Minnesota Worldview Leadership Project*

 





The Minnesota Worldview Leadership Project (MWLP) is a biblically based, worldview teaching program in which participants seek to discern and apply a biblically based worldview to every area of life. It’s sponsored by the Minnesota Family Institute.

The MWLP is modeled after The Centurions Program established by Chuck Colson’s Wilberforce Forum. Begun in 2004, The Centurions Program is designed to develop and train an ongoing group of Christian men and women who are trained by Chuck Colson and the Wilberforce Forum to restore our culture by effectively thinking, teaching, and advocating the Christian worldview as applied to all of life. Participants, from a variety of backgrounds and careers, are intent on learning more about a biblical worldview and passing that knowledge on to others.



Many people are interested in MWLP, because it offers an opportunity for interact on a regular basis with others concerned about the cultural crisis facing our state and nation. They are dismayed with a society increasingly jettisoning truth in the name of tolerance and the inability of Christians to effectively address the subtle messages of naturalism, relativism and postmodernism which permeate the worldviews of so many people in society. 

About the Need for Biblical Worldview Training

According to The Barna Research Group, only 22% of adults and just 6% of teens acknowledge the presence of absolute moral truth1.


George Barna’s 2003 national survey found that only 9% of born again Christians hold a biblical worldview. In his words, “Although most people own a Bible and know some of its content, our research found that most Americans have little idea how to integrate core biblical principles to form a unified and meaningful response to the challenges and opportunities of life. We’re often more concerned with survival amidst chaos than with experiencing truth and significance.”2


Without a solid foundation in biblical truth, moral standards are relaxed and Christians are increasingly willing to condone premarital cohabitation, drunkenness, homosexuality, profanity, adultery, pornography, and abortion.3


Recapturing a biblical worldview gives Christians a new zeal for their faith and confidence that their faith can stand up to the challenges of an increasingly secular and hostile society. It also protects Christians, especially young people, from the subtle deceptions of modern philosophies and ideologies. 

Components of the Minnesota Worldview Leadership Project

Through the MWLP, Minnesotans are encouraged to develop a biblical worldview and become advocates in their churches and communities. Participants make a commitment to teach others what they have learned and to shape culture by living out a biblical worldview in their spheres of influence.


Participants complete homework assignments, work through monthly small group meetings, devotional/Bible study materials, prayer, monthly reading assignments, and weekend mini-seminars with leading Christian thinkers, and develop initiatives for where they can best utilize their worldview training after the program is completed.


The goal of the program is to inspire and equip Christians to view life through a biblical mindset and help them identify, understand, and counter opposing worldviews, while advocating effectively and winsomely for a biblical worldview.


Throughout the program, participants explore a number of key issues related to worldview thinking. Topics include the clash of worldviews, postmodernism, naturalism, the Christian mind, creation and Intelligent Design, the Fall, truth vs. relativism, and salvation, redemption and restoration. In addition, participants look at how worldviews influence life in the areas of economics, work, ethics, marriage, family, sexuality, popular culture, literature and the arts, natural law, and politics. Participants learn to advocate for the truth through apologetics, teaching, and challenging false worldviews.

Outcomes

At the conclusion of the course, participants are expected to:
     

  • Understand what it means to think Christianly and will be able to articulate the elements of a biblical worldview, with particular emphasis on defending the propositions that truth exists and that it is knowable.
  • Be equipped to think through worldview issues for themselves.
  • Understand the basics of other major worldviews competing with Christianity in Western culture, including Islam, postmodernism, secular modernism, and New Age.
  • Know how to engage with individuals who hold divergent ideas about reality, not just how to engage the ideas themselves.
  • Be committed to apply what they have learned, using their talents and gifts in their sphere’s of influence, to teach and train others to apply and live out a biblical worldview.
  • Demonstrate growing spiritual maturity, effective worldview living, and zeal for bringing the Kingdom of God to bear on all areas of life.

   

Requirement for Application

• A vital faith in Jesus Christ
• Life-long pursuit of learning and truth
• A forward-looking life-long commitment to promote and teach biblical worldview to others
• A passion to shape a truth-based culture that increasingly embodies biblical principles
• Commitment to ten month formal learning from September 2007 to June 2007. Training will include three mini-weekend conferences in Twin Cities (dates to be determined), monthly small group meetings, special activities during the year, regular study materials and 500 word summaries of material read each month.
• Must be an active member in good standing of a church
• Completion of application, including acceptance and signing of Statement of Faith.

Program Costs

Costs for the program include a $500 program fee to cover costs related to web, speaker fees, materials and supplies and other costs incurred. The cost of books is not included in the program fee.

If you’re interested in applying you can fill out the application and either email it to mail@mfc.org or fax it to 612-789-8858.

Program Reading and Movie List

September – Spiritual/Discipleship

October – Spiritual/Discipleship


November -- Naturalism


December -- Naturalism


January -- Naturalism


February -- Postmodernism


March -- Postmodernism


April -- Apologetics


May -- Application


June -- Application


Meeting times – Saturday am 8 to 10 am
Seminars – Friday and Saturday am and afternoon


*Materials for this program overview were adapted from the Wilberforce Forum’s, The Centurions Program overview.


1 Barna Research Group, 2001
2 Ibid.
3 George Barna, “A Biblical Worldview Has a Radical Effect on a Person’s Life,” Barna Research Group, December 2003.

The Minnesota Worldview Leadership Project
The Minnesota Family Institute
2855 Anthony Lane S, #150
Minneapolis, MN 55412
Tele. 612.789.8811