Campbell Divinity School has trained students to work in a multitude of ministry fields since its beginning in 1995. This academic year, the school will introduce a new degree program for those who are looking to integrate their faith into secular careers. The program will equip students to think deeply, live faithfully and lead with purpose.
The Master of Arts in Faith and Leadership Formation is designed to help recent college graduates entering the workforce and those with established careers discover a meaningful mission in their work. Graduates of the program will leave with practical knowledge of what a life of deep faith and service-oriented leadership looks like in their fields.
The first cohort of the MA in Faith and Leadership Formation will begin in January 2020. Cameron H. J. Jorgenson, associate professor of Christian Theology & Ethics, will serve as the program’s director.
“Leadership is not just about doing, it is about becoming a person worthy of following,” Jorgenson said. “Our work is to support students in this transformation, helping them to gain the skills, knowledge and character required to love God and neighbor through their work in the world.”
The 18-month degree program is taught with both online and face-to-face instruction and designed to be accessible to students with careers or other commitments without sacrificing the valuable community that comes from learning together in a classroom.
“The Master of Arts in Faith and Leadership Formation is a dream that’s been in the making for several years,” Jorgenson explained. “But we couldn’t just repackage one of our clergy-oriented degrees and give it to folks and hope that it equips them for a life of service out in the world. We needed to build a new program from the ground up to meet the specific needs of those serving in non-ministerial careers.”
Requirements for the MA in Faith and Leadership Formation include a four-year bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution, a minimum GPA of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale and an interview with the Divinity School. The application is now available and the deadline to apply is Nov. 15, 2019. A new cohort will be selected each January to take on the challenge of earning a meaningful master’s degree, clarifying their future and focusing their lives and careers around their faith.
“We find ourselves in a time of rapid change, both for society and the church,” said Andy Wakefield, dean of Campbell Divinity School. “In response, we’ve seen Christians who are called and gifted by God to be lawyers, teachers, doctors, business leaders, engineers and more, eager to dig more deeply into the Bible, to pursue depth in their character and to practice their faith with substance. This new degree will equip them to do just that — to live purposeful and intentional lives of faith and Christian service in the context of any and every vocation to which God has called them.”
For more information and to apply to this degree program, visit divinity.campbell.edu.
The MA in Faith & Leadership Formation degree program has been approved by the Commission on Accrediting for the Association of Theological Schools and is pending approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.