Missional Innovation Certificate

Program Code: D-CMI-C
Degree Designation: Certificate
Department: Divinity School
Website: divinity.duke.edu/academics/certificates/missional-innovation

Program Summary

The Certificate in Missional Innovation can be earned within the hybrid and residential MDiv and MA degrees and is intended to provide a context in which a calling to church planting, innovative ministry, or other expressions of God’s mission in public spaces can be discerned, and suitable training in some of the most important skills needed for these callings can be acquired. The models supporting the certificate are shaped by the practices of the apostle Paul, who was a dynamic, influential, and bi-vocational missionary to a non-Christian society. Students are invited to become conversant with their own modern context, developing an awareness of the successes and failures of past approaches to doing mission and ministry in the US. Students are also invited to acquire some of the key spiritual and formational skills that will sustain them through the challenges of church planting (like UMC or non-denominational churches) or ministry innovation, and enable them to enact community transformation effectively. Some of the key practical questions around church planting, innovation, and transformation are also addressed, often with a focus on leadership and administration, social entrepreneurship, and the role and significance of money.

Academic Requirements

Thi certificate can be earned within the hybrid and residential MDiv and MA degrees.

MDivR & MDivH Requirements

• 3 Courses

  • NEWTEST 808 or NEWTEST 801

  • 2 additional courses

    • A comprehensive list of courses is available to students in the degree audit system.

• Field Education

  • Completion of a field education placement under the close supervision of a recognized church planter or innovative leader

• Event Attendance

  • Attendance at an annual event where practitioners discuss mission and evangelism, as approved by the director

• Year-long Formational Activity

MACP Requirements

• 3 Courses

  • PARISH 705

  • NEWTEST 808 or 801

  • 1 additional course

    • A comprehensive list of courses is available to students in the degree audit system.

• Vocational Integration Summary

  • Completion of 500-word summary of how coursework integrates with current vocation, with specific reference to the Missional Innovation certificate

• Event Attendance, if feasible

  • If feasible, attendance at an annual event where practitioners discuss mission and evangelism, OR attendance at an equivalent intensive approved by the director