Be an effective communicator and be able to facilitate effective communication within and on behalf of the church.
Outcomes:
• Use appropriate and effective communication styles and tools in order to inspire, inform, and invite participation in the life, mission, and purposes of the Church;
• Effectively use communication skills for public and small group conversations and speaking;
• Employ the appropriate pastoral role, given the circumstance – when to guide and/or when to participate in conversations or discussion;
• Select and use appropriate technology and media to convey the message and mission of the congregation;
• Utilize communication skills that promote effective, positive relations with staff, boards, agencies, congregation, and other relevant groups/communities;
• Distinguish between and clarify the formal (explicit) from the informal (tacit) roles, rules, rituals and relationships in any church structure with which you are working.
CROSS CULTURAL AND ANTI-RACISM EXPERIENCE
Be sensitive to the different manifestations of racism and prejudice in the culture and be committed to confronting and overcoming them.
Outcomes:
General guideline: Be sensitive to the different manifestations of racism and prejudice in the culture and be committed to confronting and overcoming them.
• Articulate images of a God who is manifest and present among members of every culture and race;
• Practice ministry, both within one’s own culture and the Church universal, informed by domestic and global responses to the needs of God’s people;
• Nurture faith in others, understanding and teaching that everyone’s faith is contextual and influenced by such factors as, race, gender, class, and culture;
• Utilize scriptural resources, theology, tradition, and personal experience, to identify and oppose racism as both unchristian and ungodly;
• Model ministry that enhances the church and the world, by embracing and celebrating racial and cultural diversity;
• Help those with whom you do ministry to understand that racism is essentially systemic, but influences the attitudes and behavior of people of all races;
• Draw on the ministry of Jesus Christ, to present the opposition to racism and the embrace of every culture, as “welcoming the stranger.”
ECUMENISM
Exhibit a commitment to working with other Christians and denominations and with other faiths in programs of common witness and service, and to articulating the vision of the ecumenical and global church as a starting place for mission.
Outcomes:
• Articulate why the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) highly values ecumenism, drawing on resources from our tradition;
• Articulate a theology of ecumenism, drawing on resources from scripture and tradition;
• Articulate a theology of Christians relating to non-Christian faiths, a theology that is respectful and truthful, a theology that reflects the candidate’s own faith stance, all the while recognizing multiple ways in which such relationship can be construed;
• Use ecumenical resources and design ecumenical worship services;