Forty-nine leaders from the Chicago International Church of Christ (ICOC) attended a seminar in late August taught by a professor at Harding Graduate School of Religion (HUGSR), Memphis, Tenn.

The seminar is one of several efforts between the two entities exploring possibilities for ICOC members to study at HUGSR.

The event resulted from discussions between Steve Staten, elder of the Chicago ICOC church, and Mark Parker, assistant executive director at HGSR, about the need for ICOC leaders to have deeper theological and ministry training.

“Steve called me last year during the leadership struggles the ICOC was having, seeking ways to strengthen church leadership,” Parker said. “Leadership training is what we are about ... so it was a natural fit.”

The International Churches of Christ and Churches of Christ have been officially separate since 1994. But last February, the groups reopened communication at a public forum at the Abilene Christian University Lectureship.

Richard Oster, professor of New Testament at Harding Graduate School, taught a four-hour class at the Chicago Seminar on “Spiritual Transformation in Ephesians.”

Staten said Oster’s lecture, which was well-received, showed the need to build perceptions of God from the text, before giving imperatives — not the opposite.

“What stuck out for me ... was Dr. Oster’s discussion of the first three chapters of Ephesians, with only one imperative, as setting the stage for the last three chapters, with forty imperatives,” Staten said.

A second part of the graduate school’s effort is the enrollment of ICOC leaders in an online course “Corinthian Letters” this fall. Oster is teaching the course.

“We have designated one section of this course just for ICOC ministers,” Parker (left) said.

“We want to make sure they are challenged to examine the text faithfully, as are all of our students ... (and that) they have a forum for exploring issues specific to their context.”

A third initiative of the graduate school and Chicago ICOC leaders is to provide ministry training through Harding Grad’s distance program, MinistryConnection.

“This is not an attempt to bring the ICOC and mainline churches of Christ back together,” Staten says. “We are in dialogue with mainline congregations, but there is no plan to merge ministry staff. The churches have two different cultures.”