Free Course in Radical Hospitality & Trauma Informed Ministry (non-credit)
City Vision University is providing a free non-credit course in Radical Hospitality & Trauma Informed Ministry. This course is designed for ministries to use in their internal staff training.
This free non-credit course by City Vision University is designed to equip frontline workers to compassionately and effectively serve marginalized individuals from high-trauma backgrounds, such as those experiencing homelessness, addiction, or incarceration. The curriculum uniquely integrates three complementary disciplines:
Radical Hospitality (ministry) incorporates the deeply rooted Christian theology of radical hospitality that recognizes the inherent dignity (Imago Dei) in every person.
Trauma Informed (counseling) explains the importance of establishing psychological safety and de-escalation techniques from the clinical counseling perspective of trauma-informed care
Customer Service (business) provides customer service training and establishing a service culture
Through its modules, the course teaches that true life transformation relies on relational service rather than transactional charity, focusing on practical skills like the “ministry of the first encounter,” empathetic listening, and behavioral adaptability when dealing with difficult or escalated clients. Finally, the course addresses the intense emotional toll of this work, providing practical and spiritual strategies to manage emotional labor, prevent burnout, and discern a sustainable, long-term calling in high-trauma ministries.
The intention is that this could serve as an outline for an eight-session training course for staff at your ministry as follows:
Staff would read through the assigned readings in Miss Brenda and the Loveladies and optionally in Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way of Love before each session.
You could watch the free videos at the beginning of the session.
You could then have a discussion about how the materials apply in your context starting with the discussion questions provided, but feel free to add your own.
Why Did We Create This Course?
One of the aspects that makes rescue missions unique is their approach to providing radical hospitality to the destitute. The basis for this comes from Jesus’s parable of the Sheep and the Goats where he said, “Whatever you do for the least of these, you have done for me.” (Matt. 25:40) This comes from the theology of the Imago Dei: the Christian belief that everyone is created in the Image of God (Gen. 1:27).
Another unique aspect of rescue missions is the strong emphasis on the value of lived experience. Because of this, many missions often hire program graduates (Wounded Healers) to serve as front-line staff. One of the key challenges for missions is to effectively train these Wounded Healers in the principles of radical hospitality.
To address this need, City Vision designed a course MIN205: Customer Service, Radical Hospitality & Trauma Informed Ministry. For most program graduates and many staff making less than $50k without a Bachelor’s degree, this course is likely to be paid for by Pell Grants. If your staff qualify for that, we encourage you to have them sign up for the full course as that will give them the best experience.
Having said that, if your staff do not qualify for Pell Grants, or if you would like to provide this training to a whole cohort of staff internally, we have provided major portions of the course materials as a free course.
While this course could be run without any books, we recommend that you consider having students read through Miss Brenda and the Loveladies. We use this book in the course because we have found that many students learn best through the power of storytelling, and this book is an amazing story of a transformational ministry utilizing radical hospitality and trauma-informed ministry that aligns with rescue mission values. Optionally, we also recommend you consider having them also read Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way of Love. To assist you in that effort, we have provided recommended reading and discussion questions to help you run the group.
For an overview of the concepts in the course, we recommend listening to the podcast below.
You can find the course here: Radical Hospitality & Trauma Informed Ministry.