Available courses

Changing Church ('24): Missional Practices and/for Beloved Community

What does it mean to lead during a time of religious, sociocultural, and environmental upheaval? What can churches do differently to reflect and nurture gospel values and God's dream of a just, reconciled, Spirit-filled world? This course will use the vision and concepts of Beloved Community to interrogate our approach to mission. Participants will articulate big-picture values and explore everyday leadership practices designed to help ensure that our growing and changing communities avoid reproducing past injustices and divisions, contributing instead to their repair and reconciliation.

ED-8111-1: ADAPTING CHRISTIAN FORMATION (Fall 2024)

What does it mean to form faith in an era when faith is not a given? How should we convene religious education at a time when institutions (religious and otherwise) are in decline? How do we critique and deconstruct an educational status quo that has too often accepted and reinforced forms of structural oppression? What liberating alternatives exist for learning and discipleship in a variety of institutional and community settings, in person and online?

These are the questions we'll be exploring together as we encounter and experience modes and practices of Christian formation that honor agency and identity, foster collaborative leadership and participant co-creativity, and make space for authentic incarnations and enculturations of gospel values. This course is appropriate for all master's students and is evaluated primarily through the creation of authentic artifacts such as personal narratives, educational resource reviews, and Christian formation program designs. It is offered in an asynchronous weekly online format.