📜 Course Description

What if the learning leader and students really opened their minds and hearts to all that God may want to do during this course? Suppose God wanted to launch a life-changing transforming movement of faith, fervor, and devotion that we cannot now even imagine through the experiences of this course.

Therefore, the vision statement begins with a call to the learning leader and students to put themselves at the disposal of God, the Holy Spirit. Let us make ourselves His—His if He wants to set us on fire for Christ. His if the Lord chooses to bless us with His silence. His if He seems to hide beyond the clouds beyond the reach of our prayers (Lam 3:44). His even if God’s silence can become for us a time of fertile emptiness in which we examine ourselves, submit to transformation, and imagine new beginnings. Let us be open to all the possibilities of grace.

While we look for whatever bonuses and blessings God has for us beyond the printed page and our dialogues, we set these objectives for this course.

What should the students come to KNOW?

The content and knowledge aims (cognitive aims) of this course include:

• A growing understanding of the biblical and theological foundations for spiritual formation
• An enlarged perception of the grace of God experienced in transforming moments and the transforming journey
• The ability to define, explain, and teach the personal and corporate spiritual disciplines and devotional skills
• To understand that Christian service is a spiritual discipline

What should the students inwardly EMBRACE (BE)?

The affective aims of the course include:

• Embracing the call to the journey of transformation, owning it as their own call to holiness and Christlikeness
• Identifying themselves with the mission of Christ in this world
• Desiring to share the spirit gifts of God with others

What should students, as a result of and in response to this course, DO?

The psychomotor objectives of the course include:

• Demonstrating their growing knowledge by successfully completing written and verbal exercises
• Demonstrating, in class and beyond the classroom in formal and informal ways, a growing desire to make the quest for Christlikeness the central aim of life
• Incorporating into their formal and informal acts of ministry, both now and in the future, the principles of spiritual formation encountered in this course

📜 Course Outcomes

This module contributes to the development of the following abilities as defined in the U.S. Sourcebook for Ministerial Development.

Program Outcomes

CN19—Ability to identify and explain the main characteristics of the nature of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Human Person, Sin, Salvation, the Christian Life, the Church and Sacraments, and Eschatology

CN23—Ability to identify and explain the Doctrine of Holiness from a Wesleyan perspective

CP21—Ability to envision, order and participate in contextualized theologically grounded worship and to develop and lead appropriate services for special occasions (i.e. weddings, funeral, baptism, and Lord’s Supper)

CH6—Ability to pursue holy character (Christlikeness) by practicing Christian formation and the classic spiritual disciplines as means of grace

CH7—Ability to locate, understand, and use the resources for individual and corporate spiritual formation

CH8—Ability to take responsibility for his or her own continuing spiritual development

CH9—Ability to apply understanding of his or her ongoing developmental needs across the life course of the minister to the pursuit of holy character

CH10—Ability to demonstrate a realistic self-understanding including personal strengths, gifts, weaknesses, and areas of needed growth

OUTCOME STATEMENTS

• Ability to partner with a mentor/mentee community for accountability concerning spiritual growth, personal development, and ethical behavior