Bakke Graduate University

BGU is Perspective Education: Most mid-career D.Min. and Masters programs assume students have a specialized topic in which they want to dig deeper. BGU allows for that but in the context of being ‘recalled’ and ‘retrofitted’ with the perspective of a new, global, urban world. Considering the drastic changes in the last decade, many of us need a path to better understand a world that is:

Vastly more global through the internet, world capital markets, and massive changes in post- Cold War alliances;

Vastly more urban as countries such as China are transferring 20 million people each year to urban centers to fuel the expected need for urban industrial workers;

Vastly more pluralistic - Ten year old assumptions of race and culture are obsolete.

BGU is Experiential Education: Rather than merely study massive global changes in a library or classroom, BGU creates unique immersion experiences for students. Every cohort has students from a variety of denominations and creeds and from many continents. Every D.Min. student must cross the ocean at least once in their studies. Many of the students are accomplished authors and urban and national theological leaders before they start their studies. Every class includes some type of ‘plunge’ into the city, followed by uniquely guided spiritual, biblical, historical and community reflection.

BGU is Practical Education: Urban leaders don’t put up with long theories that don’t land someplace that makes a difference. BGU classes are supervised by faculty with the highest academic credentials, but they share their teaching load with street practitioners and front-line innovators. Assignments are rigorous, but they have immediate application to your work. We know there is no margin for wasted time.

I invite you to learn more about the unique approach of BGU. It is not a journey for the faint-at-heart. The urban world has much of what the rest of the world experiences, only much faster, more concentrated, more enlightening and much more discomforting. It is the place where God is often heard the loudest, because our own voices make the least sense. No matter where you serve, it is a place that will prepare you in supersonic speed and tectonic depth to live the rest of your life aware of and prepared to join in God’s global work in a new way.

I hope you can join us and the other 400+ doctoral and masters students that call BGU THEIR school.

Brad Smith President