Horizon Partners with The Youth Coalition to Disciple Leaders
Opening A New Program Pathway for Youth Ministry Leaders
In January of 2024, Horizon signed an agreement with The YWC Coalition for Youth Ministry Leadership (the Coalition) to work together in preparing Christian leaders who are holistically equipped for youth ministry. Leaders will learn and grow through experiential learning, spiritual formation, academic excellence and intentional community, all while staying within a ministry context.
MCS-Horizon President, Jeromey Martini discusses the program advantages with Sid Koop, Executive Director of the Youth Worker Community and Steve Zacharias, Director of The Coalition for Youth Ministry Leadership.
The Combined Programming Advantage
The call to youth ministry is significant! Effective leadership that sows life and truth into the next generation requires spiritual discipline, mentored guidance, and real-life ministry experience.
This program pathway offers excellent preparation for successful youth ministry by pairing 16 months of study in biblical studies and leadership training with 2 years of contextualized learning. Students graduate with a degree and a resumé.
The Coalition is providing instruction for Horizon courses and practicums that are focused on youth ministry. In these courses, students can expect to develop academic excellence as professors from around around North America are brought in to teach on key issues that impact today’s youth. In addition, with the help of a mentor journeying alongside them, students will improve key competencies and character traits. Students also receive coaching for the specific issues they wrestle with, providing the insight they need to take their leadership ability to the next level.
“Coaching and mentoring happens while you’re in your youth ministry context. So what you’re learning in the morning, you’re putting into practice in the evening in your youth ministry,” says Director of the Coalition, Steve Zacharias. “So your ministry becomes part of your classroom. There is a rich community element when you can be in class with people who are also ministry practitioners, where you can collaborate, build tools together, learn from each other and support one another in relationships.”
Twenty-four months of this Horizon program is delivered by the Coalition, consisting of 8 shared learning experiences (courses), 4 soul-shaping modules, and a 2-year, 3000-hour ministry practicum. Each soul-shaping module consists of journalling as students read through a section of the Bible, implementing spiritual disciplines, a spiritual retreat, reading two books, and meeting with a spiritual director bi-weekly.
Steve Zacharias explains the coaching and mentoring opportunities with the Coalition.
Graduate Studies
In addition to all that is stated in the previous point, graduate students have additional work required for each course in the program and for the practicum. Graduate students create a portfolio and they discuss their learning in a series of six competency assessments with their ministry, spiritual, and academic mentors. The Coalition also ensures that graduate students are ministering in a context where they are required to steward the mission, vision, and values of a ministry organization.
How do I access the programs?
Students with Horizon
Students may take advantage of this partnership by applying to Horizon’s BA or BTh in Youth Ministry program. To learn how to apply for studies with Horizon, visit our college admissions page.
Students in these Horizon programs register through Horizon and all the youth-ministry training will appear on their transcript as individual courses or practicums.
The first half of the program is available on campus at Horizon or MCS, or through live-streaming, or asynchronously through video-on-demand.
In the latter half of their program, students need to travel to a Coalition cohort location for the eight shared learning experiences (courses). Cohorts are available in Kelowna, BC, on campus at Horizon in Saskatoon, or at MCS in Mississauga.
Students of The Coalition
If you successfully complete the Coalition program at the undergraduate level before coming to Horizon, you can still take advantage of this partnership! If you apply and are accepted to Horizon, you will be granted a block transfer of 60 credits toward the BA or BTh in Youth Ministry. You would need to complete an additional 66 credits to complete your degree at Horizon. If you have completed only part of the Coalition program, we may grant some transfer of credit on a case-by-case basis.
Graduate Students
The Coalition is providing instruction for Horizon Seminary courses and practicums that are focused on youth ministry. As our seminary students fulfill the graduate-level requirements of the twenty-four month Coalition program, they receive up to 30 graduate (seminary) credits toward either the Master of Divinity degree or the Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership degree.
Most courses in these graduate degrees are available on campus at Horizon Seminary, or through live-streaming, or asynchronously through video-on-demand.
For the Horizon Seminary courses that are focused on youth ministry, students need to travel to a Coalition cohort location for the eight shared learning experiences (courses). Cohorts are available in Kelowna, BC, on campus at Horizon in Saskatoon, or at MCS in Mississauga.
If you engage in the Coalition program at the graduate level before coming to Horizon, credit will be granted on a course-by-course basis. The transfer of credit will follow Horizon Seminary’s Transfer of Credit Policy.
Questions?
For more information on Horizon’s combined programming options, visit Horizon Plus+, and learn more about the Coalition program at www.youthworker.community/coalition. If you have additional questions, please reach out to us at info@horizon.edu.
