Course Description – This Doctoral Course explores new notions of planning for use in faith-based institutions, specifically emphasizing successful applications of Christian Futuring as an approach to planning for future ministry. A strategic planning model is an effective tool for evaluating what the host organization or institution may improve on in an existing skill set; put plainly, it helps a business do a better job doing what it does and does not examine what it could be doing. Strategic planning requires a highly organized, disciplined effort to discern a linear path from Point A (where we are) to Point B (where we want to be) without accounting for paradigm shifts or unknown factors. For the purposes of this course, those unknown factors include discernment of God’s call and other spiritual elements unique to faith-based institutions. These unknown factors are in direct conflict with the assumption that strategic planning follows only known factors and must be adjusted for each new factor we discover; any change to the plan's assumptions requires a redesign of the plan itself rather than the path the plan will take. It is a process that is understood to be strategic because it involves thinking of the best response to given variables alone. This course presents Christian Futuring as a postmodern approach and alternative to the modern model of Strategic Planning. 
 
Course Outcomes –
Students will be able to complete a Christian Futuring for a church or faith-based organization.