Skip to content »

United Methodist Studies Online

Seeking ordination in The United Methodist Church? Looking for a way to fulfill your United Methodist studies educational requirements online? Combining the convenience of online education with rigorous academics, these classes set the hallmark of United Methodist studies in an online format.

Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary is proud to offer online courses that cover six key United Methodist educational requirements - United Methodist History, Doctrine, and Polity; Evangelism; Mission of the Church in the World; and Worship. These courses explore topics critical to the contemporary church through a variety of perspectives and voices, and will equip you for congregational leadership in the 21st century. Courses include:

  • United Methodist Studies: Wesley and the 19th Century
  • United Methodist Studies: 20th Century to the Present
  • Theology of Evangelism
  • Global Christianity in an Interfaith World
  • United Methodist Worship

Designed and taught by our core United Methodist faculty members, through these online courses you will receive individual attention, be stretched theologically, and exposed to new models of ministry. Contributors include senior faculty members in the fields of United Methodist studies, evangelism, liturgy, and church leadership. Combining the convenience of online education with rigorous academic, these classes set the hallmark of United Methodist studies in an online format.

To see when a course is being offered online, please see our Course Schedule for the semester you would like to take the course.

Have questions? Contact the Admissions Office at getadmitted@garrett.edu or call 1.800.SEMINARY (outside of Chicago) or 847.866.3945.

Ready to Enroll?

Garrett-Evangelical has agreements with institutions affiliated with a number of denominations to assist students who are seeking ordination in The United Methodist Church. If you are a student in one of the following institutions, please click here for more information on how to enroll.

  • Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary
  • Brite Divinity School
  • Eden Theological Seminary
  • Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
  • Sioux Falls Seminary
  • The University of Chicago Divinity School

Enrolled degree students at Chicago Theological Seminary are eligible to enroll in courses using the normal Association of Chicago Theological Schools cross-registration procedures

All other students should contact Garrett-Evangelical's Admission's Office by email at getadmitted@garrett.edu or call, 1.800.SEMINARY (outside of Chicago) or 847.866.3945.

Course Descriptions

United Methodist Studies: Wesley and the 19th Century

This course is designed to provide students with an opportunity to become knowledgeable about the origins of the Wesleyan tradition and its expressions in the United Methodist Church. It explores the roots of the movement in the Anglican Church and the Wesleyan Revival of the 18th century, the history of the institutional and theological development of American Methodist/Evangelical United Brethren tradition through the 19th century. Particular attention will be given to the issue of slavery.

This course and United Methodist Studies: 20th Century to the Present must both be completed to fulfill the United Methodist History, Doctrine, and Polity educational requirement.

 

United Methodist Studies: 20th Century to the Present

This course is designed to provide the student with a better understanding of the theological, historical, and denominational structure of the United Methodist Church from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. Attention to themes such as the ecumenical movement, world missions, evangelism, and social justice will also be given. 

This course and United Methodist Studies: Wesley and the 19th Century must both be completed to fulfill the United Methodist History, Doctrine, and Polity educational requirement.

 

Theology of Evangelism

This course equips students to synthesize their personal experiences of God’s goodness with contextual awareness, various theological perspectives, and biblical teachings to develop creative practices of evangelism that are true to their personal faith. 

This course fulfills the Evangelism educational requirement.

 

Global Christianity in an Interfaith World

The course offers an introduction to Christianity as a worldwide movement in the context of a religiously plural world. We study factors that contributed to and sustain Christianity’s current shape, reach, and impact and examine key cultural, ethical, and theological challenges facing mission and ministry in a world church.

This course fulfills the Mission of the Church in the World educational requirement.

 

United Methodist Worship

his course surveys the authorized worship resources of the United Methodist Church, with attention to their history, theology, and pastoral practice. In particular, we will explore the shape and practice of Christian prayer, liturgical time, the relationship of word and sacrament, and the liturgical pastoral offices of the Church.

This course fulfills the Worship educational requirement.

Technical Requirements

Technical Requirements

  • Operating System
    • Mac: OS X 10.5 or higher, 450MHz PowerPC G3 processor or higher recommended
    • PC: Windows XP w/ Service Pack 2 or later, Vista, 7, Home, or Student.
    • Other: Red Hat® Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 or later, openSUSE® 11 or later, Ubuntu 7.10 or later, or Solaris™ 10.
  • Ram: 1 GB (gigabyte) or more
  • Hard Drive: 10 GB or more
  • The capacity to watch multiple video formats:
  • Soundcard and speakers (or headphones)
  • Display: 15” monitor or larger (Some 13” will work); resolution should be 600 X 800 pixels or higher.
  • Current version of Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash player
  • Web Browsers: Moodle is optimized for Firefox but works well with most browsers.
    • Internet Explorer 7
    • Firefox 3.6.6
    • Google Chrome 2.0
    • Safari 3.0
    • Opera 9.5
    • AOL 9.0
  • Broadband is highly recommended and is defined as:
    • Upload transfer  rate of at least 1.0 megabits/second (or higher), and
    • Download rate of 2.0 - 4.0 megabits/second (or higher)
  • Cookies must be enabled.