This program strives to go beyond mere information.  It is designed for personal transformation of the student that results in missional living.  Students will be challenged to take the principles and concepts learned and apply them in the world around them.

Students will be able to create ministries that take into account the uniqueness of the Millennial generation.  Millennials are they first fully-postmodern generation, the first to occupy an entirely new life stage called emerging adulthood, and the most unchurched and de-churched generation among us.  This program will help students rethink discipleship methods and practices in order to accommodate the uniqueness of this generation.  They will emerge from the program equipped with the tools necessary to engage the Millennial generation on spiritual matters using Millennials’ cultural symbols in a way that is contextualized to their culture and their postmodern mindset.  The goal is to introduce options of effective discipleship models for Millennials so that we can help them focus their energies on changing the world through the power of the gospel. 

Students will be encouraged to move from theory to praxis as they apply their acquired knowledge by creating missional strategies for ministering to Millennials.  Students will graduate from the program with a firm understanding of what a missional-incarnational approach to discipleship entails.  The Millennial Generation is hardwired for mission.  They are cause-driven, purpose-seeking, and eager to make an impact on the world around them.  What is needed, however, is an understanding of how to harness their passion and guide them into finding and fulfilling their purpose in Christ.  Too often, discipleship of Millennials entails a didactic setting separated from what Bonhoeffer called “the storm and the action” of the world.  With the missio Dei as the driving force and contextualization as the driving ethos, they will be equipped to go as Christ did into the highways and byways, and discipling younger generations in the mission field of their own culture.  Young adults throughout history have tended to be culture makers, birthing many great social causes, revivals and spiritual renewal movements, so Millennials hold great promise and potential for the church of the 21st century.  The practices instilled in them by the church today will have a profound effect on the trajectory of the Church in the years to come.  There is a need to innovate, taking into account Millennials’ postmodern worldview by removing them from the classroom and into live missional situations where they can learn kinesthetically, intuitively, and through the hearing and sharing of personal testimonies. 

Students will be equipped through the program to understand their own spiritual gifts and leadership style so that they can engage in Millennial ministry using their strengths.  They will understand how to mentor Millennials, how to identify the sphere of society to which they are called based on passion and ability, training on how to share their testimony with others in their sphere and dispatch them as soon as they desire so they can receive “on the job” discipleship as they go and make disciples themselves.  Thus, this program will employ experiential exercises that provide real life experiences with Millennials.  Possibilities include ethnographic practices such as interviewing, participant observation, and document analysis.  They will be trained how to engage in traditional Christian practices such as hospitality, preaching, teaching, and evangelism in a way that builds a bridge between Millennials and other generational cohorts so that inter-generational ministry can be achieved.  Whichever generational cohort the student belongs to, whether Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X, Baby Boomer, or Silent Generation, they will be able to relate to the Millennial generation using their unique gifts and abilities.  The Bible provides examples of intergenerational co-laboring for the sake of the kingdom of God, from Moses to Joshua to Paul and Timothy and many in between.  Building on this principle, students will be encouraged to think practically about how all of us – from Silents to Millennials – have strongpoints that can be used as building blocks for the vibrant church of the future.  Together we can have the vision and the drive to start movements that change lives My hope is that an inter-generational dialogue will begin across the globe, one where we explore more fully what each of our contributions might be.  The goal is transformation of the student by drawing out their individual giftedness for their unique missional calling.