Built for Real Life
Your days are full. But when is the time to pursue God’s Kingdom if not now? The Colson Fellows Program was designed for men and women with busy, complex lives. This unique program combines spiritual formation and worldview development through a combination of reading, online learning and monthly meetings with your peers to provide an intense and rewarding experience.
The Course
of Study
-
Weekly Self-Study
The base of the Colson Fellows Program is structured, online self-study through carefully curated and thought-provoking reading assignments. You’ll discuss what you’ve studied in regular monthly meetings with fellow students, and Cohort leaders. You’ll further enhance your biblical knowledge and understanding through focused daily devotionals and discipleship activities.
-
Regular Webinar Gatherings
You will participate in online webinars with Christians who are at the forefront of cultural engagement. Twice each month, leading practitioners, authors, scholars, and opinion leaders will bring you thought-provoking lectures and discussions that will help you become a stronger leader for Christ. These regular gatherings will connect you with Colson Fellows-in-training from across the United States, and around the world.
-
Monthly Cohort Meetings
Each month, Colson Fellows-in-Training gather either in their Regional or Online Cohorts. This unique feature offers fellowship with like-minded Christ followers and opportunity for learners to wrestle with some of the most challenging issues facing Christians today.
-
Curated Readings
Participants will read 12-14 books over the course of the program. Each year the reading list is carefully reviewed and updated to capture some of the more pressing issues of the cultural moment.
-
Teaching Practicum
While you will be putting your training into practice throughout the program, the Teaching Practicum is an important opportunity to practice the teaching skills and principles you are acquiring in the program by actually instructing your peers on a relevant topic in the course. This is a valuable experience where you will receive feedback and encouragement in a safe environment.
-
Personal Mission Plan
During the final quarter of the program, with support from their Cohort leadership, Colson Fellows-in-Training will develop a “Personal Mission Plan.” Participants will receive guidance in the discovery of their unique giftedness and calling, consider their particular sphere of influence, and draft a plan that helps them live out their faith in this cultural moment with clarity, confidence and courage.
-
The Colson Center National Conference
In May of 2024, students can choose to attend The Colson Center National Conference, our annual event, featuring world-class speakers and the national commissioning ceremony.
-
Commissioning
Upon completion of the program, students don’t graduate, they are commissioned as Colson Fellows, further equipped for service in God’s kingdom. Each Regional Cohort may host its own commissioning ceremony, however many students from both Regional and Online Cohorts choose to attend the national commissioning ceremony at The Colson Center National Conference, our culminating event of the year, which features a stunning line-up of renowned speakers.
Quarter 1
Everyone has a worldview. Actually, a worldview has everyone. It is a mark of being created in the image and likeness of God. We are driven to make sense of the world and our place in it. Students will learn how to understand and identify worldviews, how they manifest in the resulting culture, and where they compare and contrast with the Christian worldview.
July
Understanding Worldviews 1
Foundations of Christianity
August
Understanding Worldviews 2
Making Sense of Christianity and Other Worldviews
How Are We to Live?
September
Understanding Worldviews 3
Explaining the Christian Worldview
Why We Live the Way We Do
October
Understanding Worldviews 4
Defending the Christian Worldview
Apologetics for Our Time
Quarter 2
We are usually unaware of how deeply our culture shapes us. The Colson Fellows Program helps students recognize the subtle forces of culture on the ideas and values around us. This understanding equips students to identify areas of need and opportunities to make a difference.
November
Understanding Culture
How Culture Forms our Lives
Teenagers, Racism and Islam
December
Engaging Culture
Foundations for Making a Difference in Culture
Developing Passion for God’s Work
Quarter 3
Upon understanding worldview and culture, students are now able to analyze and interpret current cultural “flashpoints” such as sexual and racial identity, same-sex marriage, religious liberty, and sanctity of life. Students can respond with theologically grounded responses, making a positive difference in the culture around them.
January
Flashpoints in Culture: Creation Theology
Encountering LGBTQ, Islam, Abortion
Knowing and Speaking Truth in Love
February
Flashpoints in Culture: American Challenges
Race, Leadership, Society & Politics
Overcoming the Past to Deliver Hope
March
Preparing to Plan: God’s Guidance and Work
Vocation, Calling, Mission, Vision
Knowing God and Yourself
Quarter 4
Students study the idea of calling and bearing the image of God by exercising dominion and care over God’s world and making it better through our creative attention. The program concludes with the development of a personal mission plan that puts into practice all that the students have learned. Upon commissioning, Colson Fellows go on to implement their plans through their vocation, ministry, church, or local community.
April
Forming a Cultural Response: God Working Through Us
Getting Involved in God’s Audacious Plan
Serving God’s Purpose in Your Time
May
Your Cultural Response: Looking Ahead with a Plan
Putting it All Together
Commissioned to Serve
June
Join the Network of Commissioned Colson Fellows
“The Colson Fellows program was a tremendous blessing in my spiritual, personal, and professional development.”
– D. Michael Lindsay, President, Taylor University
“The Colson Fellows program was a tremendous blessing in my spiritual, personal, and professional development.”
– Dr. Michael Lindsay, President, Gordon College
Is the Colson Fellows Program for you?
