These are the two main questions we will explore in our certificate in missional theology and practice.
This two-semester program includes the following three courses:
Together with a group of fellow learners, you will meet weekly over the course of two semesters to discover how the biblical story reveals God's mission to save God's world through Jesus Christ. We'll challenge each other to put what we're learning into practice through intentional missional living.
Completing all three courses in two semesters will require a time commitment of approximately 6 hours per week. This includes attending the weekly group meeting and setting aside an average of 4 hours/week for reading, reflection, and other assignments.
Tuition is $300 per semester. The course is taught by CORS President Hoffman Rhyne.
SYMPHONY OF MISSION COURSE
DRAMA OF SCRIPTURE COURSE
The Church’s missionary mandate does not merely rest on the Great Commission passages alone. Rather, the whole Bible itself is a missional phenomenon. It is both the product of and witness to God’s redemptive mission. So “mission” is not just one item on a list of things that the Bible is about. It’s what it’s all about. The reason we have the Bible is that the Triune God is on a mission to reveal himself and his salvation to the world. From beginning to end, it is an epic story of God’s mission through God’s people to save God’s world. This story finds its focus and fulfillment in the good news of Jesus Christ. As we digest God’s story, we will discover how it stands in stark contrast to the rival idolatrous stories being told in our contemporary setting and how it truly is a better story.
The primary texts for this course are the Bible and
The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story (3rd Edition) by Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen. We will also watch a number of Bible Project videos that demonstrate how "the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus."
This course is offered in the Fall and Spring semesters and is a prerequisite for the second course in this certificate program. Go here for the course guide.
In this course, we will examine the comprehensiveness of God’s mission and the honor of joining him in it. Regardless of our station in life, we can join him in restoring all things. We will explore the relationship between “mission,” which refers to the comprehensiveness of God’s restoration, and “missions,” which refers to taking that mission to every tongue, tribe, and nation. We’ll learn how every local church and every believer can cultivate habits that join us integrally with taking the message and power of the gospel to our neighbors and the nations. Toward the end of this course, you will tie everything together in a personalized missional plan.
The primary texts for this course are the Bible and
The Symphony of Mission: Playing Your Part in God's Work in the World by Michael Goheen and Jim Mullins. We will also explore other content to help us find our role in God's mission.
This course is offered in the Fall and Spring semesters. Go here for the course guide.
The purposes of this course are to establish a rhythm of regularly reading/listening to the whole Bible, to develop a basic familiarity with each book of the Bible, and to learn to see how each book fits within the whole story. It takes approximately 80 hours to read/listen to the whole Bible. To accomplish this in one year takes less than 15 minutes a day, which is an entirely achievable and worthwhile goal. Reading through the whole Bible is meant to supplement meditation, study, and other forms of listening to God in the Scriptures.
Your are free to read/listen to the Bible at your own pace according to our Bible reading plan. The reading plan is paired with the Bible Project’s book overview videos. There will be five quizzes along the way and one final exam that draw from the videos.
Go here for the
course guide.
Our Commitment
Our commitment to you is to guide you through the course, facilitate the weekly group discussions, provide feedback on your work, and coach you to put into practice what you are learning. Most of this will happen in the context of the group meetings and we will all be learning from one another.
Each course involves commitment. Your presence and participation in the weekly group times, as well as your completion of the assignments, will affect not only your own experience but also that of others. Commitment to each course involves an average of 6 hours/week of time set aside to:
