There are hundreds of seminary level courses available FREE! Yes, I said FREE!
I wish I knew this 4 years ago when I signed up for a graduate degree of Theological Studies and spent thousands of dollars! I especially wish I knew this information while I was a stay-at-home mom wanting to learn about the Word, but not having the resources to be able to do so. I’m not knocking higher education because I have tons of experience in that area, but sometimes we just want the knowledge and not necessarily the degree, the debt, and the strict deadlines of assignments upon assignments.
So, I wanted to share this information with my tribe! Ultimately, we have to grow in Christ and in His Word to prepare ourselves to do what God is calling us to do. The Bible says “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (Hebrews 4:12, NLT).
Here are some places to find these FREE seminary courses:
theLAB, is a blog by Logos.com and “exists to function as a “think tank” for those engaged in scholarly study of the Bible.” Logos.com is a comprehensive ministry and sermon prep platform with thousands of online books and resources, search tools, online courses, and reference material to help you learn the Word. In their article, “How to Get an Advanced Bible Degree for Free (logos.com),” they list seminary courses in a way that mimics what a seminary degree would look like if you enrolled in a seminary. They provide the links where you can get this information.
Blue Letter Bible (BLB) offers a complete suite of free Bible study tools including in-depth studies and Greek and Hebrew translation of the Bible. They are offering 22 FREE courses through their BLB Institute. You can choose courses from Basic Bible Doctrine, Biblical Hermeneutics, to The Doctrine of Christ. If you have no idea where to start, they offer 2 programs that will provide a seminary degree framework where you can choose the Foundations of Christian Faith or the Foundations of Biblical Studies.
BiblicalTraining.org is a great resource that offers beginning, intermediate, and advanced level courses “on the Bible and theology from world-class professors to equip people in the church who are passionate about their spiritual growth, for free.” They also provide loads of courses that you can choose from or you take one of their various programs that group individual courses to create a study path in a particular topics like leadership, worship, and how to study your Bible.
Dallas Theological Seminary offers 20 courses ranging from Evangelism, Acts, Hebrews, to How to read the Bible like a Seminary Professor. They have been committed for over 90 years to train teachers and pastors and are passionate about training “believers worldwide to know Scripture and allow it to bear fruit in their lives.”
Christian Broadcast Network (CBN) is a global ministry that uses television and the Internet to prepare "the nations of the world for the coming of Jesus Christ through mass media.” They offer 7 online discipleship courses including Foundations of our Faith, the Holy Spirit, and How to Study the Bible.
Bible Education offers Biblical education with 3 online Bible courses, Bible teaching fact sheets, and booklets on Bible topics. The 3 courses include Introduction to Bible Basics, Learn to Read the Bible Effectively, and God’s Master Plan.
Bile Study Lessons offers free online Bible study courses, class books, electronic books, Bible study lessons, PowerPoints, worksheets, outlines, resources, and home Bible studies. They offer 7 online courses from The Gospel of Mark, The Book of Acts, to the Conversion from Sin.
Biblicalelearning.org offers “free access to biblically-based online learning resources for the global Christian community.” They offer hundreds of lectures in various topics regarding languages, Old Testament, New Testament, history, theology, and philosophy.
Open Culture offers cultural and educational media on the web. Here is a list of over 40 religion courses that you can choose from with various topics from Religious Literacy, Philosophy of Religion, History of Christianity I, to Apologetics 101.
Take some time to reflect on all the educational opportunities available to you. Pray about it and allow God to lead you in your next steps. Journal your ideas on how you would like to move forward to get more clarity on where to begin. Take some time to think about the Growth Through Self-Reflection questions below. Look up the verses in the God's Truth section on what the Bible says about learning His Word and let God speak to you!
If you liked Part 1, be sure to check out How to Get a Seminary Education for FREE Part 2!
With Love,
Pastor Jessica
SHARE what God is doing in your life in the comments. If you LOVE this post, SHARE with your friends on social media!
GROWTH THROUGH SELF-REFLECTION
Why do you want to study the Bible?
What are you hoping to achieve with deeper study of the Word?
What have been your obstacles in studying the Word?
What is the first thing you would need to do to get started?
What is your Bible study plan?
GOD’S TRUTH
Hebrews 4: 12
Proverbs 4:10-13
Proverbs 7:2-3
Romans 15: 4
Matthew 4: 4
Joshua 1: 8
Psalm 119: 15-16, 105
2 Timothy 2:15
2 Timothy 3: 16-17