Leadership for Mission [LD]
LD0500 Theological Frameworks for Ministry I
Ministry is a theological task done with and for living persons. Students in this course explore a theology of ministry that helps children, youth, and their families interpret God’s action in their actual lives. The course assists students in thinking about ministry from the location of divine action, recognizing how the leader’s own theological conceptions fuel his or her imagination for ministry with children and youth. Students are asked to construct their own “theology” of ministry. Each student is encouraged to focus on their own area of specialization (children’s ministry, youth ministry, pastoral care ministry, etc.) but is also moved into examining a theology of ministry that explores the centrality of God’s action in intergenerational dimensions of human communities.
Full course
Electives: MDiv Leadership
LD0505 Theological Frameworks for Ministry II
This course continues the focus, themes, and attention of LD0500. Students will be given further opportunities to think about God’s action as a framework for ministry, taking the next steps in integrating experience, practice, and ministry.
Full course
Electives: MDiv Leadership
LD0530 Missional Leadership in Professional Settings
This course serves as a final capstone course for the MA degrees in the Leadership Division. Students will demonstrate their ability to integrate theology, theory and practice in the creation and defense of a capstone project centered on a current issue in their concentration area. Capstone projects are in the form of practical ministry projects.
Full course
LD0535 Portfolio Capstone Project
This course serves as the capstone project for the MA in Lutheran Ministry. Students will demonstrate their competency for Christian ministry by developing a portfolio with particular attention to a specific area of ministry. The portfolio will contain artifacts developed during their field education (contextual learning) requirement/s and demonstrate their ability to integrate theology, theory and practice as they lead Christian ministry. Students will complete a structured conversation with their faculty advisor and a member of the contextual learning staff. This course is to be taken in the term in which they are completing their field education requirement.
Full course
LD0540 Innovation with Congregations and Other Faith Based Organizations
This course addresses the adaptive challenges congregations and nonprofits face with a missional imagination and a disciplined approach to innovation. Drawing from the disciplines of theology and the fields of innovation theories, change management, and design, students will develop capacities for discovering adaptive challenges, practice using design-thinking, gain capacities for leadership agility, and learn theories of innovation.
Full course
Electives: Justice & Reconciliation, MDiv Leadership
LD0550 Faithful Innovation in Practice
This course addresses faithful innovation as a theological understanding of Christian leadership. Building on the learnings from the Innovation within Congregations and other Faith-based Communities course, this course integrates Christian practices, innovation theory, and a practice-oriented approach to leading change to discern a community's future, cultivate creative experimentation, and expand leadership and organizational imagination in the midst of complexity. Students will develop a theology of innovation, practice agile leadership, lead others in faithful innovation, and develop tools for leading in the face of resistance.
Prerequisites: LD0540 Innovation with Congregations and Other Faith Based Organizations
Full course
Electives: MDiv Leadership
LD2510 Voices of Women of Color in Early American Ministry
This course provides an examination of the social, political, cultural, and religious impact of women on color in their context. Special attention is given to the African American woman’s experience in U.S. slavery through the civil rights era, to issues facing women in the church today. The class also addresses the contribution of women of color in the history of the church and the global church today.
Full course
Electives: Cultural Context. Justice & Reconciliation, MDiv Leadership
LD2515 Religious Leadership in the Black Prophetic Tradition
This course will engage seminarians and scholar-activists in the Black prophetic tradition to equip students with the tools to examine classic and contemporary texts in Black theological studies, feminist studies, and womanist studies toward understanding the continued role of African Spirituality, Pan-African solidarity, and Theo-ethics. This course engages the work of contemporary African-American pastoral leaders, both through their writing and in person through a national conference. Students are required to participate in the annual Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference as part of the course.
Full course
Electives: Cultural Context, Justice & Reconciliation, MDiv Leadership
LD3510 Introduction to Chaplaincy
This course is designed to help students understand the basic nature of chaplaincy. Students will explore various types of chaplaincy ministry professions, explain the historical development of chaplaincy from biblical models of pastoral care to contemporary chaplaincy, illustrate the key roles of chaplains, and begin to develop a spiritual care program for a given community.
Full course
Electives: MDiv Leadership
LD4337 Diaconal Formation
This course will explore the history of the Lutheran diaconate, help students who are seeking rostered leadership as a Deacon/Deaconess to articulate the theology of diakonia, and engage practical ways Word and Service Ministers serve throughout the church. Students are required to participate in the retreat offered by the ELCA as a part of this course, and then participate in additional formation activities through Luther Seminary.
Full course
Electives: MDiv Leadership
LD4535 Faith and Mission Practices Within Communities of Faith
God's creating and redeeming Word gathers God's people in Christian community and sends them into the world. This course will propose a theological understanding of faith formation and mission practices for Christian communities, explore the many facets of apostolic witness in the world, and study a variety of faith and mission practices. Students will develop their own understanding of faith and mission practices, as well as strategies for leading communities, families, teams and individuals in such practices.
Electives: MDiv Leadership
Full course
LD4597 Guided Reading and Research in Leadership for Mission
An independent study for qualified students under the personal supervision of a member of the division. Consult faculty within division.
Electives: MDiv Leadership
LD6598/8599 Guided Reading and Research in Leadership for Mission
An independent study for students in Advanced Theological Education. Consult faculty within division and Advanced Theological Education Office.
LD6925 Introduction to Research Methods
An introduction to graduate level research within a theological perspective and with particular attention to the methodologies students will employ in their summative degree research (Th.M., Ph.D., D.Min.). Research processes for empirical (social science field research) and literature-based dissertations will be considered. Topics include the research question, literature review, research methods, processes for data gathering and analysis, thesis writing, the ethical implications of research, and the complex nature of subjectivity. Participants will explore potential topics of interest for their research and develop a draft research proposal (including a draft IRB application if appropriate). Participants will also reflect on how personal and professional experiences affect the process of research and consider ways that their work can influence both the academy and the church. Companion course to GR8930.
Full course