Summer 2018/Houston

IS503

Hébert

IS503: PRACTICES OF MISSION (4 Units: 160 hours). Brian Hébert.

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 class meets for four Saturdays for a total of 30 hours of classroom instruction for lecture and discussion (which includes 8 hours of required synchronous and/or asynchronous participation in vocation and formation groups) plus 10 hours of directed learning activities for a total of 40 instructional hours.

REQUIRED READING: 821 pp. of required reading and/or the equivalent time in viewing.

BOOKS TO PURCHASE:

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

Lingenfelter, Sherwood and Marvin Mayers. Ministering Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for Personal Relationships. 3rd ed. Baker Academic, 2016. ISBN: 978-0801097478, Pub. Price $16.99 [128 pp. assigned].

Singlehurst, Laurence. Sowing, Reaping, Keeping: People Sensitive Evangelism. 2nd Ed. Society for Promoting Christian, 2017. ISBN: 978-1844741380. Available used or on Kindle, Pub. Price $4.89. [84 pages assigned].

Bible: read Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

CORE PRACTICES (available on eReserves):

Witness

Singlehurst, Laurence. Sowing, Reaping, Keeping: People Sensitive Evangelism. 2nd Ed. InterVarsity Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-1844741380. Available used or on Kindle, Pub. Price $4.89. [pp. 21-105]

Mercy

Kirk, J. Andrew. What Is Mission?: Theological Explorations. 96-117. Fortress Press, 2000. In eReserves. [20 pp. assigned]

Optional Video Mother Theresa: https://youtu.be/Th2QzJwy8tI

Wright, Christopher J.H. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. IVP Academic, 2006. ISBN: 978-0830825714, Pub. Price $45.00. Chapter 6 [31 pp. assigned].

Reconciliation

Optional Video Rick Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQgohgp5UC0 [38 minutes]

Jones, Gregory L. “Forgiveness” in Practicing Our Faith. Jossey-Bass, 2010. ISBN: 978-0470484111, pp. 133-148. In eReserves. [15 pp. assigned]

Inter-religious Dialogue

Muck, Terry and Frances S. Adeney. Christianity Encountering World Religions, The Practice of Mission in the Twenty-first Century. Baker Academic, 2009. ISBN: 978-0801026607, Pub. Price $30.00 [102 pp. assigned].

Inculturation

Pocock, Michael, Gailyn Van Rheenen, and Douglas McConnell. "Contextualization." Chap. 12 The Changing Face of World Missions: Engaging Contemporary Issues and Trends, 321-48. Baker Academic, 2005. In eReserves. [27 pp. assigned]

Friendship

Elmer, Duane. Cross-Cultural Servanthood: Serving the World in Christlike Humility. IVP Books, 2006. Pp.11-36. In eReserves. [25 pp. assigned]

Lingenfelter, Sherwood and Marvin Mayers. Ministering Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for Personal Relationships. 2nd ed. Baker Academic, 2003. ISBN: 978-0801026478, Pub. Price $15.99 [128 pp. assigned].

Creation Care

Kirk, J. Andrew. What Is Mission? Theological Explorations. 164-183. Fortress Press, 2000. ISBN: 978-0232523263. In eReserves. [pp. 164-183 assigned (19 pp. assigned)].

Wright, Christopher J.H. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. IVP Academic, 2006. ISBN: 978-0830825714. Pub. Price $45.00. Chap 12 [24 pp. assigned].

Optional Video: Our Father’s World

Advocacy

Sloane, Andrew. “Justifying advocacy: a biblical and theological rationale for speaking the truth to power on behalf of the vulnerable.” Evangelical Review of Theology 36, no. 2 (April 2012): 176-186.In eReserves. [10 pp. assigned]

Optional Video Bryant Myers: A Biblical View of Poverty and Development

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

  1. 821 pages reading and videos, including at least 50 pages of biblical text (15%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [40 hours].
  1. 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. (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3 and #4]. [22 hours+8 hours].
  2. 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 (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 and #3]. [15 hours].
  3. Four fieldwork activities and reflections (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2]. [8 hours + 8 hours = 16 hours].
  4. Autobiography related to practices of mission (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [2 hours].
  5. 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].
  6. DLA’s (Missional Contact) (10%). The student will engage in ten contact hours of participating or “shadowing” a ministry that relates to the course practices. This is to be approved in advance by the professor. [This assignment is related to learning outcome 2 and 3]. [10 hours].
  7. MAP: Missional Application Project (2,500 words total). The student will provide the theoretical overview, utilizing the readings as background, for whatever missional contact assignment was selected in assignment #7 and write a reflective essay about the experience. (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome 3 and 4]. [22 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.

NOTE: This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. Textbook prices are set by publishers and are subject to change.