“…At the end of the article, under the heading, “SPC(M)'s Future,” I proposed “Ten Ideals for a Flourishing Community of Scholars devoted to the Church's Teaching Ministry.” I am presenting these again here as my expression of hope for the faithful endurance of our Society who I love and remain committed to serving. - [Confessional ideal] SPCM must gather around a confessional identity and mission that affirms the authority and sufficiency of scripture, historic Christian orthodoxy as contained in the church's creeds, and Protestant-evangelical doctrinal distinctives.
- [Contextual ideal] SPCM must articulate and champion a comprehensive and holistic vision for the teaching ministry of the church in the context of late modernity.
- [Missional ideal] SPCM must assert the uniqueness of Christian teaching ministry as an irreducible mandate and extension of the Great Commission, most normatively rooted in ecclesial contexts.
- [Institutional ideal] SPCM must articulate curricular standards and excellencies for degree programs in the field of Christian education, in order to serve member institutions and their faculties, building on the work of Lawson and Wilhoit (2014). In addition, we should also explore how we may contribute to the growing trend of non-formal, non-traditional curricula for training ministry leaders, both domestically and internationally.
- [Diversity ideal] SPCM must enrich the constituency and leadership of the scholarly community by assimilating academicians, ministry leaders, and institutions that reflect the full ethnic, social, and cultural makeup of confessional evangelicalism.
- [Global ideal] SPCM must develop awarenesses, commitments, and strategies for learning-from and serving-in the dynamic movement of Christian teaching ministry in non-Western and majority-world contexts.
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