An exploration of proclamation and witness with a specific focus on that of Jesus and the Apostle Paul in light of current New Testament studies, rhetorical theory, and Greco-Roman studies. Sample passages will be studied in light of the socio-cultural setting with application to the missional task. 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 contributes to the formation of theological approaches to missional proclamation.

Examination of the biblical material for understanding the foundations of missional evangelism. The student will explore the theology, history, and the cultural and contextual basis for understanding missional evangelism as imperative to the Christian community.

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 in light of issues within their cultural context. A missional scorecard is constructed to enable Christian belivers and missional congregations to measure success on the basis of a biblical understanding of the mission of God, the role of the church, and the multiplication of disciples, disciplemakers, and servant leaders among all groups of people.

An introduction to the study of 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.

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 examine 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.

This class enable students to develop an ethnographic approach to understanding the worldviews of non-Christians. You will create an ethnography based on personal interviews focused on a specific cultural group you wish to explore. This ethnography will lead to a variety of approaches for evangelism in the context of diverse 21st century cultures.