By Jamie Hoffman
Since January, Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Ind., has been offering distance education programs, where students can earn their degrees through the Internet. Grace Online allows students from around the world to learn without interrupting their lives by moving to Indiana.
With the flexibility of online classes, students do not have to interrupt their busy lives. Current student Christian McAllister, from Canal Winchester, Ohio, is the youth pastor at the Grace Brethren Church in Pataskala, Ohio. As a Grace Online student, he can pursue his education while maintaining his ministry, as well as managing his family of a wife and five kids.
“What [Grace Online] has done is bring seminary into my home,” he says.
Compressed course programs allow Grace Online students to earn a degree quickly. The curriculum is organized into an eight-week term schedule. According to McAllister, the program is labor-intensive, but the online format is very user-friendly and keeps everyone to task.
Grace wants its online students to feel like a part of the seminary. McAllister believes Grace has succeeded in doing that. “I very much feel like I am a part of that community,” he says.
Weekly live online chats amongst the Grace Online students helps keep them connected. “There’s a lot of class interaction,” McAllister says. “I still feel like I have ‘classroom time.’ That means a lot to me.”
McAllister has always been leery of alternative methods of education, but thinks Grace does a good job. “It is definitely working out for me,” he says, and would tell others considering the program that it is worth looking into.
Grace students can take graduate degree programs through the doctor of ministry level. The online program does require the student to come to campus for one week each year, but even that part of the program is designed to be as convenient as possible. The faculty, directed by Dr. Mark Soto, has advanced degrees and is highly experienced in their fields. Grace Online students can transfer credits from and to other higher education institutions in the region. In addition, financial aid is available to all online students who qualify.
For more information about the Grace Online program visit www.grace.edu.