Cross-cultural Ministry Center Vicarage Program
Earn an M.A. in Theology with pastoral certification and vocational experience.
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Learn, Lead, and Live Your Calling in Ministry
Start your work into ministry sooner with the Cross-Cultural Ministry Center’s vicarage program, which combines a M.A. in Theology with pastoral certification and vocational experience at Concordia University Irvine.
As a CMC program student, you’ll simultaneously serve as a vicar in a congregation during all four years of your studies. During this time, you’ll progress from becoming familiar with your congregation and community to taking the lead in starting a new culture-crossing ministry.
Classes are offered both on campus and online and embed missiological and theological education into real-life situations, allowing you to serve right in your own community as you and address the contemporary needs of the church and the world.
This unique program leads to a Master of Arts in Theology from Concordia and full certification for ordination as a pastor in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).
Career Relevant
Gain real-world skills for a life of service and leadership.
Collaborative Classes
Learn in classes with a 15:1 student-to-faculty ratio.
Online and in Community
Learn online and complete your internship in Southern California and your community.
“The CMC’s training at Concordia helped immensely, because I’m always approaching ministry from the standpoint of translating our culture to the surrounding culture.”
The Rev. Delwyn X. Campbell Sr. ’15
Getting Started
The Cross-Cultural Ministry Center provides academic and practical training, forming missionary pastors and church leaders who are skilled at reaching across cultures with the Gospel.
If your primary language is English, you must familiarize yourself with a modern spoken language other than English by successfully completing 6 semester credits (or equivalent) of undergraduate-level language courses. The language must be one that will help the student with the New Ministry Start required in his vicarage.
Next Start
August 24, 2026
Upcoming Starts
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Spring 2027 January 11, 2027
Curriculum
Complete ALL of the following Courses:
- THL501 – Introduction to Theological Research
- THL502 – Ministry in Cultural Context
- THL504 – Survey of Historical Theology
- THL510 – Lutheran Confessions
- THL521 – World Religions
- THL529 – Lutheran Hermeneutics and the Theology of Scripture
- THL565 – Christianity, Ethics and Contemporary Culture
- TPRC521 – Theology and Practice of Mission
- TPRC540 – Entrepreneurial Mission Planting
- TSYS511 – Systematics I
OR TSYS512 – Systematics II
OR TSYS513 – Systematics III
View the Concordia University Irvine Online Catalog for a full list of courses.
Program Education Model
This diagram shows the educational approach of the Pastoral Certification program of the Cross-cultural Ministry Center.
Our educational model for the Pastoral Certification program of the Cross-cultural Ministry Center is framed by the Christ-centered Missio-Dei. That means God’s work to save all people centered in the person and work of Christ Jesus. This framework shapes and permeates the entire curriculum.
Within Missio-Dei, students live out four key components that contribute to the formation of the Faithful & Effective Culture-crossing Missionary Pastor:
- Theological Understanding
- Professional Development
- Spiritual Formation
- Personal Growth
All four of these components are interdependent and interrelated, which is also evident in the program coursework and structure. While much of the Theological Understanding takes place through academic courses, much of the Professional Development, Spiritual Formation, and Personal Growth happen through the concurrent Missional Vicarage Program.
Tuition and Fees
At Concordia, we understand that investing in your education is a significant decision. That’s why we offer a variety of scholarships and financial aid options to help make your academic journey more affordable. View tuition costs and fees.
Admission Requirements
View the Concordia University Irvine Online Catalog for full details on application and admission requirements.
Internships
The CMC vicarage is a required four-year internship at a local congregation. Under the mentorship of a pastor, you’ll grow personally, spiritually, and professionally as pastoral and missionary leaders.
Each semester, you’ll submit a personal growth plan, a spiritual formation plan, and a professional development plan. This plan will include your goals related to ministry activities such as preaching, teaching, visiting, administration, and more. You’ll also create goals related to mission activities. These could include language and cultural learning, community awareness and ministry, mission awareness and leadership, and reaching the unchurched.
About halfway through the program, you’ll take specific courses that prepare you to study your communities. Then you’ll plan and launch a new ministry that crosses a significant cultural barrier into a heavily multicultural area, where you’ll reach those who are outside of the Christian church in the surrounding community.
Once you’ve launched your ministry, you’ll revise and create new goals every semester and submit end-of-the-semester progress reports. This new culture-crossing ministry serves as the capstone project of the CMC. The plan, progress reports, and a final reflection paper are included in your final vicarage portfolio, along with several other artifacts from your time in the CMC.
First Year: Personal Formation
- Yearly Bible, focused prayer, and personal devotions
- Pastoral mentoring and observation with mentor pastor
- Leadership development
- Preparation for new ministry launch
Second Year: Pastoral Functions
- Get involved in the preaching, teaching, and team building in service to the existing strategic plan of the congregation
- Grow in all 14 ministry and mission function areas, developing as both a pastor and a missionary to the surrounding community
- Leadership development
- Preparation for new ministry launch
Third Year: Mission Church Planting/New Ministry Launch
- Capstone project: Entrepreneurial church plant or new ministry launched from a host congregation using a committed launch team to cross cultures and reach the lost with the Gospel
- Leadership development
Fourth Year: Leadership/Team Building
- Community outreach and internal team building
- Careful and intentional leadership identification, training, and development are key
- Have a team that will continue to grow the new start into a viable church and/or enduring ministry that crosses cultures and reaches the lost
- Leadership development
Grant and Scholarship Opportunities
Church Career Grant
In order to support and encourage students who are preparing for the pastoral ministry in the LCMS, Concordia University Irvine and the Cross-Cultural Ministry Center have established the Church Career Grant. This grant is issued on an annual basis and covers one-third of the CMC tuition costs. Learn more about this grant opportunity.
All Nations Scholarship
The All Nations Endowment for the Cross-Cultural Ministry Center was established at Concordia University Irvine to further the mission of the CMC. This endowment funds the All Nations Scholarship for qualified students in the CMC, which covers one-third of the CMC tuition costs and is in addition to the Church Career Grant. Explore the All Nations Scholarship opportunity.
Explore Financial Aid
Reduce your tuition costs with financial aid — with help from a team that wants to make your time at Concordia as affordable as possible.
Meet Our Faculty
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Cari Chittick
Director of Lutheran Teaching Programs and LCMS Placement, Professor of…
FAQs
What is a cross-cultural ministry program?
A cross-cultural ministry program is one in which connections are made. Relationships form because you’ll live your calling within a community, where you’ll experience ethnic, socioeconomic, and generational diversity through leadership, fellow students, and ministries. Concordia’s location in Southern California — a setting that is an increasingly multicultural and unchurched society — is an ideal location for a program focused on missional outreach.
What is a vicar?
Different religions have varying responsibilities for vicars. In the Lutheran church, a vicar is someone training to be a pastor. They do this while serving side by side with a parish pastor.
Concordia’s Cross-Cultural Ministry Center program offers this opportunity to its students. Throughout the four-year program, you’ll study and serve as a vicar, culminating in a master’s degree and pastoral certification for the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).
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