Seminary at Darby Community Church

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CONTEXTUALIZED LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Purpose: Most people don’t have the opportunity to move to one of the few town’s that have a theological institution (i.e., seminary), so does that mean that those people don’t have an opportunity to receive formal training? No, in fact, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) has a program intact that helps remedy this common situation and brings formal training to the confines of the local church. 

Description: MBTS has a program called, Contextualized Leadership Development (CLD). Through this program, qualified and vetted instructors can teach approved courses for MBTS at their local churches. These CLD courses are fully accredited, just as if you were taking the course in the seminary classroom. These courses are on the undergraduate level and fit the requirements of MBTS’s undergraduate school, Spurgeon College (SC).

Certification and Degree Options: CLD courses are fully accredited and go towards the many Bachelor and Associates degrees offered at SC. Up to 49% of a certificate, diploma, or degree can be earned from a CLD course; the rest of your courses would need to be completed either online or on-campus at SC. There are also non-degree options for those who'd like to audit CLD courses. On top of this, through MBTS’s Advance Standing benefit, CLD courses can be counted towards a Masters degree at MBTS. Qualifying students may apply CLD courses to up to one-third of a Master’s degree. But, the greatest benefit to CLD courses is that they are tuition FREE!

CURRICULUM

Courses: Potential CLD courses that may be offered at Darby Community Church include courses on systematic theology, interpreting Scripture, church history, apologetics, evangelism, Old Testament, New Testament, etc. Each curriculum is built to equip a Christian’s mind, emotions, and actions by building them up with robust teaching, exemplifying to them worship for God, and challenging them with practical homework. In other words, courses are biblically founded, theologically built, ministry focused, and practical for life.

What: Each course offers three possible tracks, the first for those taking the course for credit and the next two for those auditing the course. For those taking the course for credit, you can expect about 500 pages of reading, brief weekly assignments, a Midterm and Final exam, and a paper. For those auditing the course, you can follow the introductory track which consists of about 200 pages of reading and no assignments, or the intermediate track which consists of under 500 pages of reading and a paper. The intermediate track is designed for those who don't want to take the course for credit, but would like a little more of a challenge.

Who: These courses are led by Daniel Fernandez, MDiv, with Pastors Mark Narankevicius, MDiv and Christopher Conti, MDiv who co-teach alongside him. This program is best suited for Christians looking for accountable, structured teaching that will challenge their understanding and application of Scripture. The program is particularly suited for those preparing for any type of ministry involvement. But, we’ve had students from all sorts of backgrounds, ranging from an elder of a church to a new Christian in the faith. This program is open to members of any evangelical church. 

When: We will offer three courses per year, one in Spring, Summer, and Fall. Each course is 8-weeks long and lectures will be offered at Darby Community Church on Tuesday nights from 7:00PM to 9:00PM EST (we will also have an option to join online through a Zoom video call).

Why: This CLD program is unique because it is an opportunity for a person to dig a deep well from which they can draw from for a lifetime of service to God. It is not everyday that one can receive an accredited theological education inside of their own local church.

FUTURE COURSES

Fall, 2024: Off

Spring, 2025: Biblical Theology

Summer, 2025: Church History I

If you are interested in taking a course, but find yourself a little intimidated, consider taking a free introductory course put together by the faculty of MBTS at FTC Institute. These courses are short and self-paced, but can help prepare your mind and heart for learning and serving the Lord.

For questions and inquiries please contact the lead of the program at Darby, Danny Fernandez (dfaf716@gmail.com).