Many ministers find themselves tempted to obtain educational training and degrees from nonaccredited institutions.
But according to Jimmy Dukes, associate provost of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, obtaining a theological degree from an institution accredited by a recognized accreditation agency is important for ministers because it validates the quality of a minister’s training.
"Accreditation is the mark of quality control. I’m not sure what mark [of quality control] you would use apart from accreditation," he said.
"I certainly would never say there is no value to a non-accredited institution. That simply would not be true," Dukes said.
"But it would seem to me that what we have agreed to do in our institutions, accredited institutions, is to abide by common standards, and I think there’s a great deal of value in that."
Obtaining accredited theological degrees is particularly important for ministers who want to obtain advanced degrees at other institutions because most schools require an accredited master’s degree in order for a student to qualify for doctoral work, Dukes said. Seeking accreditation does not compromise a school’s theological fidelity, he said, because the accreditation process allows a school to set its own mission statement and purpose.
Dukes urged churches to check the accreditation of a prospective pastor’s alma mater by contacting accrediting agencies.
"They can check the Web sites of either the regional accrediting agencies or the Association of Theological Schools and find out that kind of information," he said. (BP)
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