An investigation of the biblical theology of mission. The student will analyze three distinct but interrelated areas: The biblical and theological foundations of mission; the Kingdom of God as the theme of mission; and progressive revelation throughout salvation history. The student will be able to construct his/her own mission theological framework.

In this course, students practice making the Gospel translatable to the cultural context of their field of mission, they are equipped to employ a redemptive-historical hermeneutic for interpreting scripture and research six descriptive domains that encapsulate the cultural orientations of their mission field. As students acquire knowledge of missional practices, consult an expert practitioner and get involved in an on-site evaluation of a place where Gospel and missio Dei intersect, they accumulate vital resources for coherently contextualizing the Gospel in any mission field.

The course content begins with intercultural foundations and missionary functions and moves to the creation of missional teams and the development of missional communities. Resulting from these missionary processes will be the emergence of missional congregations facilitated by indigenous leadership development. Moving beyond theory to praxis, the students will design their own missional strategy to implement the course through reaching specific ethnic, lifestyle, lifestage and/or socio-religious groups of people; building missional teams; and developing missional communities, fostering emerging missional congregations in their own socio-cultural, community context.

Church planting is best accomplished by a gifted and diverse team led by a servant leader. The primary role of the church planter is to develop and lead this team to accomplish the God given mission of the church. This course will equip students to identify, recruit, train, and mobilize individuals with diverse gifts and backgrounds in order to function as an effective church planting team. Students will take the first steps in developing a missional church planting team.

Equips students to plant ethnically diverse missional congregations, even in geographical areas with less racial diversity. Students will be challenged with the biblical mandate of ethnic inclusivity and the implications of this mandate in the life of the church planter, the church planting team, and the congregation. Prerequisite: Planting Missional Congregations.

Examines the primary considerations in determining what constitutes a missional church. Special attention will be given to understanding the foundational theological principles that guide all missional churches and the core practices that stem from these principles. Students will evaluate past and current church experiences in light of these principles and practices in order to identify areas of needed transformation, both personally and in ministry.