Ministry Leadership

Our Mission

The Ministry Leadership degree program is designed to develop and prepare Christian leaders for both vocational ministry and marketplace positions in the world. Core Christian Ministry courses provide students with foundational knowledge and skills for effective Christian leadership while the various program concentrations offer students the ability to more narrowly focus professional education in their anticipated area of vocation.

Pastoral Ministry

The Pastoral Ministry concentration trains and prepares students to shepherd, preach, teach, administrate, and give pastoral guidance and direction in either church or parachurch ministries while developing strong leadership characteristics, a disciplined Spirit-filled life and the ability to effectively minister biblical principles from a pastoral perspective.

Christian Counseling

The Christian Counseling concentration prepares students to provide solid pastoral counseling, to approach Christian counseling ministries from a biblical perspective and to provide an academic foundation adequate for entrance to graduate programs in counseling.

Christian Education

The Christian Education concentration equips students to effectively lead local church Christian education programs and to disciple others through leadership, teaching, and training.

Business Administration

The Business Administration concentration trains students in the perspectives, tools and skills that are necessary to understand, appreciate, and successfully negotiate in the realm of organizational and business operations and decision-making while remaining true to biblical foundations.

NHCC Core Competencies For Ministry Leadership

A strong desire of New Hope Christian College is to prepare students for ministry. This preparation is accomplished by focusing on three areas of Core Competencies: Personal Formation, Ministry Formation, and Skill Formation. Student development is tracked, culminating in a comprehensive list, like a report card, that graduates walk away with.

Personal Formation

• Personal Health – Developing an understanding and practice of patterns that lead to continued personal growth and health in body, soul, and spirit, including sustainable rhythms of worship, work, rest (a regular Sabbath) and play that put God, self and family ahead of ministry. Understanding and displaying mature and healthy emotional intelligence.
• Personal Renewal – Making a practice of allowing the Lord to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in your life, including accountability to Him, His Word and tangible accountable relationships for the purpose of “pointing out blind spots of character.” The development of a worldview that allows for Christian counseling as needed to work on notable dysfunction or maladjusted personality traits/blind spots.
• Led by the Spirit – A developed ability to hear and respond to God’s voice as revealed through His Word, the inner witness of the Spirit, the affirming witness of the local church’s leadership, accountable relationships and life circumstances.
• Relational Intelligence – A clear understanding, comprehension and practice of biblical dynamics that lead to integrated interpersonal relationships, including a commitment to “work on becoming more mature” in areas of relational deficiency.
• Spiritual Disciplines – A knowledge and practice of historic spiritual disciplines including worship, prayer, time in God’s Word, fasting, solitude, meditation and submission to God.
• Local Church Involvement – A knowledge and practice of the importance of regular involvement in a local church community for worship and for personal spiritual and relational growth, health and development, including serving within that local community or one of its extension ministries.
• Financial Stewardship – A knowledge and practice of the biblical principles of stewardship including giving to the poor and the work of the ministry, not being a “lover of money,” demonstrating personal financial integrity and retirement planning. An understanding and practice of a strong work ethic.
• Sense of Calling and Gifting – A knowledge of the spiritual gift(s) God has given them and how that gifting benefits the Body of Christ, including a realistic assessment as to whether or not their spiritual gifting and temperament line up with what is needed to carry out their passion for a specific ministry. A clear sense of God’s calling on their life to vocational ministry, even if said ministry is in a bi-vocational setting.

Ministry Formation

• Biblical Understanding – Knowledge of the general content and themes of the Bible with a specific knowledge of the Gospels and the Book of Acts.
• Biblical Interpretation – The ability to correctly interpret, understand, and apply Scripture using the “grammaticalhistorical” approach and to communicate this knowledge in personal and public settings.
• Basic Christian Doctrine – An understanding of and ability to explain the core doctrines and creeds of historic Christianity, as well as core theological subjects, with an emphasis on understanding the kingdom of God.
• Church History and Government – An understanding of the major themes and events in Church history including Pentecostalism’s place and heritage in the story.
• Cultural Awareness – An understanding of the Church in its cultural context and the ability to effectively relate the mission of the Church to that culture, including the importance of cross-cultural ministry. An understanding of various types of polity, operation and governance within the Church, including appreciation of various streams of theological and practical diversity within the global Church while remaining committed to the evangelical tradition.

Skill Formation

• Evangelism – A passion for lost people that results in praying for them and having the ability to lead a person to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. The cultivation of a “global heart” and a commitment to personally participate in global missions and lead a congregation in global outreach.
• Spiritual Nurture (Discipleship) – The ability to teach and mentor a believer to spiritual maturity and to train and mobilize a congregation to do the same by equipping God’s people for works of service.
• Leadership – A knowledge of biblical leadership principles, including healthy/unhealthy practices/styles, collaborative leading, servant-leadership, how to rally and inspire people and how to keep the ministry moving forward toward God’s intended goal.
• Holy Spirit Baptism and Spiritual Manifestations – For our students from a Pentecostal heritage, the ability to minister to individuals and a congregation “Holy Spirit baptism,” the ability to move in the 1 Corinthians 12 manifestations of the Spirit and the ability to teach and shepherd these manifestations in congregational settings.
• Public Speaking – The ability to communicate effectively to individuals, small groups and larger public gatherings, through preaching, teaching and writing.
• Organizational Leadership – The ability to lead the organization of a church or ministry, demonstrating effectiveness in people skills and conflict resolution, in missional discernment, in the development of ministry vision, plans and implementation, in organizational clarity, communication and systems and in sound financial and administrative practices.
• Pastoral Guidance – The ability to provide biblical guidance to individuals and families regarding spiritual needs, stewardship and life/relational issues. The ability to discern when a matter is beyond “pastoral guidance” and needs to be handled by professional counselors or medical doctors or requires intervention by legal authorities.