Master of Missiology and Intercultural Studies Program
The Master of Missiology and Intercultural Studies program is a professional graduate degree beyond the Bachelor of Arts or equivalent, designed to equip students for effective ministry as cross-cultural missionaries. This is a eighty-nine semester hour program primarily related to preparation for the missionary ministry. The first two years of this program (sixty semester hours) consists of prescribed on-campus studies. The final portion of the program (twenty-nine semester hours) may be completed in one of two ways:
(1)
On-Campus Studies-The final twenty-nine semester hours of academic studies may be completed by prescribed courses in residence at the Mid-America Cordova campus.
(2)
On-Field Studies-The final twenty-nine semester hours of academic studies may be completed by prescribed courses on an assigned mission field as students serve under appointment with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Six semester hours of language acquisition are supervised by designated missionaries on the field. A specialized bibliography course (nine semester hours) that involves a minimum of five thousand pages of supervised reading and results in preparation of an annotated bibliography that is relevant to the missionary work that is being carried out on the assigned field, and a master's level thesis of 80-110 pages of text (plus appropriate bibliography) that deals with significant selected aspects of the work that is being carried out on the assigned field (fourteen hours of credit).
Objectives The Master of Missiology and Intercultural Studies program is designed to promote in students growth toward personal maturity and professional ministry competence. The on-campus objectives of the program (including the optional twenty-nine hours of on-campus study) are accomplished through classroom instruction, the modeling of professors, the practice of ministry through the Practical Ministry program, and involvement in student organizations.
The Master of Missiology and Intercultural Studies program seeks to guide students to develop the ability to understand and interpret the Christian faith in the light of its biblical, theological, and historical dimensions and to utilize insights gained from these disciplines for the effective practice of ministry in cross-cultural settings.
The objectives of the optional twenty-nine hours of on-field study are accomplished through prescribed research, field ministry, and language acquisition under the immediate direction of experienced field missionaries and under the final auspices of the missions faculty at the Mid-America Cordova campus. Students enrolled in the "on field" option must meet the same practical missions requirements as those in the "on campus" option. The Master of Missiology and Intercultural Studies program is academically equivalent to the Master of Divinity program and meets all prerequisite Master's-level requirements for both the Doctor of Ministry program and the Doctor of Philosophy program.
Admission Requirements All applicants to any masters degree program must be at least twenty years old by the time of their first registration. All applicants to masters degree programs must have graduated from an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree or equivalent (see the Catalog for full details and exceptions).
Completion Requirements
In order to qualify for graduation from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, students in the Master of Missiology and Intercultural Studies program must satisfy the “General Requirements for Graduation” as set forth in this Catalog. In addition, students in the Master of Missiology and Intercultural Studies program must complete eighty-eight semester hours of courses specified in the following chart.
The Master of Missiology program includes two components: (1) sixty semester hours of initial courses on campus and (2) twenty-nine semester hours of advanced courses completed on campus or on-field while the student serves a two-year cross-cultural missionary appointment.
