United Methodist Certification

United Methodist Certifications in Ministry Careers are for Christian educators, youth workers, and musicians who seek to serve the church with excellence. Certification is the church's method of recognizing that an individual has met the required standards for academic training, experience, and continuing study necessary to achieve and maintain professional excellence. Perkins School of Theology offers several certifications as part of its degree programs. We also offer United Methodist certifications and other certificates either for credit or not for credit.  Details regarding certifications related to degree programs may be found under degree programs. Additional information regarding UMC certifications and other certificates are found within this section.

UMC Certifications

Certification is available to laypersons, ordained deacons and elders, and diaconal ministers who meet the standards set by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of The United Methodist Church. Additional information about UMC standards and requirements is available from the GBHEM section on certification.

Candidates complete five certification courses, providing academic experience in professional or paraprofessional tracks. Candidates are certified by their annual conference Board of Ordained Ministry in cooperation with the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

Registration for certification courses on the professional track requires an earned Bachelor's degree as a prerequisite. Candidates for certification on the professional track receive academic credit for coursework. Each course earns two hours of credit. Credits are generally not applicable toward current Perkins graduate degree course requirements. Persons on the paraprofessional track receive certification credit through the General Board, but do not receive academic credit.

Perkins offers courses in the following certification programs:

Dates of upcoming events can be found on our Calendar of Events.  In the meantime, a review of the schedule for our most recent event offers an overview of our programs.

         * Children’s Ministry (Summer 2011) 
         * Christian Education (Summer 2011) 
         * Music Ministry (Summer 2011) 
         * Older Adult Ministry (Summer 2011)
         * Spiritual Direction (Spring and Summer 2011) United Methodist Certification in Spiritual Formation 
         * Youth Ministry (Winter 2012)