Beeson Corner: Asbury Seminary Revamps Mentored Ministry Program
“For the times they are a-changin’.” These words from singer-songwriter Bob Dylan were true in 1963 and even more true now. Our world is rapidly changing, and so often, our ability as ministers to respond to the needs of people in a contextually appropriate way lags behind. We live in a postmodern, post-Christian, post-pretty-much-everything world. As such, the methods and programs that were so effective have lost their edge. Church leaders are having to completely re-think much of what they’re doing, while still seeking to hold true to the Orthodox faith.
With this in mind, in the fall of 2019, then provost Dr. Doug Matthews formed a committee to examine Mentored Ministry, the field education program at Asbury. The desire of the committee was to ensure it was continuing to resource students by giving them opportunity to engage in praxis as they applied their course learning, and helping them learn how to focus on their own formation while doing ministry. At the same time, the Association of Theological Schools, one of the two accrediting bodies for the Seminary, was revising the standards member schools had to follow, including those related to field education. Lastly, the Evangelical Association of Field Educators was also revising their “best practices” related to field education.
As a result, Asbury Theological Seminary piloted a new Mentored Ministry program during the 2020-2021 academic year. The full program will be released in the Fall of 2021. Let me offer just a few highlights:
One of the key components of our new Mentored Ministry program is the recognition that our students need to be well formed before they can form others. This means that the initial course will focus primarily on helping our students understand how they best connect with God, how their personality impacts this, and the primacy of focusing on one’s own formation (spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional/relational and vocational) as the foundation for helping them do ministry with others well.
Over the years, the percentage of students coming to Asbury primarily to pursue the M.Div. for pastoral ministry has dropped. We now have many more students who are coming in for Masters degrees that prepare them for many different forms of ministry, often outside the local church. As such, our second Mentored Ministry course will now have multiple tracks. Of course, there will continue to be a significant church ministry track for those pursuing pastoral ministry, as this still represents over 50% of our student body. However, there will be new tracks added, designed for those who are pursuing other forms of ministry.
One of those tracks will focus on preparing students for ministry in non-profit contexts. Our Master of Arts in Leadership degree is designed to prepare missional leaders for various roles in the church, parachurch, marketplace, NGOs, non-profits, and etc. Our Master of Arts in Ministry degree is created for leading people of all ages and contexts in faith-forming ministry. As such, topics will focus on the key areas of ministry praxis central to engaging the world in these venues.
Another track will focus on missional/social justice issues, as we have a growing number of students desiring to engage in these issues as their vocational pursuit. Whether it is working to eliminate human trafficking, seeking racial reconciliation, ministering to the LGBTQ population, or other forms of social justice, our students will be prepared to handle the various issues they might face.
We will also continue to focus specifically on cross-cultural ministry, recognizing that the world is literally in our neighborhoods and we need to be prepared to bring Christ into the various cultures surrounding us. All of these tracks will continue to focus on helping students learn how to think theologically about ministry, especially as they continue to engage in the creation and exploration of ministry case studies from their own context.
Many of our alumni are heavily invested in Mentored Ministry by serving as mentors to our students. For this, we thank you. We believe that this relationship will be a continued area of purposive growth for our students as they benefit from your wisdom and experience.
Our desire as a faculty is to prepare students to minister in an ever-changing world, and we believe this pattern of classes will most benefit students in that preparation. We covet your prayers as we live fully into this revised model.
Looks pretty good. Where does creation care / environmental justice etc. fit into this? It’s not mentioned specifically, and yet all pastors and leaders will increasingly be forced to confront these issues.