The World Link Graduate Center offers advanced cross-cultural training,
leading to a Master of Arts in Foundations of Intercultural Leadership.
ODA Paragraph
This school is a nonprofit corporation authorized by the State of Oregon to offer and confer the academic degree described herein, following a determination that state academic standards will be satisfied under OAR 583-030. Inquiries concerning the standards or school compliance may be directed to the Office of Degree Authorization, 1500 Valley River Drive, Suite 100, Eugene Oregon 97401.
The Need
The spiritual dynamism of Christians in Asia, Latin America, and Africa is resulting in powerful mission movements to yet unreached peoples in every part of the world. Only estimates of the total number of missionaries are available - all of those estimates are greater than the total number of missionaries from the traditional missionary-sending nations of the West. They come from all parts of society and from virtually every nation, with and without formal sponsorship.
As exciting as these grass roots missions movements are, they are facing stiff challenges. These missionaries blend into their new settings, but they often struggle to understand how to communicate the Gospel effectively in new cultural settings. But leaders are working together to find creative ways to overcome this challenge and help their missionaries succeed and new churches grow. The concept of World Link University and development of the World Link Graduate Center are expressions of the passionate concern of Majority World mission leaders that these missionaries gain the best possible education to fulfill their calling.
Globalization of Christian Mission
With the globalization of Christianity, there is no clear “mission field” today. The Global South is more “evangelized” than the “Global North.” When it comes to countries where there are large numbers of non-Christians, America ranks third highest in the world! In fact, the mission fields today are places like Australia (where only 2% of the population are evangelical).
Missionaries from these new centers (like Africa and Mainland China) cannot operate in the same way as missions from the West. In the last 150 years, Western missions have developed on a base of financial affluence under an umbrella of national power. Individual donors have often given from excess income to missions. This not only affects support structures but also the kinds of projects in which they engage overseas. Many new emerging missions are trying to follow in their pattern – and go to the West to raise their funds. But these funds are not only shrinking, but often come with implicit, invisible control. So for the emerging mission movements, models of power dominance and affluence fortunately will simply not work.
World Link Graduate Center seeks to encourage and develop more appropriate and biblical patterns of mission, with special focus outside the Western world.
History of WLGC
IICC has been involved in training Christian leaders for over fifty years. It has conducted approximately 100 short-term training courses in Africa and Asia, founded the first Christian University in Africa (Daystar University, Nairobi; 1971), and in 1995 founded the WorldView Center in Portland, OR, an international living and learning community, and the base for World Link Graduate Center.
The Third World Mission Association’s Missionary Training Commission laid the groundwork for World Link University in 1990. It was charged with the tasks of ensuring quality control and uniformity for the curriculum content of all missionary organizations affiliated with TWMA. WLU emerged primarily as a coordinating group of Third World mission training centers during the 1990s.
In 2001, leaders of TWMA approached IICC to work with them to achieve their goals of international recognition, a corps of master teachers, and establishing a common core curriculum. As a result, IICC began development of the World Link Graduate Center in 2004 to further the advanced training of faculty members. The WLGC will also aid the centers through ongoing consultation.
IICC is led by an inter-cultural Board of Directors from Peru, Ghana, Egypt, India, Japan, and U.S.A. Most have earned doctorates. Daily operations are led by a Leadership Council based in Portland, Oregon, USA. The Graduate Center has five staff members based in Portland (Dean, Associate Dean, Executive Assistant, Registrar/Admissions Officer, and Business Officer). Instruction is by an experienced, decentralized faculty.
Programs offered
World Link : a two -month intensive training in Portland, OR, to qualify as an instructor in Creating Understanding.
M.A. in Foundations of Intercultural Leadership: an on-line education program coupled with field mentoring. (Qualifying as an instructor in Creating Understanding is as prerequisite for admission to the M.A. studies.)
Pre-requisite: Admission to the MA program requires completion of the World Link Workshop in Creating Understanding. Admission to the full Masters program considers work done during World Link Workshop, previous studies, work objectives, personal desires, and assessment by the World Link Graduate Center faculty. Work is completed by distance education.
On admission, a Learning Contract will be developed to show:
1) the current or anticipated ministry of the student. This ministry is the core around which the student’s work is formed.
2) the preliminary schedule of work, As work proceeds and ministry itself develops, some alterations in this schedule are probable, but must be approved by the faculty advisor with whom the student is working.
3) agreement obtained from a Faculty Advisor to guide the student’s studies.
Cost for World Link Seminar
The prerequisite World Link Workshop in Creating Understanding, is held at WorldView Center in Portland, Oregon, USA (and at other locations world-wide) for eight weeks.
Tuition and full board and room $1850
Cost for the MA Program
The cost Master of Arts in Foundations of Intercultural Leadership
This program is on-line. There is no residence requirement at WorldView Center. Connection to the Internet and download costs are the responsibility of the student or the sponsoring organization.
