Course Descriptions

This introductory course exposes students to topics that will be examined independently and in greater detail throughout the undergraduate study. Topics include the theology and history of missions, preparations for the missionary family, cross-cultural communication, and current mission trends and strategies.

This course introduces students to the discipline of anthropology from a Christian perspective, helping them to more easily adapt to a variety of cultures. Students will investigate the influence that language, class, gender, social organization and authority, family relationships, education, and ideologies have upon a culture. 

This course teaches how to establish, organize, and run a children’s ministry within a culture foreign to the missionary’s own culture. Special attention is given to training students to teach God’s Word. The materials for this course are gleaned from and partially taught by Abb Thomas, the founder of Master Ministries.

This course introduces students to the vast array of people groups in the world for the purpose of strategic development. Students will learn how to perform ethnography (initial research) on a particular people group, including their worldview framework, social structures, religions, arts, and history, thus instilling in the missionary candidate the ability to devise a plan to reach lost peoples of the world.

This course provides students with a historical overview of world missionary activity from the time of Christ to modern times. Students will study pivotal moments that changed the course of missions. By examining the lives of world evangelists who have gone before, students will be encouraged and inspired. 

This course is a Biblical study of the indigenous church based on the church of Antioch in the New Testament. The indigenous church is defined and analyzed in light of the demographics, culture, and dependence upon the Holy Spirit as a model church type for all present-day church reproductions.

This modular course presents the common problems cultural stress has on the missionary, his family, and the people groups to whom he is sent. Students will learn to identify the most common causes of cultural stress and how to successfully deal with these in a scriptural manner on the field. The primary goal of the course is to emphasize that no level of cultural stress can be handled successfully without a close relationship with the Lord and a dependence upon the Holy Spirit. 

This course sets forth a Biblical foundation and framework for fulfilling the Great Commission through world evangelization. Students will be introduced to issues relating to pneumatology (signs, wonders, and spiritual gifts), the eternal status of heathen peoples, universalism, justice, charismatic issues, ecumenism, indigenization, etc. Students will also learn to handle issues of contextualization, engaging a culture with the Gospel from a Biblical perspective.

This course investigates how a cultural worldview shapes the dynamics of how a culture communicates. Students will observe how context, time, power, gender, and honor affect communication. Practical considerations related to ministry communication in a cross-cultural setting are emphasized. Areas of study include relationships, evangelism, discipleship, church planting, teaching, and conflict resolution.

This practical course delves into the common duties, responsibilities, and opportunities of being a missionary. Important aspects of study include personal issues, family life, and ministry on the field. 

This study focuses on the needs of potential full-time, cross-cultural missionaries. The course will help students prepare for intercultural stress, the difficulties involved with raising a family overseas, and the difficulties related to a personal walk with God when little accountability is present. Tools for coping with the difficulty of cultural adaption, both when moving to a cross-cultural situation and when returning to one’s culture of origin will also be presented.

This course is a structured, cross-cultural experience approved and facilitated by the BSWE internship coordinator and supervised by an on-field mentor from a foreign host ministry. The host ministry must reflect the basic philosophy and emphasis of First Baptist Church of Milford and its ministries. The mentor will ensure that the student receives exposure to predetermined core objectives and will evaluate the student’s interactions in the foreign culture in various aspects of cross-cultural ministry. In order to receive 9 credit hours, students must complete 600 contact hours with the foreign host ministry (20 consecutive weeks without leave). Normally, the student is registered for this class for the fall semester of his senior year; however, in some cases, internships may begin during the summer prior to the student’s senior year.

This course is a continuation of CM401 and is to be congruent (without leave) with the same foreign host ministry. The host ministry mentor(s) will be responsible for continued discipleship while ensuring the student’s exposure to challenges and successes while experiencing new targeted objectives.