Simon Cox Blog: Academic Partnerships at Wheaton College and the Billy Graham Center

Thursday, 12 October 2017

Academic Partnerships at Wheaton College and the Billy Graham Center—How, Why, and Your Organization

Wheaton College Graduate School partners with Every Nation and Propel Women.

Among the many ministries housed in the Billy Graham Center is the graduate-level education of students from around the world. Some of the students attend in the traditional way, taking courses according to their individual schedule. One exciting addition to this traditional approach is the introduction of cohorts of students pursuing a master’s degree in Evangelism and Leadership or Missional Church Movements.

You don’t have to be in a cohort, and can come in as an individual student, but I wanted to explain our cohorts as we will be launching more of these in the days to come—maybe one with your ministry. (Email us at bgc[@]wheaton[.]edu and we will get you more info.)

These cohorts are designed to accommodate 15 to 25 students. Each cohort takes their classes as a group. The educational plan follows a three-year track in which the students complete much of their school work at home, where they are heavily involved in ministry or other occupations. The cohorts gather about three times per year to learn from our world-class professors and to dialogue about evangelistic practices and principles.

Over the summer, I took a few pictures and decided to make them into a post about partnership.

The photos below highlight two of our cohorts: Every Nation and Propel. The first photo shows Dr. Rick Richardson leading a class of students here at the Billy Graham Center. Rick is professor of evangelism and leadership at Wheaton College and the director of the master’s in Evangelism and Leadership and the master’s in Missional Church Movements degrees.

Before coming to Wheaton, Rick was the national coordinator and then associate director for evangelism with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He worked in campus ...