If God is calling you into ministry, and you want to pursue that calling, do you need a bachelor’s degree in Bible and Ministry to pursue it?

The simple answer is, “it depends.”

The traditional Bible college bachelor’s program has advantages:

• Being part of a missional learning community.
• Learning foundational things like theology and Bible content.
• Unique opportunities for service and spiritual growth.

And it has distinct disadvantages:

• Cost.
• One-size-fits-all approach, regardless of how many sub-majors they offer.

However: the biggest weakness of the traditional Bible college bachelor’s program approach is this: the most important factors for ministry success (defined as long-term, sustained, humble pursuit of God’s calling) are things that are not best taught (or even well-taught) in a classroom.

• How to write and deliver excellent sermons or lessons, week after week after week after week.  (After week, after week, …)
• How to deal with success, failure, temptation, failure, discouragement, failure, …