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 can be discerned, and suitable training in some of the most important skills needed for that task can be acquired. The model of church planting followed is shaped above all by the practices of the apostle Paul, who was a highly sophisticated and successful, bi-vocational missionary to a pagan 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 church in the US, especially those informed by commodification; of racial and racist dynamics; and of different points of view concerning sexual activity and gender construction. Students are also invited to acquire some of the key spiritual and formational skills that will sustain them through the challenges of church planting, and enable them to catechize new converts effectively. Some of the key practical questions attending church planting are also addressed like how to start things up, and the role and significance of money.

The certificate comprises three courses, a designated advanced spiritual formation group, an appropriate field education placement, and participation in a relevant church-planting and-equipping event or network.

The certificate can be pursued along a Methodist/Wesleyan track and an ecumenical track.

Lists of electives that count for certificates can be found on certificate websites (divinity.duke.edu/academics/certificates) and in Stellic (duke.stellic.com).