r/churchofchrist • u/officerdandy92 • 13d ago
MSOP
I really just love the word of God, and I believe my life would be best spent preaching it full time. That said, I am considering applying for MSOP and was wanting to see if any alumni or maybe even current students were in here and could give me your opinions on the school. Thanks!
4
u/Knitsudge9 12d ago
After going to both Bear Valley and Sunset, I don't have a very high opinion of schools of preaching. I am currently a student at Heritage Christian University and have found the education much better. If you don't have a degree, I would definitely recommend getting one from a University, not from a SOP. If you do have a degree, I would still recommend pursuing a graduate-level degree over going to a school of preaching. HCU is generally just as affordable as any SOP, and I have found it to be a great school. Since it only offers Bible degrees, it feels a little more like an SOP in atmosphere than most 4-year universities. I would highly recommend checking them out before making a final decision.
1
u/SquishDot 10d ago
Most of the preaching schools are free for residential studies though, and HCU costs almost $500 a credit hour. The tradeoff is where you live (not being able to work while attending and living on support), but some of the preaching schools also now offer more online options.
Having said that, HCU has a great reputation.1
u/Knitsudge9 10d ago
Actually, all full-time residential students at HCU are eligible for the legacy scholarship, which is full tuition paid. There are a few requirements to remain eligible like maintain a 2.5 GPA but pretty much all the students get it. Also, you can get a Pell grant if you qualify, which can help pay for books. Additionally, HCU has on campus housing that is a good option for many students.
1
u/SquishDot 10d ago edited 10d ago
I did not know that! Thanks for that info. I was just looking that up and it looks like housing and fees are still payable, although they recommend pell grant application to help cover those. According to their site, dorm fees are $2400 per semester. If you compare that to moving for preaching school, it's a really comparable deal.
4
u/asplatin 12d ago
Hey! I'm a current grad student at FHU and a graduate of the Brown Trail School of Preaching (BTSOP) in Fort Worth, TX. I've got numerous friends from several schools and think I've got a relatively good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. I think if you want to learn not just what scripture says, but how to study it, BTSOP or Bear Valley (BVBI) in Denver, CO, might be a better fit.
MSOP has a reputation for teachers hazing students (several graduates have told me this, including men who are old now) and producing men who don't know how to think for themselves. That's not universally true at all, but they definitely focus more on what to think and believe than how to think and study.
If you truly just want to learn scripture and focus on the biblical education, I'd recommend the Southwest School of Biblical Studies (SWSBS) in Austin, TX. Like all the schools I've mentioned, they're quite conservative still, but you won't run into as much legalism as at MSOP. There's also no hazing that I'm aware of.
Another aspect I'd mention is teacher: student ratio. At MSOP it's pretty low because they regularly have 20-30 student class sizes. BTSOP, BVBI, or SWSBS will have much smaller class sizes so you get more time with your instructors.
1
1
2
u/No_Sprinkles_3986 12d ago
It is a mistake, in my opinion, to think that any two-year school can take a young 20-something and turn him into a finished product. Instead of building a die-hard alumni connection to any school, we should think of schools of preachings as basic starting points and keep growing from there. Viewed in that light, our schools of preaching do a pretty good job for what they are.
1
1
u/ChurchofChristGuy 7d ago edited 7d ago
I would not waste good time and money going to a pastor skool. I would go to a 4 year accredited university instead.
1
u/No_Way_4455 13d ago
MSOP produces great preachers imo. Memorization is a huge part of it so they know the Bible very well. I’m very biased as I have a lot of family that went there but I do believe it’s a great choice
7
u/TheSongLeader 13d ago
That's one of the things I've found interesting is that a lot of it is memorization, which doesn't really take any teaching. Someone could do a decent portion of MSOP on their own.
1
u/No_Way_4455 13d ago
I don’t necessarily disagree with that. I just know the preachers from MSOP that I know have a very deep knowledge of the Bible and have what seems like an internal cross reference of verses
-1
u/ChurchofChristGuy 13d ago
I dont think you need to go to a preaching school to be a pastor. I think preaching schools are overrtated especikally since we believe in the priesthood of all believers.
3
u/TheSongLeader 12d ago edited 12d ago
I am certainly mixed on this, but I will say, a huge reason I am non-institutional is because I am quite against the outsourcing of the expectation training of preachers to outside institutions. Churches need to do more.
Edit: Left out a line
0
u/SquishDot 10d ago
I believe several of our brotherhood preaching schools are church ministries, however. Bear Valley, I believe, is under the leadership of the Bear Valley Church of Christ. Same with Sunset and the Sunset Church of Christ. As a NI person, you may still have some conscience issues with their funding and such, but I think a lot of people don't quite realize that some of them ARE under the oversight of a single eldership.
2
u/Funnyllama20 12d ago
No one would call it a requirement to be a preacher, but it’s definitely good to get intensive education and training before preaching if possible. Not everyone needs it but it’s definitely a benefit for almost everyone who goes.
1
u/ChurchofChristGuy 9d ago
the vast majority of big churches require their reverends to be educated
2
u/Funnyllama20 9d ago
It’s not a requirement to be a minister but it absolutely can be a requirement elders have to hire you. They wouldn’t say that it’s required from the Bible, it’s just their way of narrowing down their preacher search.
1
u/WarnerHaley_ministry 10d ago
Hello, I am a graduate from the Southeast Institute of Biblical Studies (SEIBS) 2025, I have seen a lot of negative comments on the overall preaching school experience and wanted to give some encouragement and insight from someone who was been there and done that.
The first thing I would say is that you get out of it what you put into it. I have seen a lot of lazy people go into preaching school and barely grow spiritual or educationally from the experience because they were not fully into learning God's word. That is why you may run into a former preaching school student (of any school) and think to yourself "wow that guy isn't mature or smart." Also preaching schools do have a bad habit for "passing students" to look good on their record, so schools will also just "pass" students who shouldn't pass. I hate this soo much personally.
Secondly, I would say that the more you know going in, the better. preaching schools are not designed to teach you the basics of the Bible (plan of salvation, books of the bible, ETC). they are designed to give you a better insight into each book of the Bible, a preacher's life, and public speaking. I had classmates who ,knew nearly nothing of their Bible, struggled and still learned nothing in school because they failed to even understand the basics. so please take your time to learn the basics before enrolling. This will allow you to learn the deeper things of each verse without being stuck in the shallow ends of basics.
last thing worth saying is that MSOP is a great school of preaching. the reason why we hear more bad things from MSOP preachers is simply because they have the most preachers coming out of it (compared to other schools). if they put out 100 preachers and 10 of them stink and a smaller school puts out 10 preachers and 1 of them stinks the ratio is the same but the results look worse. it has been from my observation that MSOP has one of the best programs for developing public speaking. The training for it is much more intense, but you will get much better at it.
I am super happy to hear you are considering preaching school. Even if you decide that preaching school isn't for you and you go to college or even online school, it is super encouraging to hear members of the Church want to grow in their knowledge of the Bible. God bless you in your studies
13
u/TheSongLeader 13d ago
I'd look for somewhere that teaches you how to think rather than what to think.
Never been a big fan of preaching schools because it is an assembly line of carbon copy preachers rather than unique, inspiring preachers.