Certificates

BGU offers two types of Certificates:

Certificates of Professional Development & Graduate Certificates

Certificates of Professional Development

Certificates of Professional Development are offered by BGU for those who love to learn.  The classes are typically available continuously and have no academic entry requirements.  A wide variety of subjects will soon be available and offer a unique opportunity to expose your community to core BGU values and transformational leadership perspectives. Consider the impact on your church, nonprofit, business, or community to walk through a focused certificate experience together.

Professional Development Certificates provide students with practical skills and knowledge that can be used to improve their current work or add new areas of expertise. They are not accredited and cannot be converted into academic credit.   

Cost

Varies.

Free - $3,000.

Prerequisite Requirements

Dependent on Certificate.

Some are entry-level with no prerequisites.

Some have a short application process.

Time

Varies.
Typically 35 hours at your own pace up to 16 hours per month over 10-24 months.

Instruction Method

Varies.
Typically includes online aspects as well as hands-on experiential assignments.

Level of Instructor Involvement

Varies.
Self-guided, self-paced, and instructor lead involvement.

Credit

Certification of completion. No academic credit.

For inquiries and additional information, please contact the Certificates Program Director, Kathy Pierburg, at kathy.pierburg@bgu.edu.

Go to the Marketplace on BGU Certificates Learning Platform to register.

Graduate Certificates             

Graduate Certificates are an excellent way to experience BGU courses without committing to a full graduate-level degree program. You will be in graduate courses with students from around the world. Every course is built on BGU's core values and BGU’s eight perspectives of transformational leadership.

Graduate Certificates are programs of study consisting of a series of graduate-level courses offered by Bakke Graduate University. Upon completion, the student receives a graduate certificate. Graduate certificates can be used for continuing education credits and can transfer graduate credits into a graduate degree program.

Cost

$6,720 + Travel and Overture Costs where applicable.

Prerequisite Requirements

Undergraduate degree.

Modified BGU Application.

Time

3 – 9 week modules, typically completed over 1 year or less.

Instruction Method

Online weekly lessons are conducted through Zoom and Populi, including reading and writing at a graduate level.

Level of Instructor Involvement

Instructor-created and guided graduate-level course.

Credit

12 graduate credit hours. Can be transferred into graduate degree programs.

For inquiries and additional information, please contact the Certificates Program Director, Kathy Pierburg, at kathy.pierburg@bgu.edu.


Certificates of Professional Development

Passport to Accelerating Mission

PASSPORT TO ACCELERATING MISSION

This certificate course offers an opportunity for participants to engage with the content in of The State of the Great Commission Report, join facilitated conversations, reflect on implications, and make applications to each participants’ participant’s context.

Spiritual Formation

CERTIFICATE PROGRAM FOR MISSIONAL SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR

--> Become a Certified Spiritual Director to guide others in their spiritual journey. <-- The program provides participants with the necessary skills, knowledge, and practicum to guide others while directing them to integrate mission and calling into their practice of spiritual discipline.

CERTIFICATE IN THE IGNATIAN EXERCISES

--> Experience a deeper relationship with God as you practice Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in a group setting. <-- Our focus is to share and pray over what God has been revealing to us during the week from our meditations on Scripture and contemplations will enable us to enter the story using our five senses.

Academic Support

WRITING WELL AS STEWARDSHIP

This course is intended to help BGU students who need additional help with conveying their ideas effectively in writing. It covers organizing ideas; writing paragraphs, transitions, and sentences; spelling, grammar, and punctuation; and measuring readability.

APA 7

The course is designed to position students to become proficient in applying the APA 7 formatting style to their academic writing. The audiovisual mix of the presentations will be enabling to diverse learning styles.

  Conflict Resolution

CERTIFIED ARBITRATOR CERTIFICATE (CertArb)

--> Become a Certified Arbitrator capable of serving as a professional arbitrator in domestic and international cases. <-- 50 hours of arbitration skills acquisition training based on robust instructions, case studies, and hands-on arbitration of live dispute(s), followed by an equally in-depth professional debriefing by a highly experienced senior arbitrator.

