The Wisdom Curriculum
Faith-based, Online Short Courses in Communication and Strategic Leadership
Curriculum context. Leaders in 2023 and beyond face numerous challenges. The global pandemic created unique workforce changes including the dramatic rise in virtual work and the re-examination of work-life balance. As workers began to rethink jobs and careers, leaders needed to become more adaptive and think “outside the box” to keep teams unified and help organizations move forward in innovative ways. Along the way, maintaining workers’ physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being became a priority as stress and burnout rose to all-time highs. Now, as we slowly emerge from the pandemic, leaders must continue to deal with a struggling economy as they find ways to manage a diverse and often divisive workplace. Finally, in this era of workers constantly looking for alternatives, leaders must not only find ways to keep workers but also provide meaningful professional development opportunities to help grow their workers’ leadership capacities.
Curriculum foundation. The Wisdom Curriculum presupposes that faithful communication and leadership reside beyond the mere presentation of research and theory to incorporate wisdom, a higher type of knowledge that involves a capacity for understanding and using information in practical ways to the benefit of both individual and society. Wisdom in a biblical framework is never selfish or self-centered. It recognizes what is inherently good, what is worth knowing and remembering, and how to use it, if at all. Wisdom helps answer questions such as: How do we love, lead, and follow our neighbor as ourselves? How do we interact in hospitable ways that foster shalom, or the presence of God’s peace and justice at home, at work, and in our nation? In answering such questions, research and theory are important resources, for sure. But for Christians, their contribution to the common good depends on the presence and exercise of an all-encompassing, contextualizing world and life view that draws on biblical authority and is nurtured in faithful communities of practice that provide accountability for education and growth.
Curriculum goals. Course readings and assignments provide students with opportunities for faith-learning integration in communication and leadership studies. Courses wed the latest research and theory with faith-based best practices grounded in Christian scholarship. The proposed curriculum includes course content offered in degree programs such as Strategic Leadership, Organizational Communication, Leadership Studies, Leadership Communication, and Strategic Communication, to name several. Upon completion of the curriculum, learners will understand effective communication and leadership strategies across multiple contexts that can elevate individuals, teams, systems, and organizations to their God-given potential. Courses in the proposed curriculum will be of interest to Christian leaders in faith-based, non-profit, and for-profit organizations who want to “think Christianly” about communication and leadership challenges in ways that promote individual and organizational transformation.
Course names and descriptions are written to appeal to adult learners and attract non-traditional students in the workforce and therefore avoid the standard course nomenclature (e.g., Introduction to Communication or Interpersonal Communication).
Course developers and reviewers are award-winning authors, professors, administrators, and practitioners who have spent decades developing and delivering courses in f2f and online formats. The pool includes individuals from over a dozen institutions in the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU): Azusa Pacific University, Biola University, Calvin University, Colorado Christian University, Eastern University, Geneva College, George Fox University, Northwest University, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Regent University, Wheaton College, Vanguard University, Spring Arbor University, Taylor University, Trinity Western University, and Willam Carey University.
Course design is online, asynchronous, self-paced, and on a three-week schedule. Courses revolve around a leading, primary text in the field and an additional supplemental text along with other online readings and learning activities. Two, 3–5-minute scripted instructional videos are included each week: one that provides an introduction or anticipatory set at the beginning of the week, and one that provides a summary of key learning ideas at the end of the week (If available, the author of the required, primary text for each course will record the videos.) Objective assessments are used to evaluate a student’s mastery of the content. If a student masters the content by scoring a certain percentage each week, she moves on to the next week in the course. The course is completed when a student demonstrates mastery of all three weeks of course content.
A course “pin” or “badge” is received upon the successful completion of an individual course. A curriculum credential or certificate is received upon completion of all, or a certain number of, courses assigned by the granting institution. For example, the credential could require the successful completion of all courses listed in Table 1 below. Another option is for an institution to designate a certain number of courses for the credential. A core/elective model could be followed here as well. In this model, the student must complete three “core” courses as designated by the granting institution and may then choose any four courses from the remaining course menu for a total of seven courses.
Course credit for one 3-week online course below in Table 1 is equivalent to approximately 1.5 credit hours. Two, 3-week online courses, therefore, would be equivalent to one 6-week online course worth 3 credit hours.
