Christian Formation and Service
CS 1700 OL
A pass/fail, non-credit course intended to facilitate the spiritual and ministry formation of online students outside of the classroom. Students are expected to participate in a total of sixteen (16) hours per module. These hours will be divided between participation in spiritual growth experiences and Christian service opportunities. Students will submit an accountability and reflection report of these experiences each module. (0 credit hours)
The mission of Ozark Christian College is to train men and women for Christian service as a degree granting institution of biblical higher education.
Graduates of Ozark Christian College will be grounded in Scripture, growing in Christlikeness, practicing cultural discernment, and vocationally prepared for Christian service.
Ozark has identified learning outcomes for each area of the curriculum – General Education (GE), Biblical Education (BE), and Professional Education (PE). This course will directly address the following college learning outcomes:
General Education Outcomes:
GE 6: Integrate learning and experiences to new settings and complex problems.
Biblical Education Outcomes:
BE 4: Grow in spiritual formation and develop plans for continued growth.
Professional Education Outcomes:
PE2: Demonstrate the ability to engage the culture in which Christian service takes place.
Online students have the unique opportunity to engage and impact their local church and community contexts while studying for ministry. Thus, the purpose of Christian Formation and Service in the online program curriculum is the student’s integration of their classroom learning with their immediate surroundings. Ministry formation involves the development of one’s character, nurturing one’s calling, theological reflection, and development of pastoral skills. This course encourages accountability to do these things outside the classroom environment.
Upon completion of this course, a student should be able to:
Ozark Christian College is committed to information literacy training. This training will be intentional, incremental, and missional. Students will learn to access, evaluate, and utilize pertinent information in their ministry preparation.
If you have a disability and are requesting an accommodation, please contact the Director of Academic Operations at 417-626-1222 as soon as possible.
Ozark Christian College contracted with iParadigms, LLC for Turnitin® services to be used at the instructor’s discretion. The Originality Check service allows students to submit a paper through Canvas to check for improper citation and potential plagiarism before it is submitted to the instructor. The Peer Review service allows students to submit assignments anonymously to peers for editing and feedback. Students agree that by taking this course all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the Usage Policy posted on the Turnitin.com site.
All Ozark Christian College students must use the official e-mail address provided by the college (lastname.firstname@my.occ.edu) to receive communication from the faculty and staff. The OCC student email address may be forwarded to another email service (e.g. yahoo.com or hotmail.com). Email will be the professor’s chosen method of communication with the student in this course, so check your email regularly.
Refunds of tuition and certain fees may be made upon official withdrawal of any student according to the table below. To receive a refund adjustment for any classes dropped (assessed on a case-by-case basis), the student should contact the Assistant Director of Digital Learning at donato.jason@occ.edu. See the website for specific dates.
Week 1: Monday-Sunday | 100% refund |
Week 2: Monday-Sunday | 75% refund |
Week 3: Monday-Sunday | 50% refund |
Week 4: Monday-Sunday | 0% refund |
Online Course Drop Policy
Online courses dropped during the first seven days of the course will not be recorded on the student’s transcript. Any student who wishes to withdraw from a class after the Add/Drop period must notify the Registrar’s Office and formally request to be withdrawn from the class(es). Until this is done, the student is officially enrolled in the class whether or not he/she participates. Likewise, the student is responsible for appropriate charges and coursework until he/she is officially removed from the course.
Online courses withdrawn after the seventh day but before the sixth week of the course will be recorded as a “W” on transcripts. This grade will not be calculated in the student’s GPA but will impact financial aid Satisfactory Academic Progress. After five weeks, students cannot drop or withdraw from online courses and grades will be issued based on course performance. The only exception is for reasons approved by the Academic Dean.
Online Course Attendance
Online courses often demand greater discipline and careful attention to details within a compressed period of time compared to on-campus courses. Students are strongly advised to remain in close contact with their online instructor in the event that they must be absent for a brief period of time. Attendance in online courses will be taken on a weekly basis. Students will be expected to actively participate according to the individual course syllabus.
Participation may include, but not be limited to: submitting written assignments, posting in graded forum discussions, completing exams, and written communication with the instructor directly related to the course. Online students who do not participate in the above ways for seven consecutive days (Monday thru Sunday) will be considered absent. Students are permitted a maximum of one absence.
The following scenarios may negatively impact a student's academic record and financial aid opportunities.
All assignments will be facilitated through our Canvas course site. You may post replies to the discussions forums, as well as take quizzes and exams. For written assignments, save documents in either .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .rtf format (or as otherwise indicated by your instructor) and upload them to the Canvas site.
Assignments are due on Thursday and Sunday by 11:59 pm Central Standard Time. Late work may or may not be accepted, at the discretion of the teacher. Any grade deductions will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. If you have a question about a particular assignment, please contact the teacher well ahead of the deadline.
You may generally expect replies to personal communication (email, Canvas inbox) within 24-48 hours. For written assignments, the professor will endeavor to grade and give feedback within seven days of the due date.
Due to the commitment of training men and women for Christian service and the commitment of educational excellence, academic integrity is our natural expectation. Compelling evidence of academic dishonesty (e.g. cheating or plagiarism) will be reported to the Academic Dean’s office. Penalties could range from failure of an assignment to suspension from college. Students should avoid dishonesty and irresponsibility at all costs.
