Degrees
Every application is reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and all applicants must submit the following documents and meet the minimum requirements for admission:
- Admission application
- Official bachelor’s degree transcripts with a 2.0 GPA or higher
- Self-certification form (for students who are in the final term of their bachelor’s degree)
- Current Liberty undergraduate students seeking preliminary acceptance into a graduate program must complete a degree completion application through their ASIST account
