Ministry Growth and Development

MIN 5311 The Learning Congregation

This course explores the concept of the congregation as a dynamic learning-centered community, shaped by ongoing spiritual formation, theological reflection, and organizational development which can be intersected to encourage growth and renewal. Students will examine how congregations adapt to change, cultivate discipleship, goal-set, and engage in lifelong learning.

MIN 6321 Faithful Decision-Making

This course explores the principles and frameworks that shape ethical and strategic decision-making within Christian leadership and ministry settings. Grounded in biblical wisdom and informed by leadership theory, students will examine how faith, scripture, and moral discernment converge to address real-word challenges faced by churches, nonprofit organizations, and broader communities. Key topics include the application of biblical wisdom to leadership decisions, navigating ethical dilemmas in ministry, the role of prayer and spiritual discernment, and the tension between honoring tradition and embracing innovation.

MIN 6331 Empowering Spiritual Truths

This course explores the transformational power and practical application of spiritual truths as foundations for personal growth, discipleship, and effective ministry within the life of the church. Students will examine how spiritual truth shapes identity, guides ethical action, and empowers leadership in church and community settings. Special attention will be given to cultivating spiritual maturity, personal discipleship, congregational edification, discerning gifts, creating a culture of encouragement, and mobilizing a driven ministry.

GRS 5311 Research Design & Methodology

This course will provide an opportunity for participants to establish or advance their understanding of research through critical exploration of research language, ethics, and approaches. The course introduces the language of research, ethical principles and challenges, and the elements of the research process within quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. Participants will use these theoretical underpinnings to begin to critically review literature relevant to their field or interests and determine how research findings are useful in informing their understanding of their environment (work, social, local, global).

GRS 5331 Program Planning & Evaluation

Program Planning presents an overview of the process for designing, presenting and evaluating programs in a variety of fields. This course provides instruction and practice in designing and implementing high quality programs. This essential skills learning is for York University Online professionals to build skills in the areas of program development, evaluation, and influence reporting. The course includes training on active learning, practical application, and practice in developing evaluation tools to measure program impact.

GRS 5341 Navigating in a Diverse Society

This course provides students with the awareness, knowledge and skills required of professional leaders, supervisors, managers, counselors, and educators if they are to be effective in a pluralistic and diverse society. This course prepares students to be multi-culturally competent. Diversity and identity issues, multicultural models and frameworks will be explored in relation to their impact on therapeutic, instructional, and supervisory relationships.

MOL 6311 Personal Leadership Development

The focus of this course will be on you as the leader from an individual perspective. It will be an introduction to the principles and practices of positive interpersonal relationships for leadership development. The course will be based on each student's perception of their own life experiences that have helped them reach this level in their leadership development journey (Past), where they are now in that journey (Present), and their personal leadership goals (Future). The goal of the course is to assist each student to become a more informed and effective leader in his or her intended work and community setting. The following foundational topics in leadership are included: Overview of key leadership theories and models; differences between management and leadership; followership, influence, and power; and introduction to leadership coaching. Several self-assessments used during the class.

MOL 6321 Budgeting & Finance

This course is designed to provide the non-accountant and financial manager with the knowledge necessary to interact with professionals from those disciplines. The majority of the material draws from the theory and practice of financial management. Sufficient accounting background is provided to enable the student to understand and work with information provided by accounting and finance professionals. Emphasis is placed on understanding terms, concepts, and uses of information provided by these functions rather than on the actual performance of the calculations.

MOL 6331 Leadership Development & Coaching

This course offers students a comprehensive, relevant perspective on leadership and developing leaders. While the course provides grounding in important concepts, it also stresses application to professional and community settings. Students analyze concepts such as leading as an interactive process, leading with innovation and creativity, escaping from embedded practices, and embracing new leadership principles. This course provides students with contemporary study of leadership and developing leadership in others.

MOL 6341 Leading Complex Change

This course will present innovative perspectives on organizational change management problems and offers practical ways to solve them. The issues examined apply across organizations, national boundaries, and technical domains. The course utilizes a unique analytical framework to address the change process from three perspectives: strategic, political, and cultural. Each of these perspectives provides critical insights and tools that enable managers to avoid the pitfalls associated with traditional approaches to change.

MOL 6351 Building & Managing Teams

Team building, teamwork, and team leading draws information from a wide variety of disciplines to introduce students to the ever important topic of teaming. This interdisciplinary course is designed to provide the student with an awareness and understanding of current issues relating to the nature and tasks of collaborative leadership behavior. The student is asked to identify an issue or problem and practice leadership by developing and implementing a team project.

MOL 6361 Crisis Communication & Leadership

This course examines the variables involved in crisis planning, communication and management. The organization’s vulnerabilities, the environment in which it thrives, the stakeholders who can influence its operation and the strategies best suited to maintaining or enhancing its reputation will be examined. The media plays a crucial role in crisis management and we will discuss this factor throughout the course. We will consider how the media acts as a catalyst as well as intermediary in this process. By the conclusion of the course, participants should have developed a deeper understanding of the range of crises facing organizations, an enhanced appreciation of communication tactics that can be brought to bear in such situations and a greater familiarity with the historical antecedents of current crises.