Someone told me I could get a seminary education without leaving my current ministry and I asked to know more.
Ok, I get it. You’ve done the college thing (or not) and now all you want to do is love on students. Never mind that the phrase sounds a little weird, I understand. I’m a life-long youth ministry guy myself, serving in some capacity of volunteer or paid position since the last millennium.
If you’re like me, while I was working a paid youth ministry gig, then you have a lot of rehearsed reasons why now is not the right time to continue your training. You just finished college, you’re still paying for college, youth ministry is more than full time, plus you have a family, on and on and on. This isn’t even including all the extra responsibilities you take on, with or without pay. Who knew the same guy that can fix the wifi for the church secretary is also best suited to clean the church bathrooms?
Beyond all those reasons, who wants to say goodbye to a church position so they can move their family across the country and spend a few more years taking classes and hoping for some experience in a church nearby?
Pursue Mastery without Pausing Ministry
No one is arguing against the need for more ministry training. It’s why you attend seminars, purchase books, get together with local pastors, or even take the time to read this blog.
We have a need to stay up-to-date on what’s going on in youth and ministry culture. But we also desire to stay grounded and lead our teens and their families deep into the Word of God.
Some ministry-minded people got together, at Grace College in Indiana of all places, and started asking the right questions, all about possibility. Assuming the high value of seminary, they asked how it could be accessible to everyone.
Their answer was Deploy.
What if?
What if you didn’t have to move? I’m not talking about your senior pastor’s online college program. Deploy is competency-based theological education that is delivered online and onsite.
What if you didn’t need to waste time in a classroom discussing concepts you’ve been practicing for years? Deploy is a program that moves at your speed. Have you mastered a skill? Move on to the next!
What if you still had time for your ministry and your family? Because Deploy happens where you are, it works around your schedule. The most important schedule in this program is the one you create!
What if you didn’t have to do this alone? Deploy provides you with a team of mentors to guide you through every step of the process.
No Excuses, No Need to Wait
When Jesus gave the Great Commission, it was to disciples who were called to be witnesses wherever they went, as they were going. Deploy follows that model, allowing you to train wherever you are, as you are already leading.
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