Bethlehem Seminary: Master of Divinity Program and Pastoral Apprenticeship

Shepherds equipping men to treasure our Sovereign God and Sacred Book for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ

Graduate as a mature leader, ready to shepherd God’s people with biblical clarity and Christ-exalting affection for the rest of your life.

Spend the next four years relishing this great truth as you mine the treasures of the Bible in the company of a small band of brothers who sense, as you do, a call to herald the gospel to a lost and needy world. You will learn in an extraordinarily small school where a tightknit community of fellow apprentices, professors, pastors, and church members shares a deep personal interest in your academic performance, spiritual growth, and preparation for the noble office of biblical overseer. And it all takes place amid the life of a globally-minded local church in a multi-ethnic urban center in which opportunities for equipping abound.

You will be challenged and pushed beyond your sense of your own abilities. Here you will cultivate a lifelong learner’s habits of mind and heart as you also witness firsthand the joys and sorrows of pastoral ministry and graduate with a resilient faith and the ability to wield the sword of truth carefully in contending for the truth in the home, church, and world.

And you will leave here without a burden of student loan debt. Generous disciples of Christ affirm the quality of this “Education in Serious Joy” by providing a $10,000 annual scholarship to all students, so that you may launch into ministry without debt immediately upon graduation.

Education in Serious Joy

God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him.

Joy is a good feeling in the soul produced by the Holy Spirit as he makes us see and savor the glory of Jesus Christ.

Life will bring suffering to every joyful saint. Our calling is to rejoice in it and thereby show the superior value of God.

The Bible gives the decisive meaning of all things. But the Bible itself sends us over and over again to the world for learning. God has revealed his glory in both—and means for us to see him in both.

The Church needs mature leaders and flourishes with them.

We equip men for ministry—to be shepherds, pastors, elders, overseers. Our apprenticeship program is built on the conviction that the church of Jesus Christ needs pastors who are men of the Word and prayer, sober-minded, bighearted, and who exude gravity and gladness.

Such men display a clarity of mind—they know who God is, who they are, what life is about, and what the world needs.

Such men manifest a stability of soul. They are not tossed like children by every wave of doctrine, every cultural fad, and every raging passion. They have a ballast in their boat that keeps them from being shipwrecked by suffering, hardship, affliction, and the raging anxiety storms that mark our day.

Such men show a readiness to act. They are neither apathetic nor reactive. They face challenges and lean into difficulty with wisdom and purpose.

Pastoring is a high calling and a noble task, filled with joys and sorrows, hardships and tribulations. Will you be ready?

Bethlehem Pastoral Apprentices graduate as mature leaders, ready to shepherd God’s people with biblical clarity and Christ-exalting affection for the rest of their lives:

Christian Hedonism

Apprentices become Godenthralled men who gladly embrace the truth that God is most glorified in them when they are most satisfied in Him by mining the treasures of the Bible and considering the wisdom of the Christian tradition.

Intentionally Small Students learn in a tight-knit community of students, teachers, pastors, and church members who share a deep personal interest in both the students’ academic performance and spiritual growth.

Church-Based Apprentices are mentored by faithful pastors in the context of a globally-minded network of churches in the midst of a multi-ethnic urban center with significant opportunities for equipping and ministry.

Bible-Saturated Apprentices learn to mine the riches of God’s Word, rightly handling the Scriptures from rigorous exegesis in the original languages to expository exultation for the joy of God’s people.

Debt-Free

A committed community of generous contributors demonstrate their confidence in our education by ensuring that every resident student receives a Serious Joy Scholarship that enables them to launch into life and ministry without the burden of student loan debt.

Learn to shepherd from shepherds right among the flock. A

t Bethlehem, we believe in faithful shepherds training future shepherds how to wisely shepherd. Most of our seminary professors have served as elders in the church, and the vocational pastors in our globally-minded network of churches serve our students as mentors and overseers in the task of pastoral ministry. Think of the Bethlehem College and Seminary Master of Divinity Degree as rigorous, in-the-church training for elder-level leadership in pastoral ministry, missionary service, or future theological scholarship. Like medical students training in a hospital or a journeyman learning a trade from a master, our seminarians are apprentices who are learning the art of pastoring from scholarpastors and practitioners in the context of the local church. There is no better way to learn to shepherd than serving alongside faithful men as they keep watch over the souls of their people.

MISSIONS EXISTS BECAUSE WORSHIP DOESN’T

Our mother church, Bethlehem Baptist Church, has a community of dispatched global partners as large as some missions agencies, and there will be regular opportunities to undertake short-term assignments all over the world. Your tuition also includes a financial stipend to support such a cross-cultural experience during your degree program.

Bethlehem College and Seminary is located in one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the United States. In recent decades God has brought the nations to the banks of the Mississippi, creating cross-cultural ministry opportunities here in every direction.

The seminarians of Bethlehem College and Seminary, Yaoundé, Cameroon.

