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Because so many pas­tors and min­is­ters begin their careers with­out a degree, edu­ca­tion for pas­tors can some­times be a messy hodge­podge. Many pas­tors may have tak­en cours­es for ordi­na­tion in their denom­i­na­tion, for instance. They may have earned cer­ti­fi­ca­tions from bible col­leges or com­mu­ni­ty col­leges, or tak­en exten­sion cours­es through their church’s larg­er mis­sion orga­ni­za­tion. They may have even earned some col­lege cred­its along the way. One thing all work­ing min­is­ters have, of course, is the expe­ri­ence — some of it very hard-earned and well worth any col­lege course.

The best Chris­t­ian sem­i­nar­ies, col­leges, and uni­ver­si­ties know this about pas­tors, and have devel­oped plans to meet min­is­ters and prospec­tive min­is­ters where they are. Not only have schools built ful­ly online and hybrid pro­grams to help pas­tors com­plete their degrees; they’ve also adopt­ed gen­er­ous trans­fer poli­cies that allow stu­dents to make the most of their work expe­ri­ence, pre­vi­ous cours­es, and even self-taught exper­tise. Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter has ranked the min­istry and bib­li­cal stud­ies degree online pro­grams that make the process work for busy min­is­ters and pastors.

Methodology: How We Ranked the Best Accelerated Online Degree in Ministry Programs

The fastest online min­istry degree bachelor’s pro­grams find many ways to stream­line edu­ca­tion for pas­tors, with accel­er­at­ed cours­es, trans­fer agree­ments for pre­vi­ous cred­its and work expe­ri­ence, and oth­er ways. BDC edi­tors searched for accred­it­ed online pro­grams that use a vari­ety of meth­ods to help work­ing adults com­plete their bachelor’s degree conveniently.

From our ini­tial list, we ranked pro­grams accord­ing to five fac­tors: Alum­ni Salary, Employ­ment Rate, Grad­u­a­tion Rate, Stu­dent Reviews, and Tuition Rate. Data came from Col­lege Score­card, IPEDS, and Niche. Prospec­tive stu­dents know, with these cri­te­ria, that the pro­gram they choose will not only be fast, but rep­utable, with a real career impact and return on investment.

1. Dallas Baptist University

For a fast bachelor’s degree com­ple­tion, the many spe­cial­ized online degree in min­istry pro­grams at Dal­las Bap­tist Uni­ver­si­ty allows you to trans­fer up to 90 cred­its for your degree and pro­vide dif­fer­ent options to help with your goals. You can obtain a BA in Bib­li­cal Stud­ies, a BS in Chris­t­ian Stud­ies, or a BAS in Chris­t­ian Min­istries through the online pro­gram. The pro­grams offer dif­fer­ent areas of Bib­li­cal study and lead­er­ship devel­op­ment based on a stu­den­t’s long-term goals for their career.

Dal­las Bap­tist Uni­ver­si­ty stands out as a fast pro­gram because it allows stu­dents to trans­fer 90 cred­its to the degree, offers three pro­grams for Bib­li­cal study, and is ful­ly online. As an online pro­gram, stu­dents work at their own pace and have the flex­i­bil­i­ty to work around per­son­al or career oblig­a­tions. The degree pro­grams also pre­pare stu­dents for the work they will engage in when they start in a career as a pas­tor or to sup­port a pas­tor in a church setting.

Degree: BA in Bib­li­cal Stud­ies, BS in Chris­t­ian Stud­ies, BAS in Chris­t­ian Min­istries
For­mat: Online — trans­fer up to 90 credits

Dal­las Bap­tist University

2. Clarks Summit University

Obtain­ing a Bib­li­cal Stud­ies degree online from Clarks Sum­mit Uni­ver­si­ty offers stu­dents the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pur­sue a lead­er­ship role in their min­istry or to focus on the chal­lenges of study­ing more com­plex top­ics with­in the­ol­o­gy. The school offers two pro­grams for stu­dents who want to study a Bib­li­cal top­ic: Bible and The­ol­o­gy or Chris­t­ian Min­istries. The Bible and The­ol­o­gy pro­gram focus­es on under­stand­ing the Bible by eval­u­at­ing the ori­gin of the work. Stu­dents learn the orig­i­nal Greek and Hebrew that shaped the Bible and eval­u­ate the texts from a his­tor­i­cal per­spec­tive. The Chris­t­ian Min­istries degree focus­es on lead­er­ship skills as it applies to the church and work­ing in a pas­toral position.

