Bethel Seminary structured its programming in ways to meet the needs of both ministry professionals and laypeople. Its nationwide locations add to its appeal for the layperson, as interested students can attend classes in San Diego, Philadelphia, New England, New York, Washington, D.C., or St. Paul.

Bethel Seminary San Diego was designed to provide theological education in a format convenient to laypeople. Most of the courses for its Master of Arts in Theological Studies, Master of Arts in Christian Education, and Master of Divinity degree programs are offered during three-hour blocks, one day a week, between 4-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Bethel Seminary San Diego also has non-credit course offerings designed for laypeople who want more in-depth study but do not have the time, finances, or desire for full-time, credit-based classes.

Bethel Seminary of the East has teaching centers in Philadelphia, New England, New York, and Washington, D.C. Students may pursue the M.Div. degree or the certificate in theological studies. The certificate program is especially appealing to laypeople wanting more background in biblical and theological studies to enhance their current occupation or lay ministry. In addition, Bethel Seminary of the East recently added the M.A.T.S. degree program at its Philadelphia location. This program has broad appeal for both laypeople, and those preparing for vocational ministry in missions, parachurch organizations, social agencies, and churches.

More than 300 students pursue seminary degrees at a distance, taking courses online and traveling to campus for several on-site intensives each year. In addition, Bethel Seminary St. Paul offers certificate programs especially for laypeople.

"We have many laypeople taking advantage of all our formats for education," says Joseph Dworak, director of admissions and recruitment. "And many churches are helping to support their laypeople financially while they are in school with us."

The entire curriculum at Columbia is tailored to be as convenient as possible for students, including laypeople. Courses are available during the day, in the evenings, on weekends, as one-week intensives, and online.

In thirty semester hours, laypeople may earn a certificate in a variety of fields including counseling, education, intercultural studies, Bible, and ministry. For laypeople who desire to earn a higher degree (MA or M.Div), the Advancement in Ministry (or AIM) program was developed in 2001 as a convenient format that combines one-week intensives and online courses. This program is especially helpful for laypeople who are trying to transition into ministry.

Recently several new courses have been developed with laypeople in mind, including "New Testament Tools and Techniques" and "Old Testament Tools and Techniques." Through the school's independent learning department, laypeople can take valuable Bible survey courses, hermeneutics, first and second year Greek, and principles of the Christian life from home through audio, video, and online formats.

Dallas's Master of Arts in Biblical Studies, which provides a graduate-level biblical and theological foundation for various kinds of Christian service, is designed for lay leaders who desire training for better ministry within their church or organization.

The Seminary also offers non-graduate credit courses through its Center for Biblical Studies (CBS), which was founded as a lay institute for personal enrichment. It offers three certificates toward a Bible diploma: the Biblical Studies Certificate, the Theological Studies Certificate, and the Ministry Leadership Certificate.

Classes for the Master of Arts in Biblical Studies degree are available during the day, evening, weekend, and online. CBS courses meet on weekday evenings, Saturday seminars, or during weekly lunch hours so that Christian leaders with full-time careers outside of the local church can take full advantage of the CBS curriculum.

In the 1990s, Garrett-Evangelical began offering seminars and enrichment courses specifically for laypeople looking to gain ministry skills to use in their own congregations, explore graduate-level theological education, test a call to ministry, and focus on a particular area of ministry without committing to a degree program or ordination.

The school offers seminars and workshops in Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois. For United Methodist laity, Garrett-Evangelical offers certificate programs in Christian education, evangelism, music ministry, spiritual formation, and youth ministry. The five-course United Methodist certification programs are offered in two-week January and summer intensives to accommodate people who are not geographically close to the Seminary and people who work full-time.

The school's youth ministry program, Faith Passage, is a year-long spiritual and leadership development program for cultivating a community of young theologians dedicated to incorporating Christian practices into everyday life. The program includes a three-week summer component where Garrett-Evangelical hosts 15 high school students who take classes designed to introduce them to theological study and reflection, Christian practices, theology and tradition, and racial and social justice.

