5511.5 Koinonia: Leading and Building Community

The aim of this module is to help learners develop a proficiency in their understanding of leading and building communities of faith in light of the contemporary leadership context in the local church (Ecclesiology).

Credit points: 12

SEMESTER 1, 2007 Duration: 20 weeks (Week 1: 29 January 2007 - Week 20: June 11, 2007)

Module Coordinator: Dr Wynand de Kock BA (Hons), MDiv, ThD Teaching Pastors: Revd Mark Conner and Revd: Daljit Gill

RESIDENTIAL PHASE: April 16 (1-9pm), 17-19 (8:30-5pm) and April 20 (8:30 -1pm) (additional times may be arranged during the intensive)

Location: CityLife Church Address: 1248 High Street Road, Wantirna South, Victoria

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

• Describe the biblical and theological foundations for the practice of koinonia in the local church.
• Discuss key Trinitarian considerations for the way in which Christian community is established and nurtured.
• Demonstrate an understanding of contemporary leadership challenges and their implications for the local church.
• Discern and describe the significant characteristics of a local church and their implications for leading and building community.
• Assess and articulate his or her own spiritual gifts and passions.
• Propose a personal theology of leading and building community.
• Employ practical theological research methodology to identify a specific pastoral concern.
• Design and implement a practical theological intervention to address a particular pastoral concern

The module commences by defining the basic tenets of community from a socio-cultural and theological perspective. The learner explores the establishment of communities in the Old and New Testaments. Special attention is given to how the church organised herself in communities through the ages. Here an analysis is made of various significant leadership styles, structures and methods on the basis of biblical and historical evidence. The role of leadership is explored in the different expressions of the church in church history. The doctrine of the trinity is studied as a theological foundation for leading and building community in order to differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate Christian leadership practice.

Focus on leading and building community continues by examining the concepts of spiritual formation and pastoral theology and their philosophical and practical usefulness in leading and building community.

An important aspect of the module is the emphasis on spiritual growth, since leading and nurturing a community involves an understanding of how people grow spiritually. Learners will be exposed to different models of qualitative and quantitative church growth. Learners will be required to assess these models and to be able to discuss areas of difficulty that arise from the study.

Residential Phase: Intensive week

|Day|Session|Content|Reading| |1|1:00-1:30| Welcome and Devotion| ||1:30-3:00pm|Reflection on reading and initial feedback on research findings|WdK| ||3:15-4:15pm|Research|AW| ||4:30-6:00pm| Trinitarian Foundation for Church and Life|JMC| ||6:00-9:00pm| Community Meal| |2|am|Theology for leading and building community.|MC| ||pm|Leading and building community is grounded in a Trinitarian understanding of community|WdK| |3|am|Understanding growth as a vital sign of the Christian community.|WdK| ||pm|a.Building Community at CityLife Church|DG| |||b.LifeTrax and Church Excursion|DG| |4|am|Leading and building community is empowered by in a relentless pursuit of Christlikeness.|WdK| ||pm|Leadership and congregational transformation|MC| |5|am|Practical Theological Reflection|WdK||

DG = Daljit Gill MC = Mark Conner WdK = Wynand de Kock JMC John Capper AW Art Wouters

Teaching Strategies

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

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.

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.

Assessment

Exam 10% (Due Date: Last day of residential phase) - 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% (Due Date: 13 April 2007) - 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.

Researchproject 30% (Due Date: 15 June 2007) - 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.

Major assignment/project (5000-6000 words) 40% (Due Date: 15 June 2007) - In discussion with the module co-ordinator (both in-class and by e-mail), students choose a leadership and community building 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, report on some of the major literature in the area, and apply theological conclusions in their ministry context. It is important that the paper demonstrated an ability to do theology in context.

Intervention report (1500-2000 words) 10% (Due Date: 15 June 2007)- 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. The teaching Pastor for this module is Mark Conner

!/files/MarkConner_HalfSize.jpg(Mark Conner)!

Mark Conner is the Senior Minister of CityLife Church, a large growing church in Melbourne, Australia.

With excellent communication skills and a depth of wisdom beyond his years, Mark is in much demand for his inspiring and informative messages that empower his listeners to change and grow. As a regular speaker at leadership conferences and seminars, he ministers with relevance, creativity and passion on the subjects of leadership, personal motivation and church growth.

Mark has a Master's Degree from Ridley College in Melbourne and is currently completing a Doctor of Ministry degree with Fuller Theological Seminary.

Mark is a devoted husband to Nicole, who is also an outstanding speaker, and a loving father to their three children - Josiah, Ashley and Natasha.

h3. Teaching church

"CityLife church":http://www.citylifechurch.com/

Prescribed Texts Bilezekian, Gilbert. (1997) Community 101: Reclaiming the Local Community as Community of Oneness. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Banks, Robert and Bernice M. Ledbetter, (2004) Reviewing Leadership: A Christian Evaluation of Current Approaches. Grand Rapids: Baker.

References Banks, Robert. (1980) Paul’s Idea of Community: The Early House Churches in their Historical Setting. Exeter: Paternoster Barna, George. (1997) Leaders on Leadership. Ventura, CA: Regal Books Becker, Carol E. (1996) Leading Women: How Church Women Can Avoid Leadership Traps and Negotiate the Gender Maze. Nashville: Abingdon. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. (1978) Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community. San Francisco: Harper and Row Cladis, George. (1999) Leading the Team-based Church: How Pastors and Church Staff Can Grow Together into a Powerful Fellowship of Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Clinton, J. Robert. (1988) The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress. Covey, Stephen. (1990) Principle Centred Leadership. New York: Summit Books. Dawn, Marva and Peterson, Eugene. (2000) The Unnecessary Pastor, Rediscovering the Call. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. Dulles, Avery. (1987) Models of the Church. New York Image Books. Herrrington, Jim, Mike Bonem and James Furr. (2000) Leading Congregational Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Kotter, John P. (1996) Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. McLaren, Brian. (2000) The Church on the Other Side. Zondervan. Olsen Charles M. and Morseth, Ellen. (2002) Selecting Church Leaders: A Practice in Spiritual Discernment. An Alban Institute Publication. Roxburgh, Alan, with Mike Regele. (2000) Crossing the Bridge: Church Leadership in a Time of Change. Precept Group. Steinke, Peter L. (1998) Church Family Works. Alban Institute. Schwarz, Christian. (1996) Natural Church Development. A Guide to Height Essential Qualities of Healthy Churches. Carol Stream: Church Smart Resources. Schwarz, Christian. (2001) The 3 Colors of Ministry. Carol Stream, IL: Church Smart Resources. Sweet, Leonard. (1999) AquaChurch: Essential Leadership Arts for Piloting Your Church in Today’s Fluid Culture. Group. Volf, Miroslav. (1998) After our likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. Warren, Rick. (1995) The Purpose Driven Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Willimon, William H. (2000) Calling and Character. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Students are reminded that the Tabor College Assignment Style Procedures should be followed in the presentation of assignments. Quotations and ideas taken from the work of others must be acknowledged. A bibliography is essential. Normal procedures will be followed with regard to late submission of assignments An exception is that footnotes MAY be used for explanatory material (see item 9 in the 2005 Style Guide). Note that they may NOT be used for referencing.

(Any student wishing to use other than the author/date inline referencing system – such as when extensive reference is being made to ancient texts – is invited to talk with the convenor for permission and guidance)

Please also note item 15 of the Style Guide regarding inclusive language for humankind. Careless and ambiguous use of language will result in the work submitted being returned for rewriting.