1. We help you engage your calling.  We are very intentional about creating space for you to talk about where God is leading you and what you think you need in order to get there.  In the midst of that conversation, we help showcase how McAfee intersects with that calling by helping make you a more informed, compassionate, and prepared minister of the gospel.

2.  You get to meet current students who come from similar life situations, worldviews, social locations, etc. and talk to them about their experiences at McAfee.  Meeting others who have gone before you helps ease the anxiety about moving to a new place and staring at at a new school.

3. It’s an opportunity to interview for merit-based scholarships.  If you have a 3.25 GPA, are either a senior or college graduate from a regionally accredited undergraduate institution and have completed your application for admissions, then you are eligible to interview for a full tuition merit-based scholarship.

4.  You realize the opportunities awaiting you as you learn, network and experience Atlanta.  The nature of McAfee being in Atlanta allows for incredible resources, network opportunities and experiences to become available to you.  McAfee is proud to say we are “well connected.”  If you are looking to enter congregational, nonprofit, NGO, Para-church, or counseling ministries, then McAfee/Atlanta is the places for you.  As a student, you meet the people in the vocation you are interested in pursuing.  These opportunities become invaluable.

5. You get the chance to feel the presence of God for yourself.  There’s nothing like stepping onto campus and knowing in your heart this is where God wants you to be.  You don’t get that from just looking at our website.

6.  Immediately following the conference, Brian McLaren is speaking at our William L. Self Preaching Lectures.  You are invited to stay for free!

So if you are a college student or already a graduate, we invite you and your spouse or guest to join us. McAfee School of Theology provides lodging and meals during the conference.  There is also some travel assistance available.

McAfee School of Theology offers a track in Pastoral Care. This track is designed to develop the student’s skills, knowledge and self-awareness related to the ministries of pastoral care. Students whose vocational plans include pastoral care in a local church setting or chaplaincy (in hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, mental health facilities, and other agencies) would benefit from this track.

Through the Clinical Pastoral Education component, all students receive supervised experience and training as a pastoral care giver, as well as the opportunity to reflect upon their pastoral identity, concerns, and places with a competent and compassionate mentor. Students whose goals include professional certification in Chaplaincy may enter this track as preparation for their work toward certification with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education or the Association for Professional Chaplains.

Students who wish to become certified as a Pastoral Counselor with the American Association for Pastoral Counseling may enter this track as preparation for their work toward certification. The track in Pastoral Care does not offer courses that prepare students for a state license as a counselor. Students who want to be both certified and licensed are advised to enroll in the joint degree in Master of Divinity and Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program.

For more information, please contact our Admissions Office at theoadmiss@mercer.edu or 678.547.6474.

Here is a breakdown of what a three year, full time program in Pastoral Care could look like:

We understand that most college students graduate with significant debt. We know living expenses are high.  We, therefore, choose to help offset the cost of seminary and living expenses by awarding merit-based scholarships.

In order to qualify you must have a grade point average of 3.25 or higher from an regionally accredited undergraduate institution.  To be awarded a scholarship, you must interview with faculty and staff.  To maintain your scholarship once you’re a student, you must complete (at a minimum) 30 credit hours a calendar year and graduate within three years.

The majority of our interviews are conducted at the Fall and Spring Preview Conferences.  We do understand, however, these dates do not work for everyone.  If this is you then please call us and we’ll work out something based on your individual needs.

One sticking point is you have to complete the admissions application before any interview can take place.

If you would like more information regarding merit-based scholarships, Preview Conferences, McAfee School of Theology, or the admissions process then please call us at 678.547.6474 or email us at theoadmiss@mercer.edu.

Our conference occurs during the regular course of the semester offering you the opportunity to explore your sense of call by: 

Please contact the Admissions office in order to register.  If you are a college student or already a graduate, we invite you and your spouse or guest to join us. McAfee School of Theology provides lodging and meals during the conference.  There is also some travel assistance available.  Below is an outline of the itinerary.  If you have any questions regarding this event please don’t hesitate to email or call us at theoadmiss@mercer.edu or 678.547.6474.

Registration

Please preregister by contacting Becky Nelson at 678.547.6474 or Register Now!

Sunday Schedule

Monday Schedule

He calls this theme the “Heroes Journey.”

