13 Best Free Online Pastoral Certificates 2023

13 Best Free Online Pastoral Certificates 2023

These article is on Free Online Pastoral Certificates. This article talks about free programs to learn how to become a pastor or do ministry work online. There are many different programs to choose from, but this article focuses on ones that are trustworthy and won’t cost money.

The pastor is a very important person in the church and they help Christians with important things in their life. A spiritual leader or counselor is someone important who needs to be very good at what they do.

A pastor who hasn’t been trained properly might not know how to be a good pastor for Christians and could mislead them. To become a pastor or leader, they need a lot of training that is very thorough and intense.

If you want to enroll in a pastoral training certificate, you should start by learning what a pastoral certificate means.

What is a Pastoral Certificate?

A pastoral certificate is a program that helps ministers learn more about their duties and become better pastors.

A pastoral certificate is like a certificate of completion for pastors who have gone through training. This training can be basic, intermediate, or advanced.

How long does it take to become a pastor online?

If you want to become a pastor online, it can take you anywhere from 9 months to 4 years, depending on the type of program you choose. The diploma program for learning about being a pastor can be done in 9 months, but the bachelor’s degree program takes around 4 years.

How to become a pastor for free without a degree

You can become a pastor for free without a college degree by taking an online course or getting a certificate. Most churches don’t need you to have a degree to become a pastor. What’s important is that you have the skills and know-how to do the job well.

Taking ministry classes online can increase your chances of getting a job as a pastor, so it’s a good idea to take them. You don’t need a degree to be a pastor, because some
famous pastors like Billy Graham and Lazarus Mouka didn’t have one.

13 Free Online Pastoral Certificates

Here are the free online pastoral certificates to help you get started in your journey to being a pastor and achieving excellence in spiritual leadership:

Certification of Pastoral Ministry

Axx Bible College gives a no-cost online certificate program for people who want to learn about pastoral ministry called Certification of Pastoral Ministry. If you join this course, you will study with knowledgeable pastors and experts in the Bible. This class will teach you things that will help you do well in your job in a church or other religious field.

If you want to get better at being a spiritual leader and helping others, you should do this certification.
Lots of religious leaders and people who want to become them have found this free online certificate really helpful.

There are eight courses in this certificate, they are in the following order:

  1. Introduction to the Biblical Narrative
  2. Analyze and Apply the Bible
  3. Personal Management and Spiritual Health
  4. God’s Call Your Response
  5. Authentic Leadership
  6. Theology of God
  7. Crossing Cultures
  8. Sermon Design and Delivery

There are eight instructors in this certificate program, and they are all professionals in Bible and pastoral studies:

  • Matthew Jarlett
  • Pastor Andrew Groza
  • Amelia Pickering
  • Dr. Brendan Roach
  • Regan Perry
  • Dr. DJ Konz
  • Pastor Jeremy Weetman
  • Pastor Kay Dohle

For these last few years (yes it took me a little longer to get through it), I have been blessed with amazing teaching from very competent and engaging lecturers that brought the truth of what it means to be a minister… Wow what an awesome, incredibly enriching and educational course.

Mal Munro

Certification of Pastoral Ministry is a diploma-level pastoral certificate and takes 9-12 months to complete. You can complete it online for free and also get a free certificate of completion.

Advanced Certification of Pastoral Ministry

The Advanced Certification of Pastoral Ministry is a special online certificate for pastors who have completed an earlier course called the Certification of Pastoral Ministry.

The Axx Bible College gives a free certificate to pastors and people who want to be pastors. This program is like a diploma for pastors and it is taught online.

There are 10 courses in the program and they are arranged in the following order:

  1. Personal Spiritual Growth, Part 1
  2. Personal Spiritual Growth, Part 2
  3. Advanced Pastoral Care, Part 1
  4. Advanced Pastoral Care, Part 2
  5. Introduction to Biblical Studies, Part 1
  6. Introduction to Biblical Studies, Part 2
  7. Introduction to Biblical Studies, Part 3
  8. Foundations of Leadership
  9. Person and Work of Christ, Part 1
  10. Person and Work of Christ, Part 2

You will be taught by these four instructors if you enroll in this certification:

  • Pastor Cheryl Forrest
  • Dr. Adrian Turner
  • Dr. Albert Haddad
  • Pastor Grant Buchanan

Firstly I want to say thanks to all the teachers in this Course for making it so easy to understand and Grasp the concept on the teachings. I am grateful to Axx for the opportunity to study in this course… God is good.

