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Lance R. Barker
and
B. Edmon Martin
I
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BACKGROUND............................................................................................................................................................3
APPENDICES ..............................................................................................................................................................84
INITIAL MAIL QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................................................................ 84
SURVEY TELEPHONE QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................................................... 86
PROGRAM DIRECTORS............................................................................................................................................... 86
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SURVEY TELEPHONE QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................................................... 88
FACULTY/TEACHERS ................................................................................................................................................. 88
SURVEY TELEPHONE QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................................................... 90
STUDENTS.................................................................................................................................................................... 90
PROGRAM SITE VISIT PROTOCOL............................................................................................................................. 92
PREPARATORY REQUESTS FOR CONGREGATIONAL VISITS.................................................................................. 93
SITE VISIT PROTOCOL................................................................................................................................................ 94
A QUESTIONNAIRE ..................................................................................................................................................... 95
CODING CATEGORIES ................................................................................................................................................ 99
INDEX OF PROGRAMS...............................................................................................................................................103
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................................121
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ALTERNATIVES IN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION:
AN EXAMINATION OF THE CHARACTERISTICS AND OUTCOMES OF
DENOMINATIONAL JUDICATORY STUDY PROGRAMS WHICH PREPARE
PERSONS FOR COMMISSIONED, LICENSED, ORDAINED OR OTHERWISE
AUTHORIZED MINISTRIES:
Lance R. Barker
and
B. Edmon Martin
United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities
New Brighton, Minnesota
December 31, 1999
The Project
models of education for ministry, other than the professional degree programs of
theological schools, that currently prepare persons for various forms of commissioned,
core of the research were in the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ, the United
Church of Canada, and the United Methodist Church. Ho wever, a wider range of
programs exists in several denominations and in the contexts of various institutes and
study centers. Our research focus centers on the above denominations because of 1)
their shared histories in developing theological schools and of including the M.Div. (or
B.D.) degree in authorizing process to certify persons for ordination and 2) their
1
The goals of the study were 1) to catalogue a significant number of those
programs; 2) to seek through a variety of research means information about them from
their leaders and constituencies; 3) to develop profiles of how some of the programs
function; 4) to assess outcomes; and 5) to consult with key parties involved in various
The primary goals of this study emphasize cataloguing and description. At the
suggests that some attention be given to evaluative comments. This will be done in the
context of comments about the implications of such programs not only for the
denominations for but wider theological education. These programs have had a certain
endurance over the years. Currently we see a resurgence of interest in their role(s) not
only for staffing church ministries but also in being a significant part of the fabric of
formal theological education. Thus, any examination of these programs has significance
beyond a carefully orchestrated description. Our assessment is that the existence and
activities of these programs will continue to be a resource for people who see themselves
called into ministry often out of life experiences that do not lend themselves to M.Div.
complementary forms of leadership are to be provided for a variety of settings where full
congregations developed by new ethnic communities. We speak here of people with calls
to ministry for whom plural models for ministry preparation are sought. Denominations
2
already are in the process of expanding the range of innovative options that authenticate
Background
(whether university related or free standing) has become the primary location for
became more institutionalized and organizationally structured during the late nineteenth
and the early twentieth centuries, denominational actions tended to shape standards for
standards were linked to concerns for a learned ministry and, by extension, to the
placed the theological school in an even more strategic place for ministerial preparation.
