Missional Church:

A Biblical Response to Mission in Western Culture

2011 Cohort schedule and syllabi

Mission

Following the incarnational God who sends us into mission, the Missional Church concentration is designed to develop spiritually mature and visionary professionals to lead a 21st century missionary movement for western culture in a Seventh-day Adventist context.

What is Missional Church?

Missional church is a biblically formed 21st century missionary movement of western culture. It defines the church as God's sent people. It is a way of life that models the incarnational life of Jesus Christ who took the form of his creation to show humankind the Father. (John 14:9-11) Just as Christ transcended culture to show us the Father, the missional church transcends culture in order to show lost people Jesus Christ through sharing life together. The result of the missional life is restoration of sinful people as we follow the ways of Christ through deeper understanding of truth. (John 14:6)

Outcomes

The outcomes of the Missional Church concentration include; 1) a knowledge base, 2) a transformational emphasis on being, and 3) doing evidenced in skill training for missional church practitioners.

Knowing: The knowledge base has the following components:

1. Understanding biblically faithful 21st century mission praxis in western culture
2. Appreciation and awareness of the personal spiritual life as foundational for mission
3. Systems thinking and change theory
4. Leadership development as the framework for a biblically faithful missional church

Being: In the process of the Missional Church concentration, participants will experience development in the following areas:

1. One's identity formed through discipleship
2. An exemplar of wholeness as defined by spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being
3. Incarnational mission as a way of life
4. A shaper of missional culture
5. A lifelong learner
6. Agent of biblically based transformation and restoration
7. Commitment to multi-ethnic collaboration for mission

Doing: Participants in the Missional Church Concentration demonstrate competency in areas fitting their context selected from the missional practices listed below:

1. Implementing spiritual health into the fast-paced life of the 21st century
2. Forming habits for spiritual and emotional renewal
3. Discerning and following the leading of the Holy Spirit
4. Developing a team for biblical church leadership 
5. Modeling incarnational ministry
6. Establishing clear indicators for assessing missional church ministry
7.  Utilizing systems thinking to create a process model
8. Processing and managing change
9. Abiding with broken people 
10. Utilizing coaching as a platform for leadership development
11. Developing organic discipleship as a foundation for developing leaders
12. Leading a mission of multiplication
13. Facilitating community-wide transformation through collaboration and networking
14. Creating a culture of inclusivity for missional practice

Learning Modalities

The following learning modalities will be included in the concentration's pedagogy:

1. Ministry development plan
2. Journaling
3. Context support group
4. Learning groups including collective assignments, consultations, and accountability
5. Mentoring as a professional relationship
6. Classroom consultation including didactic and experiential learning, as well as networking with top practitioners and experts in the field of missional church
7. Research including current literature, assigned readings, and case studies
8. Praxis including implementation of leadership interventions in the context of ministry
9. A project including theological reflection, field research, and intervention involving a specific challenge in their ministering context

Contact

The concentration is coordinated by:

Dr. Michael F. Cauley, president, Florida Conference of Seventh-day Adventists: 1-407-644-5000; mike.cauley@floridaconference.com and...

Dr. Michael R. Cauley, pastor of Oasis and Gracepoint Seventh-day Adventist Churches, Kentucky-Tennessee Conference: 1-615-766-7766; cauley@andrews.edu. See also www.michaelrcauley.com (hint: works best with the FoxFox web browser).

Travel and lodging information is provided in the links under the "Intensive Location" column in the table below.

Cohorts are identified by the year in which they formed. Cohort participants will take these courses and modules:

Ordering Books

For a schedule of dates and locations of intensives planned for cohorts in other concentrations, see the four-year DMin Program Planner.

You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software loaded on your machine to access any pdf documents referenced on this page.

5/2/2012