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Current Course Offerings 2026-2027

Current Course Offerings
2026-2027

Foundations
Foundations
Foundations

FND101

What is the Good News? A Historical Approach
What is the Good News? If asked, could you answer in terms that a non-Christian could understand? Part of the challenge in the question is that Christian understandings of salvation have shifted over the years, as culture has changed and our approaches to theology have developed. This course focuses on the theme of the Good News and traces developments through history to the present. The purpose is to enable participants to develop an “elevator speech” presentation of Christian gospel, along with a deep historical and theological understanding of what that speech might have sounded like from previous generations of Christians.

FND101

What is the Good News? A Historical Approach
What is the Good News? If asked, could you answer in terms that a non-Christian could understand? Part of the challenge in the question is that Christian understandings of salvation have shifted over the years, as culture has changed and our approaches to theology have developed. This course focuses on the theme of the Good News and traces developments through history to the present. The purpose is to enable participants to develop an “elevator speech” presentation of Christian gospel, along with a deep historical and theological understanding of what that speech might have sounded like from previous generations of Christians.

FND101

What is the Good News? A Historical Approach
What is the Good News? If asked, could you answer in terms that a non-Christian could understand? Part of the challenge in the question is that Christian understandings of salvation have shifted over the years, as culture has changed and our approaches to theology have developed. This course focuses on the theme of the Good News and traces developments through history to the present. The purpose is to enable participants to develop an “elevator speech” presentation of Christian gospel, along with a deep historical and theological understanding of what that speech might have sounded like from previous generations of Christians.
FND101
What is the Good News?
A Historical Approach
What is the Good News? If asked, could you answer in terms that a non-Christian could understand? Part of the challenge in the question is that Christian understandings of salvation have shifted over the years, as culture has changed and our approaches to theology have developed.

This course focuses on the theme of the Good News and traces developments through history to the present. The purpose is to enable participants to develop an “elevator speech” presentation of Christian gospel, along with a deep historical and theological understanding of what that speech might have sounded like from previous generations of Christians.
FND102
Who is the Church?
The goal of this course is to equip students with a common vocabulary of experiences, concepts, and reflective tools, in order to make sense of the life of faith communities and their leaders in the contemporary world. Components of this course are drawn from church history (Canadian and global), doctrine, pastoral leadership, ecumenics, and sociology of religion.

The course will involve an experiential component, inviting students to share and reflect on their current and prior experiences of church as well as stepping outside that experience to observe and learn from a faith community with which they are unfamiliar.
FND101
What is the Good News? A Historical Approach
What is the Good News? If asked, could you answer in terms that a non-Christian could understand? Part of the challenge in the question is that Christian understandings of salvation have shifted over the years, as culture has changed and our approaches to theology have developed.

This course focuses on the theme of the Good News and traces developments through history to the present. The purpose is to enable participants to develop an “elevator speech” presentation of Christian gospel, along with a deep historical and theological understanding of what that speech might have sounded like from previous generations of Christians.
FND102
Who is the Church?
The goal of this course is to equip students with a common vocabulary of experiences, concepts, and reflective tools, in order to make sense of the life of faith communities and their leaders in the contemporary world. Components of this course are drawn from church history (Canadian and global), doctrine, pastoral leadership, ecumenics, and sociology of religion.

The course will involve an experiential component, inviting students to share and reflect on their current and prior experiences of church as well as stepping outside that experience to observe and learn from a faith community with which they are unfamiliar.

FND101
What is the Good News? A Historical Approach

What is the Good News? If asked, could you answer in terms that a non-Christian could understand? Part of the challenge in the question is that Christian understandings of salvation have shifted over the years, as culture has changed and our approaches to theology have developed.

This course focuses on the theme of the Good News and traces developments through history to the present. The purpose is to enable participants to develop an “elevator speech” presentation of Christian gospel, along with a deep historical and theological understanding of what that speech might have sounded like from previous generations of Christians.

FND102
Who is the Church?

The goal of this course is to equip students with a common vocabulary of experiences, concepts, and reflective tools, in order to make sense of the life of faith communities and their leaders in the contemporary world. Components of this course are drawn from church history (Canadian and global), doctrine, pastoral leadership, ecumenics, and sociology of religion.

The course will involve an experiential component, inviting students to share and reflect on their current and prior experiences of church as well as stepping outside that experience to observe and learn from a faith community with which they are unfamiliar.

FND101
What is the Good News? A Historical Approach

What is the Good News? If asked, could you answer in terms that a non-Christian could understand? Part of the challenge in the question is that Christian understandings of salvation have shifted over the years, as culture has changed and our approaches to theology have developed.


This course focuses on the theme of the Good News and traces developments through history to the present. The purpose is to enable participants to develop an “elevator speech” presentation of Christian gospel, along with a deep historical and theological understanding of what that speech might have sounded like from previous generations of Christians.

FND102
Who is the Church?
The goal of this course is to equip students with a common vocabulary of experiences, concepts, and reflective tools, in order to make sense of the life of faith communities and their leaders in the contemporary world. Components of this course are drawn from church history (Canadian and global), doctrine, pastoral leadership, ecumenics, and sociology of religion.

The course will involve an experiential component, inviting students to share and reflect on their current and prior experiences of church as well as stepping outside that experience to observe and learn from a faith community with which they are unfamiliar.
FND103
Introduction to Biblical Literature
A team-taught and interdisciplinary course of 36 hours for introducing students to a variety of topics—thematic and methodological—in biblical interpretation.

