CMC Offers Pastoral Ministry Certification in Irvine
The Cross-cultural Ministry Center (or CMC) at Concordia University Irvine is an extension of our Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. It is a path toward ordination designed for mission-minded men who are called to reach into urban and multiethnic communities in America with the Gospel of Christ, even while it equips these men with the theological formation that is equivalent to the M.Div. curricula available at St. Louis and Ft. Wayne.
Most, if not all, CMC students are working full time while they proceed through the program. With that in mind, all of the classes meet at night – from 6-10 pm Pacific Time every Monday and Thursday night. For students who live outside Orange County, the classes in the Fall and Spring are available in a real-time, online format. Students are required to come together on the campus at Irvine for their summer classes.
The CMC currently has students from the PSW District as well as the California/Nevada/Hawaii, Rocky Mountain, Texas, Northwest and English Districts.
All CMC classes are delivered at the graduate level. The program does include an MA in Theology, but it also includes many practical and in-the-field courses, all of which culminate in certification for ordination into the Pastoral Ministry in the LCMS. In all, it encompasses 106 units. It is typically completed in 4 years (including classes in the Fall, Spring and Summer terms).
The CMC is unique in that its vicarage and fieldwork requirements expect students to serve in the community where they are already established. The intended result of this simultaneous vicarage program is the launching of a new church or ministry.
The CMC classes are conducted in English, but many students are fluent in more than one language. In fact, those who speak English as their primary language are required to document a familiarity with a second language before they can graduate. This multi-cultural nature of the CMC makes for rich dialog among students and professors, and prepares pastors for the challenges of 21st Century multicultural ministry.