CERTIFIED MEDIATOR (CertMed)

--> Become a Certified Mediator capable of serving as a professional mediator in diverse conflict resolution settings. <-- 45 hours of mediation skills acquisition training, based on and robust conceptualization, case studies, and hands-on resolution of live conflicts from diverse backgrounds, followed by an equally in-depth professional debriefing by a highly experienced senior mediator.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION CERTIFICATE

--> An introduction to the skills required for effective conflict resolution. <-- Based on the book, How to Resolve a Conflict by Olajide Olagunju, this course is an introduction to the skills required for effective conflict resolution both at home and at work.

Giftedness

DISCOVER YOUR GIFTEDNESS

--> Go on a journey of discovering your own unique giftedness. <-- What were you born to do? Everyone everywhere was created to do something. We call that something your “giftedness.”

DISCOVER YOUR GIFTEDNESS - IN THE BUSINESS SETTING

--> Experience the journey of discovering your giftedness for use in a business community. <-- It is created to guide individuals and teams to discover and use their giftedness in ways that transform their work, learning, relationships, and lives in communities everywhere.

DISCOVER YOUR GIFTEDNESS - IN THE CHURCH

--> Experience the journey of discovering your giftedness for use in a church community. <-- What were you born to do? Everyone everywhere was created to do something. We call that something your “giftedness.”

GIFTEDNESS GUIDES ACCELERATOR

--> Become a Certified Giftedness Guide to be equipped to walk others through the journey of discovering their giftedness. <-- Most people need a person to help them understand what they’re looking at and then act on it in meaningful ways. By training as a giftedness guide, you can become that person.

Economic Peacemaking

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

So much of community development and ministry work unveils the need for Christians to help people attain living wage jobs, or to create more economic opportunity in communities. This course prepares you to work for the economic development of your community through a combination of reading, writing assignments, integration and application.

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Loving one’s neighbor is difficult when whole communities are struggling to thrive. This course prepares you to serve your community in order to better love your neighbor through a combination of reading, writing assignments, integration and application.

PEACEMAKING AND STORYTELLING

The social aspects of community development and ministry are more critical than ever. Making peace through building empathy and storytelling is a core competency for Christians wanting to serve their local communities. This course prepares you to serve as a Peacemaker in your Community through a combination of reading, writing assignments, integration and application.

THE CAPSTONE IN ECONOMIC PEACEMAKING

This capstone course is the culminating experience for students who have completed the Christian Community Development, Economic Development, and Peacemaking and Storytelling certificates. It provides an opportunity to integrate knowledge from previous coursework and apply it to a research project and proposal.

Leadership Development

RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP

From a renewed thinking of the human person, this program equips entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, policy makers, and development practitioners to create sustainable, profitable solutions to developmental challenges while prioritizing the vision of the locals and maximizing on their gifts, skills, and available resources.

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP CERTIFICATE

This Executive Development Program aims to prepare executives to face future challenges with confidence and agility, ensuring their organizations thrive in a dynamic landscape.

HIGH IMPACT PUBLIC SPEAKING

A unique Certificate Course in Presentation Skills tailored specifically for credit union professionals in the Caribbean.


Graduate Certificates 

GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION

--> Become proficient in mediation, arbitration, negotiation, and peacebuilding at the graduate level. <-- It is designed for leaders who are interested in being exposed to: scriptural and related secular principles, practice and procedures in conflict resolution and conflict transformation applicable at work, in business, at home and in the church.

GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP FOR THE GLOBAL CITY

--> Become a student of the global city through theological reflections on global urban issues and make application to your own context. <-- A total of 12 graduate credits where the participant must take either one Immersion of the Transformational Leadership class plus the remaining credits chosen from the following list of courses provided.

GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN TEACHING THEOLOGY OF WORK

A Graduate Certificate in Teaching Theology of Work may be obtained by professors who would like to improve their understanding of this vital area of Christian theology in order to teach it in their own contexts.

GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN LEADERSHIP IN THE ARTS

This Graduate Certificate Program equips ministry, civic, business and artistic leadership with the understanding and activation potential of the arts to influence, heal and transform.