WE LOVE WIVES WELL

A married couple and their children come to seminary together. Your attention span will be necessarily reconfigured during these four years, but you won’t learn to pastor well if you’re not taught to husband and parent well. We come alongside you in this task. A community of pastors’ wives, professors’ wives, and mature church women will also enfold your wife in their care and prayer to give her attention as your mind, at least for a season, might seem to be elsewhere. And the souls of your children will be cared for by a large and well-developed family discipleship program in the church.

Master of Divinity Year 1

The Master of Divinity is the foundational four-year program for those called to vocational ministry as pastors, missionaries, or other full-time Christian workers at the elder level. The program emphasizes intense, whole-Bible exegesis in the original languages and pastoral apprenticeship in the context of the local church.

STANDARD FEATURES

• A built-in financial grant to support the global cross-cultural ministry experience requirement

• Customized Logos Bible Software package designed to complement the program’s focus on Greek and Hebrew Exegesis

CONCENTRATION 1

CHURCH PLANTING & REVITALIZATION

This concentration provides biblical foundations and practical training for those sensing God’s call to be pastors of new churches or churches needing revitalization.

CONCENTRATION 2

WORSHIP

This concentration equips men who are gifted in leading God’s people through corporate worship.

Pastoral Apprenticeship

Seminarians are assigned to a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church or at one of its several local church plants and serve alongside the pastor in the style of the historic master-apprentice pursuit of tradecraft, or like medical residents making rounds with a supervising physician. Service to the pastor and the congregation are at the center of this apprenticeship, but deep mentor relationships inevitably emerge as a fruit of such close-up collaboration. The apprenticeship coordinator identifies giftings and skills in the seminarian to pair apprentices with a pastor who can help grow and utilize these giftings and skills.

Master of Theology

The Master of Theology is an advanced research degree, building upon the foundational training of the Master of Divinity program, offered to seminary graduates who desire to sharpen their expertise in a specific topic of theological learning in service of the church or the academy. Students write a thesis under the supervision of a Bethlehem College and Seminary professor.

Beginning Greek 1 & 2

Intermediate Greek

OT Background & Message 1 & 2 NT Background & Message

Foundations of Christian Hedonism

Theology of Worship

History of Christianity 1

Music Fundamentals (Required for those with no formal musical training only.)

The Heart and Role of the Worship Pastor

Settle into a local church, join the membership, and begin to serve in various ministries (Sunday school, lead a small group etc). Begin mentorship.

Pastor Does, Apprentice Watches

“There is an infinite difference between the pastor whose set on being the aroma of Christ, the fragrance of death

John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea To Pastors For Radical Ministry

2 3 4

Beginning Hebrew 1 & 2

History of Christianity 2

Principles of

Biblical Interpretation 1 & 2

Preaching as Worship 1 & 2

History of Christianity 3

Elective

Intermediate Hebrew

Systematic Theology 1 & 2

Greek Exegesis 1 & 2

Missions and the Local Church

Hebrew Exegesis

Counseling 1

Missions Practicum

Systematic Theology 3

Use of the OT in the NT

Counseling 2

Biblical Theology

Biblical Ethics

Biblical Eldership

Elective

The Gospel and Personal Evangelism

Church Planting and Revitalization

The Worshiping Church: A Historical Survey of the Development of Christian Worship Worship and Culture: The Local/ Global Church Worships Together

Cross-Cultural Church Planting Church Growth and Renewal

Worship Design and Leadership

Learn the foundational skills of being a pastor

Pastor Does, Apprentice Helps

Apprentices develop their pastoral skills, care, and giftings, applying them in the local church.

Apprentice Does, Pastor Helps

Apprentice continues growth and maturity, hones their skills, develops independence in ministry while being supervised by pastor.

Apprentice Does, Pastor Watches

Year 5

Research Seminar

Thesis Proposal

Topics of Theology

Electives

Thesis

whose heart is set on being a professional and the pastor whose heart is death to some and eternal life to others (2 corinthians 2:15-16 esv) . ”

The Serious Joy Scholarship

A Personal Ministry for Jesus Christ

STUDENT LOAN DEBT IS A SHACKLE ON GOSPEL AMBITION.

The graduate of Bethlehem College and Seminary completes his theological education ready to go where God calls him, unconstrained by a burden of student loan debt. He is also made affordable to the churches and ministries who may need him. Please join in completing this act of grace. To learn more visit bcsmn.edu/contribute.

THE BURDEN OF DEBT IS IMMENSE.

As the price of higher education has risen, so has the amount of debt required to fund it, leaving many burdened with substantial financial obligations well beyond the college years.

44 MILLION AMERICANS NOW OWE $1.4 TRILLION DOLLARS IN STUDENT LOAN DEBTS.*

AVERAGE U.S. STUDENT DEBT * UNDERGRADUATE GRADUATE $37,172 $58,539

PERCENTAGE OF U.S. STUDENTS GRADUATING WITH DEBT * 2000 2017 28% 71% AVERAGE YEAR TO STUDENT LOAN DEBT RETIREMENT * YEARS AGE 21 43 * Board of Governors of

READY CASH FROM LOAN PROCEEDS CAN DISTRACT ATTENTION FROM THE TOTAL COST OVER TIME.

