ADVANCE programs offer three levels of education: 12-hour certificates, 24-hour diplomas, and 48-hour leadership diplomas.
ADVANCE offers ministry training in these areas:
A full list of programs and courses is available in the current Academic Catalog. Yearly course offerings vary by ADVANCE Center.
Gateway Seminary offers the ADVANCE Training Portal, an online learning system providing courses in theology, missions, disciple-making, and more. Designed to support both ADVANCE centers and individual learners, the portal allows students to access course content more flexibly while working toward ADVANCE Certificates and Diplomas.
Every year ADVANCE hosts events to strengthen professional and volunteer church leaders.
This year we are hosting Mimnasko: a Biblical Languages Conference designed to cultivate faithful use of the biblical languages among pastors and ministry leaders. Information about the conference can be found at www.gs.edu/blc. ADVANCE students are eligible for credit for attending on campus (ask us how at [email protected])!
Look for announcements about these events in Gateway’s newsletter The Loop and on Gateway social media.
New students will need a church endorsement submitted from their pastor and will need to pay a $35 new student application fee to their ADVANCE Center.
ADVANCE Students do not select a specific program on their application for admission but may pursue any of our various certificate, diploma, and leadership diploma programs once admitted.
When students fulfill the course requirements for a particular certificate, they should notify their center and submit a Certificate Completion Form. When students fulfill the course requirements for a particular diploma or leadership diploma, they should notify their center and submit a Graduation Application and graduation fees.
ADVANCE Centers operate as partners of Gateway Seminary and charge varying amounts for tuition based on their own operating costs. However, there is a base fee of $30 per credit hour and a cap of $100 per credit hour. The vast majority of ADVANCE classes are 3-credit hours, so ADVANCE students will typically pay between $90 to $300 per class.
Students also pay a $35 new student application fee when first applying.
Auditors pay the same amount per credit hour as regular students but do not pay a new student application fee.
Certificate recipients pay nothing to receive a certificate, once their course requirements are met and the appropriate paperwork is filed. Current graduation fees & late graduation application fees for diploma students, and transcript fees for all students, can be found here under “Other Fees (non-refundable).”
If you are not already connected with an ADVANCE center, instructor, or director, you can view our list of center at the Advance map to see if there are any centers in your language near you or online. Once you find a center you would like to enroll with, contact them directly to find out their registration process, fees, and upcoming classes.
If you need assistance locating a center, please email [email protected] with your location, your openness to online learning, and any particular courses of interest.
Possibly. Up to 10 hours of ADVANCE electives can transfer into several of the master’s programs at Gateway Seminary. Some Bible colleges have accepted up to 24 or 48 hours of ADVANCE credit, while others have not accepted any. While Gateway Seminary is an ATS accredited institution, ADVANCE is not an accredited program. Other institutions have varying policies about whether or not they will accept ADVANCE credit, so please check with them about their specific transfer policies. If you need to request a transcript, you can download the transcript request form, and other ADVANCE student forms here.
Yes. Some students attend multiple centers to take a fuller course load. Such students will need to complete a Dual Enrollment Form and designate their home center to maintain a student file for them and help them with their program progress.
If you have completed all of the course requirements for an ADVANCE Diploma (24 credits) or ADVANCE Leadership Diploma (48 credits), please submit an ADVANCE Diploma Application by the deadline to avoid the $50 late fee. Deadlines are listed in the Los Angeles-Ontario Campus Calendar, located near the end of the current year’s Academic Catalog. If you miss the initial deadlines, Graduation Applications will continue to be accepted for additional several weeks with a late fee. The final deadline for Graduation Applications is also listed in the Los Angeles-Ontario Campus Calendar. Graduation fees should be paid to your ADVANCE center.
If you have completed all of the course requirements for an ADVANCE Certificate (12 credits), please submit an ADVANCE Certificate Application by September for Fall or by February for Spring. There are no fees for receiving a certificate.
For both the Graduation Application and the Certificate Completion Form, please make sure you have completely filled out these forms before submitting. They will not be accepted until they are completely filled out, signed, and dated.