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Strategic Goal #4
To enhance the University’s relationship with the Church

The work on this goal has been carried out by the Point Loma Nazarene University’s Center for Pastoral Leadership.

1. Professional Education through the Master of Ministry degree program

  • Facilitating ten Master of Ministry courses.
  • Enrolling 12 new students in the Master of Ministry program.
  • Launching fresh initiatives to market the degree beyond the boundaries of the Church of the Nazarene

2. Continuing Education and Enrichment for Pastors (conferences, forums, workshops, district programming, etc.)

  • Creating the Seminar by the Sea program in concert with the Master of Ministry courses.  (Pastors can attend the MMin course for CEU credit).
  • Inaugurating PACE (Pastors Area Continuing Education) a pilot program designed to deliver continuing education opportunities to pastors on the region.  Especially to those areas where there is a lack of such resources.
  • Programming and facilitating several Pastors’ Forums (a total of five by June of 2006).  The Pastor’s Forum is a three-day event involving 12-15 pastors in a peer learning approach to personal development.  In April the initial forum focused on the multi-congregational/multi-racial church and the September forum explored the Emergent church model.  Future forums will target pastors in their final decade of ministry (January 2006), the inner-city church (March 2006), the spiritual formation of congregations, youth ministry and children’s ministry.
  • Hosting the Retired District Superintendent’s Retreat in the fall of 2004 providing a unique opportunity to benefit from their wisdom and enhance their advocacy within the sphere of their influence.
  • Collaborating with the Music Department by co-sponsoring the Worship Summit October 19-21, 2005.  The objective of the summit was to bring together pastors and worship leaders for three days of reflection, renewal and equipping. This year’s Worship Summit enrolled 115 participants with 45 attending a pre-summit all-day course on Biblical and Theological Foundations for Worship taught by four faculty members from the PLNU School of Theology and Christian Ministry.
  • In the fall, the CPL sponsored JumpStart 2005 in partnership with four para-church youth organizations in San Diego.  We brought to campus 350 youth leaders and high school students for a day of training on campus ministry.  Partnering organizations included: Youth for Christ, Young Life, Student Venture and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
  • Birthing this February the first annual Pastor’s Day at PLNU on February 8th.  Pastors from San Diego County (and the southwest region) will be invited to come to the campus for chapel, an opportunity to connect with students from their church and participate in a special luncheon with Barbara Brown Taylor (noted preacher and author).
  • Organizing a Spanish language pastor’s conference in July 2006.

3. Mentoring of Students through service learning, internships, identification, nurturing and pastoral contact for students

  • Hosting monthly noon luncheons the CPL has now “connected” with almost 200 students.  Through the SNL (Salt ‘n Light) network students are connected to ministry/internship opportunities in the San Diego area.  (In the spring the SNL network will also sponsor some special events for students considering a missionary career, along with a spiritual formation retreat and a couple of service projects.)

4. Church Resources and Relationship

  • The Center for Pastoral Leadership (CPL) is developing a series of regional planning sessions and workshops for denominational leaders on church health and effectiveness.
  • The CPL is planning on creating a master teacher development program for pastors and teachers in the region.
  • The CPL is planning on hosting and sponsoring a series of dialogs and planning sessions to determine what the University can do to support and resource the church educational efforts in the region.
  • The CPL is currently in the early stages of launching an Institute for Strategic Church Leadership designed to work with pastors on refocusing or re-visioning their church.  85% of churches in North America are either in plateau or declining.  The ISCL will help pastors to define their present church reality and develop a strategic plan to transition (in a healthy, non-toxic manner) their church to greater effectiveness and then link them with a “coach-pastor” for further consultation and accountability.
  • The faculty of the School of Theology and Christian Ministry has written a book entitled Wise Shepherd and the book’s purpose is to link the various disciplines (i.e. biblical studies, theology, philosophy, church history, ethics, etc.) to the work of pastoral ministry, in other words, connecting lectern and pulpit.  The book will be distributed at the regional District Assemblies this spring as a gift to all pastors.

5. Pastoral Care and Support

  • Co-sponsoring a national youth pastor’s retreat on campus January 4-7, 2006.
  • Providing summer vacation opportunities for pastors and their families during June and July (each summer) through the Office of Church Relations.
  • Making presentations at a number of district sponsored events and pastor’s retreats.