Distance Learning

Connections

Is God calling you to ministry or further study, but relocating to Bethany isn’t an option?

• Do you need to continue your current career while preparing to answer God’s call?
• Are you already involved in ministry and seek to further your education while continuing to serve where God has put you?
• Are you feeling the call to prepare for ministry or further study but are unable to relocate because of family or other obligations?

Our Connections program is designed with you in mind!

Connections, our distance education track, allows students in any of our degree programs—the master of arts, or the Master of Arts in Spiritual and Social Transformation, or the Master of Arts: Theopoetics and Writing, or the master of divinity—and any of our graduate certificates to complete their studies with great flexibility. Students in the MDiv degree program must take a minimum number of courses on campus in Richmond: four courses of the required twenty-four. The remaining courses may be taken on campus, through synchronous video, or online. Students in the MASST program must take a minimum of two courses on campus in Richmond. There is no residency requirement for our other programs.

This also means that Bethany students do not need to relocate to earn a master’s degree. The rigorous, fully accredited Connections curriculum combines online learning with Bethany’s close-knit community during intensive courses on campus.

Students in our graduate certificates are able to complete all of their courses in any available format. The residency requirement does not apply to a nondegree program.

A personalized and flexible program that fits your needs

Connections courses are offered in the following formats:

• Weekend intensives– three weekends during the semester, Friday 2:00-9:00 p.m. and Saturday 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
• Two-week intensives – four hours per day for two weeks (Monday-Friday) during August, January, and May
• Online courses– asynchronous course
• Hybrid courses – weekend intensive and online combination
• Blended courses – connecting distance students to on-campus classes in real-time using synchronous video

In addition, traditional and block face-to-face courses can be taken at Bethany; via cross-registration with our sister schools; or even transferred in from other local seminaries.

For more information about completing a degree or certificate from a distance through Bethany, refer to Bethany’s Academic Catalog.