With a dedication to its mission to prepare students for “service to Christ in the Church and the world,” Concordia University Wisconsin is introducing a new minor: Christian Service Learning and Leadership.
One of only a handful of like-minded programs in American higher education—and the first of its kind in the Concordia University System—the new minor will teach students about servant leadership through innovative, hands-on work with local nonprofits.
The minor is the brainchild of History professor Dr. John Horgan and Concordia’s Service Learning Committee. Its formation comes soon after the university created a director of Christian service position, designed to coordinate volunteer efforts across the university and build partnerships with nonprofit organizations in the area.
“We take our mission seriously,” says Director of Christian Service Rev. Dr. Randall Ferguson. “We have so many students who come here with a heart of service and this will provide a formal mechanism in the curriculum to help them improve their skills and gain experience working in the nonprofit sector.”
With courses including Perspectives on Christian Service, Community Engagement, Servant Leadership, and Cross-Cultural Communication, the Christian Service Learning and Leadership minor will be housed in the School of Arts and Sciences and will be open to students of all disciplines. Each course contains a significant service learning component that will pair students with nonprofit organizations, where they will apply what they are learning in the classroom. The minor also features a practicum in which students will work with a nonprofit organization of their choice over the course of a semester.
“This minor will help students in two ways,” explains Ferguson. “First, it will help them enhance their heart for service regardless of their future endeavors. Second, it will provide very practical experience working with nonprofits and can serve as a segue to future careers in the nonprofit sector.”
Concordia will begin offering courses for the Christian Service Learning and Leadership minor in the fall of 2018. For more information, contact Randall Ferguson at randall.ferguson@cuw.edu or 262-243-4273.
You can see a full listing of Concordia’s academic programs here.
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