Content

In this unit students will enhance their professional and vocational development by undertaking an in-depth engagement with the philosophies and processes of leading change in churches and other Christian organizations. The unit will equip students for planning, conducting, and evaluating ministry interventions, with particular focus on addressing issues of chronic anxiety and marginality in the ministry context. Students will focus on issues such as these, at postgraduate level:

• Examine the process of change and transformation through a missional and theological lens.

• Develop and explore theological and practical frameworks for change led by Christian organizational and/or church leadership.

• Draw on biblical metaphors as a guide for change and to inform ministry and mission.

• Learn the dynamics and possibilities of mission shaped transformation processes and models, appropriate to various social and cultural contexts.

• Investigate strategies for mission focused renewal, change and conflict management, polarity management, motivation and empowerment of leaders/followers, governance and management roles, and spiritual and ethical practices for church and ministry life.

Unit code: DA9201S

Unit status: Approved (New unit)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Elective

Unit discipline: Mission and Ministry

Delivery Mode: Online

Proposing College: Stirling College

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Learning outcomes

1.

Analyse theologies of change/transformation as they relate to Christian ministry and/or local church life.

2.

Examine the roles, accountabilities, dynamics and relationships that exist between leaders and followers in any change process.

3.

Evaluate Appreciative Inquiry and demonstrate theoretical and practical familiarity and competency in Appreciative Inquiry.

4.

Using Appreciative Inquiry, synthesise learning in this award by examining an opportunity or opportunities for an intervention intended to bring transformative change in their own leadership/ministry context.

5.

Integrate pastoral practice appropriate for the student’s context with biblical, theological and spiritual insights gained from readings, use of Appreciative Inquiry, other course participants and course teaching into a contemporary leadership and change theory.

Unit sequence

Completed by students doing the STC-UD-ACU Doctor of Ministry (and, consequently, the UD Grad Dip Divinity, Reg. 81)

Pedagogy

Teaching strategies include lectures; research; class discussion and debates; presentation of instructional material in the form of printed documentation, podcasts, videos, and audio; online course and multimedia materials.

Indicative Bibliography

Branson, Mark Lau. Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry, Missional Engagement, and Congregational Change. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2016. 286 pages.

Cooperider, David. Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change. Berrett-Koehler, 2018. 96 pages.

Driskill, Gerald W. and Angela L. Brenton. Organizational Culture in Action: A Cultural Analysis Workbook, 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2011. 239 pages.

Friedman, Edwin H. Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue. New York: Guilford Press, 2011. 319 pages.

Hill, Graham Joseph and Grace Ji-Sun Kim. Healing Our Broken Humanity: Practices for Revitalizing the Church and Renewing the World. InterVarsity Press, 2016. 176 pages.

Hill, Graham Joseph and Michael Frost. Hide This in Your Heart: Memorizing Scripture for Kingdom Impact. NavPress, 2020. 208 pages.

MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, 3rd edition. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007. 312 pages.

Madison, D. Soyini. Critical Ethnography: Method, Ethics, and Performance, 2nd Ed, Los Angeles: Sage, 2012. 283 pages.

Volf, Miroslav. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, Nashville: Abingdon, 1996. 192 pages.

Williams, Delores S. Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk. 20th Anniversary Edition. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. 320 pages

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Essay - Minor Essay 1400 20.0
Reflection - Reflection paper 2100 30.0
Essay - Major Essay 3500 50.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Maggie Kappelhoff on 26 Oct, 2021

Unit record last updated: 2021-10-26 14:26:35 +1100