LDRS 641 - Theology of Christian Leadership  (3 S. Hrs)

This course will help you articulate a biblically based applied theology of
Christian leadership. You already have a well-developed theology of leadership,
although you may not have articulated it before. During the course, you will have
opportunity to discover your theology of leadership and then develop it as you
engage Scripture.

The foundational Scriptural passage for this course is Ephesians 5:1-2:

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just
as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice
to God (NIV)"

According to this passage, our goal as Christians is to be imitators of God and to
live a life of love just as Christ loved us. In order to be leaders who imitate God,
it is essential that we grow in our understanding of God's character. This course
will help you think about God's character and incorporate aspects of God's
character into your theology of Christian leadership. However, something stands
in the way of our pursuit of godliness: sin. In this course, you will also have an
opportunity to think about the human condition and how sin seeks to twist the
articulation and application of a Christian theology of leadership. Once we
understand our goal of becoming imitators of God and the barrier of sin that
seeks to keep us from that goal, we can move on to looking at how we can live
out our goal. How can we live a loving life that reflects God? The life of Jesus as
the God-man provides a perfect example of how to live out the character of God.
In this course, you will study the life of Jesus as a way of developing a theology
of Christian leadership that is practical and guides your life. As a way of
reintroducing the human condition into your thinking, you will look at other biblical
characters that succeeded and sometimes failed in living out godly leadership.
As you look at God's character, the human condition, the life of Jesus, and the
lives of other biblical characters, you will be in a strong position to articulate and
apply a robust theology of Christian leadership.