MASTERS OF ARTS IN MISSIONS/INTERCULTURAL STUDIES

The Masters of Arts Degree in Missions/Intercultural Studies at ACU consists of two programs. Program 1 takes two years and is for College and University Graduates in non theological related disciplines. Program 2 takes one year and is for Bible College Graduates. The two programs prepare students for many ministry roles: field missionary, church mission pastor, mission area coordinator, church ethnic ministry coordinator, or international development worker.

CURRICULUM OF STUDY

Program 1: For College and University Graduates------ 60 Hours Minimum Required

Program 2: For Bible College Graduates-----------51 hours

Need 9 credit hours to complete the 51 credit hours requirement. The 9 credit hours could come from Free Electives and More Fieldwork

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

MIS/ACUTEO 5110 Old Testament Survey - 5 credit hours

This is an overview of the books of Old Testament beginning with Genesis. The aim is to familiarize students with the content message and personal application of each book, and to study the unity of all the books in the progress of revelation and redemption.

MIS 5140 Personal Evangelism and Fieldwork - 3 credit hours

This course explores principles and models of evangelism presented in the Bible. Student will also be mobilized to go out to their society to practice what they are learning. Discussions of the fieldwork will help students understanding how to make evangelism a lifestyle.

MIS 5180 History of Missions - 3 credit hours

To be critically explored in this history of missions include: the global expansion of church traditions; how men and women have pioneered and participated in missions; and the role mission agencies have played in missions. Ethnography will used to explore particular mission settings such as China.

MIS/ACUTEO 5120 New Testament Survey - 3 credit hours

This is an overview of the books of New Testament and the historical circumstances surrounding the writings. The aim is to familiarize students with the background, content, message and personal application of each book. The course also examines the process by which the New Testament canon was formed and the transmission through the history of the church.

MIS/ACUTEO 5230 Christian Life: Spiritual Life Dynamics – 3 credits hours

The course is designed to help students understand that what it is to be a Christian, the call of God in Christ to being Christ-like as a living process. Our doing must flow from our being. Emphasis will be on the oneness with Christ necessary in the building and living of the Spirit-Life of the Kingdom of God to the glory and pleasure of God.

MIS 5310 Prayer & Discipleship – 3 credit hours

This experiential course flows from MIS 5230 as part of the practical process of building oneself as part of the body of Christ. The emphasis is on helping others build the Spirit-Life of the Kingdom of God and to reproduce.

MIS 5330 Understanding Cultures and Worldviews – 3 credit hours

This course will enable students to understand the philosophical assumptions which an individual uses in constructing the belief system by which he/she makes decisions about the world. It will help construct a biblical worldview and provide students with the skills needed to analyze the culture and worldview of the people God has called students to reach. Special attention will be given to tools for understanding cultures.

MIS/ACUTEO 5410 Hermeneutics: Interpreting and Applying the Bible - 3 credit hours

This course introduces you to the principles and processes of biblical interpretation and application. Emphasis will be placed on both theory and practice. Within the framework of exegetical method, you will learn to apply basic principles to selected passages from the Old and New Testaments. Special attention will be given to the principles used in correctly interpreting parables, poetry, and prophecy.

MIS 6040 Cultural Anthropology and Exegesis – 3 credit hours

This course will introduce students to the discipline of cultural anthropology and the study of the other culture. Students will learn concepts and field methods which will help them exegete their own culture as well as obtain relevant information about the society, culture, and customs of other people of the world.

MIS 6070 Cross-Cultural Communicating – 3 credit hours

Students will explore the complex interrelationship between culture and language, including verbal and non-verbal systems, role expectations, strategies for culture learning and dynamics of change. Specific attention will be given to the implications for communicating the Christian message where understanding in a cross-cultural context has less to do with knowledge than with attitudes, sensitivities and adaptations.

MIS/ACUTEO 6100 Theology of Missions – 3 credit hours

Students will engage in a study of God’s purpose and activity as it is reveled through Israel’s responsibility to the nations in the Old Testament and through the mandates entrusted to the Church in the New Testament.

MIS 6210 Church History – 3 credit hours

A survey of the developmental history of the Christian church from New Testament times to the modern era, divided into four periods: Early church history from the First Advent of Christ to the collapse of the Roman Empire (5 B.C. – A.D. 590); medieval church history from the rise of the Roman Catholic Church to the beginning if the Reformation (A.D. 590-1517); Reformation church history from the Protestant reformation to the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation (1517- 1648); and modern church history from the Pietistic Revival to the present (1648 A.D. and on).

MIS 6240 Spiritual Warfare in Missions and Evangelism - 3 credit hours

This course examines biblical basis, principles, and models of spiritual warfare, with particular focus on the relationship between warfare and evangelism and missions.

