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137 MF 1102 Family Systems in Ministry This seminar helps students understand the systems in which couples and families live, work, and relate. Integrated with biblical and theological perspectives, it teaches systems theory as it applies to traditional and alternative family structures and various presenting problems. The models that are presented integrate information on family, marital, sibling, and individual subsystems and the systemic influences on them, particularly from family of origin and society. This course helps students understand the effect systems have on the people who function within them. The seminar will require students to reflect on the family systems they grew up in as well as their current family system. Three hours. MF 1103 Marriage and Family Enrichment This course helps students develop strong marriage and family ministries that are consistent with developmental and systemic principles, while being fully integrated with a biblical theology of marriage and family. Students will learn to evaluate the individuals, couples, and families they work with to understand their existing strengths and identify growth areas. A major thesis will be completed in which students analyze the church, organization, or ministry they work with and develop a contextualized program to strengthen families and marriages and build healthy relationships. In addition, students and their spouses (if married) attend a marriage enrichment event and complete a report on the experience. Group dynamics that may be encountered in such programs will also be studied, as well as evaluation and program effectiveness methods. Three hours. MF 1104 Issues in Marriage and Family Ministry This seminar presents an overview of the many challenges students face who are working with family and marriage interventions. Topics covered include parenting, adolescence, substance abuse, domestic violence, extra-marital affairs, blended families, crisis response, cultural variable, and forgiveness. Both preventive and restorative interventions are addressed, ranging from premarital counseling skills to crisis assessment and referral with families. Guest lectures by well-known experts are included in areas such as forgiveness and repentance after betrayal in relationships, assessment of potential relationship problems, and best practices in parenting. Additional topics may include such things as domestic violence. Students will be presented with a wide-ranging set of skills to respond to the problems modern-day families face. Three hours. PASTORAL SKILLS TRACK (REQUIRED) PS 1101 Preaching with Purpose and Power Students are taught how to select and study a passage to discover the exegetical idea and how to take this idea and develop a homiletical idea with a biblical purpose. Students focus on how the sermon can be shaped to carry out that biblical purpose. Additional topics include bridging the biblical and the modern worlds, analyzing audiences, communicating effectively, structuring sermons according to listeners' needs, and planning a year's pulpit work. Three hours. PS 1102 Ministry Effectiveness through Personal Growth in Christian Spirituality This seminar explores the kind of spiritual development that leads to the joy and power of the Spirit. Students will discuss relevant scripture and consider historic models of spiritual life and nurture. Major topics include experiencing heart-intimacy with God through a life of prayer, cultivating a contemplative lifestyle, and developing a rule of life that can lead to recovering the joy and power of the Spirit in personal life and leadership. Three hours.