Summer 2019/Irvine

IS503

Rhodes

IS503: PRACTICES OF MISSION (4 Units: 161 hours). Patricia (Tricia) Rhodes.

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 articulate 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 class meets for four Saturdays for a total of 30 hours of classroom instruction for lecture and discussion plus 10 hours of directed learning activities for a total of 40 instructional.

REQUIRED READING: 900 pp. of required reading and/or the equivalent time in viewing. Note: Several of the required readings are available on e-reserves at no charge to the student. The texts listed below should be purchased before the first class.

Biblical Texts [approximately 50 pp. assigned].

General texts

Bevans, Stephen B., and Roger P. Schroeder. Prophetic Dialogue: Reflections on Christian Mission Today. Orbis, 2011. ISBN: 978-1570759116, Pub. Price $35.00 Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [173 pages assigned].

Helland, Roger, and Len Hjalmarson. Missional Spirituality: Embodying God's Love from the Inside Out. IVP Books, 2011. ISBN: 978-0830838073, Pub. Price $16.00 [252 pages assigned].

Rhodes, Tricia. Intimate Intercession: The Sacred Joy of Praying for Others. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005. ISBN: 978-0849905636, Pub. Price $14.99 [209 pages assigned].

McNeil, Brenda Salter. Roadmap to Reconciliation: Moving Communities into Unity, Wholeness, and Justice. 2015. IVP, 2016. ISBN: 978-0830844425, Pub. Price $16.00 Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [127 pages assigned].

Online Articles and videos (available on course Canvas page) [equivalent of approximately 95 pp.].

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

900 pages reading and videos, including at least 50 pages of biblical text. [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [45 hours].
Students will participate in weekly Canvas forums, reflecting on assigned readings and scripture texts. (10%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [10 hours].
Classroom 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 classroom and through participation in Vocation Formation Groups (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3 and #4]. [22 hours+8 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. (20%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 and #3]. [22 hours].
Weekly fieldwork activities and reflections. Students will engage in missional practices weekly and engage in classroom discussions related to their experiences (20%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1 and 2.] [16 hours].
Autobiography related to practices of mission (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [2 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 (2,500 words total). (20%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #3, and #4]. [25 hours].
Directed Learning Activities (DLAs). Students will spend ten hours in a selected “third place” where they will reflect on and engage in the course practices within the context of the people and culture they have chosen. They will write a 750 word paper on their reflections and share their experiences in class throughout the course (15%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, 3]. [10 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.