SAM COMPETENCY UNIT A
Spiritual formation
Competency overview
Four modules will introduce you to topics and practices in personal and communal spirituality. Your interpersonal formation and emotional intelligence for ministry and religious leadership will be cultivated and supported through reflections and exercises.
Module content / authors
Spirituality and spiritual practices / Craig Mueller
Distinctions between spirituality and religion will be explored, attending to various forms of spirituality and how these relate these to your personal experiences.
Prayer and prayerfulness / Craig Mueller
Meditative practices will be used to be more mindful of the gifts of life around you and develop a greater awareness of yourself and the divine presence that permeates life.
Healing and wholeness / Craig Mueller
Various spiritual challenges will be considered, including the diverse topics of racialized trauma, religious trauma, addiction and recovery, and emotional pain and healing.
Discernment / Craig Mueller
Several spiritual practices will be used to help you become more receptive to the deep wisdom within you and explore your own unique calling or dharma.
SAM COMPETENCY UNIT B
History, theology, Lutheranism
Competency overview
Six modules will examine the deep roots of our Lutheran theology, a lineage that shapes and affects our church’s mission yet today. You will focus on early church and reformation history, as well as examine key theological and Lutheran confessional claims.
Module content / authors
Pre-Nicene era of and multiple expressions of Christianity / Peter Vethanayagamony
The period before the Council of Nicea will be surveyed, when early Christian communities practiced a fledgling faith under the Roman Empire, influenced by a diverse cultural landscape.
Post-Nicene imperial and patristic Christianity / Peter Vethanayagamony
The legalization and legitimation of the church during the fourth century will be examined, a period when political authority shaped doctrines of the Trinty and the nature of Christ.
Luther and Lutheranism / Candace Kohli
Noting how theology and culture shape one another, you will review Lutheranism today, the context of the Reformation, Luther and his late-medieval world, and Luther himself.
Creeds and confessions / Candace Kohli
The Lutheran confessional writings will be set in relation to other Christian creeds and confessions, and also presented in terms of their development, adoption, and interpretation.
The Godhead: God, Christ, Spirit / Candace Kohli
Lutheran understandings of God will be explored in relation to the concept of the Trinity and the divine persons, including how these ideas drove Luther’s quest for assurance of salvation.
Justification and the law-gospel framework / Candace Kohli
Lutheran approaches to justification will be discussed alongside other Christian atonement theories, as well as how law and gospel structures divine and human ways of being in relation.
SAM COMPETENCY UNIT C
Cultural context
Competency overview
Four modules will improve your ability to explore the complex relations between church and society for the sake of effective leadership and ministry. You will engage in theological reflection on church and learn several key tools to understand your setting more fully.
Module content / authors
Public church and ecclesiology / Marvin Wickware
“Public church” will be explored as the basis for examining your community’s dynamics and needs, in order to foster deeper connections and contextual engagement.
Community exploration / Marvin Wickware
Practical and ethical principles of ethnographic study will be explored, leading into a community exploration exercise to understand your local context more fully.
One-to-one relational meetings / Marvin Wickware
The effectiveness of and distinctions between one-to-ones and other meaningful conversations will be considered, so you can develop better relationships as a leader.
Strategic thinking in community organizing / Marvin Wickware
“Theory of change” and “power mapping” will be explored as strategic tools to help you grasp who can effect change in a setting and how to engage them responsibly.
SAM COMPETENCY UNIT D
Ministerial and leadership practices
Competency overview
Six modules will support your development of essential skills and practices for ministry and religious leadership. You will learn the foundations for effective care of persons, organizational leadership, and a richly Lutheran approach to worship and proclamation.
Module content / authors
The art of listening / Brooke Petersen
Care begins with receiving the stories of pain and suffering that others share, so you will work on key listening skills, incorporating self-reflection to expand these skills as a caregiver.
Listening and assessment / Brooke Petersen
Beyond receiving the concerns that others bring, you will explore how to assess and respond to their deeper emotional and relational dynamics for the sake of constructive engagement.
Genograms / Brooke Petersen
Since family systems theory regards families as complex webs of interaction, you will learn to analyze and recognize the forces at play that can lead to wounds or promote healing.
Principles of community organizing / Marvin Wickware
Adaptive leadership skills will be developed within a community organizing approach, so you can identify issues relevant to your setting and devise strategies to address them.
Worship parts: word / Christian Scharen
The church year and lectionary shape how scripture engages us in worship, and you will be attuned to the ways biblical and expansive language can deepen the church’s worship life.
Worship parts: sacrament / Christian Scharen
Baptism and eucharist will be introduced in terms of their historical development, engagement of body and spirit, and intersections with daily life and the created world.
SAM COMPETENCY UNIT E
Bible
Competency overview
Four modules will orient you to the scope and structure of scripture, especially as understood from a Lutheran theological perspective. You will engage the history and development of individual books and the whole canon, as well as gain insight into its meanings and interpretations.
Module content / authors (under development for 2025-26)
