College of Arts and Sciences
Education
D.O.T. in Worship Studies and Liturgical Catechesis - Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies, FL
M.Div. in Systematic Theology - Nazarene Theological Seminary, MO
B.A. in Religion - Eastern Nazarene College, MA
About Christian Diffenderfer
Dr. Christian Diffenderfer began his academic career at Eastern Nazarene College. His education was followed by seminary at Nazarene Theological Seminary in the late 1980s, which resulted in a growing desire to teach and write theology. As a teaching assistant in Systematic Theology, Dr. Diffenderfer was able to structure his program to include additional focuses in Church History and Philosophy and to test his passion for teaching. The arrival of his first child and the need to provide for his family led to the development of a career out of one of his hobbies, graphic design, and he spent nearly 15 years as a Creative Director in traditional and new media.
Christian continued his theological studies, though, and he had long sensed a continued calling and desire to teach. That call coalesced in 2003 when he sold the design firm he had launched, became an Associate Pastor in a Church of the Nazarene in Maryland, and began his doctoral program at the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies. His doctorate in Worship Studies, completed in 2008, includes a concentration on sacramental initiation and formation in the early church (the catechumenate), a focus that grew out of his pastoral efforts to reshape the formation and discipleship programs in his church community.
Later, he moved with his family to Colorado where he served in an Anglican church before pastoring a house church. Following the completion of his doctorate, he was able to mesh his pastoral ministry with teaching at Grand Canyon University. He is also working on a book project on sacramental formation that he hopes to complete this year.
Dr. Diffenderfer is married to his wife of 23 years, Sharon, who also teaches at GCU. They have three boys, 20, 18, and 15, and reside in the Colorado Springs area.
How has facilitating online courses at GCU helped you find your purpose?
Helping people know and realize the kind of transformative faith that shapes all of who they are and do according to Christ has long been a fundamental focus of my ministry. GCU affords the unique opportunity to work with both the academic dimension of faith and the formative process of preparing students to own and exercise that faith in life and career, whether that is expressed specifically in Christian ministry or in any other context. Because I teach Christian Studies, I am able to challenge students both to deepen and broaden their understanding of Christ's redemptive purpose and to ask tough questions of themselves that will test and refine their sense of purpose within His.
What is one effective teaching strategy you use in your online classes?
I am sure I vex my students at times, but I always try to challenge them to take that extra step in thinking critically that might bend or stretch ways they have become comfortable with thinking about any particular subject. No matter what their initial response, I will press them as much as I can either to deepen or broaden their perspective, to challenge their assumptions, or to draw out the implications of an idea that may at first seem very obscure. Whether in discussion, comments in assignments, or in phone or email conversations, I tend to be a little tenacious in pushing students to go further.
What is a GCU online student success story you can share?
I have many students express that they have arrived at those precious moments of discovery that every teacher craves, but one in particular caused me to dance around my office. I could tell from the beginning of the Christian Worldview class that a particular student was thoughtful and yet somewhat unsettled in what she believed. I challenged her to work toward consistency in her ideas and pressed her to challenge her own assumptions. By the end of class, I saw a radical change in the quality and consistency of her interaction with the material and its application in her own life. She admitted that she had long been disillusioned with her faith and had been wondering just what she really believed. I was and remain thrilled at both her academic growth and the way it changed her life.
