When human needs across the globe are overwhelming, what should the Christian response be? This course explores practical implications of the intersection of gospel-centered witness, the kingdom of God, and the mission of God for community service. Biblical, practical, and evangelistic foundations of community service in compassion ministries, social justice and reform, and social change and transformation will be examined.
Overwhelming global human needs are a given. But what is the response to the needs that God calls his people to accomplish? Formulating biblical outcomes is essential to the fulfillment of lifelong service in the mission of God. Understanding the range of responses that arise from across the Christian spectrum is crucial to finding one’s place on that continuum.
With overwhelming human needs around the globe, missional practitioners need to know how to integrate their faith with their community service. This course brings together the writings of academic practitioners in holistic mission with the opportunity for students to create their own biblically-based faith and action statements to guide their missional practice.
Students explore biblical passages that speak to the issues surfaced in the course centered on a balance of “Word” proclamation and “Deed” dcmonstration.
Since the mission of God encompasses the reconciliation of all things unto God, missional Christians should be driven by both evangelism and social responsibility, gospel-centered witness and kingdom-centered compassion, prophetic witness and social justice action, and ecological witness and creation care. This course draws these themes together.
Compassion respondents will need to consider the consequences of their actions within specific cultural contexts. Issues of indigeniety and co-dependency in the delivery of compassion ministries will be considered.
Often compassion respondents will need to cross cultural barriers in order to meet human needs. This course will address issues of delivery across cultures.
The focus of the course is creating understanding for the integration of faith and practice in community service settings.
The course provides the foundation for actions to be taken later in an internship setting.