3
itself assured the role of the theological school and the M.Div. (or B.D.) as the primary
options for theological education has continued to prepare ecclesial leadership. These
programs, and special focus institutes. Some are of recent innovation, while others were
educational options for ministry preparation long before the modern seminary and
particular professional academic degrees. One education model with a long history in
denominational study program primarily initiated, designed, and carried out within the
provide curricular resources that allow one to complete courses of study that lead, if
allow for alternative processes that allow persons to be authorized for certain pastoral
ministries. For example the Presbyterian Church (USA) has clarified the role of
commissioned lay pastors and the educational requirements that allow for such
ministerial models. Such is the case with the mutual ministry programs initiated within
certain dioceses of the Episcopal Church. Third, denominations with a substantial history
4
of lay pastors have sought new ways to legitimate educational processes preparatory to
the United Church of Christ: Issues and Possibilities”, prepared by the Office for Church
Life and Leadership speaks to this third category: “Experience suggests that the United
Church of Christ has been blessed by the presence of licensed ministers who have
ministry while keeping current and growing by engaging in continuing education.” The
document suggests an expanded role for the Office for Church Life and Leadership as the
persons for some form of legitimated ministries evokes discussions about their future and
role not only in the context of theological education but within the church systems that
legitimate or authorize ministry. Not much is known, however, about the whole picture of
these programs. Work by Judith Hjorth identified fifteen programs in the United Church
1997) developed a fairly extensive picture of the Commissioned Lay Pastor (n=532) in
that denomination. However, the whole picture remains vague in terms of how widely
those programs are distributed among denominations, how the programs are structured,
who the constituents are, and how the programs might fit into denominational strategies
This report, then, attempts to examine the emergence of these programs in a wider
context than is allowed in looking at any one program or one denomination’s program or
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set of programs. In the following section, we outline the opportunities and constraints
The methodology for the research was informed by a general question: What is
going on here? The research design was an exploratory model that would employ
qualitative methodologies. The model has some congruence with a recent qualitative
Wheeler, Daniel O. Aleshire, and Penny Long Marler. That volume featured observer
participants engaging the life of two seminaries, one rela ted to an evangelical and the
other to a mainline tradition. The methodological problem for that study was to gain
The research project informing this report faced certain contextual constraints that
limited a type of focused study of any one or several educational institutions. Because
denominational judicatory-based programs are for the most part “schools without walls,”
they vary greatly in their approaches to centralized management and record keeping
and, in other cases, at educational institutions, such as a host seminary for the United
Methodist Course of study. For research purposes, this generally meant that for most
programs there were no centrally housed campuses; student bodies were dispersed;
histories of programs were difficult to access; and faculties, with limited exceptions, were
resident and physically accessible only for particular limited periods of time. The
methodological challenge for this project, then, was to develop a qualitative approach,
6
broad in scope but capable of producing integrated perspectives, that would describe the
character of the programs and their outcomes while addressing the meaning of their
presence within the whole theological landscape. While limited qualitative data could be
secured, most data was accessible through narratives. These narratives are retrieved
program sites; and through visits to locations, mainly congregations, where persons
Building was chosen as the vehicle for categorizing and sorting narrative materials
solicited around a series of research interests and questions. The researchers sought the
consultation services of Research Talk located in New York City for training in the use of
the software and for assistance in organizing the data input and retrieval tasks. An initial
review of narrative materials gathered in the research produced a set of categories for
coding the information. Documents were then coded and sorted into the categories from
which conclusions were drawn. Research questions, interview protocols, and categories
Reporting the data required attending to several problems. The major problems in
reporting qualitative data include how one weights information, how distributions of that
information are charted, and how a general theory of interpretation is applied. In the
following sections, which summarize the research findings, the general principle for
7
informants. As well, the richness of anecdotal narrative complements the general
principle.
The research procedure entailed six stages. The first stage aimed to identify as
many of these programs as possible and to solicit basic information about them. A
Christ conference, and Episcopal diocese. These denominations were chosen because
they typically require the M. Div. for ordination and, consequently, stand to experience
the greatest impact from a resurgence of locally based programs. In addition, survey
peoples. The questionnaire asked for self-definitions of the programs and key information
about governance, program design, current students, graduates, and general history.
initially gained in the mail survey and to provide criteria for selecting programs to be
studied in more detail. A total of fifty-two persons were interviewed from a pool of
boards selected from thirteen representative programs. From information secured in these
interviews, seven program sites were selected as the locations for further in depth study.
8
The remaining six sites would later be consulted through the use of a survey
questionnaire to students, noted in the fifth research stage. We wanted to keep available
a larger number of persons and sites to consult in order to enrich our data. The seven
program sites were selected on the basis of five criteria: 1) length of existence (at least
five years); 2) number of graduates or students having completed most of their program
persons large enough to be included in a later mail survey); 3) denomination (at least one
(two in the Midwest and two outside that region). A fifth focus was given to two ethnic or
minority education projects. The first is a site sponsored by the United Church of Canada
and prepares aboriginal peoples for ministry. The second is a program of the Southern
Conference of the United Church of Christ that primarily serves African American
Stage three involved three-day visits to each of the program sites to attend an
educational event. These visits allowed for the researchers to encounter program
pedagogical styles and content and to converse with students, faculty, and other key
people. In all, seven programs were visited. Each program is described later in this
report.
