course descriptions
ICS 523 Contextualization in Missions (3 Credits) Every church exists in some cultural and sociological context. Yet missionaries tend to plant churches that function like their home-culture churches. It is essential that the church be both biblically sound and culturally viable. Contextualization is an essential concept and a necessary skill. However, contextualization is fraught with controversy over degree of contextualization and how contextualization in various contexts is undertaken. These issues will be considered and a theory and model for a biblically and missiologically sound approach to contextualization developed. ICS 611 Thesis (9 Credits) Each student will have a faculty advisor assigned while the student is taking the Research Methods course who will advise while the student is looking at research design, doing preliminary literature research, and developing a bibliography. The advisor will help the student clarify the thesis proposal which must be accepted by the thesis committee. Students then write their thesis using accepted thesis format, footnoting, and bibliographic methods following the Turabian format. When the faculty advisor feels the thesis is ready for submission, the committee will receive the thesis from the student for evaluation. Thesis grading is on a pass/fail basis.
Leadership LDR 511 Spiritual Formation for Leaders (3 Credits) This course examines spiritual principles and examples that can be utilized in intercultural spiritual leadership. The student will study how God develops leaders, the essential qualities needed for spiritual leadership, and how to be successful and finish well as a spiritual leader. In addition, it will also address how to avoid common pitfalls that leaders encounter. Opportunities will be provided for personal evaluation and practice in one’s cultural context. LDR 512 Exploring Organizational Culture (3 Credits) This course will examine the tools and methods used to explore organizational cultures. It will focus on the key concepts of Ethnography, Cultural Hermeneutics, and Qualitative Research and the value they play in helping a leader to shape and influence an organizational culture. LDR 521 Comparative Cultural Leadership (3 Credits) Leadership styles, influenced by widely contrasting worldviews and cultural patterns, can differ markedly from culture to culture. This course will provide students with valuable perspectives on their own leadership views and styles as they compare various cultural expressions of leadership. LDR 522 Lifelong Leadership Development (3 Credits) This course explores the nature of lifelong Christian leadership development. It will help the student become a more effective leader by developing long-term vision and strength-based skills in order to be the leader that God envisions him or her to be. This course incorporates a project that focuses the student on creating a lifelong leadership development plan in the context of his/her ministry goals. LDR 523 Issues and Trends in Global Leadership (3 Credits) This course will explore the current issues and trends in Global Leadership. It will look at what current issues are obstacles for leading in a global setting and possible solutions to effectively overcoming these boundaries. The course will also explore some recent trends that have had major implications for leadership development and the role the West plays in overcoming or further inhibiting leadership growth and development.
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