Introduction to the Pastoral Leadership Focus Area STM Degree

The STM degree with a focus in Pastoral Leadership is intended to build on the student’s exposure to the pastoral leadership course and discussions about spiritual leadership that the student received during the student’s seminary career. This focus will also take advantage of the student’s own experience as a spiritual leader in his field(s) of ministry. Courses in this focus offer a mix of theory and practice and are designed to provide immediate, practical impact for the student’s ministry.

Goals (Knowledge, Skills, Attitude) 

By the end of this program, the student will have done the following:

• Identified his own unique style of leadership that time, experience, and God have inculcated within him.
• Acquainted himself with the history of leadership paradigms and how these paradigms are still represented in the leadership literature and market today.
• Assessed the Transformational Model of Leadership as a social-scientific basis for thinking about what leadership looks like and is comprised of as it is carried out in the student’s life.
• Developed a sound, Lutheran, authentic hermeneutical approach to using leaders in the Bible and their stories as the basis for talking about leadership and teaching leadership in a congregational setting.
• Composed a plan for equipping his people for spiritual leadership in their various vocations.
• Developed a core portfolio of Bible stories and Bible characters that present key leadership concepts appropriate for a congregational setting.
• Thought through the relationship of “business models” of leadership and the student’s own approach to talking about leadership.
• Broadened his understanding of the concepts and vocabulary of the social-scientific study of leadership.
• Led and participated in and evaluated a spiritual leadership training conference.

Courses 

Core courses:

• PL5002 Revelation: Spiritual Leadership in the Face of Challenge  (1 cr)
• PL5001 Using Bible Stories to Teach Leadership in a Congregational Setting (1 cr)
• PL5005 Developing a Mission-Minded Philosophy of Ministry (1 cr)
• ME5009 Revelation for Our Time and Circumstance (1 cr)

Elective courses:

• PL5004 Shared Leadership in a Multi-Cultural Setting (1 cr)
• PL5083 The Leadership of the Apostle Paul (1 cr)
• PL5080 Teaching Spiritual Leadership in Congregations, Classrooms, and Christian Homes (1 cr)
• PL5086 Congregational Strategic Planning (1 cr)
• PL5087 Congregational Organization and Management (1 cr)
• PL5027 The Theology and Practice of Stewardship (1 cr)
• PL5077 Difficult Conversations in the Parish (1 cr)

Note: Additional credits can be earned in any course offered by taking on additional assignments as negotiated with the instructor.

Ways to Earn Credits (prioritized) 

1. Summer Quarter Courses in even-numbered years
2. Satellite courses in odd-numbered years
3. Winterim Courses in January
4. Online Courses (Spring, Summer, Fall)
5. Guided research
6. Partner institutions
7. Thesis