Over the past year, Redeemer University has been exploring graduate programs that will best meet the needs of Christian learners. With a number of possibilities in areas like social sciences, humanities, business and education, two notable programs are taking shape. Resound sat down with two Redeemer faculty to get the latest updates on the master’s of education and the master’s in counselling programs during this exciting time in the university’s history.
Redeemer has been granting the bachelor of education degree, a second degree program, since 2003. With a successful track record, modest cohort sizes and collaborative, relational pedagogy, it’s no surprise that Redeemer’s education program is set to lead the university into graduate level learning with its first master’s program.
“The goal of the master’s of education (M.Ed.) program is to support Christian educators and leaders wherever they are called,” says Dr. Phil Teeuwsen, dean of education. “It’s for educational leaders who are looking to continue to develop their skills and their knowledge in their own setting. We want to extend what we offer in the bachelor of education program through a distinctly Christian M.Ed. in Ontario to help meet the needs of their communities.”
“It’s a fully collaborative effort,” continued Teeuwsen. “The planning we’ve done up to this point has been a full School of Education process. We’ve been developing the program as a team, which makes for some really fulsome discussions, and the results are going to be fantastic.”
The School of Education embarked on a consultative process more than a year ago. A feasibility study was undertaken and completed last summer study to review labour demands, consult focus groups and conduct an environmental scan to see what other comparable programs exist in Canada and the US. Market research was also carried out, including a survey with over 300 participants with good representation from across the province.
“The feasibility study tells us there’s strong interest in an M.Ed. program at Redeemer. Teachers are constantly looking to develop. They tend to continue taking courses after they obtain their bachelor of education, so it’s not really surprising that many would still be looking to further their education. Many are Redeemer alumni who are interested in coming back and continuing their studies. Even outside of that, there’s a need for more options in higher education and in the education field specifically.”
Since obtaining positive results from the feasibility study, Teeuwsen says they’ve returned to the original focus groups that were consulted last winter to continue the consultative process and ensure they’re still on the right track. “We’ve done a lot of consultation with people who are practicing in education currently to find out what they’re looking for and what their needs are.” The School of Education will continue to consult stakeholders throughout program development.
The feasibility study shows that there is significant interest in the master’s program both from current bachelor of education students and from people who are currently teaching and hope to increase their knowledge. These include future leaders, and principals and vice principals whose role might require a master’s. The master’s program could also serve professionals outside of a traditional school environment in areas like curriculum development and design, policy development, and even in fields like nursing and other health fields. The master’s program could also serve as a path for those interested in further research and the academy.
One consistent point heard throughout focus groups and the feasibility study is that program delivery will need to be flexible.
“We’re exploring how we can design a program that includes a rich community element, but also flexibility so that it’s actually possible for working professionals to study and still have a family life,” says Teeuwsen. “There’s growing experience at Redeemer in microcredential and certificate program delivery, so there are lessons we can tap into from there.”
The School of Education will also be aiming to make real-life application part of the program. “We want to keep the program real and relevant. We’d even like to be able to incorporate projects and research that would be beneficial to students and their current contexts, such as the classrooms and schools where they currently work.”
Students are really excited about seeing ways that their faith really makes a difference and connects with the subject matter we’re talking about. They’re all really eager to find a program that helps them to integrate their faith and their potential careers as counsellors.
With a current target start date of summer 2026, there is much work yet to do such as engaging faculty council and senate, as well as external reviewers to approve the program. But Teeuwsen remains energized by the process.
“The work has been fantastic in terms of collaboration with my colleagues and dreaming about what’s possible, but also dreaming with the broader community through focus groups, meetings, discussions and the feasibility study,” says Teeuwsen. ” We’ve been in touch with alumni through this process and people that we’ve worked with over the last 10 years. They’re out there serving and doing really good work. Through this process we get to hear about how they’re doing and their ideas for what might be a good step forward for us and for them. It’s fun to dream and create. The collaboration both within and outside Redeemer is pretty fulfilling. It gives us energy to keep going. This has been a great reminder of the community that the School of Education has developed and been a part of.”