Below in Table 1 is a list of course numbers and titles for easy reference, followed by additional details such as course descriptions, primary and supplemental texts, and proposed course developers.
| Table 1: Wisdom Curriculum Course List
|
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| Course No. | Course Title |
| WC100 | Curriculum Orientation: The Death of Wisdom in the Information Age and What We Can Do About It as Faithful and Faith-filled Communicators |
| WC101 | Understanding Vocation and Calling: How to be a Caring Follower of Jesus in Every Station of Life |
| WC102 | Communicating with Grace and Virtue: How to Interact as a Servant Communicator at Home, Work, Church, and Beyond |
| WC103 | Leading and Following: How to Lead So People Want to Follow You, and How to Follow like a True Leader |
| WC104 | Crafting and Connecting: Five Principles for Developing Messages across Multiple Platforms and Contexts that Invite People into Meaningful Conversations about Important Ideas |
| WC105 | Winsome Persuasion: How to Develop a Compelling Vision of Public Engagement that is Civil, Shrewd, and Gracious |
| WC106 | Winsome Conviction: How Christians Can Disagree with One Another Without Dividing Organizations or Rupturing Relationships |
| WC107 | Creativity and Innovation: How to Let Your Imagination Soar to Serve Others, Benefit Organizations, and Glorify God |
| WC108 | Understanding Digital Leadership: How to Lead Your Own and Your Organization’s Dance with Media and Technology in Mindful and Sacred Ways |
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
WC100
Title: Curriculum Orientation: The Death of Wisdom in the Information Age and What We Can Do About It as Faithful and Faith-filled Communicators
Description: In this orientation to the Wisdom Curriculum, learners explore important distinctions between information and biblical wisdom and how understanding such distinctions can influence our communication and leadership in all areas of life. Readings and learning activities explore how our culture’s “religion of technological optimism” falsely equates information with wisdom, promotes individuality over community, and seeks to cut off people from the past, including tradition. Instead of pursuing more information or bandwidth to address the challenges we face, Christian leaders must learn to identify “first things” as a way to navigate faithfully the rough seas of the information society and find wisdom to strengthen our effectiveness in every realm. Christian tradition offers a pathway to meaning, theoretical unity, and wisdom in the midst of our digital deluge and unregulated technological advancement.
Texts: Awakening the Quieter Virtues: Shouting Softly in a Noisy World (forthcoming, summer 2023) (Primary); Words and Witnesses: Communication Studies in Christian Thought from Athanasius to Desmond Tutu (Supplemental)
Developers: Robert Woods, PhD, Executive Director, Christianity and Communication Studies Network, and Visiting Scholar, Trinity Western University; Brandon Knight, MDiv, PhD, William Carey University
WC101
Title: Understanding Vocation and Calling: How to be a Caring Follower of Jesus in Every Station of Life
Description: Discerning God’s plan for one’s life is a common Christian experience. Successful leaders must learn to listen and respond to God’s calling as they seek to integrate the concept of vocation and purpose into their work. This course helps by distinguishing between one’s shared vocation and particular life station, and how vocation is more than one’s job, occupation, or career. Readings and learning activities explain how to be a caring follower of Jesus in every station of life by offering practical ways to strive for excellence, celebrate leisure, nurture community, and cultivate a legacy.
Texts: Callings: Twenty Centuries of Wisdom on Christian Vocation (Primary); Here I Am: Now What On Earth Should I Be Doing (Supplemental)
Developer: Mark Fackler, PhD, Calvin University, Emeritus
WC102
Title: Communicating with Grace and Virtue: How to Interact as a Servant Communicator at Home, Work, Church, and Beyond
Description: Drawing from notable life and leadership stories, this course offers an engaging and practical guide to help Christians interact effectively in all areas of life. It shows how to practice servant communication for a rich and rewarding life. Topics include how to be a more gracious communicator, how to work well in groups and teams, how to tell stories effectively, how to overcome fears, how to ask for forgiveness, and how to communicate well in a high-tech world.
Texts: Communicating with Grace and Virtue: Learning to Listen, Speak, Text, and Interact as a Christian (Primary); An Essential Guide to Interpersonal Communication: Building Great Relationships with Faith, Skill, and Virtue in the Age of Social Media (Supplemental)
Developers: Diane M. Badzinski, PhD, Colorado Christian University; Quentin Schultze, PhD, Calvin University, Emeritus
WC103
Title: Leading and Following: How to Lead So People Want to Follow You, and How to Follow like a True Leader
Description: Exploring the insights and tools of followers in effective partnership with leaders, this course addresses topics that include servant and transformational leadership, followership, working with volunteers, and best practices in professional development to strengthen your success as a leader and a follower. Readings and learning activities also discuss topics such as: how to ask for feedback, how to provide effective performance reviews, and how to find a mentor and be a mentor to others.
