|
What are Some Goals of the BCBLC?
From a theological perspective, the Center intends to operate from a missional orientation, It will therefore attempt to enable leaders and congregations to make a shift from a church-centered understanding of mission to a God-centered one. The church is not, in this view, the end purpose of the gospel, but the means, the agency, of the gospel for witnessing to a lost world. Thus a missional ecclesiology must be biblical, historical, eschatological, and contextual. And the final purpose of studies in ecclesiology is the renewal of the church. Therefore, some research goals of the Center will be:
1. Offer a non-degreed certification curriculum for clergy and non-clergy in ministry
2. Create a representative “Task Force” to address the training needs of clergy and non-clergy
3. Build a collegial relationship with the Religion and Theology Department of Oakwood University, and other church leadership centers.
4. Conduct ongoing research in management and social sciences to improve decision-making for pastors, congregations, and conference administrators.
5. Identify contemporary issues facing the mission and ministry of the church.
6. Develop internet ministries to reach and address larger groups of clergy and non-clergy needs for ministry.
7. Provide orientation and training in the organizational structure and culture of the Seventh-day Adventist church.
8. Identify basic competencies and skills need for effective leadership.
Proposed Seminars will examine:
* Systems thinking –viewing and interpreting the church through a new paradigm for change;
* Modern/Postmodern culture from a missional point of view;
* A theological agenda that the church in modern culture to address and recover its own integrity;.
* Ecclesiology: Test fresh conceptualizations of the nature and mission of the church as it engages modern culture;
* Social justice in urban setting;
* Global church growth;
* The Rise of Pentecostalism;
* The End of Christendom and the Future of Christianity;
* Strengthen relationships among clergy, students, and local church leaders to further the Church’s mission and ministry in the world.
|