Each Learning Unit, 5 credits $700
Total tuition cost:
Eight Learning Units $5600
Total for qualifying seminar and MA program $7450
The total cost includes a personal copy of the digitalized reference library needed during the study program, held on an external hard-drive supplied to the student.
There are no admission or graduation fees.
Payment is due on registration for a Learning Unit and the Summary Projects, only for that Learning Unit. Thus the total cost is distributed over the entire period of study.
Candidates unable to provide their own finance, must apply to their sponsoring organization. World Link Graduate Center will endeavor to work with that organization to make appropriate arrangements.
Integrated Christian Communication
In developing the World Link programs, we are building a new way of missionary training within the model of Integrated Christian Communication. This involves a shift from learning methods and skills to learning core assumptions of the people. Communication is the point of Christian ministry: responding to God’s communication to man, communicating with God, about God to humans, and building communication between person and person to communicate the truths of God’s revelation in a directly relevant and comprehensive manner.
Integrated Christian Communication builds a model of ministry within communication, providing a larger view of mission rather than an unblended mix of subjects, and opens the possibility of developing a comprehensive understanding and theory of mission to contribute to the development of skilled, God-centered mission workers.
The propositions provide a framework for effective utilization of communication. The Modules shown group the propositions, simplifying the framework of WorldView and World Link Graduate Center programs.
For effective ministry (communication) in God's Name
Know God (Fundamentals), Know the Message (Purpose), Know Yourself (the Messenger), Know the Audience (Audience), Know the Tools (Tools), Know the Context (Context), Know Change (Change).
Know God
1 Communication is involvement
2 Communication is a process.
3 Communication is what is heard, not only what is said.
3.1 Meaning is perceived internally and individually.
4 Spiritual perception and response is the work of God’s Spirit.
Know the Message
5 Mastery of content is the necessary foundation for effective communication.
6 Clarification of goals increases the possibility of effective communication.
Know Yourself
7 The communicators’ personalities and experiences modify the form of the message.
Know the Audience
8 The communicators’ image of the audience and understanding of the contexts are primary factors in shaping the form of the message.
8.1 A communicator almost always communicates with multiple audiences
9 Perceived and actual feedback shapes the form of the message.
10 Communication increases commitment.
Know the Tools
11 All human communication occurs through the use of twelve signal systems.
11.1 Usage of the signal systems is a function of culture; thus they are used differently in different cultures.
12 Mass media extend the range of a message but inevitably change the message.
13 The effectiveness of a medium is largely determined by factors other than the medium itself.
13.1 Effectiveness normally decreases with increasing size of the audience.
Know the Context
14 The cultural patterns and beliefs of a society fundamentally influence the form of effective communication.
15 Perception precedes comprehension, interpretation and effect of a message. All are directly related to experience and needs.
16 There are three simultaneous dimensions in communication process and effect - rational, emotional, and spiritual.
Know Change
17 People respond to communications as members of social groups.
17.1 Messages are mediated.
18 A decision to change results from the combined effects of public (mass) media and interpersonal network.
Our Purpose
Training method: Discipleship
World Link Graduate Center combines “Normal” ways of learning (instead of Academic) with contemporary technology, following the pattern of Jesus in training those who are discipling the nations. WLGC’s “transformative discipling” develops understanding through experience, stories, mentoring, and deep involvement with people, deepening the foundation of knowing God.
Following initial orientation in an intensive residential session, learning will be outside the traditional classroom, primarily as part of the students’ ministry. The study is guided by mentors, as students work within a learning group. Study problems and content will be delivered digitally (CD, DVD, or Internet). Interaction with mentors will be through the “Claroline” learning platform creating a virtual classroom with learning units, message boards, forums, and email. As possible, regional refresher workshops will strengthen learning relationships.
Transformative discipling considers the differing assumptions and beliefs of the disciple, and confronts them with God’s revelation as it relates to those assumptions and beliefs. Teaching seeks to involve the total person, not only the mind. It begins with the trainees’ experiences, a mentor helping them to analyze case studies from other ministries, then considering what is happening in their own ministries, to discern valid principles.
The mentor directs trainees to specific resources- books, DVDs, online materials, and other available references, and is available for questions and discussions. As a learning group works together online, students help one another. The training follows an inductive approach so that by the end of each unit trainees are able to state guiding principles for their own ministries and demonstrate the value in application to their own ministry.
Continuing to teach and train within a traditional Western Academic framework certainly does not prevent learning, but seldom offers a similar challenge to non-biblical values and assumptions.
The Master of Arts requires the equivalent of 37 hours of on-line training within the students’ context of ministry, using the inductive approach to learning. Only those qualified as a Creating Understanding Instructor will be considered for admission to the MA program.
The objectives of the MA program are achieved within seven Learning Units that encourage analytical thinking and problem solving, discovering widely-applicable principles from specific case studies and the students’ own ministries. The Learning Units listed are major categories, with several shorter components (Sections) within each. Tutorials may be assigned by the Learning Unit Mentor after analysis of assigned case studies is submitted by the student working group. The Mentor will consider the strengths and omissions of the analysis and assign Tutorials that will enable the student to do a strengthened analysis. After completion of all seven Learning Units, two Summary Papers crystallize lessons learned during the study program.