The course aims for the elucidation of the literary, religious, historical, and sociological contexts (up to and including the mixed cultural milieux of the Hellenistic and Roman periods) germane to the genesis and the interpretation of biblical literature.

There will also be a component of the course that focuses on the interpretive application of certain topics and themes for ministry, liturgy, and theological formulation in the form of a panel discussion drawing on faculty from various disciplines.
FND104
Spiritual Practices for Cultivating Resilience and Compassion
This course will introduce students to a variety of spiritual practices, including Indigenous ones, that cultivate resilience and compassion.

The focus in this class is to develop and deepen a student’s prayer life, to orient them to core, regular and occasional spiritual practices and learn about six key perspectives: stages of spiritual growth, purification, community, meditation, cultivating personal integrity and deepening compassion.
FND105
Public Practical Ministry I: Worship
Taking a contextual and cultural approach, this course examines the history, theology, and practice of Christian public worship. A variety of biblical, theological, and pastoral approaches to planning worship will be explored. Because the course is rooted in an appreciation for the diversity of culture and context it draws on the students’ particular experience as a source of knowledge.

Prerequisite preference: FND103
FND106
God and Suffering
God and Suffering explores historical and contemporary approaches to questions such as: Who is God? What is the relationship between God and Creation? If Creation is good, why is there suffering in the world? This course brings together biblical interpretation and theology to think through the relationship between God and suffering, using insights from collective trauma theory, intersectionality theory, and theologies from below to help students develop nuanced understandings that can be practically applied to pastoral care and worship leadership.

Prerequisites: FND101 and FND 102 or permission of instructor
FND107
Considering Contexts, Cultures, and Differences
As a foundational course in the MDiv and MTS programs, students will work to identify and express their own theological and ethical questions and to situate these in relation both to their own contexts and to a broader scope of human histories, traditions, and geographies.

Particular attention will be paid to differences in relation to sexuality, gender and gender identity, race and ethnicity, disability, class, mobility, and age.

Through engaging with peers and with input from faculty members, students will explore different ways of knowing and of naming ethical and theological values and will study how different theological disciplines offer methods for engaging with contextual and cultural differences.

Prerequisites: 6 credits at Level One or permission of instructor.
Program Goals

Students who complete STU’s DMin program will develop the following skills and abilities:

  • The ability to analyze their ministry setting and to integrate academic, theological, and practical knowledge by drawing on the resources of practical theology;
  • A deepened capacity for spiritual leadership through building learning communities with a peer cohort and within the ministry setting, particularly with their ministry team;
  • The ability to engage in qualitative research and to apply appropriate tools in the development and execution of a research project;
  • The capacity to demonstrate, through a research project report, learnings about their ministry setting and how this learning contributes to new knowledge and understanding of the theology and practice of ministry within denomination, ecumenical, and community contexts
  • A deepened experience of the academy and the acquiring of skills to present, teach, and continue academic pursuits and research.
Curriculum

The DMin program is a 30 credit hour program and has three main components:

  • Colloquia (3 colloquia; 4 credit hours total)
  • Courses of instruction (7 courses total 20 credit hours total)
  • A project in ministry planned, carried-out and written as a final report in collaboration with a team in the ministry site and presented to a DMin evaluation committee (6 credit hours total)
Eligibility

In order to be eligible to take our DMin course:

  • Students must possess an MDiv or MTS degree, or their equivalents as defined by the school of registration.
  • A minimum Grade Point Average of 75 per cent (or its equivalent) in the above degrees.
  • Students will normally have the equivalent of three years of active ministry subsequent to the completion of their MDiv/MTS degree (or equivalents) and must be located in a ministry site suitable for carrying out a collaborative ministry project.

Foreign Equivalences:

  • Since methods of recording grades and conferring degrees differ from country to country, foreign students wishing to enter the DMin program must write to the Registrar of the STU school in which they want to enroll, submitting details of their academic careers. This report should include transcripts of academic work and any degrees or diplomas held, together with some information about the institutions granting the degrees.
  • Applicants whose first language is not English must demonstrate English fluency as determined by a TOEFL IBT score (including the speaking component) of 88 with no component less than 20, OR a DUOLINGO English Test with an overall minimum score of 120.  Scores should be forwarded directly to the Registrar of the STU school in which they want to enroll.
Admission Requirements

In order to be apply for our DMin course, you must do the following: (check wording?)

  • Attainment of the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, or its equivalent, from a recognized college or university, together with the official transcript.
    • A World Religions course is strongly recommended
    • For those over the age of 31 and without a BA or its equivalent, LTS will consider successful completion of a LTS “Prior Learning Assessment” (PLAR):
  • Completion of the online MDiv Application for Admission, plus submission of supporting documents as outlined in the application form (such as transcripts, references, autobiography, criminal and vulnerable sector records checks).
  • Submission of the $75 application fee (please note: the application fee, for applicants that require a Canadian Study Permit, is $200 in Canadian funds)
  • Candidacy Committee (CC) endorsement for ELCIC (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada) students or, for students of other denominations, a letter from their judicatory.
  • For those whose first language is not English, they must successfully complete one of two options:

    1) a DUOLINGO English overall test score of 120 OR:
    2) a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) IBT score (including the speaking component) of 88 with no component less than 20, or if the TOEFL IBT is not available, a minimum TOEFL score of 550 (paper based) is a prerequisite.