Clarks Sum­mit Uni­ver­si­ty dif­fers from oth­er pro­grams by tak­ing a lin­guis­tic and his­tor­i­cal per­spec­tive on the Bible. The online class­es teach stu­dents the orig­i­nal lan­guages to ensure they are pre­pared for the chal­lenges of Bib­li­cal research and writ­ing. It also helps stu­dents learn the lead­er­ship skills they need to guide mem­bers of their church for their spir­i­tu­al goals.

Degree: BA in Bible and The­ol­o­gy or Chris­t­ian Min­istries (online)
For­mat: Online — trans­fer 90 credits

Clarks Sum­mit University

3. American Public University

Obtain­ing a Bib­li­cal Stud­ies degree online from Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty pre­pares stu­dents for the com­plex­i­ties of reli­gion as it applies to pol­i­tics, soci­ety, cul­ture, and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty. The degree pro­gram takes a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary approach to the study of reli­gion to ensure stu­dents have a well-round­ed under­stand­ing of reli­gion and its influ­ence on the world. Stu­dents pre­pare for a career sup­port­ing the lead­ers of a church or work­ing in human services.

Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty has a fast-paced online pro­gram that allows you to trans­fer as many as 90 cred­its to your degree. The flex­i­ble sched­ul­ing of the online pro­gram com­bined with the unique per­spec­tive of the degree pro­gram allows stu­dents to focus on their career goals. The pro­gram focus­es on pro­vid­ing stu­dents with the prac­ti­cal skills they need to han­dle chal­lenges in a human ser­vices or min­istry career.

Degree: BA in Reli­gion
For­mat: Online — trans­fer 90 credits

Amer­i­can Pub­lic University

4. Liberty University

When you plan to obtain an online degree in min­istry to take on a lead­er­ship role, the BS in Chris­t­ian Lead­er­ship and Man­age­ment from Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty is a good choice for your goals. The online degree pro­gram allows you to trans­fer as much as 75 per­cent of your cred­its to the online pro­gram for your degree. Since it is an online pro­gram, you can work at your own pace and work around per­son­al or pro­fes­sion­al oblig­a­tions. The pro­gram focus­es on the lead­er­ship and man­age­ment skills asso­ci­at­ed with tak­ing on a lead­er­ship role in a church.

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty offers a pro­gram that com­bines lead­er­ship and man­age­ment skills with Bib­li­cal truth. It uses the prin­ci­ples of the Bible to teach real-world skills that you can apply to your career and long-term plans. It also teach­es stu­dents to apply skills like account­ing, busi­ness law, and human resources to min­istry admin­is­tra­tion. That knowl­edge allows stu­dents to work as a leader in their church or to sup­port a reli­gious leader with the tech­ni­cal aspects of run­ning and man­ag­ing a church.

Degree: BS in Chris­t­ian Lead­er­ship and Man­age­ment
For­mat: Online — trans­fer 90 credits

Lib­er­ty University

5. University of the Cumberlands

The Bach­e­lor’s in Min­istry and Mis­sions from the Uni­ver­si­ty of the Cum­ber­lands is an online degree pro­gram that allows you to focus on devel­op­ing the skills to nav­i­gate mod­ern soci­ety while main­tain­ing Bib­li­cal ethics and morals. The degree pro­gram teach­es stu­dents the­ol­o­gy, his­to­ry, and lit­er­a­ture as it applies to the Bible and mod­ern life. It also focus­es on ethics to pre­pare stu­dents for the chal­lenges of tak­ing on a lead­er­ship role.

