God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him. 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 tight-knit community of fellow apprentices, professors, pastors, and church members share 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 lifelong 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.
Seminarians are assigned to a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, The North Church, or at one of 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.
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, big-hearted, and who exude gravity and gladness. Pastoring is a high calling and a noble task, filled with joys and sorrows, hardships and tribulations. Will you be ready?
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’s emphasis is intense, whole-Bible exegesis in the original languages with a special focus on the unfolding of God’s sovereign plan throughout all of redemptive history. The tuition rate for 2023–2024 is $270/credit.
| Year 1 | Credits |
| Summer | |
| Beginning Greek 1 | 4 |
| Fall | |
| Beginning Greek 2 | 4 |
| OT Background & Message 1 | 3 |
| NT Background & Message | 3 |
| Foundations of Christian Hedonism | 3 |
| Spring | |
| Intermediate Greek | 4 |
| OT Background & Message 2 | 3 |
| Theology of Worship | 3 |
| History of Christianity 1 | 3 |
| Year 2 | Credits |
| Fall | |
| Beginning Hebrew I | 4 |
| History of Christianity 2 | 3 |
| Principles of Biblical Interpretation 1 | 2 |
| Preaching as Worship 1 | 2 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| January | |
| Elective (Church Planting, Exegesis) | 2 |
| Spring | |
| Beginning Hebrew 2 | 4 |
| History of Christianity | 3 |
| Principles of Biblical Interpretation 2 | 2 |
| Preaching as Worship | 2 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| Summer | |
| Elective (Theology, Worship) | 2 |
| Year 3 | Credits |
| Fall | |
| Intermediate Hebrew | 4 |
| Systematic Theology 1 | 3 |
| Greek Exegesis 1 | 2 |
| Missions and the Local Church | 3 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| January | |
| Elective (Church Planting, Exegesis) | 2 |
| Spring | |
| Hebrew Exegesis | 4 |
| Systematic Theology 2 | 3 |
| Greek Exegesis 2 | 2 |
| Counseling 1 | 2 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| Summer | |
| Elective (Theology, Worship) | 2 |
| Missions Practicum | 2 |
| Year 4 | Credits |
| Fall | |
| Systematic Theology 3 | 3 |
| Counseling 2 | 2 |
| Elective (Theology, Worship) | 2 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| January | |
| Elective (Church Planting, Exegesis) | 2 |
| Spring | |
| Biblical Theology | 3 |
| Biblical Ethics | 2 |
| Biblical Eldership | 2 |
| Elective (Theology, Worship) | 2 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| Summer | |
| Elective (Theology, Worship) | 2 |
| Year 1 | Credits |
| Summer | |
| Beginning Greek 1 | 4 |
| Fall | |
| Beginning Greek 2 | 4 |
| OT Background & Message 1 | 3 |
| NT Background & Message | 3 |
| Foundations of Christian Hedonism | 3 |
| Spring | |
| Intermediate Greek | 4 |
| OT Background & Message 2 | 3 |
| Theology of Worship | 3 |
| History of Christianity 1 | 3 |
| Year 2 | Credits |
| Fall | |
| Beginning Hebrew I | 4 |
| History of Christianity 2 | 3 |
| Principles of Biblical Interpretation 1 | 2 |
| Preaching as Worship 1 | 2 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| January | |
| Elective (Church Planting, Exegesis) | 2 |
| Spring | |
| Beginning Hebrew 2 | 4 |
| History of Christianity | 3 |
| Principles of Biblical Interpretation 2 | 2 |
| Preaching as Worship | 2 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| Summer | |
| Elective (Theology, Worship) | 2 |
| Year 3 | Credits |
| Fall | |
| Intermediate Hebrew | 4 |
| Systematic Theology 1 | 3 |
| Greek Exegesis 1 | 2 |
| Missions and the Local Church | 3 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| January | |
| Elective (Church Planting, Exegesis) | 2 |
| Spring | |
| Hebrew Exegesis | 4 |
| Systematic Theology 2 | 3 |
| Greek Exegesis 2 | 2 |
| Counseling 1 | 2 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| Summer | |
| Elective (Theology, Worship) | 2 |
| Missions Practicum | 2 |
| Year 4 | Credits |
| Fall | |
| Systematic Theology 3 | 3 |
| Counseling 2 | 2 |
| Elective (Theology, Worship) | 2 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| January | |
| Elective (Church Planting, Exegesis) | 2 |
| Spring | |
| Biblical Theology | 3 |
| Biblical Ethics | 2 |
| Biblical Eldership | 2 |
| Elective (Theology, Worship) | 2 |
| Pastoral Apprenticeship | 1 |
| Summer | |
| Elective (Theology, Worship) | 2 |
The goal of this concentration is to provide biblical foundations and practical training for those sensing God’s call to be pastors, particularly of new churches or churches needing revitalization.
Students in the concentration take three specialized courses as electives. Also, the student completes a two-semester internship in the context of a church plant. Courses unique to the Church Planting and Revitalization concentration are:
| CORE COURSES | CREDITS |
| The Gospel and Personal Evangelism | 2 |
| Cross-Cultural Church Planting | 2 |
| Church Growth and Renewal | 2 |
| Church Planting and Revitalization | 2 |
This concentration is designed to equip men who are gifted in worship leadership and sense that this is how God is leading them to use their pastoral and artistic gifting. Courses unique to the Worship Pastor concentration are:
| CORE COURSES | CREDITS |
| The Heart and Role of the Worship Pastor | 2 |
| The Worshiping Church: A Historical Survey of the Development of Christian Worship | 2 |
| Worship and Culture: The Local/Global Church Worships Together | 3 |
| Worship Design and Leadership | 3 |
The Cameroon extension site currently offers the Master of Divinity program. Dr. Dieudonné Tamfu coordinates the program which closely follows the format, objectives, and courses of the Minneapolis location. Bethlehem College and Seminary serves as the administrative hub of a coordinated initiative of the school, Jubilee Community Church, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Treasuring Christ Together Church Planting Network, and hundreds of contributors and prayer partners to plant a French-speaking church in Cameroon’s capital city, Yaoundé, establish an extension of Bethlehem College and Seminary, and provide, by God’s grace, a launching site for regional church-planting and outreach to unengaged people groups.
The Master of Theology is offered for students who desire to sharpen their expertise in a specific topic of theological learning. Students may work on the M.Div. and Th.M. degrees concurrently or may complete the 20-credit Th.M. in approximately one year following the M.Div. Master of Theology candidates author a thesis during their final year under the supervision of a Bethlehem College and Seminary professor. The tuition rate for 2023–2024 is $235/credit plus a $600 dissertation defense fee.
| Core Courses | Year 3 | Year 4 |
| Research Seminar |  | |
| Thesis Proposal | | |
| Thesis Independent Study | |
Students can leave here without a burden of student loan debt. Tuition is unusually affordable because generous disciples of Christ affirm the quality of this “Education in Serious Joy” by providing a $10,000 annual Serious Joy Scholarship to all students so that they may launch without debt into life and ministry upon graduation.
Other scholarships include the Alex Steddom International Student Fund, which can be applied for by international applicants.