Megachurches have become one-stop centers, with food courts, sports leagues, and automotive repair shops alongside concert-caliber praise bands and strong preachers.
Next up: seminaries.
Mars Hill Church, the Seattle megachurch of high-profile pastor Mark Driscoll, will launch the Resurgence Training Center this fall. Dubbed "Re:Train," the degree-granting graduate program is part of a strategy for preparing leaders to plant 1,000 churches.
At the same time, popular pastor John Piper’s Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis—which has had a pastor-training institute for 11 years—will start offering master’s degrees as Bethlehem College and Seminary.
LOCAL ANGLE:
Some Madison churches also offer advanced theological training. HighPoint Church has been hosting classes for a number of years as a Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Extension site. Mad City Church has just announced plans to become an extension site for Christian Life College this fall. Also, on Sunday, August 23, 2009, Bethesda Church is launching a residential discipleship program called Madison Master’s Commission.