Online Christian Education - Courses For All Levels
You can find online Christian education for just about every purpose. You can take a free online Bible study. Or you can prepare for the ministry. Or you can get a PhD. No matter what your goal is, you can find Christian classes for it online.
Bible Study and Personal Learning
If you want to learn about the Bible or Christian topics, there are a lot of online courses for you. In addition, you will find Bible study resources, such as different Bible translations, lexicons, concordances and commentaries. You can access the full text of most Christian classical books, such as Augustine's Confessions, online.
The Bible study classes you find on the internet are usually geared toward laymen, not pastors, and a lot of them are free. There are classes, discussion forums, newsletters, articles and blogs that help you study the Bible and to discuss it with other people. These Bible study courses and resources will increase your knowledge of the Bible, church doctrine and theology.
Preparing for Ministry
If you plan to go into the ministry, there are a number of online options available to you. You can choose to take classes from a "Bible school," or a Christian college specifically designed to prepare people for Christian ministry. Several Bible schools offer certificate or degree programs online. At Bible school, you'll get an excellent Bible education, but that may be all you get. Most Bible schools are accredited as Christian colleges, but you may not be able to transfer the credits you earn there to a secular university.
You could get a degree from a Christian liberal arts college. Most Christian liberal arts colleges are accredited both as Christian colleges and by a regional college certification board. The credits you earn there will probably transfer to another school. Through these schools, you can earn a bachelor's degree online in Christian ministry, theology, Bible and other ministry-related areas. Some colleges allow you to complete part of the coursework online, but a few allow you to take all the courses necessary to earn a degree over the internet.
Interestingly, most Christian graduate programs focus on ministry and/or counseling/psychology. You can take seminary classes, which usually lead to a masters degree, online. You can earn a masters or doctorate in counseling from a Christian liberal arts college by taking online classes. Whether your graduate degree will be in a ministry-related area or in counseling, you will probably need to arrange practicums in addition to your online course work.
Christian education on the internet is there for everybody, laymen and pastors, those who want a degree and those who just want to learn. From Bible study to doctoral studies, there is something for everyone.
