Courses

This course offers a specifically Christological account of the church’s ministry, explaining it less as imitation of Christ than as participation in Christ’s ongoing ministry in and on behalf of the world. Lectures, classroom exercises, and assignments will explore such foundational theological concerns as the nature of pastoral identity, the purpose of the church, and the goals of Christian ministry. While the course focuses on ministerial theology and praxis in a congregational setting, consideration will also be given to forms of ministry in other contexts.

Knowing

• To review and assess foundational theological concepts and categories of Christian ministry, focussing especially on the identity and purpose of the church.
• To explore the Christological contours of discipleship in relation to the ministry of leadership in church and academy, with particular attention to the dynamics of a theology informed by the cross.

Being

• To examine key features of spiritual autobiography with a view to clarifying the relationship between personal spirituality, discipleship, and ministerial vocation.
• To develop a fuller sense of identity “in Christ” as it applies to ministries of scholarship and teaching.
• To be formed together as a learning community.

Doing

• To gain practice in theological discernment as it applies to the pastoral dimensions of academic ministry.
• To identify and clarify personal goals for vocation and ministry within church, academy, and society.