Practical Ministry

An introduction to the biblical and theological foundations, principles, and methods of Christ centered preaching in relation to topical, textual and expository sermons. Student will review biblical hermeneutics for application to preaching. Attention is also given to personal preparation, sermon development and delivery, and biblical preaching in the Seventh-day Adventist and Black traditions. They will write sermon manuscripts and outlines and deliver them in their context of ministry or to their peers.

This course covers the theory and practice of pastoral care and counseling in the local church setting. It seeks to integrate personal faith development and compassionate ministry of the pastor or church leader with critical insights and caring strategies of the helping professions and the discipline of pastoral theology. Specific emphasis will be given to the development of spiritual relationship in multicultural, cross-cultural context; understanding of black socio- religious experience; and the black family in American society. A particular concern will be given to such topics as human sexuality, adolescent and youth issues, emotional, substance and physical abuse, marriage and family dynamics, and the care of the elderly. The students will be engaged in exploring effective ways to address these challenges and minister to the needs identified.

This course is designed to provide participants with advanced hermeneutical methods, skills, and tools to first interpret the Biblical texts from within its own historical, linguistic, sociocultural, theological, and spiritual contexts, and then learn how to preach them transformatively in order to address congregational needs and concerns. They will focus on how theological themes, narrative structures, and rhetorical movements in specific genres may effectively convey God’s message of salvation in Jesus Christ in a worshiping context. Students will examine selected texts and themes for God’s call for repentance, justice, forgiveness, reconciliation, understanding, healing, comfort, support, empowerment, transformation, peace, and hope. Participants will also look at their own faith development and temperaments out of which they may preach transformatively to others.

This course traces the history of community ministry in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Utilizing advice from Welfare Ministry, emphasis is placed on community health initiatives, education and programs for the poor. The role of ADRA will also be covered. Students will suggest ways in which Community Service departments in their local churches can best respond to the immediate needs of the communities they serve.

This course helps students to interpret the operations and infrastructure of cities and utilize the information in the construction of Christ-centered urban ministry. Students learn the principles of demographics and psychographics in understanding populations. Students will learn how to access and interpret government public data sources such as planning and zoning, public health, incarceration rates, and housing data. Understanding the social, political, economic infrastructures of the urban environment, students will learn how to utilize the information to identify disparities and marginalized populations and to construct ministry interventions.

This course covers the essentials of operating non-profit organizations. Topics include writing articles of incorporation, registering a business, types of non-profit organizations, forming 501c3 corporations, governance of non-profit organizations, non-profits and their relationship to the Church, solicitation and donations, taxes and other government regulations, and partnering with other non-profit organization or critically analyze an existing non-profit organization.

This course focuses on the evangelistic and church growth ministries of pastors and lay professionals in order to foster congregational and community development. Participants will learn how to assess and understand congregations and communities in order to develop relevant contextual strategies for evangelism and development. It is also intended to help participants reflect on traditional pastoral and public evangelism, evangelistic preaching, and evangelistic resources, in order to learn how to effectively design and use new resources and programs suited for the contemporary postmodern context. Participants will be equipped to train and mobilize lay ministers, implement church growth principles, and effectively use media and audio-visual equipment. The course will also expose participants to the science and art of scheduling, financing, and conducting mission programs and evangelistic projects

This course is designed to explore strategies of church planting in urban settings and to assist planters to think contextually about the placement of new ministries to meet the spiritual and social needs of diverse people groups and generations.

This course is designed to provide knowledge and skills in effective community relations as it explores how a congregation can serve meaningfully in selected locations. It enables students to enhance their public communication skills in diverse cultural settings and in interactions between religious and non-religious institutions.

This course will lay the theoretical foundations for preparing an academic pastoral project, or for writing a capstone resource suitable for training purposes and for giving workshops. It will provide knowledge for designing, conducting, and evaluating pastoral research, as well as for designing and writing a capstone project. Students will review principles of writing an IRB proposal, principles of conducting qualitative and action research methods, as well as the features of the Turabian writing style requirements.

This is a supervised field experience, in which students demonstrate their competencies and growing proficiency in the contexts of congregational ministry, community service, or evangelism. The course assists students to develop pastoral identity, a life of faith in Jesus Christ, moral values, as well as the qualities of an effective pastor, evangelist, or church and community leader. In addition to registering for the course, students are required to propose a qualified field supervisor under whom he/she will fulfill the hours and practices as stipulated in the course requirements.

This course places the modern discipline of pastoral and practical theology in a historical perspective while determining its scope, methods, norms, and value for modern Christ- centered ministry. It evaluates critically the integration of theological thinking, theological speech, theological action, and theological reflection in relation to particular pastoral events, issues, and concerns. The course relates theory and practice in the cultural and social matrix of pastoral ministries. Selected theological themes and biblical images such as the creation, redemption, incarnation, grace, justice, Trinity, shepherd, healer, preacher, and judge, are used to articulate a model for ministry. Relevant theories from other disciplines are also reflected on as deemed valuable.

This course of study will explore the diverse philosophical, theological, sociopolitical, and cultural experiences and perspectives of contemporary urban dwellers to create modes and strategies for ministry engagement and evangelization. Over the past fifty years, urbanization in the US has been shaped by numerous historical events and cultural shifts that have greatly impacted the ways people relate and navigate the urban landscape. By exploring those events and shifts we can better understand the various people groups who make up the urban community and devise strategies for meaningful dialogue and engagement. Topics such as women, children, and poverty in the urban context are explored.

This course is an advanced study of pastoral leadership and administration in small and large congregations as well as how to manage growth. It exposes students to leadership theory and skills, strategic planning, church marketing, and financial planning and management. Participants learn how to lead members, to manage and motivate paid and unpaid work force, to articulate the church’s mission and priorities. Students gain skills in the use of management information systems, physical plant management, and critical evaluation of General Conference of SDA policies and legal issues.

An interactive, action-reflection, and collaborative learning experience for the participant and the church, culminating in a professionally written resource-manual, which must be submitted the final semester of the program. This course has two options. Option 1 provides pastoral researchers, who have been authorized by the IRB, with the opportunity to show in writing how data collected from their praxis in the context of their ministry may contribute to generalized knowledge or the improvement of an aspect of ministry. Students who successfully complete Option 1 will receive a grade of ‘B’ or above. Option 2 provides an opportunity for students to apply their overall academic learning from the degree to the construction of a meaningful capstone project resource suitable for training purposes and workshops. Students who successfully complete Option 2 will receive a grade of ‘B’. The Project is a major assessment and evaluative component of the student’s learning. It is intended to help participants make a critical contribution to the spiritual life, evangelistic mission, management, and caring ministries of a local congregation. It requires participants to formulate a thesis-project proposal focused on a specific issue, need, or challenge in pastoral ministry. This must be followed by pastoral praxis programs designed to meet that need. The project must be carried out by the participants in their context of ministry, and must be critically informed by the academic courses and assigned readings. A selected Project Group (PG) and a Focus Group (FG) from the context of need will evaluate the process and value of the pastoral interventions for the church, as well as the overall growth of the participant. The project will be developed and conducted at specific times during the two-year period of the degree. The participant will finally summarize the overall effectiveness of the project and produce a final integrative pastoral resource manual. The resource manual must be presented in a form that would make it easy for other pastors to implement the program to address a similar need in their own context.