The Gospel in Church and Culture

The Gospel is the center of the church's identity, yet too frequently churches are sidetracked from keeping it central by the cultural challenges of our times and the distractions of ordinary church life. The goal of this DMin track is to see pastors and their churches transformed by a Gospel centered approach to all the dimensions of ministry. - Dr. Richard Lints, mentor

Request more information or apply today!

Informing

Year One: Postmodern World-views and the Christian Response

Students will focus on:

• a historical and philosophical survey of postmodernism
• the Christian worldview
• the implications for the content of our Christian witness and teaching

Year Two: Postmodern Persons and the Church's Opportunity

During this residency students will explore the idea of postmodern generations:

• the particular challenges of contemporary youth
• multiculturalism and its implications for the Church
• the challenges of missions in the postmodern era
• implications for the character of Christian witness and teaching

Year Three: Strategies for Faithful and Fruitful Christian Response

This residency will evaluate contemporary ministry strategies and enables students to formulate ministry strategies that are faithful and effective.

back to top

Forming

As a Doctor of Ministry student, you attend three two-week intensive residencies (seminars), one each year for three years. The residencies consist of lectures, case studies, participant reports and individual consultations. The classroom sessions are collegial in style and stress learning within a community context. In preparation for each residency, you read between 2,000 and 3,000 pages of assigned and collateral reading. Following the first two residencies, you complete a project related to the residency topic. After the third residency, you complete a major thesis-project under the guidance of the directing faculty. Here is a sample of the reading for residency one:

• G. K. Beale, The Temple and the Church's Mission
• D. A. Carson, Scandalous
• D. A. Carson and Tim Keller, Worship by the Book
• Bryan Chapell, Christ Centered Worship
• Edmund Clowney, Preaching Christ in All of Scripture
• Graeme Goldsworthy, According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible
• Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching
• Michale Horton, The Gospel Driven Life
• James D. Hunter, To Change the World
• Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods
• Andreas Kostenberger and P. T. O'Brien, Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology of Mission
• Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks
• Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative

To order these books through Christian Book Distributors, go to: gcts.christianbook.com.

back to top

Transforming

Here is how your studies will transform you and your ministry by seeking to fulfill our general Doctor of Ministry goals in some track-specific ways:

• To resource students through a biblically-grounded educational program taught by faculty who are committed to God’s Word and the application of principles of Scripture to the issues of contemporary culture.
  • Dr. Um and Dr. Lints work together at The Center for Gospel Culture. Together, they want to establish the centrality of the gospel as the basis for developing a gospel culture worldview so that individuals would be able to think, act, and live in line with the truth of the gospel (Gal. 2:14).
• To form in students a sound foundation of theological and biblical inquiry in their professional doctoral program’s specialized track that they are able to integrate into the life of Christian ministry.
  • During the first residency students and mentors will engage the Biblical description of the gospel and its consequences for ministry today. Students and mentors will explore why it is so urgent to keep the gospel central in the life of the church.
• To provide students with the skill sets and understandings in a specialized area of ministry to such an extent that they can impact their congregation or community more powerfully for God.
  • Students will engage in critical reviews of theologically thin descriptions of the gospel in the church today.
  • Students will also look at the controversies in contemporary evangelical circles regarding the relationship of the gospel to pastoral ministry.
• To create through the cohort model of the program a dimension of Christian community and spiritual nurturing so that students form strong friendships with one another and enter long-term relationships with the scholars who guide the learning experience.
  • The Doctor of Ministry program limits the size of a cohort to 24. Students are only allowed to enter at the start of a track and new students are not allowed to enter in subsequent residencies, unless returning from Leave of Absence.
  • Students are encouraged to room together during the residencies and share meals together.
    • The DMin office facilitates large group meals at least twice during each residency.
    • Often, there will be a cross-cohort chapel service during each residency. And mentors organize worship opportunities within the classroom on an almost daily basis.
• To develop in students a deeper understanding of Christ’s lordship in all areas of life for the common good of the contemporary world.
• To cultivate within students through critical reflection and careful research through the residencies and projects an enriched Christian witness in the places of society they are called to serve.
  • Students will prepare two critical reading reviews, in the style of book reviews (engaging, criticizing, and articulating points of appreciation), for the views represented in the texts chosen.
• To instill in students a refreshed view of their ministry as it relates to the proclamation of the Gospel among all people.

back to top