Eastern Mennonite University

This page is part of the seminary catalog

Master of Arts in Church Leadership

Course Outline | M.Div Concentrations

This program is designed to provide graduate theological study for persons contemplating specialized leadership roles in congregational or church agency settings. It is particularly well-suited for the preparation of persons responsible for one aspect of ministry on a congregational leadership team. The student chooses an area of concentration which focuses on one type of ministry activity. By means of electives, other areas of ministry or theology studies can be explored. The following concentration areas are available: Pastoral Care, Congregational Education, Congregational Worship and Music, Church and Its Mission, Christian Faith and Conflict Transformation, Christian Spiritual Formation.

The length of study necessary to complete the program is two years (60 semester hours). Supervised field education is an essential component of this program. The course Formation in Ministry meets this requirement. Students who enter seminary with a significant amount of previous ministry experience may petition to take Clinical Pastoral Education instead of Formation in Ministry. Students without previous ministry experience may be encouraged to take an internship in addition to Formation in Ministry. Students will receive resourcing in writing and research skills early in their seminary studies, during the Christian Tradition I course.

The student considering this degree program should bear in mind that it is a terminal-type degree. This means that a person who eventually chooses to enter a more advanced program such as Master of Divinity will need to complete additional studies beyond the one-year difference in the two programs. If a student chooses to complete an MACL degree and then decides to pursue a Master of Divinity degree, consideration may be given to applying up to 45 semester hours of credit from the first degree toward the Master of Divinity degree.

Persons considering advanced academic master or doctoral studies should pursue the Master of Divinity degree rather than the Master of Arts in Church Leadership.

Normally 30 hours of resident study are required.

Back to top

Course Outline

Junior Year:

  • Formation in Personhood I, (1 SH)
  • Formation in Personhood, II (1 SH)
  • Old Testament: Text in Context (3 SH)
  • New Testament: Text in Context (3 SH)
  • Christian Tradition I (4 SH)
  • Christian Tradition II (3 SH)
  • Basics of Biblical Language (3 SH)

Senior Year:

  • Formation in Ministry I (3 SH)
  • Formation in Ministry II (3 SH)
  • Interpreting the Biblical Text (3 SH)
  • Anabaptist-Mennonite Studies* (3 SH)
  • Theology for Ministry (3 SH)
  • Biblical book study elective (3 SH)
  • Ministry studies elective** (3 SH)

TOTAL CORE REQUIREMENTS 39


*Required only for Anabaptist-affiliated students-- one of these four courses: Believers Church, Mennonite History, Anabaptist Theology, or Anabaptism Today: Yoder and Hauerwas. For other students, a course in the history/theology of one's own denomination can substitute.

**One of the following courses not in the area of concentration:

  • Foundations for Christian Preaching
  • Practice of Christian Worship
  • The Teaching Church
  • Pastoral Care
  • Leadership and Administration
  • The Church in Mission

Back to top

Concentrations

The Master of Arts in Church Leadership offers several concentrations, outlined below: Pastoral Care, Congregational Education, Congregational Worship and Music, Church and its Mission, Christian Faith and Conflict Transformation, and Christian Spiritual Formation.

Pastoral Care

  • Pastoral Care (3 SH)
  • Pastoral Counseling I (3 SH)
  • Marriage & Family Counseling (3 SH)
  • Psychology of Religious Experience (3 SH)
  • Intro to Spiritual Guidance (1 SH)
  • Spiritual Formation for Congregational Discernment (2 SH)
  • TOTAL 15 SH
  • Open electives 6 SH

Recommended concentration electives:

  • Managing Congregational Conflict (3 SH)
  • Family Education and Spirituality (3 SH)
  • Readings in Spiritual Classics (3 SH)
  • Experimental Congregations- Field Research (3 SH)
  • Rituals of the Christian Church (3 SH)
  • Pastoral Assessment (3 SH)
  • CPE (6 SH)

