Church Executive SEPT / OCT 2019 DIGITAL ISSUE | Page 20

Making distance learning work
For busy pastors, it offers a flexible, efficient and cost-effective way to
pursue an advanced degree. Here, five experts survey the landscape.
Phyllis J. Ennist,
M.Ed.
Associate Dean for
Distance Education
United Theological
Seminary
Rev. Gregory
Heille, O.P., D.Min.
Professor of Preaching
and Evangelization
Director of the Doctor of
Ministry in Preaching
Aquinas Institute of
Theology
Matthew F.
Manion
Professor of Practice in
Management
and Operations
Faculty Director
The Center for
Church Management
at the Villanova
School of Business
Do you see a lot of full-time ministry leaders embracing advanced degrees
via distance learning right now? If so, what’s driving that interest? Are
certain areas of focus / concentrations proving most attractive?
Phyllis J. Ennist, M.Ed: With the increasing role of technology in
our daily lives, we’re seeing many full-time ministry leaders choosing
distance education to pursue an advanced degree.
The majority of students we work with are active in ministry and want
to remain in their ministry context while continuing their education. Like
other seminary students, they desire educational enrichment, credibility
and professional credentials. Distance learning lets them pursue those
goals while maintaining their work, ministry and family obligations.
Plus, they like that they don’t have to take on the cost of relocating to
attend seminary.
Generally, students are seeking practical skills for ministry leadership
with a strong theological foundation. Popular areas of study among our
students focus on specialized areas of ministry, including preaching,
spiritual renewal, church planting, chaplaincy and pastoral care.
Rev. Gregory Heille, O.P., D.Min.: We see many students pursue
advanced degrees through distance learning largely because it offers
a balance between the demands of full-time ministry and the need to
remain theologically current. This enables students to respond pastorally
to the questions of those whom they serve.
Aquinas Institute of Theology, a graduate school sponsored by the
Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominicans, offers the
only Catholic D.Min. in Preaching in the world. We chose a D.Min. over
a Ph.D. because our discipline involves the praxis-theory-praxis model
of practical theology. Full-time ministers benefit from the contextual
model afforded by the hybrid of online learning and intensive face-to-
face seminars.
While our degree serves traditional pulpit pastors and those who wish
to teach them, today’s ministry also reaches beyond the walls of the
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CHURCH EXECUTIVE | SEPT / OCT 2019
Scott Manor,
Ph.D.
President; Associate
Professor of
Historical Theology
Knox Theological
Seminary
Evan Posey, Ph.D.
Vice President for
Academic Affairs
Luther Rice College
and Seminary
church to the unchurched and to people at the margins and peripheries
of society. The Dominicans focus on the preaching and salvation of all
people, and thus our students are challenged to ask what this means for
an advanced understanding of preaching ministry today.
Matthew F. Manion: We’ve seen a steady increase in full-time
ministers embracing advanced degrees. Many congregations can no
longer afford to give a strong leader two to three years “off” for on-site
advanced studies. And many ministers completed their undergraduate
work with significant debt and need to work full-time to pay the bills
while pursuing additional degrees.
Today’s technology circumvents these problems with distance
learning that is so much better than what was available just 10 years ago.
The wide embrace of this technology results in impressive outcomes.
If you can use the internet, you can take a course from a professor
anywhere in the world.
Given our school’s focus, we’ve seen growth in leaders who want to
improve their strategic, management and temporal ministry skills. We
have also heard of more leaders completing advanced studies in theology
and pastoral ministry through distance learning.
Scott Manor, Ph.D.: We recently completed a survey of current
students and alumni to discern the answer to this question. At the core of
most answers were (1) a sense of higher calling from God to be equipped
for ministry work, and (2) being able to have seminary education work
with their existing, busy life.
This fits with other data showing seminary students are working 20+
hours / week, are typically over 30, and take at least four years to complete
the degree. In short, they’re expecting seminaries to structure their
education to fit within their existing lives and ministry work.
At the master’s level, the MA (Biblical and Theological Studies) degree
is the most attractive program of study, followed closely by the M.Div.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, those already engaged in full-time vocational