Cross-cultural Ministry Center
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Forming Faithful Missionary Pastors
The Cross-cultural Ministry Center (CMC) is committed to forming faithful missionary pastors to initiate and develop culture-crossing ministries. What does this mean?
- Steadfast faithfulness. Guided by the mission of Concordia University Irvine and in partnership with Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, the CMC is faithful to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions without compromise. After four years of academic study with a concurrent vicarage, you will graduate with a Master of Arts in Theology from Concordia University Irvine and receive full certification for ordination as a pastor in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS).
- Mission integration. As a CMC student, you will simultaneously serve as a vicar in a local congregation during all four years of your studies. During this time, you will progress from becoming familiar with your congregation and community to taking the lead in starting a new culture-crossing ministry. Hear how God is working through CMC students’ lives.
- Embedded learning. Through this concurrent vicarage, the CMC aims to embed missiological and theological education in your real-life situations. Classes are delivered in a real-time online format during fall and spring, allowing students outside of Southern California to complete their education without leaving the church and community where they serve. Students attend classes in person on our Irvine, California campus each June for three weeks in order to worship together, learn together, and build a strong sense of community.
- Intentional diversity. The rapidly changing demographics of the U.S. in the 21st-century call for a program like the CMC. You will experience ethnic, socio-economic, and generational diversity in the program and in your ministry. Our location in Southern California – a setting that is an increasingly multi-cultural and unchurched society – is an ideal location for a program focused on missional outreach.
- Professional excellence. The CMC is a program of high academic quality and committed to excellence in both the classroom and in the field. You will benefit from both the academic resources and atmosphere that are inherent in our context of a larger university. Every one of our faculty members is published, and all of them have practical ministry experience – many in cross-cultural settings. Here you will find a community of scholar-teachers who are committed to your academic, spiritual, and professional development.
MDiv equivalent, online
Earn an MA in Theology and full certification for ordination.
Formation in four dimensions
Theological understanding, professional development, spiritual formation, and personal growth.
Scholar-teachers
Published faculty with practical ministry experience, many in cross-cultural settings.
CMC vs. SMP
The Cross-cultural Ministry Center (CMC) is an MDiv equivalent program offered online.
The following table provides a comparison of the CMC at Concordia University Irvine and the Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) Program at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Concordia Seminary offers a number of other programs, some of which complement the SMP program. For more information, please visit their website.
| MDiv (Residential) | Cross-cultural Ministry Center (CMC) | Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) Program (not including GPC) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| End of goal (telos): | General pastoral ministry | Missionary-pastor launching and developing new culture-crossing ministries to the unchurched | Specific ministry within existing congregation |
| Curriculum focus: | General ministerial formation | Intentional missional focus (in courses & vicarage) | General ministerial formation |
| Roster Status: | General Pastor | General Pastor | Specific Ministry Pastor |
| Degree Conferred: | M.Div. | MA in Theology (Theology & Culture) – modeled after the M.Div. | No degree |
| Educational Prerequisites: | Bachelor’s degree (liberal arts preferred) | Bachelor’s degree (liberal arts preferred) | Degree not required (but should have ability to work at Master’s level) |
| Semester Credit Hours: | 74 semester hours (total coursework excluding languages & vicarage) | 77 semester hours (total coursework excluding languages & vicarage) | 32 semester hours (total coursework excluding vicarage) |
| Biblical Language Prerequisite: | Greek (6 semester hours) Hebrew(6 semester hours | Greek (6 semester hours) | No biblical languages required |
| Foreign Language Prerequisite: | No modern language required | 6 semester credits or equivalent (targeting culture of new ministry start) | No modern language required |
| Vicarage: | 12 month vicarage (3rd year) | 4 year concurrent vicarage (new culture-crossing ministry start to the unchurched required) | 4 year concurrent vicarage |
We are here to help. Please contact us to discuss whether the CMC is right for you.
Program Education Model
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.
This diagram shows the educational approach of the Pastoral Certification program of the Cross-cultural Ministry Center.
Hear How God is Working in Students’ Lives
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Cross-cultural Ministry in Michigan
The Rev. Delwyn X. Campbell Sr., MA ’15, a graduate of Concordia’s Cross-cultural Ministry Center, was recently called to lead…
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Ministry at the Border
Rev. Stephen Heimer, MA ’11 serves as the Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in El Paso, Texas, leads worship weekly…
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Crossing Cultures
In the former lumber town of Navajo, New Mexico, Concordia University Irvine cross-cultural ministry graduate Tim Norton and his family…
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When God’s Word Calls…You Go!
