Dubuque M.Div. student lives in Lebanon, receives theological training from Iowa seminary

Jamil Mansour

Second-year University of Dubuque Theological Seminary Master of Divinity student Jamil Mansour doesn’t mind that he “commutes” thousands of miles over several countries to receive a solid theological education.

In fact, while most of his classmates are headed to bed for the night, he’s just starting his day, which is full of the rigorous work Dubuque seminary requires in order to educate informed leaders to serve congregations.

Mansour’s home and life are in Beirut, Lebanon, nestled beside Israel and Syria in the cradle of the Holy Land. Yet the dedicated student is actively earning his M.Div. online through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminary’s distance learning program.

Through the program, which takes five years, Mansour follows the same curriculum online as Dubuque’s residential M.Div. students while also maintaining his life, work and ministry at home in Lebanon.

He and the other distance learners listen to lectures, participate in group discussions, submit papers and take exams, among other things, all online. At the start of each semester the students also report live to campus for intensive two-week residential courses.

All of that sits well with Mansour, an engineer by trade, who works in the construction business and owns two fast-food restaurants. He said God had been calling him to seminary for about five years, but he delayed it.

“God really wanted me to take this step,” he said. But “I was trying to find a way to do it without stopping work.”

Mansour, a Presbyterian, went to the Web for help and found the online M.Div. program at Dubuque, the first PC(USA) seminary to offer a Master of Divinity distance education program.

“I checked it out and from there I called admissions,” he said. “God made it work at the right time.”

Mansour, who with his wife is active in youth ministry in his church, said he appreciates not only the solid academic foundation he is receiving from Dubuque, but also the strong spiritual connection. “There is spirituality, not academics only,” he said.

He also has enjoyed his study of the Bible and has particularly liked a mission and evangelism course.

“I have never looked at God as a missionary God,” Mansour said. But “God chooses all of us ... so that we will be a channel for his blessings to flow into other people’s lives. God wants us to be a blessing to others.”

Mansour said he is not exactly sure what God has in store for him once he graduates from Dubuque, but he feels that whatever it is will be centered on service in Lebanon.

“We are in great need for revival and building a strong church,” he said. “I see myself, my calling to be in the church.”