DOCTOR OF MINISTRY PROGRAM

REVITALIZING CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

M-630--From Mission to Ministry

Monday, July 21 (1:00 p.m.) – Friday, July 25 (1:00 p.m.)

FINAL COURSE ASSIGNMENT DUE: September 1, 2013

John E. Schmidt, Ed.D.

172 W. 15TH Street

Holland, MI 49423

O: 616.403.7149

Email:

Course Description

“All too often, on the long road up, young leaders become ‘servants of what is’ rather than ‘shapers of the what might be.’” When leaders get stuck, “beloved community” becomes either content and satisfied or fragmented and fractured. What’s a leader to do? This course explores the development of mission, ministry, and leadership in the context of cultural and congregational changes taking place in the world(s) around us. Learners will analyze a specific context of mission and ministry and explore methods leaders use to transform beloved communities, ministries, and ministry leaders.

Course Objectives

  1. To identify and examine cultural, community, and leadership dynamics which influence the nature and process of mission and ministry.
  2. To examine the process of development and change – what it is, how it can be accomplished in mission/ministry settings, and various ways leaders might facilitate, shape, and direct change.
  3. To explore various theories of community and leadership development and to discern which of these ideas might be used faithfully in particular contexts of mission and ministry.

Pre-Course Readings

Bordas J. 2012. Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Branson, Mark Lau, & Juan F. Martinez. 2011. Churches, Cultures, and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.

Herrington, Jim, Mike Bonem, & James H. Furr. 2000. Leading Congregational Change: A Practical Guide for the Transformational Journey. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

McKnight, John, & Peter Block. 2010. The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods. San Francisco CA: Berret-Koehler Publishers.

Pre-Course Assignments

  1. Read all of the pre-course readings.
  1. Peruse the following internet resources:
  2. Asset-Based Community Development Institute (
  3. Christian Community Development Association (
  4. Communities First Association (
  5. Designed Learning (
  6. International Association of Community Development (
  7. Leadership Foundations (www;Leadershipfoundations.org)
  8. National Community Development Association (
  9. Percept Group (
  1. Make a list of “changes” that you want to make in yourself, your family, your congregation, your denomination, your community, your nation, your world.

Course Class Expectations

Class sessions will consist of reflections on pre-course readings, formal presentations, leadership exercises, discussion, and preparations for final projects. Because of the collaborative nature of the class, learners are expected to be present for and participate in all class sessions. Please do not schedule other meetings or activities that will conflict with your participation.

The broad themes that we will be addressing in class are:

Monday (afternoon):From Mission to Ministry

Tuesday (morning):Discovering Community

Tuesday (afternoon):Dreaming Community

Wednesday (morning):Designing Community

Wednesday (afternoon):Developing Community

Thursday (morning):Doing Community

Thursday (afternoon)Transformative Learning and Leading

Friday (morning)From Ministry to Mission

Final Course Assignments

1. Identify an “adaptive challenge” for your community that challenges your community’s ability to change, and then develop a proposed change strategy to address this challenge in some new way. Plan to address something that may not be completed by September 1. Write a paper about your proposed interventions that demonstrate how you plan to use concepts (from this and other courses) to address this adaptive challenge. Establish direct relations between the theoretical components of the course and your practice of community development. Your interventions should plan to involve others in design, implementation, and evaluation. A typical community change strategy (CCS) will be about 8 pages long (or 1 page for every subject you choose to address), and contain the following:

  • A description of the situational dynamics challenging the change that you and others will be addressing. This can be something that you discussed in class or could be another focus. Be sure to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that you face.
  • A summary of the relevant theoretical material from this course (and other courses) that inform this community development initiative. Be specific about how you will analyze the nature of this challenge in relation to your vision for the community, your understanding of your mission, what you (and the community) believe are the strategic directions for development, and the resources that will need to be mobilized to accomplish your goals.
  • A description of how you propose working with others to examine this challenge and design interventions.
  • A description of the proposed implementation and evaluation processes for these community development interventions. Evaluation should include planners and participants. Since you will not have completed these interventions prior to writing this paper, evaluation should address what has been accomplished at the time of the paper’s writing and reflections on how you anticipate the ministry unfolding.

2. Identify what you learned from this class about yourself and the practice of leading community ministry.

Course Requirements and Grading

Grading will be based on four factors:

  1. Pre-Course List of Proposed Changes25%
  2. Class Participation25%
  3. Final Community Change Strategy Proposal 25%
  4. Paper on what you learned25%