MissionShift Institute guide 2014-2015

MissionShift Institute equips a new generation of pastors and church members with the vision and strategies that help them minister effectively in diverse settings. Based on the insight that outreach to a pluralistic, post-modern, urban context is best accomplished by understanding and communicating through the hearer’s worldview, we learn to: • Measure communication by what people hear, not by what we say • Meet people where they are, not where we are • Recognize that worldview differences are not limited to race and ethnicity but include generational differences and social orientations • Recognize that there are different ways of seeing the world • Support, leverage, and connect with hearers’ networks of relationships, thereby enabling ministry to have the widest possible impact • Use approaches to ministry that directly communicate the good news of Jesus and his love The first half of the course helps students to examine their own faith and life in preparation for service among people whose lives and faith may be very different from their own. The second half of the course prepares students to analyze the needs of communities, to work with the people of the community, and to design and implement an innovative ministry project that keeps a congregation connected to its community as it shares the Good News of Jesus in word and deed.

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MissionShift Institute Equips Christians to Build and Lead Culture-Crossing Ministries.

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Overview MissionShift Institute is a thirty-week intensive training program that will challenge the way participants perceive the urban mission field and respond to its challenges.

• Individuals, participating congregations, and service providers receive valuable training in the theory and practice of starting and leading local, culture-crossing ministries. • Students from Concordia Seminary, area universities, and local congregations receive firsthand urban ministry experiential and contextual training. • Partnering 501[c]3s and local service agencies receive opportunities to share their vision with local churches and students, enabling them to partner with or launch their own ministry.

MissionShift participants have a heart for the city, a desire to become involved, and willingness to collaborate with others in establishing urban ministry.

MissionShift encourages participation from all Christians to provide the best training to have the widest impact in the community. Urban ministry functions best when utilizing all the resources of a community regardless their denominational affiliations.The majority of the curriculum is practical in nature, framed by the gospel.

The many concepts and insights presented in MissionShift are transferable from the St. Louis area to other contexts.

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MissionShift curriculum surveys ways of reading a city, identifying assets, challenges, and opportunities, along with examples of successful cross-cultural, urban ministries in the St. Louis area. MSI is taught using experiential learning in an urban context, supplemented with readings, videos, lecture outlines, and group processing.

MSI curriculum is enriched by over 30 local Christian leaders, who bring their years of experience and insights into the classroom to supplement the assigned readings. Field trips and group projects help participants become comfortable in an urban environment and reinforce the lessons gained in the classroom.

There are weekly reading assignments and quizzes, but these are kept to a minimum so students have more time to engage the urban environment. There are no prerequisites for this college-level course; continuing education credit is available.

The curriculum covers:

• The city – learning about the city of St. Louis, its history and how ts past shapes life today.

• Culture and how to cross cultural boundaries in our world • Entrepreneuring the church – how to step into a situation, analyze it, and begin ministry • Meeting world religions in the local context • Resourcing and grant writing • Looking for help in the city – meeting local ministries with experience and resources to address local problems • Urban Ministry Group Project – working together on an innovative ministry project to strengthen the work of a congregation in the city

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Impact on Participating Congregations and Organizations Church members who attend MissionShift Institute learn how to share the good news of Jesus with people from cultures different from their own.

MissionShift Institute gives Biblical rationale, real stories, and practical experiences to help students become confident and competent in their witness.

MissionShift provides the skills to analyze challenges and formulate effective responses.

It helps congregations focus externally on the neighborhood outside their walls and gives them ideas about connecting with their community.

MissionShift enables congregational leaders to discover the resources within their community and use those resources innovatively to address the unmet needs of the church’s neighbors.

Participants learn the value of forming coalitions with existing service providers in order to have maximum impact on their communities. (There are over 12,000 plus 501[c]3 service organizations in the St. Louis area).

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MissionShift Institute Meets once a week Mondays or Thursdays September – May Monday (6:30 – 9:00 p.m.)

Messiah Lutheran Church 2846 South Grand Blvd.

St. Louis, MO 63118

Thursday (6:30 – 9:00 p.m.)

Friendly Temple MB Church 5515 Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. St. Louis, MO 63113

Apply online at www.missionshiftstl.org Course fee: $500 314-505-7168 www.missionshiftstl.org missionshift@csl.edu

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