Earlier this summer, Welch College President Matt Pinson, received official M.Div. implementation notification from Dr. Kevin Sightler, Director of Substantive Change for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The letter stated that the accreditor had “reviewed the materials seeking approval of the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree program” and had voted “to approve the program and include it in the scope of the current accreditation.”
Pinson said, “The offering of an M.Div., the first one offered by a Free Will Baptist institution, and the establishment of a divinity school attached to Welch College, is a dream come true for us. No longer will Free Will Baptists have to go outside our denomination for their M.Div. We have hoped and dreamt for an M.Div. program for many years.”
Partial funding for the conception and implementation of the program was provided by a generous grant of almost $500,000 from the Kern Family Foundation.
Welch College began offering the M.Div. this semester. The program will be offered in an accelerated B.A.-to-M.Div. five-year program. A high school graduate with at least 15 dual enrollment college credits can complete both a B.A. and an M.Div. degree in five years. The M.Div. will also be available to students who already have a bachelor’s degree.
Provost Matthew McAffee noted, “With this new program, it’s possible for students to begin at Welch and complete a B.A. and a regionally accredited M.Div. in five years—something that normally takes seven. But people who already have a bachelor’s degree, even if it’s not in a theological field, are eligible to study for and complete this M.Div. We’ve been hearing from more and more people in our denomination who feel the need for further ministry education in our increasingly secular society.”
The M.Div. degree is composed of 85 credit-hours and makes use of 25 hours of existing undergraduate ministry courses augmented to the graduate level. It will be a full on-campus program in a traditional format. The M.A. degree in Theology and Ministry will now be able to be earned on-campus or completely online.
Now that accreditor approval has been received, Welch College is currently processing admissions and enrolling students in the M.Div. program. Applications are being accepted for the next course for both the M.Div. and M.A., which begins in October.
For more information about the Master of Divinity program in either its accelerated BA-M.Div. or traditional framework, or the M.A., contact the Director of Administration for Welch Divinity School, Dr. Martin Sheldon at msheldon@welch.edu.
*SACSCOC is the primary accrediting body for colleges and universities in the Southeast. It provides the highest level of accreditation that an educational institution can receive. Welch College has been accredited by SACSCOC since 1994. To gain or maintain accreditation with the Commission on Colleges, an institution must comply with the standards contained in the Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement and with the policies and procedures of the Commission on Colleges. The Commission on Colleges applies the requirements of its Principles to all applicant, candidate, and member institutions, regardless of type of institution (public, private for-profit, private not-for-profit).