The online degree pro­gram from the Uni­ver­si­ty of the Cum­ber­lands stands apart by focus­ing on the chal­lenges of apply­ing Bib­li­cal stan­dards to a mod­ern lifestyle. It rec­og­nizes the role of the Bible and ethics on mod­ern life and teach­es stu­dents to fol­low through with their prin­ci­ples, beliefs, and goals. It also allows stu­dents to take the degree pro­gram online and trans­fer cred­its from oth­er schools to com­plete the degree at a fast pace.

Degree: Bach­e­lor’s in Min­istry and Mis­sions
For­mat: Online — trans­fer 90 credits

Uni­ver­si­ty of the Cumberlands

6. Lancaster Bible College

Lan­cast­er Bible Col­lege offers an online BA in Bib­li­cal Stud­ies pro­gram that works around a stu­den­t’s sched­ule and allows him or her to focus on accom­plish­ing long-term goals. The degree is an accel­er­at­ed online pro­gram that offers six-week cours­es. Stu­dents take one course at a time to com­plete a degree at an accel­er­at­ed pace. It also focus­es on teach­ing stu­dents about the Bible from expe­ri­enced min­is­ters and pro­fes­sion­als who have worked in min­istry for sev­er­al years.

Lan­cast­er Bible Col­lege stands apart by offer­ing cred­it for life expe­ri­ences. Stu­dents are able to show­case their expe­ri­ence and cut back on the time spent in class­es through the life expe­ri­ences eval­u­a­tion. The school also offers flex­i­ble class­es to stu­dents, so you can study online or in a tra­di­tion­al class set­ting. You have the option to set up your sched­ule as it fits your situation.

Degree: BA in Bib­li­cal Stud­ies
For­mat: Online accelerated

Lan­cast­er Bible College

7. Southeastern University

The BS in Min­is­te­r­i­al Lead­er­ship from South­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty is a Christ-cen­tered pro­gram that allows stu­dents to study online. Since they can also trans­fer ample cred­its to the pro­gram, stu­dents are able to obtain their degrees at a fast pace. The pro­gram cen­ters around set­ting up a strong foun­da­tion in the­ol­o­gy and reli­gious stud­ies while also teach­ing stu­dents to take on lead­er­ship posi­tions. The com­bi­na­tion of skills pre­pares stu­dents for a role in min­istry that fits their goals and call­ing with­in a church.

South­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty stands apart by offer­ing stu­dents an accred­it­ed edu­ca­tion through their online pro­gram. The school is accred­it­ed by the South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools Com­mis­sion on Col­leges or SACSCOC. The pro­gram also stands out by focus­ing on devel­op­ing lead­er­ship skills with a strong foun­da­tion in the­ol­o­gy. That allows lead­ers with­in a min­istry to focus on pro­vid­ing the guid­ance oth­ers need when vis­it­ing a church.

Degree: BS in Min­is­te­r­i­al Lead­er­ship
For­mat: Online — trans­fer 90 credits

South­east­ern University

8. Regent University

When you’re look­ing for a degree in min­istry, you will find options that fit your goals in Regent Uni­ver­si­ty’s online min­istry pro­grams. The school offers a vari­ety of pro­grams asso­ci­at­ed with min­istry work and the­ol­o­gy, so stu­dents can focus on a spe­cif­ic area of divin­i­ty to focus on their long-term goals. The Christ-cen­tered pro­grams are eight weeks or 15 weeks long, so stu­dents can work at their own pace. The school offers sev­er­al pro­grams online as well as hybrid pro­grams to fit a stu­den­t’s schedule.

Regent Uni­ver­si­ty stands out by offer­ing a vari­ety of class­es focused on min­istry. The school has sev­er­al online and on-cam­pus pro­grams that focus on Chris­t­ian stud­ies, Bib­li­cal study, the­ol­o­gy, divin­i­ty, and lead­er­ship. Due to the wide array of options, stu­dents are able to focus on a spe­cif­ic aspect of Chris­t­ian lead­er­ship and take on spe­cial­ized careers with­in a ministry.

