An assessment of the missional model of graduate theological education: A case study

Abstract

Background. Leadership development from a missional perspective is a model being utilized by academic institutions within graduate theological education. Many of the academic institutions utilizing the missional model are aligning their academic institutions with theological understanding of the church from a missional hermeneutic.

Method. This study explained and evaluated the missional model of graduate theological education through a case study assessment of an academic institution that is intentionally implementing the missional model. The research located the influences shaping the missional model of graduate theological education, the educational methodologies within the model, and sought to understand the intended and actual outcomes of the model.

Results. The outcome of the study is a thick description of the missional model of graduate theological education. The influences discovered to have a prominent affect were local and global trends, fostering collaborative environments, the missional emphasis of administration, the missional experiences and background of the faculty, and the global, communal learning environment fostered in the ESJ school.

The educational environments ascertained were characterized by global, cross-cultural interactions and interchanges between students collectively with faculty members. The case study represented a communal, experiential, vicarious, and equitable learning environment. The research discovered that intended outcomes were produced through an implementation of strata of transactions. Some of the transactions included dialogical learning through informal, formal, small group, large group, and debriefing dialogue. The modalities of the educational processes emphasized orienting students into context of ministry, subjecting students to contextual learning from immersion in the subject, and through an observation of the faculty's and student's experiences of the embodiment of the content as co-participants in the mission of God. Faculty introduce the content through an embodiment of the content, or vicarious learning . This Vicarious Learning Modality distinguishes the faculty members of the ESJ school.