M.Div. in Professional Chaplaincy – Healthcare Provide Spiritual Guidance
93
Credit Hours
Online,* 8-week courses
Transfer in up to 50% of the degree total
Prepare for a Future in Healthcare Chaplaincy
Healthcare chaplains – including hospice and hospital chaplains – spend most of their ministry at medical facilities helping the injured, sick, or terminally ill find rest, healing, and spiritual guidance. As a healthcare chaplain, you can often counsel both patients and their families, helping them work through stages of grief, understand their illness, and sometimes process any anger they feel toward their situation. Patients may request that you provide last rites or other religious services.
If you have a passion for providing support and spiritual guidance to patients and their families, then conferring Liberty University’s online Master of Divinity (M.Div.) in Professional Chaplaincy – Healthcare might be the right next step for you. The healthcare field needs uplifting individuals like you to present the hope of Christ during troubling times.
*Some exclusions apply. Please refer to our exclusions page for more information.
Accreditation
Liberty Theological Seminary, as part of Liberty University’s John W. Rawlings School of Divinity, is accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). Your seminary degree is approved by ATS and has met rigorous accreditation standards, so you can feel confident that your degree is both academically excellent and well-respected among churches, ministries, and nonprofit organizations.
Why Choose Liberty’s M.Div. in Professional Chaplaincy?
If you are looking to pursue full-time ministry, a Master of Divinity is the best program for you. Our M.Div. in Professional Chaplaincy offers you 63 credit hours of core ministry coursework to learn all the skills you’ll need to lead with confidence and integrity in your ministry. Whether you come into this program with a ministry-related bachelor’s degree or not, you can be confident that you can gain the skills you need to be career-ready when you graduate.
In order to provide you with the best educational experience possible, we offer our program 100% online with optional intensives. These intensives give you the opportunity to come to our residential campus if you would like to explore Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) in-person with your professors.
What Will You Study in Our Professional Chaplaincy – Healthcare Master’s Degree?
In all of our professional chaplaincy degrees, you will complete 63 credit hours of ministry-focused studies. You will complete courses that explore other religions, the history of Christianity, and best practices in bridging the gap between the two. Additionally, you will take Greek and Hebrew classes designed to increase your understanding of Scripture from its original languages.
Within the healthcare chaplaincy track, you can complete courses specific to those who want to work in various healthcare settings. You can pursue an internship or choose from various electives in healthcare chaplaincy. You can also complete up to 4 units of CPE – a requirement for some hospital chaplain positions – to advance your chaplaincy experience before entering the field.
Potential Career Opportunities
- Hospice chaplain
- Hospital chaplain*
- Pastor
*This position may require 4 units of CPE and board certification.
Featured Courses
Degree Information
- This program falls under the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity.
- View our Graduate Divinity Course Guides (login required).
Degree Completion Plan
Not sure what to choose?
Speak to one of our admissions specialists to help you choose the program that best fits your needs.
Tuition & Aid
Your success is our success, which is why we are committed to providing quality academics at an affordable tuition rate. While other colleges are increasing their tuition, we have frozen tuition rates for the majority of our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs for the past 9 years – and counting.
To continue our mission of providing affordable education, electronic textbooks are provided for many divinity courses* all for one convenient fee.
*Electronic textbooks are not provided for PACO courses or courses that fall under departments outside the School of Divinity.
Grad & Postgrad Divinity Block Rate (9-15 credit hours) | $2,750 |
---|---|
Grad & Postgrad Divinity Part Time (1-8.99 or over 15 credit hours) | $395/Credit |
Military Grad & Postgrad Divinity Block Rate (9-15 credit hours) | $2,475 |
Military Grad & Postgrad Divinity Part Time (1-8.99 or over 15 credit hours) | $275/Credit |
Tuition rates may change annually. For the most current information, please visit our LU Tuition Cost page.
Financial Aid & Scholarships
Admission Requirements for Our M.Div. in Professional Chaplaincy – Healthcare Degree
Admission Requirements
- Apply online or over the phone with an admissions counselor by calling (800) 424-9596.
- A non-refundable, non-transferable $50 application fee will be posted on the current application upon enrollment (waived for qualifying service members, veterans, and military spouses – documentation verifying military status is required).
