BestOnlineCollege.org is an advertising-supported website. Many of the school and program listings that appear on this site are from partners who compensate us, and this compensation may affect how, where, and in what order listings appear (such as featured placements). This compensation does not influence our editorial content, evaluations, or rankings, which are determined independently using publicly available data. We do not review or feature every school or program available in the marketplace. Our goal is to provide accurate, unbiased information so you can make informed decisions. Read our full Advertiser Disclosure.
Key takeaway: An online theology degree covers theology and Christian ministry in one field: undergraduate titles are typically a BA or BS in Theology, Biblical Studies, or Christian Ministry; graduate titles are typically an MA in Theology, a Master of Theological Studies (MTS), or a Master of Divinity (MDiv). The MDiv is the standard seminary credential for ordination in many Protestant denominations. A degree is not ordination. The United States does not license clergy the way it licenses nurses, and Catholic priesthood follows a separate seminary path that an online BA or MDiv does not complete. Wages in ministry are often set by congregations and sit below many bachelor’s fields: clergy had a median annual wage of $60,810 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS). Compare accredited programs below.
Theology is the academic study of God, scripture, tradition, and the life of the church. Christian ministry is the applied side of the same silo: preaching, pastoral care, discipleship, and congregational leadership. Accredited online programs generally deliver the same curriculum and degree titles as campus programs; browse the best accredited online colleges to compare schools that offer them. For graduate seminary study, the programmatic accreditor is the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) Commission on Accrediting. ATS matters more at the MDiv than at an undergraduate ministry BA. Confirm institutional accreditation through the U.S. Department of Education database either way.
These accredited schools offer online programs. Request information to compare programs, costs, and formats.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Theology and ministry graduates work in congregations, denominational offices, campus ministries, nonprofit and missions organizations, religious education programs, and – with a doctorate – college and seminary teaching. Pay is often set by the congregation or denomination rather than by a market wage scale. Many roles include a housing allowance or parsonage; Bureau of Labor Statistics wage figures may or may not capture that compensation, and this page does not estimate a dollar amount for it. Median annual wages below come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program.
| Occupation | Median annual wage |
|---|---|
| Philosophy and Religion Teacher, Postsecondary | $80,260 |
| Clergy | $60,810 |
| Director of Religious Activities and Education | $52,100 |
| Religious Worker, All Other | $45,280 |
| Occupation | Projected job growth (2024-2034) |
|---|---|
| Director of Religious Activities and Education | 2.1% |
| Clergy | 1.0% |
| Philosophy and Religion Teacher, Postsecondary | 0.7% |
| Religious Worker, All Other | 0.6% |
The wage picture is not a selling point, and it should not be treated as one. Clergy had a median annual wage of $60,810, with the 10th percentile at $37,860, the 25th percentile at $48,260, the 75th percentile at $76,640, and the 90th percentile at $98,890 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS). The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program counted 57,200 wage-and-salary clergy in May 2025. The Employment Projections program, which covers a broader set of workers, estimated 262,000 clergy in 2024, projected to 264,600 in 2034 – 1.0 percent growth – with 23,000 openings per year, mostly replacement (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
Directors of religious activities and education had a median annual wage of $52,100, 2.1 percent projected growth, and 13,800 openings per year. Religious workers in the residual “all other” category had a median of $45,280, 0.6 percent growth, and 11,100 openings per year. Philosophy and religion teachers at the postsecondary level had the highest median in this set, $80,260, with 0.7 percent growth and 2,000 openings per year; tenure-track roles typically require a doctorate, not a BA or MDiv (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Individual outcomes vary by denomination, congregation size, geography, and experience.
An online theology degree is a college or seminary program in the study of God, scripture, church history, and Christian practice, delivered primarily at a distance. Undergraduate titles are commonly a BA or BS in Theology, Biblical Studies, or Christian Ministry. Graduate titles are commonly an MA in Theology, an MTS, or an MDiv. Some schools also offer a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) for people already in ministry; that is a professional doctorate, not an entry credential, and it is not covered on a separate page in this silo.
