MACO Mission Not Bound by International Waters

Concordia and the Oswald Hoffmann School of Christian Outreach are living out their mission of sharing God’s word through the Master of Arts in Christian Outreach program in its first overseas context. In January, director of the MACO program Rev. Dr. Eugene Bunkowske and OHSCO director Rev. Dr. Mark Press joined Nigerian missionary, Rev. Dr. David Erber in Obot Idim, Nigeria, to launch the program. Eighteen pastors and one elder from Nigeria and Liberia began their three-year coursework. Course delivery will be a blend of distance education and in-class teaching.

Bunkowske said that as economies and cultures become more globalized, the desire to deliver the program grows.
“Our students have the potential and need for understanding people with different first languages, ways of life and perceptions of reality,” said Bunkowske. He said this is not only true for those in business, but also for those sharing the ideas of God’s revealed mission. Professors say the program is helping students change their way of functioning as pastors and teaching them to take initiative in outreach.

Professors are finding they are benefiting
too. “A program like this is putting us in touch with other ways of thinking,” Bunkowske said. “It also helps us fully prepare our students at Concordia to function in other parts of the world that have different ways of living.”

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