- Send official college transcripts (mailed as sealed, unopened copies or sent via a direct electronic transcript system). A regionally or nationally accredited bachelor’s degree with at least a 2.0 GPA is required for admission in good standing. Applicants who have earned a master’s degree or at least 12 graduate credits from an accredited institution will be assessed on the basis of the master’s-level degree work.
- Unofficial transcripts can be used for acceptance purposes with the submission of a Transcript Request Form.
- Admission to this program also requires:
- The School of Divinity Questionnaire (login required).
- Submission of contact information (login required) for 1 pastoral recommender.
- Applicants whose native language is other than English must submit official scores for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or an approved alternative assessment. For information on alternative assessments or TOEFL waivers, please call Admissions or view the official International Admissions policy.
Preliminary Acceptance
If you are sending in a preliminary transcript for acceptance, you must:
- Be in your final term and planning to start your master’s degree after the last day of class for your bachelor’s degree.
- Complete a Bachelor’s Self-Certification Form confirming your completion date. You may download the form from the Forms and Downloads page or contact an admissions counselor to submit the form on your behalf.
- Submit an official/unofficial transcript to confirm that you are in your final term. The preliminary transcript must show a minimum of 105 completed credit hours.
- If you are a current Liberty University student completing your undergraduate degree, you will need to submit a Degree/Certificate Completion Application.
- Send in an additional, final official transcript with a conferral date on it by the end of your first semester of enrollment in the new master’s degree.
Dual Enrollment
Please see the Online Dual Enrollment page for information about starting graduate courses while finishing your bachelor’s degree.
Transcript Policies
Unofficial College Transcript Policy
Unofficial transcripts combined with a Transcript Request Form can be used for admission. Official transcripts are required within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first, and will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.
Before sending unofficial college transcripts, please make sure they include the following:
- Your previous school’s name or logo printed on the document
- Cumulative GPA
- A list of completed courses and earned credit broken down by semester
- Degree and date conferred (if applicable)
Official College Transcript Policy
An acceptable official college transcript is one that has been issued directly from the institution and is in a sealed envelope. If you have one in your possession, it must meet the same requirements. If your previous institution offers electronic official transcript processing, they can send the document directly to luoverify@liberty.edu.
If the student uses unofficial transcripts with a Transcript Request Form to gain acceptance, all official transcripts must be received within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first. Failure to send all official transcripts within the 60-day period will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.
Admissions Office Contact Information
Liberty University Online Admissions Verification
1971 University Blvd.
Lynchburg, VA 24515
Ready to Apply?
Submit your application online or over the phone.
Military
Liberty University is dedicated to providing world-class educational experiences to military students across the globe.
Who May Qualify?
- Active Duty
- Reserve/National Guard
- Veterans/Retirees
- Spouses of Service Members and Veterans/Retirees
- Current Department of Defense Employees
Available Benefits:
- Tuition discounts – $275 per credit hour for part-time graduate and postgraduate divinity courses
- Discounted divinity block rate – $2,475 per semester*
- Additional discount for veterans who serve in a civilian capacity as a First Responder (less than $625 per course)**
- 8-week courses, 8 different start dates each year, and no set login times (may exclude certain courses such as practicums, internships, or field experiences)
*Credits taken below 9 and above 15 credit hours per semester are charged at the part-time rate.
**Not applicable to certificates.
Tuition rates may change annually. For the most current information, please visit our LU Tuition Cost page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I receive CPE training?
With mentorship from experienced chaplaincy professionals, you can gain the skills you need without compromising your principles in order to serve as a chaplain. Our flexible format allows you to choose how you complete your CPE-accredited units either as intensives or with a CPE program in your community. These units are available as on-campus modules accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) or as 100% online courses to guide you through your local CPE program.
What's the difference between Residential Intensives and Online Mentoring?
Liberty University’s professional chaplaincy degrees offer 2 paths to complete your CPE-accredited training:
Residential Intensives
- These ACPE-accredited courses are taught as 1-week, on-campus intensives by Liberty’s ACPE Certified Educators.
- You will work in a clinical site near you with guidance and approval from our CPE program director.
Online Mentoring
- These 100% online courses are taught by Liberty’s chaplaincy professors.
- You will work through an accredited CPE training program in your area and gain additional skills and training with the mentorship of Liberty’s experienced chaplaincy professionals.
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- Why Choose Liberty?
- What Will You Study?
- Tuition & Aid
- Admission Information
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- FAQs
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