Field Education Program
The Field Education Program provides an approved seminary curriculum, Ordained Pastoral supervision and an encouraging congregation to an individual open to learn all that this unique part of the world can teach.
In the field individuals learn what it means to be a minister by doing ministry under the leadership of a trained and certified teacher using prescribed methods and disciplines of writing and reflection. Field education differs from fieldwork or field service. Individuals learn by examining how they accomplished a task, why they did what they did, and how they may do it better another time. We place individuals in mission churches because there they will acquire and test the skills and attitudes they need to become competent and successful ministers. Experience is to ministry what practice teaching is to education and an internship is to medicine.
Most individuals do an internship because they are convinced that they need to learn more about practical ministry in a laboratory for learning. Some seek further clarity about their call to ministry. They need regular opportunities to lead and assist with worship, to preach on a weekly/monthly basis, to provide pastoral care, to teach, to explore the congregations organization and polity by attending committee meetings and governing bodies, and to discover how the congregation relates to its community. They need the satisfaction of a project completed under their direction.
At the end of the internship the individual should have learned:
- What leadership requires
- How God=s call to ministry plays out in the world
- How to apply classroom theology to a practical context
- How to relate to different people as a professional
- How he or she comes across to others
- What kind of energy ministry requires
- How context shapes ministry
- What a pastor/preacher/minister does
- How a particular church or agency works
For more information please see the Come and See Missions Field Education Program Individual Application Manual and financial costs associated to serving.