the denominationally based theological education programs were serving. The intent of
this stage was less a formal congregational study and more an effort to assess the ways
the ATE program and the pastoral leadership produced are perceived. Nonetheless, this
stage necessarily included gaining perspective on a particular church’s ministry, the role
9
of its pastoral leader, and the congregation’s presence within its wider social, cultural,
and geographic milieu. We were unable to do the more extensive congregational visits at
three sites due to geographic and scheduling constraints. The congregational visits are
study completed in the seven sites as well as to the other six locations interviewed by
telephone in stage one. The questionnaire distribution occurred as follows: each site but
one was sent fifteen questionnaires for mailing. In the one case, the researchers mailed
the questionnaires to fifteen potential respondents. (The site contact person was not
available to do the mailing.) Our assumption was that program graduates or participants
would most likely respond to materials requested by program directors. Because most of
the returns were anonymous, opportunities for follow-up requests for completed
questionnaires were limited. As anticipated, the one set of questionnaires mailed directly
by the researchers had the lowest response. The questionnaire did not seek to replicate
the earlier mentioned Presbyterian Survey, but that survey did provide some
This survey, more extensive in content than the mail survey of stage one, solicited
satisfaction with program, authorization outcome, placement and service, relation to other
Stage six featured public discussion of the project’s initial findings. Two major
consultations of approximately two days in length were held. The participants were
10
program directors, faculty or teachers, student or graduates, denominational officials, and
interested parties from theological schools. The goals of these consultations were not
only to present findings but to gain clarity on what was being reported and interpreted.
The researchers, as well, presented a paper on the research findings at the November,
1999, meeting of the Religious Research Association. This final stage reports to the Lilly
Endowment and to larger audiences the findings of our research. This document is the
A project advisory committee was selected to give periodic advice on the focus
seminary personnel, and representatives from denominations. The committee met once
near the beginning of the project and at the end of the second major consultation. This
committee was an invaluable resource both in shaping the research questions and process
and in complementing the discussion of the consultations. We regret that due to some
family matters and work requirements, some members of the committee were unable to
11
PROGRAM SITES
Seven program events were visited for a three-day period. This report does not
base its findings alone on those seven site visits and the later visits to congregations
served by persons whose ministry was authorized, in part, because of their participation
in a particular program. Indeed, the later commentary of this report draws from the broad
range of narrative materials generated throughout the six stages of the research. It is
important to note the characteristics of the seven sites given most scrutiny. The telling of
their “stories” depicts the central themes that allow readers of this report to grasp the
12
inability to develop practical size clusters that would work, and the financial viability of
(ordained lay leaders in the Presbyterian polity) preaching and providing other services.
This led to some problems of individuals becoming de facto pastors in congregations and
choosing to function, effectively, out side the bounds of Presbyterian polity and doctrine.
Difficulties also emerged for congregations and the Presbytery through non-Presbyterian
pastors, often untrained and unfamiliar with Presbyterian order, providing pastoral and
theological leadership. And 3) in 1985 a new presbytery executive arrived who sensed the
need to provide more training and a more formalized education process to enhance the
roles and practices for elders as lay leaders in the presbytery. In 1991 the presbytery
brought on board an associate executive whose portfolio would include support and
Within the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Commissioned Lay Pastor (CLP) is
authorized and defined in accord with the Book of Order. While denominational
guidelines prescribe the roles, duties, and education for the CLP, individual presbyteries
adapt the denominational rules with a certain flexibility. Indeed, in 1996 the
program designs and authorization structures, yet each program represents a certain
The Book of Order notes that the CLP is to receive training in the areas of Bible,
pastoral care, and teaching. In the case of Holston Presbytery, the original CLP
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(originally termed Commissioned Lay Preacher) program originated in the mid
the denomination clarified the role of CLP’s, the presbytery added courses to
courses of six to eight weeks in length meeting weekly for two to three hour periods.
