h3. Diakonia: Missional Church Service

On successful completion of the module a learner will be able to:

• Describe the biblical and theological foundations for the practice of diakonia in the local church.
• Demonstrate an appreciation for the historical, cultural, and contextual nature of the church.
• Discuss the church's engagement with the world in terms of the Missio Dei and the Kingdom of God.
• Distinguish between the church with a missional commitment and the missional congregation.
• Define what it means to be a 'missional church' in contemporary society.
• Make personal commitments regarding qualities of heart, soul and practice necessary to participate in missional community.
• Propose a personal theology of service.
• Employ practical theological research methodology to identify a specific pastoral concern.
• Design and implement a practical theological intervention to address a particular pastoral concern

h3. Module Content

An introduction to missiology which helps learners to develop proficiency in their understanding of the interaction between church and culture, and as a basis for doing theology, will be presented. The module outlines the nature of diakonia which identifies the call of the gospel not only to serve God with our prayers and our words, but also to bring him glory through the way in which we serve other people and his creation through self-sacrificial acts of love.

While Leitourgia focuses on God and Koinonia focuses on the congregation, in Diakonia the focus falls on the world (creation) and on people who are outside the congregation.

The learner is introduced to the concept of Diakonia and the social relevance of the church and the social consequences of her actions. The learner explores the roots of mission in the trinity and God's covenant with creation and how these lead to action for the 'other. Human mission as an expression of God's delight in humanity, and God's response of delight to human unity, fidelity and sacrificial service is described in the light of God being the one who delights in and watches over his people

The church's love and unity hold ultimate significance for the world as the visible basis of the gospel's power and legitimacy. The church itself is in fact the promise of the gospel. The universal invitation to believe the gospel includes the invitation to enter a community that searches to believe and live under God's reign. Learners are exposed to the theme of the reign of God in the Old and New Testaments and various biblical scholars' perspective are considered. The call of the people of God to bless the nations and the ethical dimensions that would flow from such a conclusion become an important consideration in the course of study.

Our responses of compassion and service and our actions for peace and justice are signs that the Kingdom of God is already present in our world and that the kingdom of God is also the way as our future. The relationship between Church and state is explored historically. Various historical and current missional practices are considered: the church's response to the poor, to AIDS, and to governments in lobbying for just laws; solidarity with oppressed peoples; initiatives in caring for marginalized peoples; and responsible care for God's creation. Learners will be required to articulate the contextual nature of missional responses while being able to highlight the positive and negative implications of this awareness.

Moltmann's political theology is examined as well as his view regarding suffering. Learners are required to examine the place of suffering in theological thought and of the church's response to human suffering. We ask the question of how the church proclaims the good news in the face of suffering. Announcing the Kingdom of God with compassion and justice comes as a spontaneous expression of gratitude, humility and joy when it occurs in the context of being God's forgiven community.

The module explores the statement that "the church in mission may be characterized by signs of the Messiah's coming". It follows that the broader community that houses the church community would be impacted by the church, if our being, doing and speaking are signs that his coming is "already" and "not yet." The local church and community development and the implications for the local church are considered.

h3. Residential Phase: Intensive week

|Day|Session|Content|Reading| |1|am|Reflection on reading and Initial feedback on research findings|| | |pm|The Mission of God|D. J. Bosch, Transforming Mission| |2|am|Always being converted to the Reign of God|Teaching Church| | |pm|The Church as Servant|A. Dulles, Models of the Church| |3|am|Representing the Kingdom of God in context |D. Guder, Be My Witnesses.| | |pm|Imagining a Missional Community|R. Fung, The Isaiah Vision C. Van Engen, God's Missionary People.| |4|am|Community Development and Service: Cultivating the Practices of a missional Church |Teaching Church D. Guder, Be My Witnesses. R. Sider, P. Olson & H. Unruh, Churches that Make a Difference| | |pm|Community Development and Service: A Missional Community of Communities |D. Guder, Be My Witnesses. V. Samuel, and C. Sugden, Mission as Transformation| |5|am|Participation in local Church Mission|Teaching Church|

h3. Teaching Strategies

Learners will learn through reading, cohort groups, lectures, discussions, personal and group research and assessment comments on their work.

