Rochester Christian University School of Theology and Ministry

08/01/2024

🚨 Important Update! 🚨

We have some big news to share! (If you haven't received these recent updates via email, please send us your current contact email at [email protected] so you don’t miss out. 📧)

We are making some exciting transitions with the MRE in Missional Leadership degree:
🌟 Dr. Mark Love is shifting to a part-time faculty role and launching the “1528 Collaborative,” which will deepen his engagement with congregations and their leaders. Dr. Naomi Walters, formerly Chair of the undergraduate Department of Theology and Ministry (DTM), will now lead the MRE as the new Dean of the School of Theology and Ministry (STM).
🌟 Dr. Natalie Magnusson is leaving RCU to pursue ordination in the Episcopal Church. Dr. Beth Bowers will step in as the Spiritual Director for the MRE, in addition to becoming Chair of the undergraduate DTM.

The DTM and MRE are now united in the same School, and we’re thrilled for what’s to come! 🙌 We deeply appreciate Mark and Natalie for their incredible contributions and look forward to cultivating and growing what they have so faithfully planted over the years. 🌱

One very practical result of this changing organizational structure is that this social media page won’t be active anymore. For all future STM news and updates, including MRE news, follow us at Rochester Christian University School of Theology and Ministry. 📲 Don’t miss out—hit that follow button!

We’re looking forward to connecting with you on our new page, and to ongoing partnership with you all, toward the reign of God! 🤲🏻✨

06/25/2024

C'mon now. You have got to hear Jerry Taylor preach!

STREAMING: MISSION IN A SECULAR AGE About Charles Taylor, the renowned philosopher, painstakingly traces a shift in Western society over a 500-year period that moved from a presumption of belief to one of doubt, from an enchanted world to a disenchanted one, from a porous self to a buffered self. In...

06/24/2024

This tool I developed could help your congregation find its place related to adaptive change.

Most congregations are aware that change is the order of the day. They’re doing what they know to do, better than they’ve done it before, but with diminishing impact. I seem to recall a…

06/21/2024

Hey friends. Remember that unit I did on leadership in Matthew in the opening course or the MRE? Here's a chance to refresh that material and bring others in your congregation with you. Starts in mid-September. Modest fee tbd.

We forget sometimes that the gospels are pastoral documents. That is, they were written to address real churches and the issues they were encountering. What better way to encourage, warn, or correc…

06/17/2024

This describes the kind of learning we do in the MRE.

col·lab·o·ra·tive

What we need, instead of "experts," is a collaborative, a learning ecosystem that refreshes the question of God’s calling for congregations in their unique and immediate contexts.Indeed, what we need now moves beyond isolated congregations, to learn larger and important themes as they appear across various situations. All of this requires communication—from, to, and across networks (what Habermas calls “communicative rationality”). And it requires certain gifts and tasks that allow real learning to occur.

• We will need conveners/companions, persons who can gather groups, congregations and leaders, with intentionality around the leading of the Spirit. There are ways of being and doing that are always getting to the point as quickly as possible. Not so with companions. They know that urgency is not a fruit of the Spirit, but patience is. They help groups, notably congregations and leadership teams, with forming the spaces and processes conducive to discerning and joining the call of God. They know one-size-does-not-fit-all, and that God is at work within the particularities of each congregation.

• We will need congregational leaders who have learned new rhythms and a new set of evaluative criteria. Muscle memory is stubborn especially when tied to the standard evaluative questions we ask: “Did it work?” Aka “How many people came?” Instead, leaders will be environmentalists, calling people into healthy new and healthy spaces and asking questions that revolve around learning and God’s presence.

• We will need local guides. It’s remarkable the number of untested assumptions congregations have about their immediate neighborhoods. Not only are they often mistaken about who their neighbors are, but they see them as a set of needs to be reached with corresponding programs. Congregations need local guides to help them see assets instead of deficits, and partners instead of clients.

• We will need poets and storytellers. Adaptive, or cultural, change coincides with new language, particularly with the ability to redescribe our experience and narrate the change. We will especially need poet/theologians who can provide the images and narratives that rename our experience theologically. All of this will need to be communicated through a variety of mediums, including blogs, podcasts, webinars, journals and monographs.

•We will need researchers. While the front end of this work will be poetic, telling the story of change will require a sense of the realities on the ground. We will need to document and interpret our work as we go.

06/17/2024

My life is about to change a bit. For 15 years, I have directed the MRE in missional leadership at Rochester Christian University. It is the best thing I have ever been a part of and I am so thankful for my time as director. A few months ago I requested that my position be changed to halftime faculty. I will teach in the MRE, but no longer direct it.

I will be filling the rest of my time with a new venture, the 1528 Collaborative. Through this endeavor, I hope to help congregations and their leaders adapt and thrive within the realities of a new missional era. The title, "1528 Collaborative," comes from the story of the discernment in Acts where the Jerusalem church extends a welcome to Gentiles with the phrase, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us . . ." (Acts 15:28). This discernment was the outcome of a way of life--a collaboration of sorts requiring an assortment of people, experiences, and gifts. This new venture is offered in that spirit.

I've been doing this kind of work alongside my teaching. The change in my responsibilities will allow me to do more of this important, life giving work. Some of this will be working directly with congregations and leaders, and some of it will be accomplished through events--seminars and retreats. I've got a great team of collaborators, people like Richard Beck, Shawna Songer Gaines, Scott Hagley, Cheryl Russell, Chris Cobbler, Stephen Johnson, Pat Keifert, and many others. We've been delayed in getting our website up and going (thanks Google domains for being so difficult) but should be up and running by the end of the week. In the meantime, head over to our page, The 1528 Collaborative, and learn more about who we are and what we do.

If you think we can help you or your congregation, reach out to me at [email protected]. Above all, pray for this new venture.

06/17/2024

Andy sounds an awful lot like the MRE. And he is a terrific presenter. We'd love to see you in October.

No author has written more, and more helpfully than Andy Root in addressing the moment we occupy. The great thing about his writing is that while it is deeply embedded in the experience of doing ministry, it is relentlessly about God. No five step formulas offered here, just the adventure of pursuing the living God.

Register now rcu.edu/streaming

05/04/2024

We recently celebrated the accomplishments of five MREML grads! We’re so proud of each of them and look forward to the ways they will continue to lead their communities in God’s mission.

04/24/2024

Hey friends. I'll be at Pepperdine next week. I'm buying the coffee. Introduce me to your friends who might want to do the MRE.

04/04/2024

What do leaders do to serve the mission of God? They create space for discerning and joining God's mission. They don't discern privately or behind closed doors with a few other leaders,
but by convening groups for the sake of doing new things, reflecting deeply on what has happened, and bringing the group's experience to expression. We call this capacity, hospitality. Leaders who over function (nearly all), gobble up space which limits the congregation's ability to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit. We'll help you learn the practical power of leading through hospitality. Maybe you should apply now for the Fall.

https://rcu.edu/academics/programs/graduate/department-of-theology/