Texts: The Leadership of C.S. Lewis: Ten Traits to Encourage Change and Growth (Primary); Communicate Like a True Leader: 30 Days of Life-changing Wisdom (Supplemental)
Developer: Crystal Hurd, EdD, East Tennessee State University
WC104
Title: Crafting and Connecting: Five Principles for Developing Messages across Multiple Platforms and Contexts that Invite People into Meaningful Conversations about Important Ideas
Description: A comprehensive review of Christian apologist and author C. S. Lewis’s work reveals five communication principles that explain his success as a communicator. These principles are applicable for us today whether we are communicating in person or across digital platforms, and whether we are communicating to those within our organizations or developing campaigns to audiences outside our organizations. Based on Lewis’s own advice about communication in his books, essays, and letters, as well as his communication practice, being a skilled leader-communicator is to be holistic, intentional, transpositional, evocative, and audience centered. These five principles are practical ways to enhance everyone’s communication skills and are memorably summarized by the acronym HI TEA.
Texts: C.S. Lewis and the Craft of Communication (Primary); An Essential Guide to Public Speaking: Serving Your Audience with Faith, Skill, and Virtue (Supplemental)
Developer: Steven A. Beebe, PhD, Texas State University, Emeritus
WC105
Title: Winsome Persuasion: How to Develop a Compelling Vision of Public Engagement that is Civil, Shrewd, and Gracious
Description: This course explores how Christians in our post-Christian society can engage the dominant culture as a minority—a counterpublic—amid varying misperceptions and stereotypes that the public has of Christians. The course raises questions, and provides answers to consider, for such topics as: How might we be persuasive and civil at the same time? How should we respond to those who ridicule and caricature us? How can we challenge the beliefs of other communities with love and respect? Test cases and examples from history, such as William Wilberforce and Harriet Beecher Stowe, are considered.
Texts: Winsome Persuasion: Christian Influence in a Post-Christian World (Primary);
I Beg to Differ: Navigating Difficult Conversations with Truth and Love (Supplemental)
Developers: Tim Muehlhoff, PhD, and Rick Langer, PhD, Biola University; co-directors of the Winsome Conviction Project
WC106
Title: Winsome Conviction: How Christians Can Disagree with One Another Without Dividing Organizations or Rupturing Relationships
Description: This course offers a guide to help Christians navigate disagreements with one another at home and work while maintaining Christian unity. In today’s polarized context, Christians often have committed, biblical rationales for very different positions. This course raises questions, and provides answers to consider, for such topics as: How do we discern between core biblical convictions and secondary issues? How do we cultivate better understanding and compassion for those we disagree with? Learners discover lessons from conflict theory and church history on how to avoid the dangers of groupthink and how to negotiate differing biblical convictions to avoid organizational splits and repair interpersonal ruptures.
Texts: Winsome Conviction: How to Disagree Without Dividing the Church
(Primary); The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict (Supplemental)
Developers: Tim Muehlhoff, PhD, and Rick Langer, PhD, Biola University; co-directors of the Winsome Conviction Project
WC107
Title: Creativity and Innovation: How to Let Your Imagination Soar to Serve Others, Benefit Organizations, and Glorify God
Description: This course suggests that innovation is more than consistently moving new products through the development pipeline. Readings and learning activities explore how innovation is a redemptive, biblical process that provides individuals with a special mechanism to serve others, benefit their organizations, experience God, and ultimately accomplish His earthly will for humankind. Throughout the course, students will receive valuable information about key concepts and hands-on strategies commonly used by successful innovators to design and sell products and services.
Texts: The Light Prize: Perspectives on Christian Innovation (Primary); The Innovation Crisis: Creating Disruptive Influence in the Ministry You Lead (Supplemental)
Developer: Tabitha Anderson, DSL (Doctor of Strategic Leadership), Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney, Virginia Beach, Virginia
WC108
Title: Understanding Digital Leadership: How to Lead Your Own and Your Organization’s Dance with Media and Technology in Mindful and Sacred Ways
Description: This course explores how technology influences individual spiritual formation and communication within organizations. It explains how leaders can leverage digital tools to support, coach, and align teams and individuals across the organization, and gather and analyze data to create and implement effective strategies. Readings and learning activities discuss key concepts such as fittingness, non-neutrality of technology, and mindful media attachment. A framework called “the three sacreds” provides a lens through which Christians can understand the “grammar and language” of technology and apply key concepts in ways that transform individuals and organizational life.
Texts: Everyday Sabbath: How to Lead Your Dance with Media and Technology in Mindful and Sacred Ways (Primary); Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times, 2nd ed. (Supplemental)
Developer: Robert Woods, PhD, CCSN Executive Director, and Visiting Scholar, Trinity Western University