A sociocultural, rhetorical, and historical analysis of the proclamation and witness of Jesus and the Apostles and its implication for message development in varous cultural contexts.  Students will analyze the structure and delivery of biblical proclamation in terms of its audience and intent in order to discern ways culture and context contribute to the formation of theological approaches to missional proclamation. Students will craft contemporary messages and approaches using New Testament models of proclamation and witness designed for an unreached or underserved group of people of their choosing.

An examination of biiblical and extra biblical evidence of the relationship between modalities (communities of faith) and sodalities (missional teams) and ways in which that relationship has been interpreted. Writings from biblical scholars, theologians, missiologists and practitioners are evaluated to determine their conceptions of New Testament mission, how that relationship is defined, and implications for understanding practical implemention of the missio dei in contemporary cultures.

An evaluation of the principles that comprise effective missional engagement with individuals, groups, and communities. The course explores theories, strategies and methods that undergird missional enagement. Students construct a missional engagement framework utilizing theories, strategies and methods that undergird missional engagement. They also construct a missional scorecard in order to measure biblical success on the basis of the missio dei, the functional role of the congregation, and the multiplication of disciples, disciplemakers, and servant leaders among all groups of people within a specific sociocultural setting.

An introduction to the study of the role of religion in personal and large-scale social networks. Applies social network analysis insights to faith development and spirituality. Emphasis is placed upon analytical tools such as centrality; cliques; range and reciprocity; frequency and duration; relational networks such as friendship, kin, associations; and sub-cultural networks such as lifestyles, occupational, organizational, and ethnic. Students learn how network relationships impact friendship, intimacy and involvement in the community, lifestyle, and faith transmission by applying the analytical tools to the nexus of social networks and faith diffusion and development.

Building on a theological understanding of the relationship between the gospel and culture, this course investigates the ways in which cultural differences impact the missional leader, the gospel message, and the missional community from an anthropological lens. Students create a framework for evaluating incarnational mission, cultural assumptions, critical contextualization, and inculturation in light of anthropological theories such as diffusionism, functionalism, structuralism, cultural materialism, and symbolic anthropology.

For effective and meaningful Christian witness to take place in the missional context of many languages and cultures, people need to have a deepening understanding of good communication principles. Communication Theory for Christian Witness builds upon the study of human communication with special attention to issues in linguistics, contextualization, storying and the use of new developments in fields of technology.

Knowing your people is essential to the process of developing missional ministry. In this class you will develop a full ethnography incorporating both worldview and anthropological insights for the purpose of launching mission amongst unreached and least reached people groups.