Garrett-Evangelical's Master of Theological Study degree program is designed for doctoral students and educators along with legal and business professionals who may want to bring an ethical component to their work. Many classes are offered in late afternoon, evening, and weekend formats to enable students working full-time to attend. Laypeople can also audit courses at reduced tuition.

For many schools, providing quality lay education is a relatively recent phenomenon, but Gordon-Conwell has been at it for nearly three decades, mainly through the Ockenga Institute in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, and through an urban ministry diploma program offered at its Boston and Charlotte, North Carolina campuses.

The Seminary established the Ockenga Institute more than twenty years ago to pro-vide lay educational resources to support local churches and pastors. Guiding the Institute's development was a commitment to address the need for biblical and theological literacy among lay adults.

The institute offers a variety of certificate and diploma programs through courses on campus and online. The focus of its Ockenga Diploma program is to teach pastors who, in turn, can offer the courses to the 5 to 15 lay leaders in their churches who would benefit most from a structured course of study. "These events represent our effort to engage laity on multiple levels with multiple levels of commitment required of them, ranging from a one-day commitment to a sustained commitment from one week to several months of study," says Ockenga Institute Director David Horn.

In addition to the Ockenga Institute, since 1969 Gordon-Conwell has operated the Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME), which has provided lay leadership training through a Diploma in Urban Ministry. The program is designed for individuals who wish to enhance their skills for ministry but are not necessarily preparing for pastoral ministry. "Many of our diploma students are already working in social service positions, homeless ministries, and as urban youth workers, and find the CUME program beneficial for their jobs," says Alvin Padilla, CUME's dean and associate professor of New Testament. "Others use the diploma program as a springboard for pursing an M.A. or M.Div. degree."

Gordon-Conwell's most recent venture into lay education is its "Dimensions of the Faith" program, a series of free online courses designed to expand lay students' knowledge of God's Word. Director Horn says, "The Dimensions program allows us to replicate our best faculty in a delivery system for laity around the world and to offer it at no charge from our Gordon-Conwell website."

In January 2005, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary (GRTS) launched a special program titled Theological Education for Professionals (TEP). The program is designed to gather a diverse set of professionals from the greater Grand Rapids area into a theological learning community as a means to deepen their knowledge of Scripture, strengthen their personal commitment to God, and enhance the quality of their service for God within their lives and respective professions.

Participating doctors, lawyers, and business professionals meet one night a week to complete credit-based courses in the areas of biblical studies, theological studies, and applied ministries. The program design includes a ten-course rotation, which will be completed over a five-year period. After completing the ten courses, some will continue toward the completion of full graduate theological degrees.

Knox has recently adopted a very distinctive approach to theological education, an approach that affects those preparing to be pastors as well as laity. "We have diagnosed an ailment and proposed a remedy that we hope will revolutionize Reformed theological education," says Jim Dietz, director of student services.

The ailment, says Dietz, is "the disappearance of a true liberal arts education among applicants." And the remedy consists of "a Christian reading of the classics along with the traditional theological departmental studies."

The classics "transform the way we think. They . . . show us new worlds of which we had never dreamed," says Warren Gage, assistant professor of Old Testament at Knox. "We are learning how to distinguish the permanent and vital issues of life from the transient and the ephemeral."

North Park offers dual programs in conjunction with three different business programs: MBA, MM, and MM in Nonprofit Administration. Several students have completed an unofficial dual program at North Park by adding an MA in Community Development to their seminary degree. In addition, North Park offers programs that award ministry certificates in the areas of leadership and Christian spirituality.

North Park's distance education program, SemConnect, is designed to serve the whole church everywhere. Students have the ability to complete a full degree program at North Park through a combination of online and intensive courses, plus testing and evaluation. Lay leaders can also earn a degree or certificate or take individual courses.