While excitement builds in the School of Education, Dr. Mike Strating, assistant professor of psychology, is carrying a similar thread of enthusiasm and passion for what will likely be Redeemer’s second graduate program. Together with his colleagues in psychology and social work, Strating is developing a master’s in counselling that will be completely unique in North America.
With a goal to “train Christian counsellors to counsel Christianly,” Strating says the program will be richly informed–generally and in each course–by a biblical Christian worldview and strongly integrated with contemporary research in psychology.
“Other Christian counselling programs make use of courses from separate and distinct programs. They’ll have a required course in theology and a required course in psychology or counselling, but when you take them as separate courses they almost get stored in different parts of the brain …” Strating says Redeemer’s program is aiming to fully integrate these disciplines. For example, one of the tentative course titles is Biblical and Theological Foundations for Counselling. “Is it a Bible and theology course or is it a counselling course? Yes! It’s both and it’s very applied and in dialogue with contemporary research as well.”
The three-year program will also incorporate rigorous clinical training and supervision that will position students well for licensure with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO). To give students rich, high-quality supervised practice experiences, counselling courses will include videotaping and reviewing real-life counselling sessions and receiving feedback from their peers. This will also help students begin to accumulate the required hours for licensure.
Clinical practicum placement or a thesis option for students who are interested in doing research or pursuing doctoral-level education will be offered as well.
The demand for counselling across the country both inside and outside the church means there are plenty of job prospects for graduates of the master’s program. Strating says meeting counselling needs in the Christian community presents its own unique challenges.
With the rise in popularity of secular mainstream psychology approaches beginning in the 1950s and 60s, specialization has increased as the psychological has been separated from the spiritual. Strating says a lot of early psychology was very anti-faith and anti-Christianity in particular—and the church responded with suspicion and even outright rejection as a result.
“There’s this big divide between the two. In recent decades we’re seeing a growing recognition and respect for each other—that psychology is recognizing that there are mental health benefits to engaging in religious practices and the church is recognizing that there are tools, resources and theories that have been developed in the mainstream world that are useful and helpful for us to learn from.”
Strating says that because of specialization, the church has lost rich soul care resources that were developed by the church prior to the 20th century. For example, Christian psychologists are currently conducting systematic research on Christian contemplative prayer and meditative practices—practices that have been in use since the early church—as alternatives to mindfulness-based interventions that are popular in contemporary psychology. The writings of Søren Kierkegaard reveal sophisticated psychological theories that are based on a Christian worldview—predating Freud and modern talk therapy—and that are ripe for integration into contemporary Christian counselling theories and interventions. The master’s in counselling will bring back those rich resources, further refining and developing them based on contemporary knowledge of mainstream research.
“That’s what’s really unique about the program we’re developing. We want to build it on a solid Christian worldview and foundation, and then bring the insights from mainstream psychology into that biblical theological framework.” This is distinct from the two main current approaches to Christian counselling. One begins with mainstream secular models of therapy, which have their own worldview assumptions baked into them, and then tries to incorporate Christianity into that foundation. The other is fundamentally opposed to contemporary psychology for the most part, though we are seeing more openness to dialoguing with and even learning from contemporary psychology. “The biblical counselling movement has been doing great work in critiquing the naturalistic and humanistic foundations of contemporary psychology, while developing biblically and theologically grounded resources for the church. Redeemer’s program will share these core values, emphasizing the Scriptures (special revelation) as the supreme and sufficient authority for Christian faith and life, while also recognizing the importance of wise discernment and use of empirical research (general revelation) for counselling. In short, Redeemer’s program will be built first and foremost on a biblical Christian worldview foundation and then integrate helpful tools, resources and theories from contemporary psychology.”