h3. Specialist Facilities/Equipment

In addition to the standard lecture and tutorial room requirements needed to deliver this module, a number of specialist facilities and equipment are required. Each learner is required to have ready personal access to audio and video tape equipment, the internet and e-mail services. Tabor College (Vic.) has the production facilities required to reproduce multiple copies of audio and visual tapes, and printed materials. The College also has the computing facilities needed to: maintain the internet site for the transmission of teaching materials; post learner results; provide e-mail contact between learner and teaching and administrative staff; and service the e-mail needs of learner to learner/s contact.

h3. Contact Time

One semester of 40 hours equivalent of lectures and tutorials. As the delivery of this module will involve individual and cohort group study using readers, DVDs, video tapes and audio tapes, the class contact time may be less than 40 hours. It is expected that the equivalent of 200 hours will be spent in private and cohort group study of the specialised teaching materials and class time. The actual class time that would be spent in lectures/tutorials during the residential phase for this module will be no less than 20 hours.

h2. Assessment

h3. In preparation for the Residential Phase:

Exam 10% - students are required to read all the required texts (approximately 1000 pages) prior to the first day of class. Students are required to meet in cohort groups fortnightly to discuss the issues raised in the reading. The exam questions will help students to focus on the various readings that are sent out weekly. Each reading will have an exam question related to the content within the reading. The exam question is essentially open book and is prepared at home and should be no longer than four pages in length. Students may choose any question from any of the readings and need only submit one exam.

Reflection report 10% - for one of the required texts, students are required to write a 4-5 page (typed, double spaced) paper summarizing what they believe to be the most important ideas from the readings, why they feel they are significant, and how they relate to the student??s ministry context.

Research project 30% - Students are required to start a basic empirical research project in the cohort group. The aim of the research project is to identify the pastoral concerns in the areas of doing Practical Theology in context. The preliminary findings should be made available during the residential phase of the module.

h3. Post Residential Phase:

Major assignment/project (7000 words) 40% - In discussion with the module co-ordinator (both in-class and by e-mail), students choose a missiological issue that requires theological reflection. Students are required to research this topic, and reflect on the process of going about formulating theological perspectives on this topic. In this task the student should: engage some of the material read and discussed in class and reflect upon key ideas - both methodological and theological - related to the issue; report on some of the major literature in the area, and apply theological conclusions in their ministry context.

Intervention report (1500-2000 words) 10% - In order to take the theological method to its logical conclusion, Cohorts are required to plan and implement an intervention to address a pastoral concern identified in the empirical research project. Each student is required to reflect critically and constructively on the process of identifying the pastoral concern, the cohort??s plan of action to address the pastoral concern and the overall outcome of the intervention.

h3. Prescribed Texts

Bosch, David J. (1991) Transforming Mission. New York Orbis Books. Hunsberger, George R. and Craig Van Gelder, eds. (1996) The Church Between Gospel and Culture. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

h3. References

Bakke, Ray. (1997) A Theology as Big as the City. Grand Rapids: IVP Blauw, Johannes. (1962) The Missionary Nature of the Church McGraw-Hill. Clapp, Rodney. (1996) A Peculiar People: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society. Grand Rapids: IVP. Dulles, Avery. (1987) Models of the Church. New York: Image Books. Fung, Raymond. (1992) The Isaiah Vision. WCC Publications. Guder, Darrell L. and Lois Barrett et al. (1998) Missional Church. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. Guder, Darrell L. (1985) Be My Witnesses. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans. Roxburgh, Alan J. (1997).The Missionary Congregation, Leadership, and Liminality. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International. Samuel, Vinay & Chris Sugden, eds. (1999) Mission as Transformation: A Theology of the Whole Gospel. Oxford: Regnum. Sider, Ronald J., Philip N. Olson & Heidi Rolland Unruh. (2002) Churches that Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News and Good Works. Grand Rapids: Baker. Van Engen, Charles. (1991) God's Missionary People. Rethinking the Purpose of the Local Church. Grand Rapids: Baker.