A cohort (group) of students beginning the on-line program at the same time will maintain contact during the period of study, critiquing one another’s work, asking and answering ministry-related questions, sharing case studies and analyses - under the monitoring and guidance of Advisors and Mentors. In other words, they will function as a face-to-face group would function, but primarily utilizing the Internet.
Approximately one-third of the program focuses on spiritual formation (foundational communication), one-third on the context (framework of communication), and one-third on methods (functional communication).
Learning Objectives
1. Demonstrate competence in the use of research and study techniques, such as note-taking in library and fieldwork, library research and writing of formal papers, and planning and scheduling.
2. Learn the perspective of Integrated Communication in Christian living and ministry, demonstrated by
a. ability to articulate and teach to colleagues the essential Integrated Communication model;
b. ability to show how his/her ministry relates to this model;
c. outline further studies within the model, and how that is expected to aid effective ministry development.
3. Know and briefly explain each of the basic propositions as introduced in the World Link Workshop on Creating Understanding, and the text Creating Understanding.
4. Demonstrate the personal and communal practice of basic spiritual disciplines.
5. Develop awareness of the spiritual classics of the Church, preparing a five-year program of personal study of these classics.
6. Define and defend the doctrine of the Trinity, showing relevance to daily Christian living.
7. Understand and practice the centrality of worship in life and ministry, individually and in community with fellow believers.
8. Articulate the theology of Two Kingdoms, tracing the origin and final outcome of the conflict between them, illustrating how this affects our life and ministry.
9. Demonstrate a commitment to incarnational mission in total lifestyle.
10. Show the ability to understand and facilitate spiritual formation in another individual and in a group - believers, non-believers, and those antagonistic to the Message of Christ.
11. Demonstrate the ability to use and create case studies for discerning the trends and underlying dynamics of ministry.
12. Be able to research and utilize historical sources in the ethnic and geographic area of concern,
13. Developing awareness of the social, economic, and political structures within which the group of concern functions.
14. Show understanding of the concept of culture mapping, and a developing ability to use appropriate tools to complete a culture map.
The Study Process
1. Student experience is the beginning point, thus a full report of the student’s background spiritually, educationally, culturally, and experientially is necessary. The report must include the current ministry and intended ministry in the future. Much of this should be prepared during the World Link Seminar on Creating Understanding in preparation for application to the Master of Arts program.
2. Learning Groups will be formed, usually with three students who will work together, exchanging comments, insights, and analyses largely through the internet. Where possible, the Learning Group will be formed with those working in the same organization, culture group, geographical region, or type of ministry to facilitate interaction within the Learning Group. Interaction is primarily through the Claroline learning platform enabling the Mentor to track the exchange of thinking and the development of written summaries.
3. Case Studies that are relevant to the students’ background and goals will be assigned by the Mentor, including case studies drawn from the student’s own ministry. Skill in writing, analyzing and learning from these case studies will have been learned during satisfactory completion of the World Link Seminar.* Some case studies will be short (100 words or less), and some will be book length.
4. Analytical Guides related to the case studies are given to the student, as well as the general guidelines for analysis. The analysis for each case study and a summary of perceived principles of ministry is submitted to the Mentor. Guided by the adequacy of the analyses, the Mentor will assign additional areas of study in Tutorials.
5. Tutorials are of varying lengths, from a short paper, a book chapter, or a whole book. These materials are assigned to strengthen understanding and knowledge of areas relevant to the purpose of the Learning Unit. Quizzes or other assignments may be given to the student by the Mentor to ensure adequate completion of the Tutorial work.
6. Upon completion of the Tutorial assignments, the student will review the original Case Studies, and develop revised analyses.
7. A Product is prepared by the student that summarizes general principles learned and relates them to the propositions of Creating Understanding in a manner that applies them to the student’s ministry.
8. The validity of the Product is confirmed by the Learning Group 1) showing that its teaching and practice is in agreement with the teaching of Scripture, and 2) demonstration in the students’ ministry that the stated principles are applicable and useful.
9. This Product is submitted to the Advisor by the Mentor as proof of readiness to proceed to the next Learning Unit.
A Learning Unit must be completed before registering for the next in the series, with the exception that Learning Units 4 and 5 will normally be completed simultaneously. The emphasis is on achieving competence, guided by a Mentor who will evaluate the final paper or product and recommend to the student’s Advisor that the student is ready for the next Learning Unit. A conventional grade will not be given, but an S (satisfactory) will be recorded on the student’s transcript.
The Master of Arts is equivalent to a full-time two-year program of case study analysis, readings, field application, and papers conducted primarily through the internet. Because the program is undertaken as a part of regular ministry, it may require three or four years for completion.
* Case studies are a critical component of World Link Graduate Center education, including both story and the student’s own experiences. In the pre-requisite World Link Seminar, the writing of personal case studies is learned as well as the use of story in ministry.
