Intercultural Studies & World Missions

• On-campus program
• Online program

Enhancing our Missions Program to Meet 21st Century Needs

From our start, GBSC has included a strong focus on global ministry — this is why our founder included “missionary training home” in our institutional name. Just as “missionary training home” is still part of our official name, we’re still passionate about missions and the global nature of our mission as a college.

That’s why we are excited for a new approach to missions education and training!

A New Approach

Over several years we have engaged in prayer, planning and discussion about how missions education can best be done today. Our discussions have included missionaries, missions educators and missionary leaders from conservative holiness denominations, Bible colleges and missions organizations, from Florida to Pennsylvania to Indiana and around the world.

Every single missionary and missions leader has agreed: a standalone “missions major” isn’t the answer.

In response, we have developed a different approach that provides missions education in three ways.

1. A standalone 2-year missions degree
2. A missions minor open to every GBSC BA student, as well as all GBSC alumni with a bachelor’s degree
3. A missions cognate that can be included in the Biblical and Theological Studies major or the Integrative Studies major

Combined, these approaches open missions training to every single GBSC student!

GBSC Chancellor Michael Avery, himself a past missions leader, comments,

Taking the Gospel to the unreached people groups of today’s world holds enormous challenges — challenges that can and must be faced with new thinking, a variety of approaches and flexible training methods.

 

GBSC’s new approach to missionary training is a bold response to this daunting challenge.

A New Vision

Our vision includes graduates prepared for a range of vocations with a deep passion for and understanding of missions work. Success looks like…

• Long-term missionaries
• Missionaries who serve a shorter period on the field then bring their missions experience to US churches and ministries
• Pastors, teachers and others who knowledgeably support missions work and share their passion with others
• Laity who support missions organizations financially and with services

In addition to curriculum structures that enable missions to permeate the college, we’re also launching a Visiting Professor of Missiology program. Each year, we’ll bring a current or recent missionary or missions leader to campus multiple times for teaching, preaching and mentoring.

These visiting professors will connect our missions students directly with God’s frontline work in various fields, providing them with multiple perspectives on how mission work can be done.

Our First Visiting Professor of Missiology

We’re delighted to announce that the inaugural Visiting Professor of Missiology, for the 2017-2018 academic year, is Rev. Steve Stetler.

Rev. Stetler, a GBSC alumnus, is a veteran Christian educator, preacher and missionary. With his wife Beth, Steve served 10 years in Mexico, including service as field director. GBSC President Rodney Loper comments,

I am delighted that Steve Stetler is coming as the first Visiting Professor of Missiology!

 

With Steve’s passion for missions and young people, he is eminently qualified to lead us into the future in missions.

 

I believe that these two elements (passion for missions and youth) are the right combination to ignite the hearts of the next generation of young people to serve our present age around the world!

Throughout the 2017-2018 academic year, Rev. Stetler will teach missions courses, as well as visit campus several times to work with missions students as they prepare to fulfill God’s calling.

Sample Classes

AAS

• OT / NT Literature
• Cultural Diversity
• Principles & Problems of the Missionary Life
• World Religions

BA cognate/minor

• Cross-Cultural Communication
• Historical Foundation of Missions
• Current Issues & Methods of Missions

Why choose Intercultural Studies & World Missions at GBSC?

The AAS degree is for laypeople who may be interested in short-term missionary work or in working with missionary organizations.

The BA degree prepares missionary candidates spiritually, academically, and practically for contemporary cross-cultural ministry abroad and at home thus helping to fulfill the Great Commission. Part of this degree, called a cognate, is intended to help the student develop skills that may be used on the mission field.

Our BA degree allows you to select a cognate from one of the following areas:

• Nursing
• Teacher Education
• Ministerial Education
• Music Education
• Theological Education

Students went off to be a

• missionary in Mexico
• English teacher in Mongolia and China
• pastor in Northern Ireland
• leader of Hispanic ministry in Indiana
• inner-city mission church
• Christian school teacher in Guatemala
• youth worker in Ukraine

Accreditation

We are accredited by both the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and the Association of Biblical Higher Education (ABHE). See why having both matters.