Earn Badges with ChurchNext and Virginia Theological Seminary

ChurchNext has partnered with the Center for the Ministry of Teaching at Virginia Theological Seminary to offer an exciting opportunity to deepen your understanding of different ministries at your church. Take a ChurchNext class and follow the steps that VTS recommends, and you can earn a digital badge created by none other than Kyle Oliver, Digital Missioner for the CMT.

Right now, we offer the opportunity to earn two of these badges. The first, the VBS Planner badge, guides students through the process of developing strong Vacation Bible School programs. To earn this badge, students take our class How to Run a Vacation Bible School with Dorothy Linthicum. They then follow the steps outlined by VTS, which guides students through the process of developing and implementing a strong VBS program. In the end, students should have established well thought-out programs for ministering to the children in their congregations through VBS.

You also can earn the Digital Strategist badge. To earn this badge, students learn ways to engage church ministries effectively using digital technology. Students can educate themselves about digital technology and ministry using our class Digital Strategies for Churches with Kyle Oliver and other resources. They then follow the steps that VTS outlines on developing and implementing effective digital strategies in churches. The goal, in the end, is for each student to work with his or her church in developing an effective, cohesive strategy for how to approach and utilize social media.

Once you have followed the steps required to earn either (or both!) of these badges, VTS will send you a digital badge. You can display it on your church’s website and also on any social media that your church uses to engage parishioners to demonstrate the work that you have done in developing your church’s VBS program or in planning its strategy for engaging in ministry through digital technology. Students also can display the badge on their own social and professional media sites, online resumes, blogs, and other personal and professional texts to indicate the work that they have done in learning how to engage these ministries.

To learn more about how to earn digital badges through the CMT, please check out their video on how to earn e-formation digital badges. You also might want to look at their overview on the badges and at this article on the ways that digital badges can help congregations encourage parishioners to educate themselves about their faith and their churches’ ministries.

We hope that you will consider using our classes and the guidance of VTS’s Center for the Ministry of Teaching to engage in these learning processes. And we hope you enjoy earning and displaying the badges that recognize your hard work.