No. Ordination is a denominational act – eldership, session, bishop, ordination council, or equivalent – not a state license and not a diploma. A degree does not equal ordination. Readers must check their denomination’s candidacy process. An online BA or MDiv does not complete the Catholic path to priesthood, which runs through diocesan sponsorship and a Catholic seminary.
A bachelor’s is the undergraduate foundation. An MA in Theology and an MTS are shorter graduate degrees, often more academic than vocational. The MDiv is the longer seminary degree and the standard credential for ordination in many Protestant denominations. Compare required course lists and field-education requirements rather than titles alone. See the online bachelor’s and online master’s guides.
The Association of Theological Schools Commission on Accrediting is the programmatic accreditor for graduate theology and seminary degrees in North America. It matters most if you need an MDiv that a denomination, chaplaincy board, or graduate school will recognize. It matters less for an undergraduate ministry BA, where recognized institutional accreditation – verified through DAPIP – is the check that matters. Confirm a school’s current ATS status on the ATS Commission on Accrediting site; this page does not publish a school list.
No. Pastoral care and spiritual direction are ministry practices. They are not a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) credential. Independent clinical practice requires a counseling, marriage-and-family-therapy, or clinical-social-work master’s, supervised postgraduate hours, and a state license. See the counseling, psychology, and human services guides if licensed helping work is the goal.
Theology and ministry curricula generally move through three layers. The first is scripture and languages: Old and New Testament, hermeneutics, and, in many MDiv programs, biblical Greek and/or Hebrew. The second is history, theology, and ethics: church history, systematic or constructive theology, moral theology, and the doctrines your tradition actually uses. The third is ministry practice: preaching, worship, pastoral care, Christian education, evangelism and mission, and congregational leadership. Undergraduate programs usually put more weight on the first two layers plus a ministry practicum. MDiv programs put more weight on the third, including supervised field education in a congregation or ministry site.
At the bachelor’s level, expect roughly 120 semester hours, with the theology or ministry core concentrated in the junior and senior years after general education. At the master’s level, an MA or MTS is commonly completed in about two years of full-time study. An MDiv is a longer professional degree, commonly about three years of full-time study, because it adds languages, preaching, and field education that a shorter MA does not. Online delivery does not remove those pieces; it relocates the classroom. Field education, intensives, and preaching labs still have to happen somewhere a supervisor can watch you work.
Formation is the part online catalogs underplay. Seminaries are not only teaching content. They are also asking whether you can be entrusted with a congregation. That evaluation – character, call, and fitness – belongs to your denomination’s candidacy process as much as to the school. A transcript cannot substitute for it.
The work splits into a few recognizable shapes. Congregational ministry – pastor, associate pastor, priest in traditions that use that title, youth or children’s minister – is the destination most students have in mind, and it is the occupation BLS labels clergy. Religious education and program direction – Christian education director, discipleship pastor, campus minister, denominational program staff – maps to directors of religious activities and education. A residual category of religious workers covers roles that are ministry-related but not clergy and not education directors. College and seminary teaching is a separate labor market that typically requires a doctorate for tenure-track work.
Two honest limits. First, pastoral care inside a church is not licensed counseling. If you want to diagnose and treat mental health conditions, bill insurance, or hold an LPC, LMHC, or LCSW, you need a clinical graduate path, not a theology elective in pastoral care. Second, Catholic priesthood, Orthodox priesthood, and some other sacramental traditions have formation rules this silo cannot satisfy online. For general labor-market context on clergy, see the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. For the step-by-step Protestant-majority path, see how to become a pastor.
Theology or a related field? Choose theology or Christian ministry if the work you want is congregational leadership, teaching in the church, or academic study of the Christian tradition. Consider counseling if you want a state license to practice therapy, psychology for the broader behavioral-science undergraduate route into that work, human services for case management and community roles that do not require ordination, or liberal arts if religion is one subject inside a wider humanities degree.
Aiming at the pulpit? See how to become a pastor. Wondering where it leads? See what you can do with a theology degree for the jobs and BLS wage data behind the degree. Compare programs by topic:
Back to Online Degree Programs - 32 Fields of Study (2026)
