Calvary Chapel Bible College Graduate School

We are looking for a few good men to join us in the adventure of beginning something new.  Newness has a special excitement.  It is ground floor.  

Calvary Chapel School of Ministry (SoM) has graduates around the world serving Jesus Christ and His church.  Now we are looking at extending the SoM two-year program a third year for those desiring to further their educational process. This additional year will be known as the Calvary Chapel Bible College Graduate School (CCBCGS).  

Doing pastoral training in the context of a great church, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, follows an older tradition of pastoral training under the tutorship of pastors in a local church, rather than in an institution at a distance from it.  

The specific contribution of the Master’s Degree in Biblical Studies is to build a comprehensive foundational grasp of God’s Word so that those committed to the Word will be prepared to share that Word with others.

SOME THOUGHTS ON A MASTER’S PROGRAM

 A master’s degree in a discipline functions as a teaching degree.  The Master of Biblical Studies degree demonstrates a degree of mastery of biblical content.  While God alone can ordain a man and give an anointing for teaching, man has the responsibility to develop those gifts that are given to him as a stewardship.

A commitment to the importance of Scripture demands that we are accurate in teaching it.  This can include having tools to get at the subtle nuances of the text and to discern the meaning of the text, rather than merely repeating what someone else has said. So often those already in ministry do not have the time to learn these basics without a structure of discipline to motivate them.  The master’s program will build a foundation for a lifetime of study and teaching.   

Scholarship bases its study on the examination of primary documents, not merely reading what others say about them.  Our approach regards the Scriptures as primary documents. As much as possible we will go directly to them by inductive study, instead of focusing on what others say about them.  

CCBCGS discourages those from participating, who merely look at the degree as a status symbol, but encourages those who see the degree as a recognition of the disciplined sharpening of abilities.  

Higher Christian education becomes dangerous when academia becomes an end in itself.  CCBCGS trusts that the studies become a means that we might know the Word better and as we know the Word better, we know the Lord better.  Intellectual pursuit in itself is sterile, but it  may provide a gate to authentic spiritual experience.

  Carl Westerlund, Director