Provide Spiritual Support to Service Members and Their Families with an MDiv in Military Chaplaincy
Service members face unique challenges, both at home and abroad, and they need spiritual leaders who understand the realities of military life. As a military chaplain, you can offer guidance, encouragement, and faith-based support to those who serve. Because chaplains are commissioned military officers, this role allows you to minister in diverse settings – whether on active duty or in reserve components. Liberty University’s Master of Divinity (MDiv) in Military Chaplaincy can help equip you for this mission by strengthening your ministry skills and preparing you to serve as a spiritual leader in the armed forces.
Chaplaincy is a vital calling that plays a crucial role in the well-being of service members and their families. Military life often involves long deployments, separation from loved ones, and demanding environments. As a chaplain, you can provide the spiritual and emotional support our troops need to navigate these hardships. If you feel led to serve in this capacity, Liberty’s MDiv in Military Chaplaincy can help you develop the knowledge and training necessary to offer compassionate, faith-driven guidance to those who sacrifice so much.
Accreditation
Your seminary degree is approved by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) and has met rigorous accreditation standards. You can feel confident that your degree is both academically excellent and well-respected among churches, ministries, and nonprofit organizations.
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 as the #4 Best College Campus in America by Niche.com. 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 Master of Divinity in Military Chaplaincy?
At Liberty University, our mission of Training Champions for Christ extends to those who feel called to serve as military chaplains. Our Master of Divinity in Military Chaplaincy is designed to help equip you with the theological knowledge and practical skills needed to provide spiritual guidance to service members and their families. Led by faculty with firsthand military chaplaincy and pastoral experience, this program offers a challenging and rewarding curriculum that combines classroom instruction with hands-on ministry training.
To help you take the next steps toward chaplaincy, our faculty and staff can assist you in securing the necessary endorsement from a Department of Defense-recognized religious body. Additionally, we partner with local churches and parachurch organizations to provide experiential training opportunities, so you can graduate prepared to minister to military personnel and their communities.
If you have prior ministry experience or have completed an accredited seminary degree, you may be eligible for transfer credit or Institutional Challenge Exams, allowing you to maximize your previous education and experience. Liberty’s MDiv in Military Chaplaincy is designed to help prepare you for the unique challenge of bringing God’s Word to those who serve, offering pastoral care, and making a lasting impact in the military community.
What Will You Study in Our MDiv in Military Chaplaincy?
The Liberty Theological Seminary’s Master of Divinity in Military Chaplaincy is designed to help equip you with the knowledge and practical skills needed to serve as a military chaplain. This program emphasizes real-world experience and hands-on application. Our aim is that you enter the field with confidence and a strong foundation in the skills needed for chaplaincy. You’ll explore the chaplain’s role in protecting the free exercise of religion as well as the biblical principles of servant leadership, both of which are essential for ministering in a military setting.
A key responsibility of military chaplains is to nurture spiritual development and safeguard the warrior’s soul. Through this program, you can learn how to recognize opportunities to offer guidance to both military leaders and service members. The coursework also focuses on pastoral care, helping prepare you to support service members and their families through challenges unique to military life. Additionally, this degree can help equip you to provide spiritual and emotional care to those struggling with combat-related PTSD, helping you serve with wisdom and compassion.
To further enhance your training, you’ll complete 1 unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) under the supervision of a Liberty-trained mentor. This experience allows you to develop pastoral care skills within your Christian faith tradition. Our goal is to help you gain both the theological foundation and practical expertise needed to effectively minister to those who serve.
Review the Degree Completion Plan (coming soon) and check out our featured courses below to learn more about what you’ll be studying!
Featured Courses
CHPL 640 – Chaplain Leadership for Religious Freedom
CHPL 655 – Chaplain Evangelism and Discipleship
CHPL 680 – Military Chaplaincy
CRIS 607 – PTSD and Combat-Related Trauma
Highlights
Degree Information
Careers
Admission Requirements
Highlights of Our MDiv in Military Chaplaincy Degree
- We have a state-of-the-art homiletics/teaching lab in our School of Divinity building.
- Study under theologians and missionaries with real-world experience in the M.Div.’s web-based content developed by Liberty University’s John W. Rawlings School of Divinity.
- Institutional Challenge Exams (ICE) are available to test out of foundational biblical and theological studies content for the M.Div. program.
- Our Scriptorium houses the Rawlings Foundation rare books collection valued at over $1 million, a 111-foot-long Torah scroll that dates to the 16th century, and a functioning replica of the Gutenberg Printing Press.
- Local church ministry training is embedded within our programs.
- We provide experiential learning opportunities through church and parachurch ministries.
Master of Divinity Degree Information
- Residential
- 90 total credit hours
- Transfer in up to 50% of your credits
- This program falls under the Liberty Theological Seminary
- View the Degree Completion Plan (coming soon)
- Find more information in our course catalog
Potential Career Opportunities for Master of Divinity in Military Chaplaincy Graduates
Besides being a chaplain in the Armed Forces, you could pursue a variety of other potential career paths, such as:
- Healthcare chaplain
- Hospice chaplain
- Military chaplain
- Pastoral counselor
- Senior pastor
- Spiritual care coordinator
- Spiritual care director
- Visitation pastor
This program aims to provide the theological foundation and ministry experience needed to answer God’s calling in local, national, and international ministry settings.
Admission Requirements for Our MDiv in Military Chaplaincy Degree
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
- John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Questionnaire
- Pastoral recommender contact information
- Self-certification form for students 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
