The Christian Communications Ministry Institute currently offers eight courses—four each year. Students may begin with either Year A or Year B. Grading is pass/fail.
Year A
*Writing for mass media- Despite this course's title, we will examine a cross section of writing techniques, issues and forms, at least discussing writing for print, online and, to a limited degree, broadcast media. Learning to tell stories, especially the stories of the United Methodist Church at the international, national, jurisdictional, conference and local levels will be our goal.
*Legal and Ethical Issues for Religion Communicators- A survey of legal and ethical issues facing Christian communicators, particularly in The United Methodist Church. Topics include the relationship between legal and ethical practice, defamation, privacy, right of publicity, intellectual property, nature of truth, values, ethical decision making.
*Current Issues in Religion Communication—Topics vary by year.
*United Methodist Studies (Polity) — Polity is one part of the United Methodist Studies course for the Certification in Christian Communications. History and doctrine will be offered the following year. Students will examine the development of United Methodist polity from a historical and theological perspective as well as examine the current structure and practices.
Year B
*Communication Theory — An introduction to mass communications theory, including a brief survey of mass communications history, various types of communications theory and its impact on society. Exploration and discussion of using mass communications to do the work of the church through various types of communication. Application of theory to the practice of public relations (especially in times of crisis) and to developing new releases
*Advertising: Integrated Communication Campaigns — A survey of media planning: functions of advertising and public relations in an integrated communication mix; branding, image making and reputation management; media characteristics, media market measurements, media buying, positioning, market segmtation and publics; basic copy tips; theories, research methods and techniques for planning, implementing and evaluating an advertising or public relations campaign.en
Current Issues in Religion Communication—Topics vary by year.
*United Methodist Studies (Doctrine and History) — We will do a brief overview of the history of the United Methodist Church with the majority of our time given to examining the “essential beliefs” of Methodism.
* Completion of these six courses meets the academic requirement for Certification in Christian Communication.
