DESCRIPTION:

Churches, like people, go through a maturation process; this process can lead to mature, yet still growing, ministry or life-strangling traditions. This course focuses on how clergy and laity can lead congregations in vibrant, innovative, future-oriented ministry by understanding and nurturing the maturation process. Applying biblical principles and using the case study method, students will learn to evaluate life cycles of churches and to develop strategies to bring about mature congregations.

The ability to lead a church in future-oriented ministry will be the key to healthy congregations in the 21st century. Thus, the goals of this course are: (1) To define and explain the biblical basis and most effective steps towards the attainment of proactive leadership in the local church; (2) To evaluate the life cycles of churches and how to develop strategies that result in the development of a mature church, a church that addresses both social and spiritual ills while questioning the stranglehold of outdated models of ministry. Students will also be instructed on the keys to worship leadership in the local church.

The course will be taught as a summer-two week intensive July 10-21, meeting daily for four-hour sessions. The course will be taught via an interactive, dialogical model of learning and teaching. There will be minimal lecture. Lectures will be used only in an attempt to tease out main points and then lead to discussion. Video, music, interactive assignments and other types of teaching and learning models will be used in this class. Pre-reading: Students are expected to complete reading the book Upon This Rock prior to the first class.

Abrahamson, James O. Put Your Best Foot Forward: How to Minister From Your Strength. Abingdon Press, 1994.

Bandy, Thomas G. Kicking Bad Habits: Welcome Relief for Addicted Churches. Abingdon Press, 1997.

Freedman, Samuel. Upon This Rock: The Miracles of a Black Church. Harper Collins, 1994.

McIntosh, Gary L. One Size Doesn't Fit All: Bringing Out the Best In Any Size Church. Baker Books, 1999.

Mead, Loren. The Once and Future Church. Alban Institute, 1991.

Watkins, Ralph. The Mature Church. Manuscript, 1999.

Gordon, Wayne. Real Hope in Chicago. Zondervan, 1995.

Miller, Donald. Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium. University of California Press, 1997.

Regele, Mark and Mark Schulz. Death of the Church. Zondervan, 1995.

Each student will be required to write several one-page reflection papers on the reading throughout the course and to submit a final paper (15-20 pages) on a topic to be negotiated with the professor, due September 15, 2000. Students will also be expected and held accountable for providing leadership, with the professor, in classroom discussions.

None.

Meets M.Div. Core Requirement in Pastoral Ministry and Theology (MIN 6).