BA (Hons) Applied Theology Youth and Community Work with JNC
“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.”
—Colossians 3:16, NLT
Our Applied Theology, Youth and Community Work degree has been designed to give you a firm foundation on which to build. It will equip you to serve God in practical and relevant ways in dynamic youth work contexts. The programme is validated by the National Youth Agency (NYA) which means that upon graduation you will also receive JNC accreditation as a professional youth worker.
3 years full-time
Location and mode of study
- Moorlands Campus Based
- Moorlands South West
- Flexible learning
Plus location(s) of placement(s)
You can study the Applied Theology programme in a number of different ways and locations. To find out more, use the links below to skip to the relevent part of the page:
What you’ll study
Your studies on the BA (Hons) Applied Theology (Youth and Community Work) programme are orientated around four different strands. If you study full time, you’ll study one module in each of the strands. As you work towards professional qualification in Youth and Community Work, you’ll also work directly with young people in your placement context, approximately 12 hours per week. Over the course of your studies you will gain experience of working with young people in at least one additional placement setting.
Biblical Studies
The Bible forms the basis of all of the College’s teaching and action. As a result, a large part of your academic study will involve robust engagement with Biblical texts. This strand equips you to handle Scripture appropriately, engaging with factors such as genre and cultural context, that inform interpretation. This strand will help you to explore the implications of the Biblical texts studied for contemporary Christian life and your youth work context.
Christian Foundations
This strand explores the foundations of the Christian faith through developing your knowledge and critical awareness of Christianity’s historical unfolding. You’ll explore the key themes and concepts within the biblical narrative, and the core beliefs and practices of Christian orthodoxy. This strand equips you to be effective in ministry in a variety of youth work contexts by allowing you to engage with contemporary challenges and objections to Christianity and to address them effectively and appropriately.
Young People, Communities and Contexts
This strand enhances your ability to engage with key features of the contemporary world of young people. It explores the contexts of youth and community work and considers social policy and frameworks for professional practice. You will use the experiences from your placement to engage with methods and principles of contextual theology and reflective practice within a value base of social justice and human rights. There is a particular focus on underpinning values of youth and community work such as participation, empowerment and anti-oppressive practice. In Year 3, you’ll have the opportunity to choose between doing a longer piece of research-based work, or an immersive placement with young people either within or outside of the UK.
The Christian Youth Worker
This strand develops the skills, knowledge and attitudes that are central to the formation of a professional Youth and Community Worker. You will use the insights gained from your placement experiences to grow in your personal development and in the management and leadership of others. In line with the National Occupational Standards for Youth and Community work, you’ll build up the skills required to support young people to flourish, build resilience and achieve their full potential. This strand equips you to operate in increasingly diverse, complex and contested spaces. In Year 3, your studies will have a particular focus on community development and transformation, examining key issues such as power, poverty, inequality and injustice.
BA (Hons) Applied Theology, Youth and Community Work Module Table
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Why Moorlands?
Our Applied Theology degree has been designed to give you a robust biblical foundation on which to build your life and ministry. It will equip you to serve God in practical and relevant ways in a fast-changing, turbulent world.
Regardless of whether you choose the on-site mode of study, or the flexible learning mode of study, you will receive the same course content, support and academic excellence.
Why Applied Theology?
The aim of the Applied Theology degree is to equip you to serve God with integrity and confidence in a range of different settings.
Whether you are called to education, business, politics, the arts, the charity sector, the local church, children and families work, or other vocational spheres, this programme will help you to develop a biblical and theological grounding for your work.
Impacting church and world
One of our main aims is to help you integrate your academic studies with your practice. This is facilitated through embedding required practive within modules that you study, allowing you to gain some credit for how you serve, and teaching you to reflect deeply and critically on your practice.
Moorlands Campus Based
If you’re looking for a fully immersive “Bible college” experience then this is the option for you.
Moorlands College is located on the South Cost of England, just outside Bournemouth, under 15 minutes from the beach and 7 minutes from the airport. If you are looking for a fully immersed experience of higher education then this is the option for you. With the option to either live on site, or live locally and travel in each day, you will experience lectures throughout the week delivered by experts in each field. Our staff work hard to ensure that you come away from lectures feeling equipped and inspired.
Each week you will complete a minimum of 6 hours in your placement setting. This could be a local church or organisation. In addition to this, there will be an allocated time in your timetable for weekly chapel services and discipleship groups. These provide the opportunity to go deeper as a community and grow spiritually.
If you would like more information about what life at Moorlands College looks like, click here.
Moorlands South West
Studying at Moorlands South West enables you to give more time to serve in your chosen context, and embeds you in the wider SWYM network with all of their benefits.
Moorlands South West, supported by South West Youth Ministries (SWYM), is based at Lee Abbey on the North Devon coast. Your time here will be made up of six, 4-day residentials where you will study 2 modules, in community, with rhythms of worship, inspiring teaching and wider activities . The remaining 2 modules will be delivered via the flexible learning mode of delivery.
Each week you will complete a minimum of 6 hours in your placement setting, as well as the hours SWYM require. Studying at Moorlands South West enables you to give more time to serve in your chosen context, and links you in to the wider network that SWYM offer.
If you would like more information about what life at Moorlands South West looks like, click here.
For more information about SWYM, please visit their website.
Flexible Learning
Flexible learning is designed to allow you to study from wherever you are in the UK, whilst immersing yourself in your chosen context.
Are you settled in your church or organisation and want to continue serving there whilst studying?
Or does studying towards a degree feel like a distant reality due to your current life commitments?
Our flexible learning is a fantastic option for you.
It is designed to allow you to study from wherever you are in the country, whilst immersing yourself in your chosen context. This might be your paid employment, where you volunteer, or the church to which you belong. It might be a charity or school – get in touch to find out if your context would qualify .
Alongside being immersed in your placement throughout the year, you’ll also have access to regular group sessions as well as a personal tutor for dedicated one-to-one support.
If you would like more information about what life as a flexible learner student looks like, click here.
Other helpful information
Entry requirements
To be accepted onto this programme you need to have the potential to succeed in it and to benefit from it. This is normally demonstrated by:
- Two A-levels or other equivalent level 3 qualifications.
- GCSE in English (Language or Literature) at grade C or above, or equivalent qualifications at level 2, or an IELTS Academic Certificate with an overall score of 6.0 with at least 6.0 in each of reading and writing or nationally-recognised English language-based level 3 award, equivalent to these IELTS scores, from a different testing system.
- An appropriate understanding of, commitment to and suitability for the range of vocations for which these studies prepare you.
If you’ve been out of education for some time, or don’t have the regular academic qualifications to enter the BA, you may want to apply to do our Foundation Year, which provides an initial, preparatory year before joining the standard BA studies, or to talk to us about your potential for the Recognition of Prior Learning.
Term dates
Application deadline
- We look forward to receiving your applications by 31 July 2025.
If you are applying to study Campus Based and would like to live on-site at Moorlands College, we advise that you apply by 30 April 2025.
If you have missed these deadlines, please get in touch with the Admissions department for further advice on
Assessments
Assessments are a key part of your learning experience at Moorlands. Assessment in compulsory modules gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your learning through presentations, portfolios, essays and reports.
Our programmes are validated by
