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

• MDVR Requirements (complete at least 3 core/elective courses)

  • Core courses (complete any)

    • NEWTEST 808 (The Paul Program: Mission, Community & Inclusion according to the Apostle Paul)

    • NEWTEST 801 (Church and Ministry in the New Testament)

  • Electives (complete any) - see list below

  • Spiritual Formation: Repeat CHURMIN 709 at least 2 times

  • Field Education 

  • Event Attendance

• MDVH Requirements (complete at least 3 core/elective courses)

  • Core courses (complete any)

    • NEWTEST 808 (The Paul Program: Mission, Community & Inclusion according to the Apostle Paul)

    • NEWTEST 801 (Church and Ministry in the New Testament)

  • Electives (complete any) - see list below

  • Field Education within Formation for Ministry 

  • Event Attendance 

  • Formation

• MACP Requirements (complete at least 3 courses)

  • Core courses (complete any)

    • NEWTEST 808 (The Paul Program: Mission, Community & Inclusion according to the Apostle Paul)

    • NEWTEST 801 (Church and Ministry in the New Testament)

  • PARISH 705 (Introduction to Mission and Ministry)

  • Electives (complete any) - see list below

  • MI Assignment in non-MI Course

  • Vocational Integration Summary

  • Event Attendance, if feasible

• Electives

  • AMXTIAN 756 (American Christianity)

  • AMXTIAN 801 (Donald Trump, TV Preachers, and the American Prosperity Gospel)

  • LTS 836 (Preaching on the Sacraments: Patristic Imitation)

  • OLDTEST 764 (Old Testament and Missional Theology)

  • PARISH 705 (Introduction to Mission and Ministry)

  • PARISH 769 (The Pastoral Responsibility for Leadership and Administration)

  • PARISH 792 (Cultivating Thriving Communities)

  • PREACHNG 809 (Preaching on the Sacraments: Patristic Imitation)

  • SPIRIT 800 (The Spirituality of the Eastern Church)

  • XTIANTHE 819 (Readings in Lesslie Newbigin's Theology)

  • XTIANTHE 817 (Spirit, Worship, and Mission)

  • WXTIAN 766 (Being the Church)

  • WXTIAN 816 (Christianity's Encounter with Other Religions and Cultures: The Case of East Asia)

  • WXTIAN 817 (The Missions Theology of the Orthodox Church)

  • WXTIAN 818 (Pioneers in World Christianity)

  • Methodist Courses

    • PARISH 759 (Missio Ecclesiae: God's Mission of Evangelism)

    • PARISH 777 (Wesleyan Foundations for Mission, Practice, and Belief)

    • PARISH 778 (United Methodism: Mission, Practice, Belief)

    • PARISH 780 (The Missional Church and Evangelism)

  • Other pre-approved courses may also count

Guidance for Requirements for MDiV (hybrid and residential) Students

• Completion of a field education placement under the close supervision of a recognized church innovator or pioneer currently gathering, converting, and discipling (MDiVH – Field Education and Formation within Formation for Ministry)

• Attendance at an annual event where practitioners discuss mission and evangelism, or attendance at an equivalent intensive and relevant course of instruction as approved by the directors

Guidance for Co-Curricular Requirements for MA Students

• Completion of one assessment/assignment related to MI for a non-MI course

• Completion of summary of how coursework integrates with current vocation/work with specific reference to the certificate in Missional Innovation