Plagiarism: Submitting as part or all of one’s own work material that is copied or paraphrased from another source, including online sources, without the proper acknowledgment of the source. Examples include failing to cite a reference, failing to use quotation marks where appropriate, misrepresenting another’s work as your work, or using text written by a generation system as one's own (i.e., entering a prompt into an artificial intelligence tool and using the output in a paper).
Successful participation in this course requires the student to possess or obtain (and know how to use) the following in addition to course books:
Course Policies
Students will be automatically enrolled for Christian Formation and Service at the end of the first week of each module.
All Ozark Christian College students must use the official email address provided by the college(lastname.firstname@my.occ.edu) to receive communication from faculty and staff. Canvas will be the primary method of communication in this course.
Due to the commitment of training men and women for Christian service and the commitment of educational excellence, academic integrity is our natural expectation. Compelling evidence of academic dishonesty (e.g. cheating or misrepresentation of actual experiences) will be reported to the Academic Dean’s office. Penalties could range from failure of the course to suspension from school. Students should avoid dishonesty and irresponsibility at all costs.
Christian Formation and Service receives a pass/fail grade. In order to pass, the student must participate in at least 16 hours of spiritual growth and Christian service opportunities and submit a completedChristian Formation and Service Accountability Report by the due date. Failure to complete a minimum of16 hours will result in failing the course.
Course Assignments and Expectations
This course intends for students to integrate their classroom learning with their life outside of their studies. However, there are a number of activities and habits that students may already be involved in that they can count towards the 16-hour requirement of this course. The following are examples of how students can satisfy the requirements.
Christian Formation includes the areas of worship, community, and self-directed practices. Worship is the weekend worship service at your church, special worship nights, or a similar worship event. Community is your involvement with a small group, or a mentor. Self-directed practices involve spiritual disciplines you do on your own. These can be things like Scripture reading, prayer, fasting, devotional readings, listening to sermons beyond Sunday morning, and podcasts on spiritual topics.
Christian Service involves how you volunteer in your local church, community, and world. Anything you do to help serve in your local church from watching kiddos in the nursery to helping on the worship team can count. You can help with a non-profit, hospice care, Boys & Girls Club, rescue mission, and/or a para-church organization. The global category would be for a missions trip whether that is stateside or overseas. A food packaging event or similar event you do locally but is directly for another country or missions agency would count.
You DO need to be involved in both formation and service. You DO NOT have to participate in activities for all the subcategories under formation and service.
Recording Service Hours
Course Schedule
The Christian Formation and Service Accountability Form is due by the last day of each module (see Canvas for specific dates and times).
Purposes for Christian Service Accountability Reports
The diplomas issued by Ozark Christian College state that the student, “has manifested Christian character and a commitment to Christian service.” In addition, one of our core values is, “Not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45).” The Christian Service component of our department exists to keep this verse on the forefront of our student body because, “We are a servant of the church, training vocational and volunteer servant leaders for the worldwide work of ministry. It is the commitment of teachers, staff and students that we will love and serve others.”
We ask that you share the details of your Christian service to the extent and amount you are comfortable with to give a reflection of what God has taught you. As Christians in and preparing for ministry, service is a must. This form is not to judge those who are not serving, but to hold them accountable. This accountability lets us see students who have not found a place to serve or are simply choosing not to serve. It is our desire to connect with them to encourage them, see why they aren't serving, and personally help connect them with places to get plugged in with the next semester.
As much as our campus resembles the Church, we are still an academic institution and have certain requirements that must be met—one being proof of community service. We realize that this simple form does fully define or tell the story of a student’s servant heart and actions. However, it is something that our institution needs in order to maintain its accreditation. In response, we ask that the student body of OCC submit to this request and humbly complete a form.
Most church and ministry leaders require reporting of activities. While service is not to glorify man, but our Father, it was never meant to be solely private (Matt 5:13-16). This type of accountability and guidance helps leaders in the church stay focused on the Kingdom tasks at hand. So it is with our reports. We never want to give our wonderful students the impression that we are "big brother" watching over their service hours. Instead, we are using this system to help guide and rejoice in the good work that is being done. It is our prayer that a reflection form does not hinder the hearts and attitudes of our
students and their service.
Benefits of Christian Service
We may never know the great Kingdom impact that comes through our loving service. How awesome and humbling is it that God uses our simple acts of volunteerism to draw people in closer to His Son, Jesus.
The act of serving, even without words, is a witness for Christ. Service can also be used as a gateway to conversations and building relationships.
Our volunteerism helps meet the heavy demands of our area churches and ministry organizations that do so much to bless others in our community.
Serving others is humbling and stretches us to imitate our Lord’s selflessness. “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.” – Mark Scott
OCC is training men and women for Christian service. Our immediate commitment to serving others helps shape our ministry future of service. You may discover joys and passions for certain types of ministry service that did not exist before.
Total Score | Course Grade | Value |
100-95 points | A | 4.0 |
94-90 points | A- | 3.67 |
89-87 points | B+ | 3.33 |
86-83 points | B | 3.00 |
82-80 points | B- | 2.67 |
79-77 points | C+ | 2.33 |
76-73 points | C | 2.00 |
72-70 points | C- | 1.67 |
69-67 points | D+ | 1.33 |
66-63 points | D | 1.00 |
62-60 points | D- | 0.67 |
59-0 points | F | 0.00 |
For further information on grading policies, refer to the college catalog. | ||
[Christian Formation and Service, CS 1700] Rev. 8/17/23