Darrian Lyle Govender

It will take you 9-12 months to complete the Advanced Certification of Pastoral Ministry certificate.

Licentiate Pastoral Leadership

Licentiate of Pastoral Leadership is a pastoral certificate that you can get for free online. It is available at Axx Bible College.
Before you can sign up for this certificate, you need to finish the Certification of Pastoral Ministry.

This certification has more than 190 lessons that you can learn at your own pace. You can choose when to take a lesson. The program has 12 classes, and you have to finish them in a specific order:

  1. Counseling Basics, Part 1
  2. Counseling Basics, Part 2
  3. Principles of Teamwork
  4. Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, Part 1
  5. Personal and Work of the Holy Spirit, Part 2
  6. Navigating Team Dynamics
  7. Understanding Kingdom Ministry, part 1
  8. Understand Kingdom Ministry, Part 2
  9. Church Dynamics and Health
  10. Theology of the Church, Part 1
  11. Theology of the Church, Part 2
  12. Organizational Management

In this certificate, you will be taught by the following individuals:

  • Pastor Grant Buchanan
  • Dr, Nigel Pegram
  • Dr. John Newton
  • Pastor Andrew Groza
  • Dr. Peter Downes
  • Andrew Drummond

Axx ministry training & online Bible College courses has already proved to have been of great benefit to our students studying all over Australia. The learning, the method of delivery and the interaction combine for an outstanding educational experience for men and women in ministry

Pastor Corey Turner

Licentiate Pastoral Leadership is the same as a postgraduate degree in pastoral leadership, it takes 9-12 months to complete this certification with full-time study.

Certification of Personal and Teams Leadership

This program is for new pastors leading small and growing churches to get a certificate in leadership. The certification is a good idea for ministers who work in local churches or want to work in local churches.

This certificate can be done online for free and you don’t have to meet with someone in person to get it. Below are the courses listed in a particular program, put in order:

  1. God’s Call Your Response
  2. Understanding Kingdom Ministry
  3. Personal Development and Teamwork
  4. Personal Evolution in Ministry
  5. Organizational Leadership in Christian Ministry
  6. Longevity in Ministry

There are seven instructors in the course:

  • Dr. Brendan Roach
  • Regan Perry
  • Pastor Andrew Groza
  • Dr. Albert Haddad
  • Pastor Scott Wellard
  • Dr. Markus Richardson
  • Regan Perry

I have learned how to analyse God’s word through interacting with the biblical context, and this helped me to better undertstand the history of the Church.

Elouise Harris

Certification of Personal and Teams Leadership is a diploma-level pastoral program, it takes about one year to complete the program.

Advanced Certification of Ministry Leadership

The Advanced Certification of Ministry Leadership is an online certificate for pastors who have already finished the Certification of Personal and Teams Leadership program. You can take this hard program without finishing the easy one first.

This training will teach you how to be a good leader in the church and do your job properly.

The following are the courses you will learn in the program arranged in chronological order:

  1. Principles of Teamwork
  2. Navigating Team Dynamics
  3. Emotional Intelligence and Productive Teams
  4. Spirit-filled Leadership and Acts, Part 1
  5. Spirit-filled Leadership and Acts, Part 2
  6. Spirit-filled Leadership and Acts, Part 3
  7. Organizational Management
  8. Lifelong Leadership Development, Part 1
  9. Lifelong Leadership Development, Part 2

The following instructors teach the program:

  • Dr. Nigel Pegram
  • Pastor Andrew Groza
  • Dr. Jon Newton
  • Pastor Jeremy Weetman
  • Andrew Drummond
  • Dr. Ian Grant

Axx ministry training & online Bible College courses has already proved to have been of great benefit to our students studying all over Australia.

Pastor Wayne Swift

The Advanced Certification of Ministry Leadership is a free program for pastors that takes 9 to 12 months to finish. This certificate is from Axx Bible College and it helps you become a pastor if you want to.

Online Certificate and Diploma in Church Leadership

Trinity International Theological Seminary has an online program called the Online Certificate and Diploma in Church Leadership which teaches people how to be leaders in a church.

This program is for people who want to be leaders in the Christian faith, like pastors, ministers, evangelists, and apostles. This program will teach you about being a leader in the Christian community and what you need to do in that role.