Another level includes two years experience in filling pulpits in the Presbytery. The final
level requires attending continuing education events that include Presbytery sponsored
retreats; a series of courses dealing with such topics as pre-baptismal and pre-marriage
counseling, Christian education, evangelism, session moderating skills, and the like; and
less than 10 contact hours is required for yearly recertification as a CLP. CLP’s are urged
to attend, however, an event developed by the presbytery. Faculty for the program is
drawn from area colleges and from the roster of clergy in the presbytery. The regional
Presbyterian seminaries have not been a major source of faculty support. At the present
time Holston Presbytery has 25 Commissioned Lay Pastors. A majority of these serve as
either Sunday preachers or temporary supplies. What seems to be the case is that the
program not only provides qualified pulpit services but is also creating a body of
theologically trained leaders for the presbytery. Currently, Holston Presbytery has 11
Commissioned Lay Pastors who serve locations with some regularity and another 15 who
14
Administration of the CLP program is under the guidance of the Commissioned
candidates for the Presbyterian ministry would apply through their session to the
application to the program is through the session but directed to the Commissioned Lay
admits persons to the program of study, examines them, and, finally, recommends action
General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. COS is the oldest form of formal
correspondence and mentored study program that prepared candidates for the orders of
structured and institutionally based program. Currently there are about 2,500 students in
course of study programs. In July 1999, Perkins had about 200 students enrolled. All
Course of Study is carried out through seven of the seminaries of the United
Methodist Church. In addition, there are ten extension centers that are related to
particular seminaries. Each course of study operates with a curriculum prescribed by the
Board of Higher Education and Ministry. The current COS represents a particular
ministerial strategy of the United Methodist Church. Persons eligible for COS are
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individuals already licensed to be local pastors and who have attended local pastors
school. This means that for COS the deno minational judicatory does all admissions
screening. A college degree is required for COS enrollment. Exceptions are allowed for
persons who were prevented for sundry reasons from completing college studies but who
have at least sixty hours of bachelor degree credits. In many ways this is not unlike the
screening process for UMC ministry candidates entering the Perkins M.Div. program.
The basic curriculum includes 20 courses of 20 contact hours each to be taken over a
five-year period. Completion of this work qualifies one for a continuing position as a
local pastor. In addition there are options to participate in a later advanced course of
study that leads to full conference membership and ordination to elder’s orders.
Each seminary hosting COS allows for additional M.Div. coursework, when
combined with COS study, to be counted toward the M.Div. degree. The Board of Higher
Education prescribes a uniform set of contents, contact hours, and expected educational
outcomes for each course. However, each Course of Study site designs a program model
The Board of Higher Education has a specific strategy that all Course of Study
programs be carried out through a seminary. For the purposes of this project, one Course
of Study, that at Perkins School of Theology, provides an illustration of this model which
program is a four week on-campus program at Southern Methodist University. This is the
only four week program among the several COS locations. Students take four courses,
each preceded by extensive reading and preparation of papers assigned a year in advance.
Students work on the assignments during the year and send their written work in advance
16
to the teacher who evaluates it prior to their arrival at the campus. This allows for the
professor to gear on-campus work to assessed needs of students. The Perkins program is
Since 1972, the course of study at Perkins has particularly sensitive to ethnic theological
been the major resource to prepare pastors for
the Oklahoma Missionary Conference (a
conference comprised mainly of Native education. Along with two other schools,
Americans).
Bert Affleck Perkins has developed a Spanish language
faculty to serve a growing Hispanic constituency. As well, the Perkins program has
The Perkins COS selects and develops its own faculty. Indeed guidelines
established by the UMC Board of Higher Education suggest that instructors should
include active pastors within a conference rather than relying totally on teachers from
colleges and seminaries. Those faculty members include pastors (some with advanced
degrees), a number of individuals from area colleges, and a few Perkins faculty.
Center was founded in the mid 1980’s in response to the educational needs of aboriginal
peoples. Prior to the founding of the Center, which was named after a beloved and
visionary educator, most aboriginal people seeking ordination in the United Church of
Canada attended the Cook School or College in Arizona. However, there was some
criticism of this approach to education. Some commentators noted that when aboriginal
students left the program of study out of their home contexts they seemed to be different
people, less able to relate to their own communities. Some students did not return to their
own communities. The Dr. Jesse Saulteaux Center (DJSRC) was established to provide
17
an alternative model of education for ministry, one that would allow for specialized study
but, at the same time, affirm the place of students as continuing members of their home
“There is aboriginal self-government within the United the United Church of Canada. In
Church of Canada. One of the first needs that we
identified was the need for theological education. The
primary focus of the Dr. Jessie Saulteaux Resource several ways, DJSRC is
Center is preparing persons for ministry. A second
mandate is cross-cultural education.”
representative of other contextually
Janet Sillman, Co-Director, DJSRC
the United Church of Canada, namely, the In Community Program for Ordination (ICPO)
based in Winnipeg. Currently there are 17 students enrolled in the DJSRC program.
residential week long units held at the Center. The program is carried out over a period
of five years, though a student may extend that period. Each unit entails at least twenty
hours of structured learning. The curriculum is divided as follows:: 30% biblical, 20%
history, !0% education, and 10% community development.. The DJSRC offers a
certificate. For students who complete additional work at the University of Winnipeg
Students are accepted for the program and supported in their study in ways
particular to aboriginal practice. If people have been recognized and affirmed in their
aboriginal communities, then, they can be admitted to study. The staff of DJSRC do
recommended for study range in educational levels from grade five reading capacity to
persons possessing college degrees. Each student has a vision keeper who provides
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support at home. During periods at home and while attending the residencies at DJSRC,
students keep journals that become the subject matter of regular meetings with DJSRC
staff.
