Biographical Information:
Mark Lau Branson is the Homer L. Goddard Associate Professor of the Ministry of the Laity and has taught at Fuller since 2000. He teaches courses in congregational leadership and community engagement.
Branson was ordained at San Francisco Christian Center, an African-American Pentecostal church, and has served on the pastoral teams in United Methodist and Presbyterian churches. He has worked with several agencies active in education, community development, and community organizing, and continues to serve as a consultant and speaker. His most recent books are
Churches, Cultures and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities (InterVarsity, 2011; coauthored with Juan Martínez) and
Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry and Congregational Change (Alban, 2004). Branson has also contributed chapters to books that include “Gratitude as Access to Meaning" to
The Three Tasks of Leadership (2009), “Ecclesiology and Leadership for the Missional Church” to
The Missional Church in Context: Helping Congregations Develop Contextual Ministry (2007), and “Forming God’s People” to
Leadership in Congregations (2007). His article “Interpretive Leadership During Social Dislocation: Jeremiah and Social Imaginary” was published in the
Journal of Religious Leadership (Spring, 2009).
Branson is president of the
Institute for Urban Initiatives and vice-chair of
One Community, a Pasadena-based grassroots think tank. He is on the board of the
Ekklesia Project and a consultant with
The Missional Network. Branson and his family are active at First Presbyterian Church in Altadena, California.
Courses Taught:
PM514 Missional Churches and Leadership
CF526 The Congregation as a Learning Community
CF531 Christian Education and Ethnic Diversity
GM506 Foundations for Ministry
MC800 Tutorial in Church Growth
ML800 Tutorial in Leadership
PM856 Practical Theology Methods
SP517 Spirituality and Everyday Life
TC501 American Culture: Social Location and the Gospel
TM507 Ethnicities and Churches: U.S. Narratives and Intercultural Life
TM521 Congregations in the World: Neighbors, Workplace, and Society
DMin Missional Leadership Cohort (with Alan Roxburgh)