The moment eighteen-year-old David Kim, MA ’03 left the evening worship service at a church in Seoul, Korea, he knew…
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Ramon Contreras: Faith on the Border
Ramon Contreras, MA ’04, coordinator of Lutheran Border Concerns Ministries (LBCM) in San Diego, has established a unique partnership with…
Getting Started
The Cross-cultural Ministry Center is an MDiv equivalent program offered by Concordia University Irvine in partnership with Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Its purpose is the formation of faithful and effective culture-crossing missionary pastors for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod: men who can enter a community, understand it, and start a ministry that reaches the lost outside the church.
Are you a member of an LCMS congregation with a heart for outreach, a desire to become a pastor, and a commitment to working in a culture-crossing context? If so, contact us to see if the CMC is a good fit for you.
Next Start
May 10, 2027
Curriculum
Core Curriculum (Sample 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.
Language preparation
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 the equivalent, of undergraduate-level language courses. The language you choose should be one that will serve you in the New Ministry Start required in your vicarage.
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 Graduate Application page for full details on application and admission requirements.
Financial support
As part of our commitment, Concordia University is proud to offer generous financial aid and scholarships to all students in the CMC. The Church Career Grant will cover one-third of your total tuition over the four-year course of the program. For students demonstrating further need, the All Nations Scholarship can match up to another third of tuition for a limited number of students each year. Most students also receive financial support from their home congregations and districts.
Vicarage Program
The CMC Vicarage is a required 4-year internship at a local congregation and under the mentorship of a pastor during which students grow personally, spiritually, and professionally as pastoral and missionary leaders.
Every semester students submit a personal growth plan, a spiritual formation plan, and a professional development plan in which they articulate goals related to ministry activities such as preaching, teaching, visiting, administration, etc. Then they carry out these activities and journal their progress throughout the semester.
The CMC Vicarage is also specifically designed to help students acquire missionary habits and skills. So every semester they also create goals related to mission activities such as language and cultural learning, community awareness and ministry, mission awareness and leadership, and reaching the unchurched. About half-way through the program students take specific courses that prepare them to study their communities, plan, and then launch a new ministry that crosses a significant cultural barrier into a non-Anglo or heavily multi-cultural milieu, and reaches the lost outside of the church in the surrounding community. Students then launch their new ministries, revising and creating new goals that they work to accomplish every semester and submitting end of the semester progress reports. This new culture-crossing ministry start serves as the capstone project of the CMC. The plan, progress reports, and a final reflection paper are included in the student’s final vicarage portfolio, along with several other artifacts from their time in the CMC.
First Year: Personal Formation
- Yearly Bible, focused prayer and personal devotions.
- Pastoral mentoring and observation, work with mentor pastor.
- Leadership Development.
- Preparation for new ministry launch.
Second Year: Pastoral Functions
- Involvement in the local congregation with the goal of preaching, teaching, and team building in service to the existing strategic plan of the congregation.
- The student is to grow in all 14 function areas of ministry and mission, 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
- Entrepreneurial church plant or new ministry launched from a host congregation utilizing a committed launch team to cross cultures and reach the lost with the Gospel. This is the capstone project of this program and is to be a significant undertaking and robust part of the vicarage.
- Leadership Development.
Fourth Year: Leadership/Team Building
- Community outreach and internal team building continues.
- Careful and intentional leadership identification, training, and development are key.
- The goal of each student is to 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 continues.
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 forms students to make connections across cultures in order to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You will form relationships as you live your calling within your community, with all of its ethnic, socioeconomic, and generational diversity. 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?
In the Lutheran church, a vicar is a student of theology who is working under a pastor in a congregation to receive practical formation for ministry. Students in residential M.Div. programs typically do a full-time, one-year vicarage in their third year of seminary. In Concordia’s Cross-cultural Ministry Center, you will take classes and serve as a vicar concurrently. This lets you remain in your community and put your classroom learning into practice right away.
Get in Touch
For more information about the Cross-cultural Ministry Center at Concordia University Irvine, please fill out our inquiry form or contact us.
Cross-cultural Ministry Center
Rev. Robert Rossow
Director
(949) 214-3395
[email protected]
Carrie Donohoe
Christ College Program Coordinator
(949) 214-3389
[email protected]