MIS/ACUTEO 6310 Systematic Theology I – 3 credit hours

In this course students will explore the major divisions of theology (prolegomena), the doctrine of the Bible (Bibliology), the doctrine of God (theology Proper), the doctrine of Christ (Christiology), and the doctrine of last things (Eschatology). Students will rain experience in integrating what they learn into real world situations and in understanding how theological concepts are expressed differently across cultures.

MIS/ACUTEO 6320 Systematic Theology II – 3 credit hours

In this course students will explore those areas of theology especially relating to and serving as the foundation for the sanctification and Christian growth of the believer. Areas studied will include the doctrine of man (Anthropology), the doctrine of sin (Hamartiology), the doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Pneumatology), and the doctrine of church (Ecclesiology). The course particularly focuses on God’s plan of transforming students into Christ likeness and helping them experience godly living in today’s world.

MIS 6350 Living Christ in a World of Violence and Clashing Civilizations - 3 credit hours

This interdisciplinary course will examine the role of Christian mission in situation of conflict and violence, with particular attention paid to the recent unexpected renaissance of religion(s) and their increasing influence on geopolitical developments and international relations. Models of holistic missionary practice, transformative engagement of the church(es), faith-based diplomacy and the ministry of reconciliation will be proposed and examined.

MIS/EDU 6400 Biblical and Philosophical Foundations for Education – 3 credit hours

This course examines the biblical, theological, and philosophical foundations that determine and shape educational practice. Knowledge gained from this study will help students develop a personal philosophy of teaching and learning and explore its implications in their own context.

MIS/EDU 6420 Intercultural Teaching and Learning in Missions – 3 credit hours

Students will examine cultural influences on the process of teaching and learning with special emphasis on the educational ministry of missionaries. They will discuss and evaluate different models for teaching, leadership development, and theological education in the missionary context.

MIS 6450 Reconciliation and Mediation – 3 credit hours

This course is design to prevent and address relational/theological breakdown in the local church or mission field. Using biblical principles of forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration along with social science research in the area of mediation, students will learn how to address and resolve interpersonal breakdowns.

MIS 6480 Sin, Shame, and Guilt in Cultural Context – 3 credit hours

A course designed to teach, through selected ethnographic readings, how to discover native moral categories, moral values, and symbols of human evil. The goal is a cultural understanding that makes communication of the gospel intelligible, subjectively relevant and meaningful to people of other cultures. Ethnographic methods for understanding the views of such sins as envy, lust, covetousness, and pride, in other cultures as well as how shame and guilt operate to control social behavior will be discussed.

MIS 6510 Missions and the Local Church - 3 credit hours

This course covers the position, roles, and responsibilities of the local church with respect to the fulfillment to the Great Commission. Special attention will be given to the concept of the local church as the primary, God-ordained organism for the recruitment, training, and sending of missionaries.

MIS/ACUTEO 6525 Biblical Contextualization – 3 credit hours

In this course students will study how to understand and apply the Bible faithfully and effectively in a cross-cultural setting. Students will look at the Bible’s teaching about culture and hermeneutics, especially language, revelation, truth, scriptural authority, application and contextualization. Students will assess case studies of contextualization in missions. Their summative exercise will produce a biblically controlled example of contextualization.

MIS/ACUTEO 6543 Proverbs and Job – 3 credit hours

A study of the wisdom books of proverbs and job seeks to help students set them in their cultural context. Attention will be given to the books’ teaching on practical living, their dominant theological emphases, their implications for Christian ministry in our times, and the use of Proverbs and Job for teaching and preaching.

MIS/ACUTEO 6548 Isaiah – 3 credit hours

In this study of the book of Isaiah students will be guided to examine its structure, content, and contemporary significance. Attention will be given to the book’s theological themes, its emphasis on knowing God and making God known, its use in New Testament, and the use of Isaiah for teaching and preaching.

MIS/ACUTEO 6610 John – 3 credit hours

In this study of fourth gospel student will explore its cultural and theological context. Attention will be given to tracing the movement of the book, exegesis of selected passages, the Upper Room Discourse in chapters 13-17, and the use of John for teaching and preaching.

MIS/ACUTEO 6616 Romans – 3 credit hours

A study of Paul’s letter to the Romans will help students understand its message in the light of first century situation. Consideration will be given to the significance of the letter’s message for today. Special emphasis is place of the development of students’ exegetical skills and on the use of Romans for teaching and preaching. Prerequisite: MIS/ACUTEO 5410.

MIS 6680 Critical Analysis of Church Traditions and World Religions Against the Gospel of Christ - 3 credit hours

An in-depth survey of the history, philosophical and theological themes of various church traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and other ethnic and cultural religions around the world and analysis against the Gospel of Christ.

MIS 6824 Intercultural Internship - 3 credit hours

This course requires a minimum of 10-week (40 hours) experience in ministry under the supervision of a faculty member and approved national or foreign worker. Normally this experience will involve students in a ministry directly related to church planting/evangelism or church development in another country. Teams preparing to go short-term for a summer may use their preparatory time as part of this internship.