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The RADIUS Curriculum

We want to give you a clear picture of what Radius will do for you: how Radius will equip you for long-term, pioneer church planting among an unreached people group. Our curriculum has been designed for those who really intend to impact the world and glorify God through establishing a community of Christ-followers among a people group where such a thing has not been done before.

Every component of Radius has been designed with the END in mind. That “end” is a reproducing group of obedient Jesus-followers, formed among an unreached people group. The curriculum has also been designed with the ministry CONTEXT in mind. By definition the setting is going to be resistant, hostile, difficult, defensive, and immensely challenging. Radius has been designed with NORMAL PEOPLE in mind: a normal follower of Christ who honestly wants to make Him known where He’s currently inaccessible. What kind of person is it going to take to get the job done? What kind of character do they need to have, what kinds of skills, what kind of knowledge base? These are the crucial questions that have guided us in setting the core of our curriculum, and which guide us in our routine review and adjustment process.

One more thing: Radius has been designed by men and women that have actually done it, and we will be your teachers and mentors. You are going to do a difficult and complicated job in a hostile and resistant setting. You have lots of cards stacked against you. What is going to give you the greatest chance of success? Radius has been designed with that in mind…to give pioneer, cross-cultural church planters the greatest possibility of being successful at what God is sending them to do.

The entire 10 month program includes 24 Credit Hours of Bible (including biblical missiology) and 16 Credit Hours of Intercultural Studies (technical aspects).

Radius is committed to training you in the following SIX CRUCIAL AREAS of skill and understanding, to help you develop clarity and conviction in these essentials.

“Radius is a serious, 10-month course,
designed for people who are planning to do serious, long-lasting church planting among unreached peoples.”

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

The primary tool of your trade is language. You are communicators of a message. You need to be 100% certain that your message is being heard accurately. You need to handle language the way a skilled surgeon handles a scalpel.

Radius will teach you:

  • Language Acquisition Skills
  • Phonetics
  • Self Assessments
  • Phonemics
  • Grammar and Structural Analysis
  • Vocabulary
  • Discourse Analysis
  • Literacy
  • Bible Translation

CULTURE ACQUISITION

In order to communicate the gospel in a way that makes sense to your target people, you need to understand how they think, how they see life, what they are hearing by what you are saying, etc. This is all part of culture. Language and culture are inseparable.

At Radius you will learn:

  • Culture acquisition principles
  • Culture acquisition methodologies
  • Culture acquisition practicum
  • Worldview
  • Ethnographic interview
  • Form and meaning

CHURCH PLANTING

The ultimate goal of the Great Commission, the primary means of seeing God’s Name honored among the nations, the context in which transformation is brought to the nations, and the focus of Radius’ training is Church Planting. A healthy, reproducing group of obedient Jesus-followers among the Unreached People Groups of the world is the goal for which Radius provides equipping.

Our church-planting training includes:

  • Entry strategy
  • Church Planting stages
  • Ecclesiology/New Testament church principles
  • Church Planting in various contexts
  • Assessment of current church planting methods and missiologies

BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS

It is very important to us that you understand the rationale for what you are doing in light of the Big Picture of God’s Word. We want you to understand the ministry of Church Planting among the nations in light of the whole biblical narrative. Missions is not just one of the things that God is doing, and certainly not some “marginal aspect” of what He’s doing. God’s glory among the nations is the goal of and theme of the entire Biblical drama! It is also essential that you be equipped to teach the Truth of the Gospel in a manner that guards against syncretism, is relevant to the hearers’ worldview and context, and insures clarity of comprehension.

At Radius you will learn:

  • Foundational Bible Teaching (includes Narrative, Chronological Teaching)
  • Biblical and systematic theology
  • Hermeneutics

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

The Radius curriculum was designed in terms of what long-term, incarnational, cross-cultural church planters need by way of knowledge (know), skills (do) and character (be). This section summarizes what Radius is trying to build into our trainees by way of character…the “be” component.

  • Daily physical exercise
  • Daily prayer for the nations
  • Single-minded focus
  • Work ethic
  • Sportsmanship
  • “Thick-skinned” living
  • Stress preparedness
  • Marriage on the field
  • Singleness on the field
  • Working on teams
  • Spiritual disciplines

MINISTRY PRACTICE & SKILLS

There are basic practical skills that everyone in ministry needs to master, as well as some that are particularly related to cross-cultural ministry.

  • Prayer for the Nations
  • Guided reading in missiology, cross-cultural communication and church planting
  • Choosing a sending agency and team mates
  • Relationships with your local church
  • Developing a sending team

We would consider it a privilege to train you.

Though not comprehensive, these pages give you a good idea of the kind of training you will receive at Radius. We know that MUCH will have to be learned on the field, in the challenging contexts that you’ll be facing THERE. But we also know that the pre-field preparation that we’re providing here is helping people to begin well, have a clear picture of what’s ahead, and have a good grasp of what to do.

If you have any questions about anything that is either listed or not listed in this overview of curriculum, please don’t hesitate to contact us, and ask for clarification or further explanation. We would love the opportunity to explain our rationale for each element of the training, and we’d love to hear if you think we are leaving out some essential components.