MACL concentration: 15 SH

M.Div. concentration: 12 SH beyond the M.Div. core

Congregational Education

  • The Teaching Church (3 SH)
  • Craft of Teaching for Faith (3 SH)
  • Family Education and Spirituality (3 SH)
  • Seminar in Youth Ministry (3 SH)
  • Religious Imagination in Contemporary Culture (3 SH)
  • TOTAL 15 SH
  • Open electives 6 SH

Recommended concentration electives:

  • Rituals of the Christian Church (3 SH)
  • Evangelism as Initial Spiritual Guidance (3 SH)
  • Spiritual Formation for Congregational Discernment (3 SH)
  • Dramatic and Visual Worship Arts (1 SH)

MACL concentration: 15 SH

M.Div. concentration: 12 SH beyond the M.Div. core

Congregational Worship and Music

  • Practice of Christian Worship (3 SH)
  • Sacramental Theology and Liturgical Practice (3 SH)
  • Rituals of the Christian Church (3 SH)
  • Song of the Christian Church (3 SH)
  • Dramatic and Visual Worship Arts (3 SH)
  • TOTAL 15 SH
  • Open electives 6 SH

MACL concentration 15 SH

M.Div. concentration 12 SH beyond the M.Div. core

Church and Its Mission

  • Church in Mission (3 SH)
  • Mission in Cultural Context (3 SH)
  • Christian Encounter with the Religious "Other" (3 SH)
  • Growing Missional Churches or
    • Evangelism as Initial Spiritual Guidance (3 SH)
  • Cross-Cultural Church Experience (3 SH)
  • TOTAL 15
  • Open electives 6

Recommended concentration electives:

  • World Mission Institute (3 SH)
  • Recovering the Church's Healing Ministry (3 SH)

MACL concentration 15 SH

M.Div. concentration 12 SH beyond the M.Div. core

Christian Faith and Conflict Transformation

  • Managing Congregational Conflict (3 SH) or
    • Intro to Conflict Transformation (3 SH)
  • Biblical Foundations for Peacemaking (3 SH) or
    • Ethics & Nonviolence: Sermon on the Mount (3 SH)
  • Churches and Social Transformation (3 SH)
  • Restorative Justice-CJP (3 SH)
  • Christian Ethics (3 SH)
  • TOTAL 15 SH
  • Open electives 6 SH

    Recommended concentration electives:

    • Intermediary Roles and Practice I & II-CJP (3 SH- 3 SH)
    • Philosophy and Praxis of Reconciliation-CJP (3 SH)
    • Experimental Congregations: Field Research (3 SH)
    • Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Life, Theology and Witness (3 SH)

    MACL concentration 15 SH

    M.Div. concentration 12 SH beyond the M.Div. core

    Christian Spiritual Formation

  • Readings in Spiritual Classics (3 SH)
  • Prayer in the Christian Tradition (3 SH)
  • Pastoral Care (3 SH)


Spiritual Direction Courses & Practica:

  • Intro to Spiritual Guidance (1 SH)
  • Spiritual Formation for Congregational Discernment (2 SH)
  • Spiritual Direction Seminar and Practicum I (2 SH)
  • Spiritual Direction Seminar and Practicum II (2 SH)
  • TOTAL 16
  • Open electives 5

Recommended concentration electives:

  • Advanced Spiritual Direction I and II (1 SH - 1 SH)
  • Psychology of Religious Experience (3 SH)
  • Family Education and Spirituality (3 SH)
  • The Teaching Church (3 SH)
  • Evangelism as Initial Spiritual Guidance (3 SH)
  • Healing Ministry in the Missional Church (3 SH)
  • Psalms and/or Wisdom Literature (3 SH)
  • Rituals of the Christian Church (3 SH)

MACL concentration 16 SH

M.Div. concentration 13 SH beyond the M.Div. core

Back to top

Back to Programs

Back to Main Index