Midwestern Seminary has announced Fusion: Masters, a new graduate-level missions program aimed at equipping students for gospel ministry in overseas contexts. Midwestern Seminary Assistant Professor of Missions, Joe Allen III, has been tapped to lead the program.
“We cannot be more pleased to announce the Fusion: Masters program,” said President Jason Allen. “Much thought, planning, and effort have gone into bringing this concept to reality, and we are very much looking forward to the ways it will benefit local churches and ministry contexts overseas. God has raised up generous financial partners, which has enabled Fusion: Masters go from a dream to a reality. We believe God will use this new initiative for his glory among the nations.”
“We are grateful to the IMB for their ongoing partnership with us in training the next generation of faithful gospel missionaries. That partnership will continue to flourish in this new, graduate-level iteration of Fusion. Our shared goal is to instill in our students a heart for a lifetime of serving Jesus Christ and proclaiming the gospel to the lost.”
Fusion: Masters is a year-long graduate-level program designed to train men and women desiring to make disciples in overseas contexts.
The program includes the completion of a 36-hour Master of Arts degree in Intercultural Studies, on-the-ground mentorship and training with the faculty at Midwestern Seminary, and an extensive, overseas summer-missions practicum in partnership with the International Mission Board. Those admitted into Fusion: Masters students will also receive substantial scholarship assistance toward the cost of their studies, living expenses, and deployment overseas.
The 36-hour MAIS degree includes 27 credit hours earned through foundational core and mentorship courses on campus at Midwestern Seminary during the fall and spring semesters. Students earn the remaining nine hours of credit through a summer overseas missions practicum alongside current IMB missionaries.
Though Fusion: Masters is technically a year-long program, it’s designed to fit seamlessly within Midwestern Seminary’s 81-hour Master of Divinity degree. Furthermore, students currently enrolled in other Masters programs at Midwestern Seminary may also take part in the summer missions experience and enroll in the fall and spring Fusion: Masters courses.
Joe Allen expressed his excitement over the new initiative, saying, “We’ve worked hard to design a program that is comprehensive enough to provide the very best training available for future missionaries, while also ensuring we go deep enough to help students mature in their faith while they are in the program.
“Fusion: Masters students will be embedded in a community of like-minded students who want to pour out their lives for the sake of the nations. This, along with mentorship from our faculty and an optimally structured curriculum, will provide an ideal environment to train men and women desiring to serve overseas.”
Midwestern Seminary Provost Jason Duesing added that the program is designed to help students satisfy the educational, doctrinal, and practical requirements of the IMB application in order to help students transition quickly and smoothly from seminary to missionary service.
“Our end goal reflects the Great Commission given to all Christians, namely, that the nations would be reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. To that end, we’ve designed a program form-fitted to instill within our students a passion for the nations and a desire to grow more mature in their own faith through the process of being trained.
“Additionally, in structuring our curriculum, we have made every effort to maximize our ongoing strategic partnership with the IMB. Fusion: Masters serves as the perfect on-ramp to future opportunities with the IMB as the requirements for graduation satisfy the application requirements for IMB service.”
Founded in 2005 at Midwestern College (now Spurgeon College), FUSION began as a directional process whereby young Christians would grow into biblical manhood and womanhood by embracing the call of the gospel.
As students grow in their understanding of Jesus and His call, they often ask the question, “Is it worth it?” Amid growing challenges, they prepare to take the calculated risk of trusting Jesus to draw people to Himself as He is lifted up to the ends of the earth. FUSION students take ownership of their faith by facing great responsibility with high expectations in the context of life-on-life discipleship alongside other members of small cohorts.
Fusion: Masters students can begin taking courses in the fall semester of 2022. Applications are currently open.
To learn more about Fusion: Masters, visit https://www.mbts.edu/fusionmasters