Phoenix Seminary started a program four years ago that provides training to laypeople in the marketplace. The program addresses a variety of topics, including bio-medical and business ethics, personal integrity, Islam, how business can glorify God, and biblical studies. This program meets at lunchtime for the convenience of professionals in the marketplace.

Phoenix has also launched a diploma program in Christian counseling for lay counselors, and has joined in partnership with Ottawa University to provide a Christian counseling program that leads to state licensure for professional counselors who desire a biblical basis for their counseling practice.

Phoenix continues to add classes to its MA in Biblical Leadership program, a program designed to help Christians in secular businesses to apply biblical truth and leadership principles in a non-Christian environment.

Regent is addressing the educational needs of laity in the way it has constructed its degrees. "We offer practical theology programs that are geared towards aspiring ministry professionals and lay leaders. These programs specifically address practical ministry skills and topics," says Misty Martin, director of enrollment services.

"In accommodating laypeople and individuals in non-pastoral ministries," says Martin, "we've experienced an increase in the enrollment of women, ethnic minorities, and non-U.S. citizens." These groups make up approximately 47 percent of the master's level distance students.

Regent is also addressing the needs of laypeople through its educational delivery systems. "We no longer assume that people will be moving here to our campus to study full-time in the traditional classroom setting," says Martin. "We provide opportunities to study from anywhere in the world through our online classes. Our current student body includes homemakers, missionaries on the field, and people working in secular jobs, all wanting to sharpen their ministry skills."

In addition, Regent provides students with the opportunity to attend modular classes, which are usually one week on-campus courses, as well as evening classes. "Many of our students are in their thirties or above, are married, and are working," says Martin. "They do not want to give up three years of their lives, resign from their jobs, and move to our campus to complete a degree program. Many students aren't involved in full-time ministry, but instead plan to continue working in a secular vocation while ministering."

Western Seminary's mission is to "serve as a catalyst and resource for spiritual transformation by providing, with and for the church, advanced training for strategic ministry roles."

This "advanced training" focuses on the roles most frequently associated with seminary training, namely graduate-level, professional ministry-oriented programs. But Western also has a tradition of training men and women, lay and professional, for the emerging ministry roles within the church.

The Center for Leadership Development, in Sacramento, consists of a strategic partnership with area churches whose goal is to bring seminary-level training directly to church congregations. Courses are offered in both credit and noncredit formats to meet the needs of the congregational members at each church.

Western's Center for Lifelong Learning (CLL), which manages most of the school's nontraditional education programs, offers weekend events for lay leadership called "Seminary at Your Church." Courses in this program range from theology and Bible to practical ministry subjects, and are offered in short, intensive seminar formats.

The program also offers courses in audio, video, compact disc, and DVD formats that are then used by churches for lay leadership development. These courses cover a wide range of Bible, theology, and practical ministry subjects. CLL connects closely with Western's Women's Center for Ministry, which offers a wide range of training for women involved in church ministries. Seminars such as "Heart Talk" and "Women in Pain" are available through live seminar, the classroom, and CD/DVD programming.

Many of the courses offered in conjunction with Western's various educational centers are packaged into curriculum leading to non-credit, advanced studies certificates and to graduate study certificates and diplomas.

"Although our primary mission at Westminster Theological Seminary is to train pastors for full-time gospel ministry, we also recognize the increasing needs of lay workers," says J. Stafford Carson, executive vice president and associate professor of practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary.

To meet these needs, Westminster launched two M.A. degree programs in 2001 to add to its Master of Arts in Urban Mission Program. One of the new programs is in Christian Education and the other in Biblical Counseling. Core classes and electives are offered in the evening so that professionals can continue to work in their fields while pursuing a seminary degree. In addition, Westminster offers a limited Church Leader Audit Program to serve the churches in Philadelphia, Dallas, and New York City.

Randy Frame is acquisitions editor for Judson Press and a freelance writer living in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.