When people think of Bethlehem College and Seminary, they usually picture our full-time daytime students. But many mature Christians in the Twin Cities can’t pause their jobs, families, or ministries to become full-time students. That’s why we offer the Evening Program (BA in Theological Studies, MA in Exegesis and Theology, and certificate options). I get to teach systematic theology in the program, and I love it. Here are five reasons the Evening Program is so valuable.
Benefit 1. Flexibility
The Evening Program is flexible enough to keep your full-time job and family responsibilities.
This program is ideal for Christian adults who live in the Twin Cities area. You don’t have to quit work or become a full-time student. Classes typically meet only once a week on Monday evenings from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. We meet in-person (face-to-face, not via video!) at The North Church’s building in Mounds View.
There’s more to it than simply meeting for class on Monday evenings. Students need to figure out how to fill in the gaps of their week to prepare for classes—reading, writing, studying. But the program is far more flexible than a typical daytime program in which you meet for class several days each week. When you meet only once per week, you have much more flexibility to prepare for class, and this allows you to be both a “working adult” and a student.
Benefit 2. Theological Training
The Evening Program equips you with exegesis and theology.
Exegesis refers to careful reading, and the Evening Program equips you to carefully read the Bible. Exegesis interprets a text by analyzing what the author intended to communicate through his words. Exegesis draws the meaning out of a text. To do that really well, it’s best to learn New Testament Greek, so we teach you how to do that. Don’t worry: That might sound scary, but it’s very doable. And it’s amazing. It’s totally worth learning if you have the opportunity.
Theology is shorthand for four theological disciplines:
- Biblical theology studies how the whole Bible progresses, integrates, and climaxes in Christ. It’s whole-Bible exegesis.
- Historical theology surveys and evaluates how significant exegetes and theologians have understood the Bible and theology.
- Systematic theology discerns how a passage theologically coheres with the whole Bible. This builds on but goes beyond exegesis. It answers the question “What does the whole Bible say about _______________ [fill in the blank]?”
- Practical theology applies the text to yourself, the church, and the world. It answers the question, “How should we then live?”
(For more on these theological disciplines, see my talk “How to Do Exegesis and Theology: My Theological Method,” which I’ve condensed as a short article: “Theological Method.”)
Benefit 3. Discipleship
The Evening Program encourages you to be discipled in a small community that cares about your head and heart.
Paul commands, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching” (1 Timothy 4:16a). In other words, pay close attention to your character (how you live), and pay close attention to sound doctrine (what you believe). Your character and your doctrine are like the left wing and the right wing of an airplane. You need both wings to fly. And you need both virtuous character and sound doctrine to serve Christ faithfully and fruitfully.
The professors who teach in the Evening Program aren’t eccentric academics who care only about doctrine. (I admit, some of us are eccentric. But that’s not the point!) The professors care deeply about sound doctrine, and we also care deeply about your soul. We want to cultivate habits of your head and heart.
Benefit 4. All-of-Life Training
The Evening Program prepares you to be more faithful and fruitful in whatever sphere of life God calls you to. (It’s not just for vocational pastoral ministry.)
Our MDiv program is for training pastors. (I talk about that here.) Our Evening Program is for training Christians—whether you are full-time in vocational Christian ministry or full-time in the workplace or full-time at home. First-class training in exegesis and theology will help you be more faithful and fruitful in whatever God has called you to do—educating and enculturating your children in Christ, working in the marketplace, working in your home, serving your local church, discipling and counseling fellow believers, planting churches on the mission field.
Benefit 5. Generous Discount
The Evening Program is remarkably affordable.
The cost for the BA or MA is about $16,000 total—far lower than the sticker price at most colleges and seminaries. That’s an incredible value—thanks to generous donors.
Contrast that with tuition for kindergarten at elite private schools in the Twin Cities. Just one year of kindergarten tuition ranges from about $29,000 to $38,000.
Our cost is intentionally low because we want to launch students into life and ministry when they graduate without the handicap of debt.
Who would be a good fit?
Maybe you know someone who would be a good fit in our Evening Program. Or maybe you would be a good fit! Join us on April 27 for a preview night.
Check it out. Apply here.
Andy Naselli, Ph.D.
Professor of Systematic Theology and New Testament