Choosing a university requires thoughtful consideration. It’s a big decision! On top of it all, if you are interested in becoming a missionary or being in ministry, you may wonder if a degree is worthwhile.

A degree can help you make an impact wherever God calls you! Here are some ideas to get you started and on the path to your future career.

Degrees missionaries can use overseas or stateside:

• Intercultural Ministry Studies
• Business
• Education
• Midwifery
• Bible & Theology

These degrees will give you practical skills to better serve people around you in a tangible way.

Interested in Cross-Cultural Ministry?

If you want to learn more about how to be a light for Jesus and engage in cross-cultural ministry, check out Bethany Global University (BGU)! BGU is an affordable Christian ministry university located in the Twin Cities (Bloomington, Minnesota).

With undergraduate and graduate degree options, BGU works to train students with practical skills and knowledge they need to engage in ministry wherever God is calling them to serve.

Learn more about our degree programs HERE.

1. Intercultural Ministry Studies  

A degree in Intercultural Ministry Studies will equip you to share your faith and work with people from different cultures.

You will also gain an understanding of how to be involved in ministry, the importance of the local church, and a better understanding of Christ.

Skills Gained through this Degree:

• Cross-cultural communication and language learning
• Gospel contextualization
• Evangelism and discipleship
• Small group leading, teaching, and preaching
• Ethnographic research
• Understanding of core theological concepts
• Biblical literacy
• Bible study skills

What You Can Do With this Degree:

• Work with churches and nonprofits
• Live and serve overseas, sharing the Gospel
• Plant churches in cross-cultural settings
• Work with international students and partners
• Intercultural ministry
• Bible teaching and discipleship

2. Business 

A degree in Transformational Entrepreneurship in Missions introduces you to the “business as missions” world by providing the skills, knowledge base, and practical coaching required for successful entrepreneurial ventures to bring transformative impact.

To reach those with little to no access to the Gospel, a trade or marketable skill is often needed. Business is a global industry with needs around the world. Your opportunities with business background are limitless.

Skills Gained through this Degree:

• Management and team dynamics
• Effectively research target markets
• Accounting basics
• Marketing basics
• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Entrepreneurial mindset and energy

What You Can Do With this Degree:

• Start a for-profit business locally or overseas
• Manage a team
• Work in a startup setting
• Sales
• Intercultural ministry
• Bible teaching and discipleship
• Work in a Christian nonprofit or church

3. Education

Teachers are needed globally. Having a degree in education can open the door to a world of opportunities. These opportunities include K-12 classroom teachers, school administrator roles, college professors, etc.

BGU’s Education in Missions degree teaches students the Montessori method, an internationally recognized education philosophy based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning, and collaborative play.

Skills Gained through this Degree:

• Cross-cultural communication
• Early childhood or elementary education
• Understanding teaching methods
• Hands-on experience in the classroom
• Versatility in teaching a variety of subjects

What You Can Do With this Degree:

• Work with students locally and abroad
• Live overseas and work in the Montessori context
• Work as a school aid or assistant teacher
• Teach English overseas
• Intercultural ministry
• Bible teaching and discipleship
• Work in a Christian nonprofit or church
• Teaching English as a Foreign Language overseas

4. Midwifery & Medical Ministry

The medical field offers vast opportunities for engaging in medical ministry overseas and stateside.

For example, being a midwife allows you the opportunity to connect and minister to mothers as they welcome a new life into the world. Earning a degree in Midwifery from BGU teaches you how to support and care for a pregnant mother and her child!

Skills Gained through this Degree:

• Taking vital signs
• Suturing
• Giving injections
• Listening to fetal heart tones
• Monitoring fetal growth throughout pregnancy
• Assessing maternal and fetal health during labor
• Providing safe care throughout labor and delivery
• Conduct newborn exams

What You Can Do With this Degree:

• Provide prenatal care
• Deliver babies
• Support women in labor
• Take care of women after they give birth
• Take care of newborns for the first several weeks of life
• Provide holistic and comprehensive care to women
• Work in Christian nonprofit healthcare ministries

5. Bible & Theology

At BGU, we understand and value the importance of students studying the Bible. BGU undergraduate degrees include a double major in Bible & Theology, providing you with a firm Biblical foundation to compliment your career. You’ll gain the skills needed to effectively share the Gospel with others.

Your Degree is Useful

A degree gives you practical skills to carry into your future career. Our degree programs will prepare you to work overseas in the village or in an office setting with a cross-cultural team.

A common obstacle to Christian higher education is the cost. At BGU, we are committed to offering our students an affordable quality education. Learn more about our affordable tuition model HERE.

Having a degree is valuable and useful. If you have specific questions about how our degree programs will equip you for your future, please contact us!

Earn Your Degree While Serving Cross-Culturally

A unique part of our four-year undergraduate degree programs is the opportunity to live overseas for 13 months through our Global Internship.

Global Internship is like a Christian study abroad program, but with more guidance and hands-on learning opportunities in your field of study (Intercultural Ministry, Business, Education, or Midwifery).

The Global Internship experience gives students the opportunity to live on mission for Christ around the globe while engaging in ministry and life abroad. Through this, students learn how to communicate and live in a new cultural setting.

Learn more about what life overseas looks like from our students here.

Your Degree is Valuable Cross-Culturally & in America

BGU exists to provide ministry and mission-minded students with a quality Christian higher education to prepare them for their future career.

Our degree programs develop students’ intercultural ministry skills. They can take what they have learned anywhere in the world and can easily enter the work force after graduation.

We are proud of the cross-cultural work our graduates have done.

Both stateside and globally, our graduates have gone on to:

• Start non-profits
• Work in local church ministry (worship team, children’s ministry, etc.)
• Work as biblical counselors (with additional education)
• Serve as a youth group leaders
• Teach in Montessori and public school settings (with licensing)

• Start businesses (coffee shops, farms, international language school, etc.)

• Pastor churches

• Work as university staff at BGU

The world needs cross-culturally minded Christians working in the U.S. and overseas. There are ministry needs overseas and in our neighborhood!

To learn more about pursuing higher education and earning your degree through Bethany Global University (BGU), request info here!