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Hello and Welcome to the ULC Seminary!
Below, you will find information about our unique online Seminary Program with links to join. We are the Universal Life Church Seminary and this is our seminary program site. Below, we've explained the program and directly above are links to the course listings and our forum. In the two lines above that, are links to every section of our main site. Please look around and see if there is anything that interests you. :) |
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 The Universal Life Church is really different because we allow people to first become ordained, then later get training, although being ordained first is not requirement before taking our classes. Since the nature of the organization in general is unusual, it seems only natural that our seminary program would be unusual too.
Our system works on two levels. In a more conventional program, people work through seminary, then when they comple the entire curriculum, they graduate and are ordained as ministers. We have things organized differently. Our position, at the ULC Seminary, is that we believe strongly in training and providing as much information as you need to feel professional and confident. We also know that not everyone has the money to take all the classes they want, but still has a drive to gain knowledge.
To address this need, we invite people to sign up as a seminary student for free. When you fill out the application, you will be added to the database and will in effect be creating your initial transcript. Once enrolled, you will be sent varied educational emails at least every two weeks. These emails will have course samples, opportunities for receiving seminary credits at no cost and many other interest articles. This part of the program is absolutely free and is a gift from the Seminary to create a stronger sense of community and belonging and to help provide some spiritual nourishment to those who thirst for it.
Signing up for the program means that you get the regular communication and knowledge, but does not carry any degrees or credits on is own. Those by-weekly emails are just an extra. We added them in part because people would say, "I signed up. Now what?" By getting the regular communication, it's almost like having a guidance counselor to help you pick classes and see where your interests lie. You also get some extra info that others don't have access to, just for signing up. Membership does have its privileges.
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The second part of the Seminary consists of various paid courses which offer both degrees when you finish and send in your essay, as well as course credits towards eventual graduation from the program. You can take as many or as few courses and you like with the option of continuing on to finally graduate from the seminary with a Master or a Doctorate in Ministry. Each course is sent via email, some with a book and some with CDs for meditation.
We also have a list of graduates page. This can be found at SEMINARY GRADUATES. We would love to be able to put your name up there as well! To read about the seminary from a student's perspective, go to Seminary Letter.
Each of the classes presented will be assigned a certain number of credits. If you have previously ordered one of the classes, a receipt for purchase, pix of your holding it or whatever you can provide will suffice. We keep a record of each course completed on your transcript, which we update regularly. You don't need to join the program to take the classes and taking the classes in no way obligates you to take any more.
We have also been approved, through the state of California, to grant degrees for each of the courses we offer. (Due to budget cuts, that division has been closed, but the approval, under the religion exemption, still stands.) We only offer degrees for current courses through the seminary and not for courses completed previously through another seminary or through headquarters. The courses offered through headquarters are completely different than the ones offered through the ULC Seminary. Our courses are at least 20 weeks long and all require final approval of a submitted essay.
The Universal Life Church Seminary is in the process of creating its online seminary program. We are continuing to add online degree classes which will help you in your ministerial training. If you have any suggestions for classes or would like to share any of your knowledge on any of the topics, please send an e-mail to amy@ulcseminary.org. We are adding new classes regularly. For feedback about the classes, see the seminary section on our forum. Please feel free to join the forum discussions and share your own experiences. We value all of your input. For any questions not answered here, go to Seminary FAQs for further answers. We also have all of our essays on the RSS feed, as well as at the seminary blog: SEMINARY BLOG.
Graduation Requirements: Current graduation requirements are 40 credits for an undergraduate 'Master of Ministry' degree and 60 credits for an advanced 'Dr. of Ministry' degree. It takes approximately 10 classes completed to earn the initial number of credits. I'll say again that you don't need to graduate the whole program to get the degrees for the individual classes. Classes are being added regularly. We may offer some elective credit for various courses, but that would be granted on a case by case basis. Our goal is to strengthen the validity of the Universal Life Church through its Seminary.
SEMINARY PROGRAM APPLICATION - To the left is the application to be enrolled in the seminary program. After you fill out the form and receive a response, you can send me an email with more information about yourself, if you wish to have your student status posted on the website. Please include your name and ordination date in the subject line, along with any information you'd like to share about any courses you've taken, things you've studies, and/or interests. Whatever you post will become visible, so please don't send me anything that you don't want shared.
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© 2010 Onlineseminary.org |
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