Degree: Many min­istry bach­e­lors
For­mat: Online — trans­fer 90 credits

Regent Uni­ver­si­ty

9. Grand Canyon University

Grand Canyon Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BA in Chris­t­ian Stud­ies online that allows stu­dents to devel­op the skills they need to work as a min­is­ter. The degree pro­gram focus­es on con­tem­po­rary the­o­ries of Bib­li­cal study to pre­pare stu­dents for the chal­lenges of work­ing in a mod­ern envi­ron­ment. The pro­gram rec­og­nizes that mod­ern tech­nol­o­gy and pol­i­tics impact the spir­i­tu­al­i­ty of a church and the pro­gram helps stu­dents under­stand effec­tive ways to com­mu­ni­cate with others.

Grand Canyon Uni­ver­si­ty stands apart from oth­er pro­grams by teach­ing reli­gion and the­ol­o­gy from the per­spec­tive of a Chris­t­ian. It rec­og­nizes that reli­gions shape and impact cul­ture and pol­i­tics. By eval­u­at­ing the way reli­gion impacts oth­er areas of life, stu­dents under­stand the chal­lenges Chris­tians face in a mod­ern envi­ron­ment. As stu­dents work on their degree, they learn use­ful skills to nav­i­gate the dif­fi­cul­ties asso­ci­at­ed with their career goals.

Degree: BA in Chris­t­ian Stud­ies
For­mat: Online — trans­fer 90 credits

Grand Canyon University 

10. Gardner-Webb University

When you are look­ing for a fast-paced degree in min­istry, the BS in Chris­t­ian Min­istry online from Gard­ner-Webb Uni­ver­si­ty is a good choice for your goals. The degree pro­gram focus­es on build­ing the foun­da­tion­al skills a stu­dent needs to work in a lead­er­ship role. It devel­ops com­mu­ni­ca­tion and crit­i­cal think­ing skills, as well as Bib­li­cal inter­pre­ta­tion. By learn­ing to com­mu­ni­cate with oth­ers, you are able to teach them and take on a lead­er­ship posi­tion with­in your church. The degree pro­gram rec­og­nizes that your phys­i­cal and men­tal state impact your beliefs and teach­es the psy­cho­log­i­cal aspects that apply to mod­ern Chris­tian­i­ty. It takes a whole-per­son approach to Chris­t­ian min­istry and pro­vides a strong foun­da­tion in Bib­li­cal study.

Gard­ner-Webb Uni­ver­si­ty stands out for the fast-paced envi­ron­ment. Stu­dents can com­plete their under­grad­u­ate degree online in one year, which is an accel­er­at­ed pace for the bach­e­lor’s degree. The abil­i­ty to com­plete a degree at a fast pace means you can start work­ing in your field and assist a min­is­ter. It also allows you to work with oth­ers and help them with their sit­u­a­tion. The degree pro­gram gives stu­dents the skills to han­dle the chal­lenges of work­ing in a mod­ern envi­ron­ment while main­tain­ing their faith and spirituality.

Degree: BS in Chris­t­ian Min­istry
For­mat: Online — fin­ish in as lit­tle as 1 year

Gard­ner-Webb University

Will a Bachelor’s Degree Help Me Get a Job in Ministry?

Many peo­ple who feel called to careers in min­istry find them­selves a lit­tle con­fused over the job require­ments. This is because the require­ments for jobs in the min­istry are dif­fer­ent from church to church. Also, there is not one uni­ver­sal­ly rec­og­nized degree that is required for careers in min­istry like there is for attor­neys, for exam­ple. The min­istry does not have one gov­ern­ing body like attor­neys have the Amer­i­can Bar Asso­ci­a­tion. How­ev­er, a bach­e­lor’s degree will inevitably lead to more min­istry career oppor­tu­ni­ties and a bet­ter shot at pres­ti­gious lead pas­tor jobs. In fact, many lead pas­tor posi­tions will actu­al­ly require mas­ter’s degrees.

Min­is­te­r­i­al jobs can be hard to come by, with rel­a­tive­ly few job open­ings and fierce com­pe­ti­tion for those seek­ing careers in min­istry. If you’re apply­ing to assis­tant-lev­el min­is­te­r­i­al jobs, chances are the church won’t require a bach­e­lor’s degree. How­ev­er, if you want to even­tu­al­ly be con­sid­ered for lead pas­tor jobs, most church­es will require at least a bach­e­lor’s degree. Many work­ing min­is­ters will choose a 2‑year bach­e­lor’s degree pro­gram to get there.

