Summer 2018/Fuller Online

IS503

McConnell

IS503: PRACTICES OF MISSION (4 Units: 160 hours). Doug McConnell

DESCRIPTION: Christian practices constitute the Christian life. The combined Christian practices of vocational formation, worship, community, and mission facilitate the integration of personal, spiritual, academic, and global formation into the vocational coherence of a Christian leader through reflection, relationships, and practices. IS503 is an integrative course that explores the identity and practices of Christian mission as a people called, gathered, and sent by God. Together, professor and students study and enact historic Christian disciplines necessitated by this distinctive identity (witness, mercy, reconciliation, advocacy, creation care, friendship, inculturation, and inter-religious dialogue) in order to form students who demonstrate capacities to cultivate a theologically reflective practice of Christian discipleship.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: (1) Students will have demonstrated capacities to critically reflect on their current and past experiences of Christian practices of mission. (2) Students will have demonstrated through participation in local contexts the capacity to engage in activities and exercises related to Christian spiritual disciplines and practices of mission (3) Students will have demonstrated capacities to engage scripture, tradition, and contemporary resources to reflect theologically on historic and personal practices of mission. (4) Students will have articulated how practices of mission impact their response to the Central Integration Question (CIQ) and will identify exercises, habits, and disciplines to embody these practices within their sociocultural context.

COURSE FORMAT: This course meets ten weeks online (which includes required synchronous and/or asynchronous participation in vocation and formation groups) for a total of 40 instructional hours. Students are required to interact with the material, with each other, and with the instructor regularly through online discussions, reading, and other assignments that promote active learning.

REQUIRED READING: 800 pp. of required reading and/or the equivalent time in viewing.

A. Required Textbooks

Bevans, Stephen B., and Roger P. Schroeder. Prophetic Dialogue: Reflections on Christian Mission Today. Orbis, 2011. ISBN: 978-1570759116, $35.00 [208 pp. assigned].

B. Core Practices

Reconciliation

“Reconciliation as the Mission of God: Faithful Christian Witness in a World of Destructive Conflicts and Divisions.” Presented at the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, Pattaya, Thailand, Sept 29 to Oct 5, 2004 [pp. 11-21]. Available on eReserves.

Witness

Bosch, David J. “Evangelism: Theological Currents and Cross-currents Today.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 11, no. 3 (July 1987): 98-103. Available on eReserves.

Russell, Chris. “Why evangelism is always non-negotiable” Church Times, 06 Jun 2014. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2014/6-june/comment/opinion/why-evangelism-is-always-non-negotiable.

Newbigin, Leslie. The Enduring Validity of Cross-Cultural Mission, International Bulletin of Missionary Research 12, no. 2 (April 1988): 50-53. Available on eReserves.

Mercy

Pohl, Christine D. Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition. Eerdmans, 1999. ISBN:978-0802844316, Pub. Price $21.00 [pp. 127-187]

Advocacy

“Introduction to Advocacy,” Advocacy e-lab, last modified Feb 17, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/user/AdvocacyeLab. Available on eReserves.

Inculturation

Hiebert, Paul G. “Critical Contextualization.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 11, no. 3 (July 1987): 104-111. Available on eReserves.

Friendship

Fitzgerald, John. "Christian Friendship: John, Paul, and the Philippians." Interpretation 61, no. 3 (07, 2007): 284-296 [13 pp. assigned]. Available on eReserves.

Heuertz, Christopher L., and Christine D. Pohl, Friendship at the Margins: Discovering Mutuality in Service and Mission. IVP Books, 2010. ISBN: 978-0830834549, Pub. Price $17.00 [pp. 119-139]. Available on eReserves

Interreligious Dialogue

“Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct.” World Council of Churches, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, World Evangelical Alliance International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Oct 2011) 194-196.

McConnell, C. Douglas. "Missional Principles and Guidelines for Interfaith Dialogue." Evangelical Interfaith Dialogue 1, no. 1 (Winter 2010): 3-5. Available at: McConnell 2010 Interfaith Dialogue EIFD Vol.1 no.1.

Creation Care

Wright, Christopher J.H. The Mission of God’s People. Zondervan, 2010. ISBN: 978-0310291121, Pub Price: $29.99 [pp. 48-62].

OPTIONAL PRACTICE

Healing, Signs, and Wonders

Ma, Wonsuk and Julie C. Ma. Mission in the Spirit: Towards a Pentecostal/Charismatic Missiology. Regnum Studies in Mission. Wipf & Stock, 2011. ISBN: 9781610970181. List Price: $39.00. [pp. 59-114]

C. Integration Resources

Roxburgh, Alan. “Practices of a Missional People,” in Journal of Missional Practice. Fall 2013 (online http://themissionalnetwork.com/index.php/alan-j-roxburgh. [10 pp. assigned].

Wright, Christopher J.H. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. IVP Academic, 2006. ISBN: 978-0830825714, Pub. Price $50.00 [290 pp. assigned].

Bible Reading: Gen. 1-3, 12:1-3, 15; Ps. 67; Matt. 22:34-40, 28:18-20; Luke 4:14-30; John 15; Acts 1-28; Rom 15:1-13; Rev. 7:9-17 [50 pp. assigned].

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT: The hours below add up to 157. Would you like to add 3 hours to any of the assignments?

800 pages reading and videos, including at least 50 pages of biblical text [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [40 hours].
Online and Vocation Formation Group (VFG) Participation: Students will participate in active learning to foster understanding of and capacity for engaging in theologically-informed reflection in the online classroom and through participation in Vocation Formation Groups. (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3 and #4]. [32 hours+8 hours].
Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography related to practices of mission (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [2 hours].
Directed Exercises and Integrative Reflection: Student will participate in disciplines and exercises outside of the classroom over the course of the quarter related to the core practices of the course and reflect on these experiences in a way that integrates experience with course content. Includes: (1) four reading response forums, (2) weekly discussion forums, (3) weekly engagement with a mission practice and journal entries (25%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 and #3.] [25 hours].
Four fieldwork activities and reflections (30%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2]. [30 hours].
Final Integrative Assignment: Integration paper that reflects theologically on the practices of this course and their implications for the student’s response to the CIQ and the exercises, habits, and disciplines in their current Rule of Life (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #3, and #4]. [20 hours].

PREREQUISITES: IS500 encouraged. Recommended in first year of study.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Meets a core integration requirement in the 120 MDiv and the 80 MAT, 80 MATM, 80 MAICS Programs (Fall 2015).

FINAL EXAMINATION: None