M.A. in Church Leadership

From a strategic management perspective, explore principles and practices of management and administration as they apply to not-for-profit organizations. Unique organizational issues covered include board-staff relations; recruiting and motivating volunteers; accountability; organizing for and managing growth; and strategies to respond to changes in the political, economic and cultural environment.

Provides lectures, case studies, outside speakers, and class discussion of development and advancement issues in the management of not-for-profit ministries. Explores fundraising, including determining sources of support, planning the campaign, and successful strategies; marketing ministries, including promotional campaigns and public relations; and management issues including recruiting and managing volunteers.

Prepares the student to understand the coaching process, certification, ethics, coach-client relationships, and to develop a biblical worldview of coaching.  The course is one of three courses (LDRC 501, LDRC 502, LDRC 503) that comprise the concentration in Coaching and is constructed to align with the academic requirements outlined by the International Coach Federation (ICF) portfolio certification track.  ICF certification requirements are posted at www.coachfederation.org and require a combination of direct training and mentoring, coaching experience, and other items to receive certification.

Prepares the student to interact with the coaching client to create awareness of issues and alternatives, design coaching interventions, help the client begin the process of change and help the client monitor progress against goals that were defined in the coaching process.  The course is one of three courses (LDRC 501, LDRC 502, LDRC 503) that comprise the concentration in Coaching and is constructed to align with the academic requirements outlined by the International Coach Federation (ICF) portfolio certification track.  ICF certification requirements are posted at www.coachfederation.org and require a combination of direct training and mentoring, coaching experience, and other items to receive certification.

Prepares the student to build a coach-client relationship with leaders through the use of interpersonal communication.  In addition, this course helps the student conduct a feasibility analysis in preparation for starting a coaching consultancy or improving an existing consulting operation. The course is one of three courses (LDRC 501, LDRC 502, LDRC 503) that comprises the concentration in Coaching and is constructed to align with the academic requirements outlined by the International Coach Federation (ICF) portfolio certification track.  ICF certification requirements are posted at www.coachfederation.org and require a combination of direct training and mentoring, coaching experience, and other items to receive certification.

An understanding of leadership from the wisdom literature from the evolution of leadership/management thought from 1900 to the present. Leadership as a contingent/context-specific application and organizational problems that have leader- follower interaction as a cause.

Provides an understanding of organizational structure and organizational life-cycle development.  Students learn the role of the leader as an organizational architect.  The course examines the role of the Organizational Development (OD) specialist and how leaders intervene in their own organizations, as well as how consultants intervene in other organizations.

Explores the psychological contract between leader and follower that takes any of many forms between two people or between the leader and small groups.  Students study group formation and group development, as well as the intricacies of coaching, mentoring, and discipling.  Students study organizational behavior and explore how OB concepts affect leadership effectiveness.

Examines organizational communication, including dyadic, small group, formal and informal communication, as well as the relationship of communication to organizational satisfaction and effectiveness.  In addition, students study how communication defers in leader-member exchange and mass-communication of charismatic leader/large group interaction.

Compares and contrasts strategic thinking with strategic planning and presents the value of both. Students study the leader’s role in organizational change – creating and preventing change, as well as determining the organization’s readiness for change.  In addition, students explore the reasons for resistance to change and strategies for coping with resistance.

Synthesizes the knowledge and skills learned throughout this program.  This experience may be, but is not limited to, a guided project, (i.e., designing a new organization, analyzing an existing major organizational problem and recommending solutions or developing and testing a seminar), a master’s thesis or a publishable manuscript.  Prerequisite:  permission of instructor.

The role, purpose, and ethical conduct of business organizations. Discovering one's life purpose and developing a plan to pursue it with excellence and integrity. Developing and applying ethical reasoning skills and one's values to a wide variety of ethical issues in business.

Foundational biblical principles of church leadership and life with an emphasis on team ministry. Examines key ministry practices as foundations for church renewal and revitalization. Recommended as a prerequisite to other ministry courses.

Strategies for effective emotional and spiritual healing in the unique context of the Church. Presents models for biblically based, spiritually-gifted strategies to address key issues as an integrated part of the mentoring and disciple-making process.

Examination of effective ways to administrate the local church, including the role of lay leadership. Attention will be given to budgets and facilities, with a view to ministry opportunities. Prerequisite: SFRM 501. Prerequisite: PMIN 501 or concurrent. Cross-listed with DLDR 762 and RTCH 762.

Online tools ranging from website development, blogging, social networks, audio/video streaming and email newsletters. Students learn to integrate digital online media content for ministry settings such as pastoral ministry, worship, evangelism, missions, marketplace ministry and others. Cross-listed with DLDR 760 and RTCH 760.

Examines the biblical, historical, and theological aspects of Christian formation, including the holistic and other models, with emphasis on both personal life and ministry contexts. Taken in the first semester of degree and begins the Spiritual Formation Portfolio.

Engages existing Servant Leadership models and theories within the context of both leadership and followership.  Cross-listed with LDSL 771.

Seeks a thoughtful engagement of how Servant Leadership works in a contemporary world regarding issues such as social movements, social corporate responsibility, justice & humanity.  Cross-listed with LDSL 772.

Studies the biblical foundations, perspectives, and examples of Servant Leadership contained in Scripture with a focus on current application.  Cross-listed with LDSL 773.

In this exploding age of information, it is the objective of the library faculty to prepare graduates to be on the cutting edge of information technology. Information literacy is the ability to effectively access information for problem solving and decision-making; thus, the knowledge and abilities you glean from this course will open doors to lifelong learning. It is imperative for graduate study research. Since the information learned in this course is a vital foundation for all other coursework, its completion is required within the first semester of study. The course takes approximately ten hours to complete.