It is also impor­tant to keep in mind that the entry require­ments for min­is­te­r­i­al jobs are becom­ing more and more strin­gent, and many assis­tant-lev­el jobs in the min­istry do pre­fer can­di­dates with bach­e­lor’s degrees. This trend looks to con­tin­ue for min­istry career opportunities.

Because of these chang­ing expec­ta­tions, many min­is­ters begin their careers with­out a degree and com­plete their bachelor’s degrees on the job. An online degree in min­istry pro­grams is becom­ing more com­mon to help these work­ing pro­fes­sion­als get their degrees con­ve­nient­ly. Accel­er­at­ed degree pro­grams help them do it even faster.

What If I Don’t Want a Full Bachelor’s Degree?

While it is becom­ing more and more com­mon for pas­tors to have bach­e­lor’s degrees and even mas­ter’s degrees, many church­es do not require a bach­e­lor’s degree. Stu­dents that don’t want a bach­e­lor’s degree can instead pur­sue a cer­tifi­cate in min­istry. As long as you com­plete a cer­tifi­cate in Chris­t­ian min­istry at an accred­it­ed bible col­lege, many church­es will be hap­py to hire you as an assis­tant or asso­ciate pas­tor. There are even many online min­istry cer­tifi­cate pro­grams offered by rec­og­nized bible colleges.

Those who are look­ing to get a cer­tifi­cate in min­istry through an online school should dou­ble-check to ensure that the school is accred­it­ed, as an online min­istry cer­tifi­cate would­n’t be worth much otherwise.

Keep in mind that a cer­tifi­cate in Chris­t­ian min­istry will like­ly just meet the min­i­mum require­ments for your appli­ca­tion to be con­sid­ered. A bach­e­lor’s degree in min­istry or the­ol­o­gy would be more ben­e­fi­cial for prospec­tive min­is­ters. It will like­ly help your appli­ca­tion to be con­sid­ered more seri­ous­ly than a cer­tifi­cate in min­istry. How­ev­er, a cer­tifi­cate in min­istry from a rec­og­nized Bible school will cer­tain­ly ele­vate your can­di­da­cy above those who do not have any divin­i­ty school cre­den­tials at all.

Keep in mind, finan­cial aid may be a chal­lenge with some schools. Many the­ol­o­gy pro­grams come from schools that do not get fed­er­al assis­tance, so stu­dents inter­est­ed in loans should be careful. 

What Can I Do With a Biblical Studies Degree Besides Being a Pastor?

There are many types of careers in min­istry that are per­fect for peo­ple with bib­li­cal stud­ies degrees. For exam­ple, mis­sion­ar­ies often have bib­li­cal stud­ies degrees. Also, many peo­ple with bib­li­cal stud­ies degrees work for Chris­t­ian non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions. Many oth­er careers that involve serv­ing God, includ­ing those that are out­side of tra­di­tion­al types of min­istry call­ings, are more acces­si­ble to job seek­ers with a bib­li­cal stud­ies degree.

Anoth­er pop­u­lar career for peo­ple with a bib­li­cal stud­ies degree is teach­ing the Bible at a Chris­t­ian school. The vast major­i­ty of accred­it­ed Chris­t­ian schools will require a bach­e­lor’s degree in Bib­li­cal stud­ies for their Bible teach­ers. Of course, you will also have to get a teach­ing cer­tifi­cate from a sec­u­lar school before you will be autho­rized to teach at an accred­it­ed Chris­t­ian school.

There are even many careers that involve serv­ing God in the non-prof­it sec­tor. Many Chris­t­ian char­i­ties will be hap­py to hire some­one with a Bib­li­cal stud­ies degree, espe­cial­ly for posi­tions that involve com­mu­ni­ty outreach.

Relat­ed Rank­ings:
25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Min­istry Degree Pro­grams
15 Best Online Min­istry Degree Bach­e­lor’s Pro­grams
10 Most Afford­able Online Min­istry Degree Bach­e­lor Programs