Students of Perkins School of Theology have a distinct respect and reverence for faith. While a majority come from the United Methodist tradition, the faith described above entails the much broader church heritage as well, including Non-Denominational, Baptist, Presbyterian, Unitarian, and more. The hybrid format is designed to educate and equip those within the Christian faith, but the faith as outlined in the positioning statement also includes those persons with firm belief and conviction, regardless of whether or not that belief is explicitly Christian. The chief characteristic of a student in the hybrid format is that they are faithful: to their beliefs, to their study, and to all those who share in the degree journey at Perkins.
Chapter
05
What is Hybrid? The “Personality” of Perkins' New Format
Positioning Statement
“For faithful leaders beyond DFW/HOU, Perkins offers a hybrid format that provides primarily online instruction accompanied by in-person immersions, held in Dallas, Houston, or in your backyard via mobile site, allowing more students to be transformed by the rigorous, contextual, and experiential education of Perkins."
Target Audience
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We know that all students that come through Perkins do so with the intent to make an impact in their ministries, churches, and communities. Graduates of the hybrid format will have become equipped to advance their leadership potential in pastoral positions, community service, or through the nonprofit sector. Their work coursework with immersions will provide them concentrated experience that will shape them in ways only an immersion can. Perkins has a long history of impacting those students who go on to become the innovators, the creatives, and the bridge-builders that the church of tomorrow desperately needs.
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Because our Dallas residential program and Houston-Galveston Extension Program reach both the DFW and Houston Metropolitan areas respectively, it is only reasonable to look for our expanded target audience beyond these two regions. We are excited by the possibility that the hybrid format will reach further than ever before, with more flexibility and adaptability than ever before. The Perkins education will be accessible to anyone in the country. In Chapter 4 | Competitive Analysis, we identify that there are several areas of the nation that are lacking substantial influence from theological training like ours, and the hybrid format allows Perkins to strengthen the Christian church not only by producing trained graduates but by being present in a given community’s immediate context.
Competitive Set
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The number of students with life circumstances that allow for them to enter a residential seminary education is declining. Increasingly, the prospective seminary student is juggling a myriad of competing obligations and are limited in their essential resources. The financial costs associated with theological education, the scheduling constraints of family, and the inability to relocate, are all reasons that hybrid education has become a standard of society. Each one of the thirteen United Methodist theological schools offers some variation of online or hybrid option. The only question that remains, is how those formats and programs can be differentiated. Perkins is defined by its community, so it only makes sense that in-person instruction leverages community and context as part of instruction.
To learn more about how hybrid works, skip to Chapter 7 | Nuts & Bolts.
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One key reason students attend seminary is to form life-long connections, develop a close vocational network, and bridge relationships outside of their immediate social circle. Immersions offer students that opportunity in a way that strictly online does not, through an immersive and contextual experience. The same Perkins quality and rigorous education is distilled into a single week, allowing students flexibility for the completion of the degree, while at the same time providing experiences in ministry and a classroom environment that they will carry the rest of their lives. Traveling for immersions will create strong memories through the experience and forge deep friendships among the student body.
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By offering immersions outside of Dallas and Houston, Perkins is positioning itself to prioritize the student experience. This could mean giving students the opportunity to travel with their classmates to a new city and learn from a new ministry context, in keeping with the idea of contextual education. Mobile sites also give students the opportunity to select immersions that are close to home; in their backyard and in their ministry context. So, whether students are interested in accessibility or studying in a contextual education, Perkins will be building bridges: community to city, student to context, and Perkins to church.