He says heroes experience a call, cross a threshold (point of no return), battle conflicts and opposing forces, and immerse themselves in life changing sagas that inevitably change the course of history.

Along the way they meet helpers – ones that assist at a moment’s notice. Then the hero approaches the climactic moment in the journey. It is the last battle, the last stand, where good meets evil, where fates are decided.

And after the scene passes, the hero crosses back over the threshold and lands back home – the place where it all started. The hero is the same, but different.

Hollywood plays off this journey motif perfectly.

Take Star Wars for example. Luke Skywalker is a peasant at best. He gets called to become a Jedi. Meets helpful people along the way, finds himself in hardships, overcomes unparalleled odds, and returns home a changed and renewed person.

These storylines are even in scripture.  Abraham is just a nomadic herdsman.  But God calls him to do more. Moses is nothing more than a homeless, stuttering, murderer that gives up a life of luxury in Egypt, yet God calls him to do more.

All heroes have a call story.  And I argue that these story lines are true for seminary students too.

They cross a threshold (a point of no return) coming to seminary only to find friends and helpers, face trials and tribulations, only to cross back over the threshold and return home – the same but different.

At McAfee we teach that God calls us over the tumult.  God calls us into a world in which needs restoring.  When we accept this call, we choose to act in the same world as God to help bring healing to the oppressed, sight to the blind, the ministry of release to all that we come into contact with. When we engage our call, we cross over into a world that needs our fortitude, care, and transfigured love.  This is the journey we’ve been called to take.

To learn more about contact our admissions office at 678.547.6474 or email us at theoadmiss@mercer.edu.

First, Christianity must be understood as a multi-cultural and global movement, an enduring theological tradition that finds new life in the lived realities of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Second, the dramatic growth of world Christianity begs for analysis of the missionary dimension in all churches, as initiators rather than receptors of mission outreach.

Third, growing churches are in need of theologically trained leaders, ranging from seminary professors, to grassroots leaders of indigenous churches. And finally, persons being educated to lead religious communities need to incorporate the understanding of these realities into their ministry and outreach.

The Global Christianity concentration includes, but is not limited to overseas study. Overseas mission services are facilitated through Student.Go, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship mission program.  This program includes studies in cultural anthropology and holistic evangelism focusing on Christianity’s response to social justice.

If you are seriously considering seminary and want to talk further with an admissions rep please know we are only a phone call away.  Our offices are open from 8:30am-5pm M-F.

Seminary is priceless for your spiritual maturation. The Master of Divinity offers fourteen critical areas of study that help shape, define, and undergird your theological worldview.  You’ll take classes in biblical studies, Christian social ethics, preaching, leadership, church history, theology/philosophy, pastoral care and so much more.   It is perfect for those interested in furthering the kingdom of God.

Contact us at theoadmiss@mercer.edu or 678.547.6474.

There’s a particular conundrum, though, when it comes to answering these essay questions.  If you give too much detail you appear uncritical about your faith but if you do not give enough you come across unreflective.

The answer is ‘economy of language.’  Feel free to tell us all the different elements of your faith journey but do so economically.  We do not need unnecessary prepositional phrases or filler adverbs.  Look at the difference between these two examples.

Example 1:

Without a doubt the most important part of my faith journey up to this point in my life comes in my sophomore year of college.  Not knowing God was calling me to ministry, I volunteered with a local church on a mission project and I realized the importance of community involvement.  We helped Habitat for Humanity build a house.

This paragraph tells us about God’s call on your life but here is what it looks like when you use economy of language:

Example 2:

In 2009 I partnered with First Baptist Church’s youth group to help build a Habitat house.  This experience, along with others, showed me the importance of community involvement.

Using economy of language in your essays will demonstrate to us your ability to be both critical and reflective.  We highly encourage it!

Courses are drawn from a variety of fields including Christian ethics, evangelism and missions, theology, ministry, and biblical studies. The goal of this track is to prepare students for work in settings emphasizing analysis of and resistance to social evils as an aspect Christian witness and service in the world.

Graduates of this track will be equipped to pursue a variety of callings including academic service in fields related to social ethics, church or parachurch social ministry efforts at various levels, and service in nongovernmental organizations.

For more information contact our Admissions Office at 678.547.6474 or email us at theoadmiss@mercer.edu.