Curriculum: Making a Redemptive Difference (MARD)

• The curriculum will be designed to equip college students to effectively represent Jesus Christ as redemptive change agents within their home societies and within the context of their vocational calling. Redemptive change agents seek to release or liberate people from sinful human realities through the investment of time and/or money and do so on the basis of a Christian worldview.
• The curriculum, which will be taught on an extra-curricular basis, will be presented by those who are certified trainers in major campus communities across North America (see below). The curriculum will be launched in 2011.
• Potential student trainees will qualify for participation in the program by completing an application, which includes one academic, one pastoral and one personal reference, and being accepted by the local trainer and the leadership of Wilberforce Academy.
• Potential trainers who qualify for participation in the program will complete an application, which includes one academic, one pastoral, one professional peer, and one personal reference, as well as a personal interview and an essay describing how the prospective trainer will implement the training vision of the Wilberforce Academy.

As envisioned, the Making a Redemptive Difference (MARD) curriculum will combine a focus on Christian worldview (understanding why change is needed) with practical project development and management skills (how change is cultivated) within the context of students’ vocational callings. Key themes will include:

• Christian worldview
• Culture at the heart of nation-building
• Moral case for democratic capitalism
• The church as model nation
• Servant leadership
• Intercultural skills
• Team-building

The MARD curriculum will be developed by the Curriculum Development Team (CDT) working with the following preliminary timeline:

• Spring/Early Summer 2009 Appointment of committee members
• December 31, 2009 Early stage curriculum ready for testing separate modules
• Winter-Summer 2010 Testing modules and revision of curriculum
• Fall 2010 Beta testing of curriculum
• 2011 Launch curriculum

Delivery methods will include a combination of:

• Online education
• Local mentoring by certified trainers
• Annual conferences to meet vocational and cultural specialists

Students located in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, where the offices of Wilberforce Academy are located, will be invited to participate in the programs, both for the transformative value in their lives but also to enable the Academy to research the best content and methods necessary in order to train college students to be redemptive change agents.

Courses (accredited)

Wilberforce Academy staff are also developing accredited coursework in religion and international development which will, in turn be taught by Academy staff in accredited institutions of higher education.

Conferences and lectures

These public programs offer in-depth contact with vocational and societal leaders who are equipped to guide students and others to deal with complex issues that cannot otherwise be covered in the MARD (Making a Redemptive Difference) In addition, they educate and inspire friends of the Wilberforce Academy.

Conferences:

• World View for World Healing: Truth, Justice and Reconciliation through Christ’s Transforming Power, October 8-9, 2010 at Grace Church Roseville (1310 Cty. Rd B-2, Roseville, MN). Speakers: Eric Metaxas (acclaimed Manhattan-based author and speaker and moderator of Socrates in the City), Darrow Miller (international speaker and author of multiple books, including Discipling the Nations: The Power of Truth to Transform Cultures), and Dr. Carol Hamrin (China expert who is editing the three-volume series Salt and Light: Lives of Faith that Shaped Modern China).
• Conference on Human Genetics and Religion, September 26, 2009 at the University of Minnesota.