This course examines the impact of missional principles when applied to a group of people in community and on mission together. Students learn to interpret their context, as well as best practices in order to be “good news” to their locale as a faith community, ministry, or other Kingdom endeavor. The giftings of the church as presented in Ephesians 4 (APEST) are engaged as a model of community leadership for movement, as contrasted by traditional models of hierarchy in ecclesiology.
This course lays a foundation for students to learn principles of missional communities in praxis. These principles then guide students to become architects of their own best practices, specifically for their local context. Special attention is given to strategic inquiry of their culture in order to shape a missional community that participates in the mission of God (missio Dei). Group and community dynamics are explored together as a class in order to inform future practice and methods.
This course is crucial for effective missional practice in a community environment. Missional communities must first understand their context before they can effectively be on mission together in their local environment. Every ministry context is unique and has different barriers and opportunities. Because of this, students learn strategic inquiry skills that they can apply to any local context. As well, students understand the leadership and community structures needed to mobilize for movement in their context.
This course builds off of the Apostle Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 9 to “become all things to all men”. Students understand their identity as “sent” people of God based on Jesus’ words to his disciples, “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21). The giftings of Ephesians 4 (APEST) given to the church show a model of community for movement and leadership.
Missional communities are not insular, they are by definition ‘sent’ into local contexts to incarnate the gospel to others. This course is designed to increase the effectiveness of those movements of the Kingdom, as a group of people participate in God’s mission together.
Missional community principles are transferable in every context. However, every culture is unique and this course builds off the foundation of contextual intelligence, where the missional community understands and knows the location in which they are incarnationally planted.
This course is designed to do the important work of asking the right questions of a local context in order to build best practices for the missional community, so that it relationally crosses cultural boundaries to displaying the Kingdom of God to others.
This course leads the student to the specific practices of a missional community that are driven by strategic principles and community leadership and movement.
Students learn to see their neighborhood, city, workplace, and other contexts with “different eyes”. They utilize strategic inquiry in their own context, as this course is designed to dig deeper into the barriers and opportunities in the community they are located.
