Lilias Trotter Global
Two online course offerings for Fall 2025!
August 18 – December 5, 2025
[Fall break Oct. 6-10 & Thanksgiving break Nov. 24-28]
CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION
MS610 - Muslim Spirituality in Everyday Life
Class meets online Mondays
8:00 - 11:00am Eastern Time (New York)​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Click on the image above to watch the course introduction video!
When Muslims explain their faith, they present the sacred duties and favorable facts that are part of their religious tradition. This religious duty and tradition is the Islam of textbooks, web pages, and news outlets. However, there is another side of Islam found in mystical and often hidden expressions of spirituality. These aspects, known as Sufism and Folk Islam, are crucial for our understanding. Our course will elucidate both, along with the reasons why these theological streams are so important in Islam and how they influence Muslim lives.
While Classical Islam is the most public and visible demonstration of faith in the Muslim world, outside of the mosque, Sufi and Folk practices are commonly accepted. This course examines the internal struggle Islam has between the orthodox and unorthodox practice of spiritual beliefs in daily life – when what imams denounce during Friday sermons is pervasive among the faithful.
ABOUT THE INTSRUCTORS:
Rev. Dr. Dejan Aždajić is currently a lecturer in the department of Practical Theology at Giessen School of Theology in Germany. His doctoral research was a long-term ethnographic study of various Sufi communities in the Balkans.
Dejan grew up in Bosnia and Herzegovina and went to the USA to study and eventually settled there. After serving in pastoral ministry in the US for several years, he and his wife moved to Bosnia where he served in a church planting ministry before completing his PhD at the OCMC and becoming a seminary professor in Germany.
Rev. Dr. Benjamin Lee Hegeman ("Papa Ben") is a life-long, kingdom-focused missiological researcher, curriculum-writer, teacher, and consultant with long-term experience in language learning, in cross-cultural missional ministry (Canada, Benin, Niger), and in pastoral care (Canada, Benin, Niger and the US). Together with his wife Christine, they are career missionaries with over 35 years of overseas experience working with Christians, traditional worshippers, and Muslims. His primary foci are in writing, teaching, curriculum development, disciple-making, and missionary vision-casting. He is able to teach in Dutch, English, French and Baatonu, with an intermediate reading ability in High German and medieval Dutch.
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Dr. Phillips has worked among Muslims in East and North Africa for more than 30 years. She has extensive exposure to women who are poor, isolated, and often limited in literacy skills – women who look to folk Islam for guidance, blessing, and power. Her doctoral research was a study in how to teach and reach these women who live with many physical and spiritual needs.
Combining her background in Public Health from UNC Chapel Hill and an MA in general theological studies from CIU, Dr. Phillips completed her PhD in Intercultural Education at Biola University in 2020. She joined The Lilias Trotter Center team in 2021 and works as a field ministry advisor for the North Africa region.
MS 615 - Engaging Muslim Women:
Fruitful practices for overcoming religious, cultural, economic
​and educational disparities
Class meets online Thursdays
8:00 - 11:00am Eastern Time (New York)
Click on the image above to watch the course introduction video!
Muslim women are among the least-reached people in the world. This course considers the unique needs and the formidable challenges that often make it difficult for them to learn about Jesus and be welcomed into his body. In addition to examining the religious and cultural challenges these women face, we will explore the many educational, social, and economic disparities that increase their isolation and vulnerability. We will consider their felt needs and explore together creative ways to access these women who are so loved by God. We will hear from several field practitioners and learn from their wisdom and experience as well as each other.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
This course is facilitated by Dr. Phillips, who has worked among Muslims in East and North Africa for more than 30 years, focused mostly on poor and isolated women with limited literacy. God has given her a special passion for women in villages and rural areas using community development work, public health skills, and oral approaches to reach and teach women. Her heart is to engage those who are the least-reached and have little access to personal resources and/or the gospel message.
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REGISTRATION INFORMATION
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All LTC courses are offered in partnership with Wesley Biblical Seminary
for a significant discount of $1000 for three graduate credits.
You can audit a course for just $300.
Students from the Majority World can audit each course for just $100.
(Requirements for auditors are determined by the course instructor.)
Questions? Email us!
***IMPORTANT NOTE***
To audit a course, start by choosing the “audit” button in the registration process. Choose which course you'd like to take from the drop-down menu and follow the rest of the prompts to fill in your personal details. You will be contacted by WBS and given further instructions after that.
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To take a course for seminary credit, click on the "Graduate Certificate" option, then choose "Ministry to Muslims" as the intended degree and fill out the rest of the prompts.
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If you do not have a US-based phone number and are unable to proceed with registration without one, please email us at the address above.
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You will be contacted by an admissions counselor with WBS shortly after you submit your details. Be sure to let them know you are applying as an LTC student and indicate which course(s) you're interested in.
To begin the registration process, CLICK HERE
We offer our courses in partnership with
Wesley Biblical Seminary
for a Graduate Certificate in Ministry to Muslims
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This 24-credit certificate program will give you a solid foundation in understanding the history and development of both Christianity and Islam. You will investigate deeply the core of Christian and Muslim worldviews. You will gain practical skills in evangelism, discipleship and church planting in Muslim contexts. Click here to find out more!
Courses in this certificate program include:
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1. Islamic Foundations: A Christian Investigation of Muhammad and the Qur'an
Provides in-depth study of the Qur’an and the biography of Muhammad.
2. History of Islam
Surveys the development of Islam from 632 AD to present.
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3. Christian Engagement with Muslims
Investigates historical and contemporary Christian approaches to Muslims.
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4. Discipling and Planting Churches among Muslims
Studies principles for fruitful discipling and church planting among Muslims.
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5. The Gospels
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Develops an effective and comprehensive method of studying Scripture for life and ministry.
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6. Philosophy of Christian Religion
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Explores the philosophical presuppositions undergirding Christian theology.
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7. History of Christian Thought
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Traces the history of Christianity and the development of Christian doctrine.
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8. Discipleship and Spiritual Formation
Examines the means of grace necessary for a dynamic Christian life and methods for discipleship in the local church.​
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NOTE: All credits earned in the Certificate can be applied towards a
Master of Arts or Master of Divinity degree at WBS.
“The world in which we live today is confronted with catastrophic changes unparalleled in human history and the Church is going to be tasked with discovering how to live side by side, step by step in harmony and yet with distinction, beside or alongside, a very aggressive and uniquely monotheistic faith. For these reasons and more I envision The Lilias Trotter Center helping the Church … as we seek to share Him with those who do not yet know and love Him.”
- David E. Dick,
VP at Large (and former International Director), One Mission Society