There are 11 courses in this pastoral certificate program and they are arranged in the following order:

  1. Definition of Leadership
  2. A Leader Must Lead
  3. A Leader Must Lead by Example
  4. A Leader has a Positive Attitude
  5. A Christian Leader Must Have Discernment
  6. A Leader Must Education and Encourage Others
  7. A True Leader Seeks Righteousness
  8. A True Leader has a Heart of Servanthood
  9. It’s all about his will and Not Our Will
  10. A True Leader Has Integrity
  11. A True Leader will Persevere

The courses in Online Certificate and Diploma in Church Leadership can be studied through the following means:

  • A downloadable Microsoft Word document
  • A downloadable PDF document

This free pastoral certificate program is self-paced, and the tests for the program are sent through email.

Online Certificate in Biblical Counseling

The Online Certificate in Biblical Counselling is a program that is free and online. This program is made for pastors, spiritual leaders, and Christian counselors. This class teaches Christian leaders how to be good advisors and spiritual leaders for their church members.

The courses in the pastoral certification include the following:

  • Psychology and Christian Counseling
  • General Principles of Bible Counseling
  • Theology and Biblical Counseling
  • Counseling in a Postmodern World
  • General Principles of Biblical Counselling
  • The Tenderness Trap
  • The Doctrine of Sanctification and Biblical Counseling

This certificate is also from Trinity International Theological Seminary and can be completed through the following means:

  • A downloadable Microsoft Word document
  • A downloadable PDF document

The course called “Online Certificate in Biblical Counseling” doesn’t cost any money to study, but if you want to get a special certificate for pastors, you will need to pay a small fee. This program lets you learn at your own speed and you can start whenever you like.

AMES International School of Ministry Free Pastoral Certificate

AMES International School of Ministry provides a no-cost internet program for learning about the Bible and pastoral work. The program includes 22 classes and rewards students with a certificate when finished.

You’ll get a certificate by email that you can print out in PDF style when you finish the program. After finishing the program, someone will watch you take tests. Your certificate will have three things: the name of your school, your own name, and the day you finished the program.

Lessons from Biblical Leaders

The Dallas Theological Seminary has an online course called Lessons from Biblical Leaders. It’s for pastors and Christian leaders to learn about leading based on the Bible. The seminary made a course to teach church leaders how to lead well, by learning from leaders in the Bible.

Dr is a title used for individuals who have completed advanced education and training in a specific field, such
as medicine, dentistry, or psychology. Howard Hentricks will be your teacher in this certification. He’ll teach you about leadership using examples from the Bible.

In 5 classes, you learn how to be a good leader by studying stories from the Bible. To sign up for this certification, you only need an email address that works from any email service.

Ministry Certificates from Christian Leaders Institute

Christian Leaders provides a lot of free ministry certificates on their website that can be obtained online. The Ministry Certificates are certificates made for pastors, ministers, and other church leaders.

These certificates teach people how to be leaders in the Christian church for free using the internet. These are the certificates that belong to the Ministry group:

  • Christian Ministry Certificate
  • Christian Business Certificate
  • Chaplaincy Certificate
  • Women’s Ministry Certificate
  • Christian Leaders Certificate
  • Commissioned Pastoral Certificate
  • Certificate of Ministry

The Ministry Certificates have an average of 40 credits per certificate and they are fully delivered online. The only requirement to enroll in these certificates is account registration.

Diplomas from Christian Leaders Institute

Christian Leaders Institute gives free ministry education to students around the world. You can sign up for the program on their website.

Ministry Diploma programs are for persons who want to become pastors. They have certificates that teach pastoral skills. The certificates listed below are all part of the Ministry Diploma:

  • Continuing Ministry Diploma
  • Workplace Ministry Diploma
  • Diploma of Ministry
  • Diploma of Divinity
  • Christian Marriage Diploma
  • Christian Enterprise Diploma
  • Commissioned Pastoral Diploma

Pastoral Care and Leadership

Pastoral Care and Leadership is a free online certification program for pastors made by Western Seminary. Doctor John Johnson teaches this program. He has been a pastor for more than 30 years and has lots of experience.

In this program, you will learn important skills for being a pastor, including:

  • Care for yourself and others
  • Deal with sickness and death
  • Celebrate the Lord’s Supper and Baptism
  • Lead a wedding service
  • Handle the church’s money wisely
  • Transition the church forward with innovation

The Pastoral Care and Leadership certificate needs 17 hours to finish and is only offered in English. This program has 23 lectures with both sound and picture files. If you want to enroll in any of the certificates from Biblical Training, see all classes.

Training Lay Pastors

The program “Training Lay Pastors” was made to teach pastors how to train other people to become pastors too. In this course, there are only three classes. Here is some important information about the certificate:

  • Skill level: intermediate
  • Time required: two hours
  • Language: English
  • Class format: audio and video
  • Program provider: Western Seminary
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