What Are Maritime Christian College's Beliefs and Educational Values?

Updated

Maritime Christian College (mccpei.com) states five core commitments that shape both its teaching and its institutional conduct: the authority of the Bible, disciple-making, quality education, high standards, and faithful stewardship. These are published on its homepage as the values behind its online programs, which include a Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership and two one-year certificate programs. If you are evaluating the school for fit, the practical question is not just what it believes but how those beliefs show up in courses and expectations.

The Five Stated Values

The college lists these commitments directly on its site:

Value What the college says
Doctrine It honours the Bible and its authority, and states that all courses will reflect its teaching.
Commissioned It is passionate about making disciples of Jesus, as he commanded.
Education It strives to provide high-quality learning experiences for students.
Standards It maintains high expectations of both faculty and students.
Stewardship It exercises faithfulness and wisdom when blessed with kingdom resources.

Two of these are doctrinal (Bible authority, disciple-making) and three are institutional (education quality, standards, stewardship). That split matters: the first two tell you what will be taught and why, while the last three tell you what kind of workload and conduct to expect.

What the Beliefs Mean for Course Content

The clearest operational statement is the doctrine value: courses "will all be reflective of" the Bible's teaching. In practice, this means you should expect Scripture to function as the governing text rather than as one source among many. The program descriptions are consistent with that:

  • How to Study the Bible Online (certificate, 1 year, about 3 hours weekly) teaches "the meaning of scripture using proven interpretive methods" — a methods course built on the premise that Scripture has a determinable meaning.
  • Disciple Maker's Path (certificate, 1 year, about 3 hours weekly) studies "Jesus' method in building relationships that change lives," described as simple, practical, and transformative.
  • Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership (online graduate degree, 2–3 years, about 10 hours weekly) is advanced leadership training "preparing students for disciple focused ministry and leadership in the church."

So the disciple-making value is not just a slogan — it is the stated outcome of each program, from the entry-level certificate to the graduate degree.

What the Educational Values Mean for You as a Student

The education and standards values set expectations in both directions.

What the college commits to: high-quality learning experiences, and faculty held to high expectations. The platform is described as completely online, offering flexible and accessible learning "regardless of where they live" — relevant if you are not near Prince Edward Island or are studying from another region.

What is expected of you: the standards value names students alongside faculty. The published time commitments give a concrete sense of the load — roughly 3 hours weekly for a certificate and 10 hours weekly for the master's, sustained over one year and two to three years respectively. Those figures are the college's own estimates, so treat them as a planning baseline rather than a guarantee.

The stewardship value is the least specific of the five. It speaks to how the institution handles resources, not to tuition or aid terms, and the site does not publish pricing details in the material available here. If cost is a deciding factor, ask the college directly rather than inferring from the values statement.

How to Judge Fit

Because the doctrinal commitments are explicit, fit is relatively easy to assess before enrolling:

  • If you want coursework where the Bible's authority is the stated foundation and every course is expected to reflect its teaching, the doctrine value describes exactly that.
  • If your goal is practical disciple-making rather than academic theology alone, the Commissioned value and the program outcomes line up.
  • If you need a fully online format with flexible scheduling, that is stated directly.
  • If you need to know cost, credit transfer, or admission requirements, those are not covered in the values material — request information from the college.

Student testimonials on the site echo the stated aims rather than adding new claims: one Disciple Maker's Path participant describes the course as a reminder of what Jesus did and of his command to tell others; a Master of Arts student credits a bursary with removing financial barriers to a master's course; another says they have already begun implementing what they learned and would like their whole church council to take the course. These are individual experiences, not institutional guarantees, but they suggest the values are being felt in the classroom rather than only published on a page.

The short answer: MCC's beliefs centre on biblical authority and disciple-making, and its educational values commit it to quality, high standards, and stewardship. Whether that fits you depends on whether those two doctrinal commitments are what you are looking for in a ministry education.