Interest on a student loan ultimately makes the total cost of education higher. The Serious Joy Scholarship makes an already affordable education even more affordable and eliminates interest cost altogether.

EVERY RESIDENT STUDENT RECEIVES THE SERIOUS JOY SCHOLARSHIP.

Two-thirds of tuition at Bethlehem College and Seminary is paid by someone other than the students or their parents. Generous contributors have rallied to make this robust, academically rigorous, high-quality education available and affordable. Graduates without debt are free to answer immediately God’s call on their lives and are made affordable to churches and ministries that need them.

Student pays only $7,000

The Serious Joy Scholarship $10,000

HABITS OF MIND AND HEART

Truly well-educated people have the habits of mind and heart to go on learning what they need to learn to live in a Christexalting way for the rest of their lives—in whatever sphere of life they pursue.

These habits apply to all objects in the world, but most importantly the Bible.

• Observe subject matter accurately and thoroughly

• Understand clearly what you have observed

• Evaluate fairly what you understood by deciding what is true and valuable

• Feel intensely according to the value of what you have evaluated

• Apply wisely and helpfully in life what you understand and feel

• Express in speech and writing and deeds what you have seen, understood, felt, and applied in such a way that its clarity, truth, and value can be known and enjoyed by others

LEARNING WITH LOGOS

FaithLife, makers of Logos Bible Software, in partnership with Bethlehem College and Seminary, puts the extensive libraries and tools of the Logos platform at your fingertips, in addition to the abundant resources already available through the school library and its participating correspondents.

There is no other book like the Bible.

This seminary education is rooted in the Scriptures, not in the latest church growth or pop management techniques. You will be equipped with the tools necessary to study God’s word in the original languages, in conversation with the best theological minds God has given the church throughout the ages, all for the sake of expository exultation for the joy of God’s people.

We are a confessional school. Our professors gladly embrace the Bethlehem Elder Affirmation of Faith, a robust statement of doctrine that draws deeply from the Bible, the ancient creeds, and the Protestant Reformation, with the serious joy of Christian Hedonism woven throughout. From this confessional soil, our carefully sequenced program of study logically builds on itself and enables a depth of engagement, discussion, and conversation that far exceeds what is possible in the typical choose-your-own-adventure approach to seminary education. The rigor of our program is designed to both instruct the mind and awaken the heart so that you will not only be able to rightly divide the word of truth, but also exclaim with the psalmist, “Oh how I love your law!”

A FELLOWSHIP OF THE ARC

Arcing is a Bible study method that will help you to see how every single proposition in a passage fits together to support the main point of the text. The BibleArc app that you will use was developed by a Bethlehem College and Seminary student and is today used and recommended by serious Bible scholars throughout the world.

Romans 3:21-26

The righteousness of God has been made manifest apart from the law for all who believe.

21a But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law,

21b although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—

22a the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

22b For there is no distinction:

23a for all have sinned

23b and fall short of the glory of God,

24a and are justified by his grace as a gift,

24b through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

25a whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood,

25b to be received by faith.

25c This was to show God’s righteousness,

25d because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

26a It was to show his righteousness at the present time,

26b so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Face-to-face and life-on-life, for your joy.

We are a small school with a holy ambition. We aim to build a movement of seriously joyful pastors, ministry leaders, missionaries, and theologians, all gifted in proclaiming in their own ways that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” In an age when many schools are seeking to convince you that online education is “just as good,” we remain committed to the proposition that education is discipleship—the formation of the whole person—and there are some things you can only learn face-toface, life-on-life.

In our Masters of Divinity program, you will join a small cohort of 18–20 men on a four-year journey of rigorous biblical language and theological studies, real-life experiences in church leadership and congregational care, as well as a host of cross-cultural ministry opportunities, in the context of a globally-minded network of local churches. These men will be your brothers-in-arms, as you not only study the word together, but also share your lives with each other. Our program is not for everyone. The curriculum is exceedingly demanding, the physical surroundings are modest, and the frills are few to non-existent. Ours is an admittedly contrarian approach to the task of pastoral training. But we believe it is an exceedingly good one. A band of brothers, mining God’s word and ministering together, under the instruction of scholar-pastors and faithful shepherds, for the joy of God’s people and his glory among the nations.

What are you waiting for?

If you sense a call on your heart to vocational ministry as a pastor, missionary, biblical elder, or theologian, request more information at bcsmn.edu/seminary

If you are the pastor, relative, teacher, neighbor, or friend who knows a man seemingly minted for such a God-enthralled, treasures-filled preparation for pastoral ministry, please refer them to bcsmn.edu, or let us know about them at bcsmn.edu/refer, and we will reach out.