Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Department

Seminary

First Advisor

Glenn Williams, DMin

Second Advisor

William Westfall, DMin

Third Advisor

Don Ballard, DMin

Abstract

Thousands of university students travel to the United States every year to engage in higher education, both as undergraduates and as graduate students. This provides a strategically rich opportunity for Christian ministry that has potential for global impact. Part of this potential is to provide ministry leadership training, particularly if students are from countries that allow little freedom for such education. The challenge is to offer culturally appropriate leadership training that is applicable in various cultural contexts and that does not inadvertently cause offense by violating cultural norms of the various students. The desire is to create an educational environment that is culturally accessible to international students, and that trains domestic and international students to be leaders in our globalized world. After considering a number of approaches to address these challenges, it was decided to work with an existing local school of ministry and enable this school to transform into an International Learning Community. This dissertation and accompanying artifact provide necessary research and practical help to make such a transition possible. Section One of the dissertation describes in more detail the potential problems when working in culturally complex settings, as well as pointing out emotional and support needs unique to international students. Section Two describes several approaches considered to address the challenges. Section Three presents research that will provide substantive training content for a school staff and student body. The research focuses on cultural intelligence, cross-cultural hermeneutics, cross-cultural communication, and culture-transcending biblical leadership principles. Section Four explains the outline of x the artifact and briefly describes the courses included in the artifact. Section Five presents parameters of the artifact with brief descriptions of goals, scope, audience, and further course development indicated. Section Six discusses preliminary conclusions regarding the effectiveness of the overall project.

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