January/February '98



Mission Training File: University Now



Offering Distance Based M.A. 



in Intercultural Studies plus 



Mission Training Alliance Forming 



in January



By Ben Sells

Education for “People on the Run”

Hope International University (formerly Pacific Christian College), in cooperation with the Institute of International Studies, now offers a Master of Arts in Ministry degree with a concentration in Intercultural Studies in a distance learning format.

The program is designed to:

** Meet the needs of those who wish to enhance their skills in crossing boundaries for witness and ministry without leaving their present area of service or relocating their family.

** Make the most of student’s time and allow them to continue in their present ministry, while preparing both for service and leadership in a complex and rapidly changing world.

This program is designed to integrate the three important ingredients:

1. Content. While integrated with missiological insights, the core of a seminary education is retained and amplified to impart basic skills and foundational knowledge.

2. High Academic Standards. This M.A. incorporates the thinking of top educators, provides weekly personal supervision, and includes a variety of mechanisms for verifying the student’s understanding of the material covered.

3. Program Objectives.

** A biblical grasp of God’s eternal purpose.

** An historical and missiological grasp of the global human experience over the last 4,000 years.

** Discipleship under a Christian leader.

** Skill in understanding and applying the Scriptures.

** Experience in discipling others.

** Life-long patterns for intellectual growth.

Who should consider this program?

** Those serious about the cause of missions who are not yet clear about God’s direction.

** Those headed toward the mission field who want to start training here and finish there.

** Those called to mission mobilization.

** Those already serving on the mission field.

** Those in leadership in international churches who want the best biblical, theological and missiological training without coming to the U.S.

For more information contact: Steve Burris School of Graduate Studies Hope International University 2500 E. Nutwood Avenue Fullerton, CA 92831 Phone: 714-879-3903, ext. 604 Email: sburris@hiu.edu

For the B.A. version, contact: Tim Tomlinson Northwestern College 3003 Snelling Avenue St. Paul, MN 55113-1598 Phone: 1-800-308-5495

The Next Step: North American Partnership in Missionary Training

The North American culture is making it more difficult to recruit, train and send effective missionaries. The attrition of missionaries is a serious threat to the expansion of the North American missionary enterprise. There are no easy answers. The solution rest with everyone in the mission endeavor working together.

If focusing on the problem of missionary attrition and effectiveness and establishing guidelines for missionary training appeals to you, then you may be ready for The Next Step in Mission Training.

The Next Step Mission: To raise awareness and commitment to lifelong learning for North American cross-cultural workers and church missions professionals through a working partnership of churches, mission agencies and mission trainers.

Next Step is committed to providing training guidelines to assist candidates, church mission professionals, school guidance counselors, and mission candidate secretaries with current and accurate information.

Internet access to The Next Step web site

This site links to all partners web sites, giving you and others access to mission training opportunities. The Next Step web site is home of the “Training Menu,” a comprehensive, continuously updated menu of regional and national opportunities, and the Resource page, an on-line catalog of mission resources provided by Next Step Partners.

You are invited to join The Next Step Partnership. Churches, mission agencies, mission mobilizers, and mission trainers are working together to find solutions together. As a Next Step Partner, you maintain complete organizational autonomy, while partnering with others to fulfill the Great Commission.

An organizational meeting will be held at the Glen Erie Conference Center in Colorado Springs on January 31, 1998.

For more information contact: Rick Smith 6190 Balboa Street Cocoa, FL 32927-8838 Phone: 407-639-1181 Fax: 407-639-1521 Email: NSTrain261@aol.com

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