Course on missional leadership open to the community

Bible and Ministry professor Michele Hershberger will lead a Spring 2019 class, Missional Leadership, in which community members are invited to participate alongside college students.
Posted on by Rachel McMaster

The Hesston College Bible and Ministry department is offering an opportunity for members of the local community to take a Spring 2019 semester class that will allow them to consider their faith and “mission” alongside college students.

The Missional Leadership class, led by professor Michele Hershberger, is a seminar-style class that will explore the theology and leadership strategies of missional Christian congregations and help participants empower themselves, their congregations and those with whom they worship to be missionaries in their own right.

“Many congregations don’t know how to share the good news of Jesus in a way that feels authentic or that others can hear the good news,” said Hershberger. “We need to practice making disciples. And in a paradoxical way, when we help the Spirit make disciples, we become more transformed ourselves.”

Community participants will explore and learn alongside college students, creating a class of intergenerational perspectives and experiences that can benefit all. With the seminar-style of presentation, participants will come to class with several points of discussion to share, and, being guided by the Leadership Competencies established by the Kansas Leadership Center, will create specific plans to help themselves and their congregations take the big leap to being missional.

“Church leaders and congregants often need creative ways to help their churches catch a biblical vision for mission, and we often need more training and encouragement to be the kind of leaders that help congregations do the difficult, scary work of being ‘missional,’” said Hershberger. “This class helps create plans for evangelism and discipleship training.”

Missional Leadership will meet from 6 to 7:40 p.m. on Monday nights from Jan. 21 through May 6, on the Hesston College campus. The cost to audit the class without receiving college credit is $225. To take the course for credit is $1,653.

Contact Michele Hershberger at michele.hershberger@hesston.edu with questions, or register for the class (Relg 122) by Jan. 15 online.