The Graduate Diploma in Mission Studies course is designed to prepare people who are called to crosscultural ministry in Australia and overseas. It provides a strong foundation in biblical study, theology, missiology and a practical component that will help equip students for effective cross-cultural ministry, as missionaries or in other cross-cultural ministries. Teachers come from a variety of denominational and faith mission organisations and represent a range of cross-cultural ministry experiences and perspectives. Tabor College serves churches of many denominations and a wide range of mission organisations and is steadily gaining recognition as a provider of sound cross-cultural ministry education.

The College has given serious consideration to input from various external Assessment/Review Panels, national course review Working Parties, mission organisations, individual Christian cross-cultural workers, missionaries and various educators in the development of Graduate Diploma in Mission Studies program to date. Accordingly the course is designed to equip trainees in cross-cultural ministry to best serve the global church in the context of its mission in the world. Therefore the structure of the course includes broad philosophical and theoretical approaches to cross-cultural ministry practice as well as the development of task specific skills and outcomes. Further, the course encompasses both traditional missionary training models as well as contemporary missional and cross-cultural integration.

Studies in the theoretical modules of this course acknowledges that the study of intercultural studies at the undergraduate level must cover a range of discipline areas and begins with the introduction of the student to the basic concepts of biblical study as they relate to the performance of Christian cross-cultural workers or missionaries. Students undertake studies in the history and analysis of Scriptural passages and their relevance to ministry in a cross -cultural context.

These studies assist students to apply the principles of cross-cultural interaction to a range of practical situations that may confront the graduate when practising as a professional in a Christian cross-cultural missional endeavour. The practical modules of this course relate directly to and integrate with studies in the theoretical strand and provide the student with the theoretical and practical background experiences required to function effectively in a variety of crosscultural ministry settings.

The need for this course is assessed in terms of the role of the church and mission organisations in cross-cultural mission and ministry and their practical and long-term needs in a changing global context. Such an approach considers the influence of historic missionary movement and sees the need to extend its design to include perspectives of post-modernity, contextualisation, globalisation and contemporary missiological considerations. These examples of cross-cultural ministry needs exist both within current denominational and faith mission organisations and in a range of contexts through the wider mission of the church in its global context. Tabor College is in a unique position to offer such a design as there is the scope and exposure across the range of denominations, mission organisations and an involvement and understanding of relevant cross-cultural mission and ministry that comes from a large cross-section of students and staff.

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