Thirdmill Institute
Student Orientation
Thirdmill Institute exists to empower churches and local leaders globally to equip others for ministry through free certified biblical training.
What is the Thirdmill Institute?
For more than twenty years Richard Pratt and Third Millennium Ministries have been creating “Biblical Education, For the World, For Free” in the form of high quality, multimedia lessons covering the topics practically all seminaries uniformly offer in their Bible and Theology departments. These multimedia lessons have been translated into a host of languages and given freely to all who are willing to learn and desire to know God’s Word better. By design, these lesson series have been produced individually and without dependence upon the other series. This has given the curriculum the flexibility needed to meet a variety of needs in multiple cultures and contexts.
The Thirdmill Institute introduces something new. It provides design and structure by combining these lesson series into courses to give students and trainers a more standardized experience in their learning community environments. The Thirdmill Institute also meets that need for structure by laying out the overall direction of the curriculum into three certificate programs. Each Certificate incorporates weekly or regular activities, all ending in a diploma for those who complete all three.
The goal of the Institute in the life of a student is threefold. First, that you would understand and assimilate the material. Second, that you would learn how to apply the material to your current and real-world ministry experience. And third, that the material would enrich your relationship with God and facilitate deeper growth with him.
What is your role as a student?
As a student, your role is to engage in the process as built out in the Thirdmill Institute. This is done by studying the material, working through the study and discussion guides, and walking with your trainer to learn how to apply it to your life and ministry, especially with the
use of the Institute Badges. The video lessons themselves will do much of the teaching, the quizzes and exam will do much of the assessment, and the discussion guides will give you the prompts needed to articulate what you have learned. This requires commitment and work. At
Thirdmill, we’re so excited to see and hear of what God will do in your life through this process.
What is a trainer?
Our goal is that every student in the Thirdmill Institute is led by a trainer, either one-on-one or in small groups. The trainer’s main job is to guide you through the process by leading your weekly small group discussion times and helping your group accomplish the action steps in the Institute Badges. Trainers are also responsible to track your progress and check the completeness of all work in order to receive the certificates and diploma.
How do you find a trainer?
You may have already been in contact with someone who would serve in the role of your trainer. If not, we can help you find one through the Thirdmill network. Please contact us at [email protected]. Another option could be finding someone in your church or community
who would serve in this role. We do ask, however, that they go through the material as well if they haven’t previously gone through it. In the rare event that no one is available, we will consider offering an unsupervised version of the certificates and diploma. Nevertheless, we highly recommend doing this with oversight and guidance through a trainer
3 Certificates = 1 Diploma
Thirdmill Institute currently offers three distinct certificate programs that, when completed as a whole, make up the Institute’s Diploma in Christian Ministry. The first of these is called the Foundations Certificate. This four-course certificate lays a solid foundation in both Bible and Theology and is where all groups should start. Once complete, groups can either work on the Certificate in Biblical Studies, the Certificate in Theological Studies, or both at the same time. This has been designed that if each course is followed in 7-11 week modules and allowing for breaks, it can be completed in three years. This can be done quicker or take longer depending on what you and your learning community decides. The Certificate in Biblical Studies covers Thirdmill’s remaining Old Testament and New Testament courses, while the Certificate in Theological Studies covers Thirdmill’s remaining Theology courses. Whether you go through all of the remaining Bible courses, all of the remaining theology courses, or bounce back and forth between the two until you are finished with both is up to you as the trainer. Unlike the four-course Foundations Certificate, both the Bible and the Theology Certificates include five courses.
Thirdmill Institute Course Design
Thirdmill Institute courses are a combination of Thirdmill’s lesson series plus additional documents such as Study Guides, Discussion Guides, and Badges. The courses also include a weekly quiz and final exam. In an effort to standardize Thirdmill curriculum into 7-11 week courses, we have combined 1-3 lesson series in each course. For example, the Theological Foundations Course is a combination of The Apostles’ Creed and Building Your Theology. By doing this, you will notice that the video lesson and manuscript content for Theological Foundations Module 7 will say that it is Lesson 1 of Building Your Theology. To prevent any potential confusion, it is important to point out this detail to your students.
The Online Classroom (institute.thirdmill.org)
The central hub of Thirdmill Institute is the online classroom. This is where students go to create an account, enroll in courses, watch the lessons, take quizzes, and download relevant documents. And this is where you’ll be able to track your progress. The full material is also available through microSD cards and in printed format when internet isn’t available.
Learning Communities
The Thirdmill Institute is designed to be done in small learning communities. Learning communities are made up of students and trainers. This can be just you and your trainer or as many other students as your trainer decides. We recommend smaller groups of 5-6. You will meet regularly with your group and this is where much of the learning will take place. It is here the many of the concepts will be solidly formed and where you will learn to apply them both to your ministry and your relationship with the Lord. Keep in mind, we anticipate you will spend approximately three to five hours per week in study on your own and about one and a half hours a week in your group. Some courses will last eight weeks; some will last ten. Each certificate involves four or five courses.
Elements of Each Course