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Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies

The Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies (MAICS) is a two year program designed to meet the need for mid-career training for missionaries and international church and mission leaders. This degree exposes students to new possibilities for missiological praxis so that they meet the challenge of contextualizing the gospel in an increasingly global community. In addition, it enables practitioners to pursue coursework in one area of missiological study, culminating in a reflective and research-based writing project. In order to enter this program, students must have three years of crosscultural ministry experience, as defined below.

The program begins with a broad training in intercultural studies so that students can interact with faculty and gain further competency in seven vital areas: anthropology, communication, church, history, leadership, integration, and theology of mission. The program also provides the student with foundational graduate level theology competency. Students who have fulfilled equivalent courses in their undergraduate degree or ministry experience can take higher level courses and electives in fulfilling this competency. In the second year of the program, students get to delve more deeply into one area of concentration, see concentrations below. They will have the opportunity to complete a writing project which involves researching in the area of their concentration, integrating relevant coursework, reflecting on crosscultural experience, and applying findings to future service.

Curriculum

The Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies requires the successful completion of 96 quarter units. The courses in the curriculum, illustrated in the MAICS Outline, consists of Core Competencies in Missiology (28 units), Foundational Studies in Bible and Theology (16 units), Concentration (28 units), and Theology Competencies and General Electives (24 units).  A typical class is 4 units. Students can complete this degree in two years of full-time study, or can pace the program over a longer period of part-time study. 

Learning Outcomes

  • Graduates will participate in the mission of God and the ministries of the global Church from an evangelical missiological perspective.
  • Graduates will demonstrate critical thinking and integration skills in order to foster individual and social transformation. Graduates will demonstrate sensitivity to cultural and ethnic diversity for building relationships and for communicating the Gospel in context.
  • Graduates will have skills and knowledge and networks of relationships to pursue vocations that engage the mission of God globally. Graduates will value the importance of spiritual formation in both its personal and communal dimensions.

Crosscultural Ministry Experience

The Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies is designed for practitioners with at least three years, or equivalent, of crosscultural ministry experience, i.e., ministry or service operating outside one's own cultural context with a people of different ethnicity. Applicants who do not meet this requirement will be well suited for the Master of Arts in Crosscultural Studies. Korean Language MA in Intercultural Studies students who do not meet this requirement will be required to include a practicum (8 units) in their program in place of a writing project.

Admission Requirements

Students entering the Master of Arts or the Certificate programs of the seminary must normally hold an undergraduate degree (BA or equivalent) from an accredited institution with a cumulative grade point average of 2.7 or above. An official score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) of 240 on the computer test (587 on the paper test) is required for those whose first language is not English. Visit the ESL website for further details.

Residency Requirements

At least 48 units must be earned at Fuller Seminary on the Pasadena campus.

Transfer Credit

Students may transfer up to 40 units of graduate-level courses in missiology or theology from an accredited institution into the program.

Distance Learning

Up to 50 percent of the Master of Arts in Crosscultural Studies (including transfer credit) may be taken by distance learning. Distance learning includes correspondence courses, online courses, directed study courses, and the writing project.

Time Limits

In order to ensure that a degree, when granted, represents education that is current and reasonably focused (not acquired a little at a time over an unreasonably long period), all credit applied to the degree must be earned within a certain period of time. For the Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies degree at Fuller, this period has been set at ten years. This includes all credit earned elsewhere and applied to the degree, as well as all credit earned at Fuller. The time limit for the writing project is three quarters.