Master of Arts: Leadership and Formation: Missional Leadership Specialization

The Graduate School of Theology offers a 36-credit Master of Arts: Leadership and Formation with specializations in Missional Leadership; Spiritual Formation; or Youth, Children and Family Ministry. Students in these three specializations complete eight four-credit courses over the span of four semesters, plus four credits of supervised ministry experience that can be completed during either of the student's two final semesters. No summer courses are required.

The Master of Arts: Leadership and Formation offers a specialization in Missional Leadership that is offered in a fully online format and is designed to equip men and women with a Wesleyan-Holiness approach to engaging their twenty-first century cultures as Christian leaders. The program emphasizes the need for Christ followers to live out the gospel so that it is seen and experienced in community. By marrying mission with the wholeness of life, both personally and culturally, this program advances missional leadership as incarnational and holistic: missional leaders recognize the value of tradition and the opportunities and pitfalls within culture; they lead through servanthood; and they seek to ground their ministries biblically and theologically toward a purpose that is bigger than themselves. Students in this program complete eight four-credit courses, plus two two-credit supervised ministry courses that must be completed near the end of the student's program, scheduled in consultation with the program coordinator. 

Student Learning Outcomes

1. The graduate understands and is able to explain Wesleyan-Holiness theology as it relates to Scripture, Christian tradition, reason, and experience in the practice of ministry. (RH)
2. The graduate identifies characteristics of the cultural context of ministry and assesses them through an appropriate theological perspective, compares existing cultures with alternative cultural expressions, and develops personal and corporate practices consistent with the reign of God. (CC)
3. The graduate practices the means of grace (spiritual disciplines) that lead to emotional and spiritual health, personal Christian virtue, and responsible social engagement. (PSF)
4. The graduate integrates Christian theological themes in the understanding and practice of ministry and leadership. (MPL)
5. The graduate understands the historic interplay between cultural, philosophical, and theological shifts that inform Christian ministry practice. (RH)
6. The graduate engages the social context from the perspective of Christian mission to articulate and embody the gospel of Christ. (CC)
7. The graduate utilizes insights of missional leadership to evaluate and assess congregational contexts and move persons and congregations toward practices consistent with a Wesleyan-Holiness theology. (PSF)
8. The graduate understands and is able to explain God's mission in the midst of a dynamic and changing world. (MPL)