The Redeemer program will aim to train students to identify gaps or limitations in existing research and theories so they can critically evaluate them. Rather than discarding mainstream psychology, students can learn what can be redeemed from it.
“My passion has been to fill the gap in our churches,” says Strating. “When I was growing up, church culture was transitioning from being very skeptical of emotions and counselling, and beginning to recognize the fallout from ignoring them such as addictions, depression and anxiety. There was a sense that we need to have professional counsellors trained to do this stuff, but we’ve been so anti-counselling for so long that we don’t have people from our own community whom we trust.”
Introducing graduate programs also comes with new students, faculty, research discoveries and community. We look forward to seeing what God will do as we pursue these new programs to prepare even more students to reflect the love of Jesus Christ in every career and calling.
As Strating contemplated his own career, he wondered if God was calling him to be a therapist—a resource for the church—or to train the next generations of counsellors to help fill the church with resources. Working at Redeemer while maintaining a part-time private practice has allowed him to do both, and leading the effort to create a master’s in counselling is taking his calling to the next level.
The master’s in counselling has the potential to fill significant gaps academically. “From a liberal arts and sciences perspective, as opposed to a seminary, we have the opportunity to develop our own distinctly Christian-derived therapy models and then test them so they can be empirically supported like the mainstream counselling approaches. There will be overlap with some of the mainstream models, and a shared worldview foundation with the biblical models that makes this program truly unique.”
In a sense, Strating is leading the development of the program for which he would’ve been a prime candidate. He wanted to be a Christian counsellor who counselled Christianly. He is able to use his gifts to be a resource for Christians, while also working with clients from diverse backgrounds. But he recognizes
that gaining his education from secular institutions left him wishing for a far more integrated approach to Christian psychology education. He also wasn’t able to learn in community from other Christians. Students of the master’s in counselling will have the opportunity to focus on their own spiritual formation in addition to the content and competencies of the program.
“I always knew I’d be missing out on that sense of Christian community. There was no one else with whom to wrestle through concepts and theories from a Christian perspective. A cohort of peers like what you’ll get at Redeemer is invaluable.”
Anecdotally, there’s plenty of interest in the master’s in counselling, beginning with students in Redeemer’s undergraduate classes. “Students are really excited about seeing ways that their faith really makes a difference and connects with the subject matter we’re talking about. They’re all really eager to find a program that helps them to integrate their faith and their potential careers as counsellors.”
Strating has also heard from churches, pastors, elders and deacons who need to bring in a professional to help their congregants. “There are a lot of people in the church community that are looking for clinicians they can trust, that are going to be really understanding of the Christian worldview and church context, and who also have clinical and therapy expertise.”
The master’s in counselling program has been under development for nearly a year, with course structures and descriptions now being reviewed by a consultant, who is an expert in the field of Christian psychology. A feasibility study is also underway that includes interviews with different stakeholder groups and an environmental scan of counselling programs offered at other universities. Redeemer is aiming to launch the new program in 2026 or 2027.
With the master’s of education and the master’s in counselling well underway, Redeemer continues to look for other areas in which to disciple students through an education, and consultations in the humanities are producing some exciting possibilities in areas of considerable growth in the Christian community. A feasibility study is also underway for new programs in the School of Business that could include a master’s of business administration and/or other certificates, microcredential programs and workshops. “We’re looking at how we can help the Christian business community grow, to be more skilled from a Christian worldview, so they can bring Christ to the world,” says Dr. Sophia Kusyk, dean of business.
“It’s an exciting time to be at Redeemer,” says Dr. Peter Neumann, vice president, academic. “The university has been serving undergraduate students for over 40 years, and now we’re about to take the next step in the institution’s history. Introducing graduate programs also comes with new students, faculty, research discoveries and community. We look forward to seeing what God will do as we pursue these new programs to prepare even more students to reflect the love of Jesus Christ in every career and calling.”