During each residency course week, the leadership team includes an aboriginal
elder whose role is to honor aboriginal teachings. In addition there is another faculty
aboriginal ways. The basic pedagogical style is the learning circle with the aboriginal
elder and the other faculty member guiding discussion, making presentations, and
attending to a variety of personal issues members bring to the circle. Because the DJSRC
program is defined both contextually and as a series of residencies, the week of study
includes social events, such as a “basket social” that help build community.
The Lay Ministry Program (LMP) is a four year program of study under the
guidance of a mentor that includes participating in two weekend retreats each of the four
years; attending a selected number of workshops of a student’s own choosing but related
to the program; and completing, under the guidance of the mentor, four levels of readings
(for an equivalent of 28 books read). The program allows the student to focus on areas of
The issue is how to develop a transformational future in
the churches. The lay ministers are part of this specialty. According to a booklet
mission. The placement process is a type of
‘underground’ process. Not all Association ministers outlining the program, those
know of available lay ministers for placement.”
Dr. Charles Maxfield.
specialties may include: “worship and
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preaching, licensed ministry, interim ministry, Christian education, pastoral care, campus
ministry, lay leadership, arts in the church, ministry in the workplace, and other areas of
Because of the diverse educational foci, course and workshop options in multiple
venues, requirements for developing self-directed study, and student interests, the LMP
the mentor is the key figure in guiding a student through the intricacies of the course of
study. The twice yearly retreats are significant gathering points and moments for
participants in the lay ministry program. These retreats each feature a particular topic
approached through lectures, discussions, and workshops. Topics range from issues in
the experience of the retreat are opportunities for sharing stories, comparing approaches
the Committee on Ministry, the person is enrolled in the program of study as a lay
minister. This status is recognized at the lay minister’s first retreat when he or she is
given a small wooden cross to be worn around the neck. Upon completing the program,
one may become a recognized lay minister by the U.C.C. Conference or the appropriate
Disciples of Christ body. During the period of serving as a lay minister, a person may
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preach and lead worship. In some cases a person serves as lay pastor of a church while
At the time our research was initiated with the LMP, there were thirty current
students and fifteen graduates serving in one form or another of recognized ministry. In
The program has a history that reaches back into the 1970’s when the officials in
the Diocese of Northern Mission began to identify that the “small church” was becoming
the strategic issue for the future of the diocese. Two issues seemed primary. One was the
basic situation of small size and economy of resources for a significant number of
diocesan congregations to engage in their mission and to support full or part time priests.
The second was the actual functioning (or over functioning) of priests in contexts where
dependency on their leadership diminished the role of the laity. However, these concerns
were not an issue alone for that diocese in the Episcopal Church. In other dioceses, the
concept and practice of “total” or “mutual” ministry was being considered and employed.
Among the several manifestations of total or mutual ministry there are some
commonalties. Such ministry is highly indigenous, that is, it recognizes a radical locality
of a congregation’s ministry and its leadership carried out within an apostolic vision of
diocesan support and communion. The concept and practice emerges out of a theological
empowerment model was necessary to fulfill the theological conviction and the practical
21
demands of ministry leadership in a congregation. A full sacramental theology would
involve regular celebration of the Eucharist and a recognition that the ministry of the
At this point, it should be noted that structural changes were made in policies and
polity of the Diocese of Northern Michigan to facilitate this process. This report cannot
go into all of those here, though the changes are implicit in the discussion of the Mutual
Baptismal Ministry Program. We, also, should note that within that diocese several
the process is as follows. First, the bishop or diocesan representatives meet with a
baptized who would assume a shared ministry on behalf of the congregation. Such
Then, upon agreement, a consultant or missioner, employed by the diocese, begins taking
the congregation through a discovery process with the vestry and other leaders. A series
“Canon IX is not just an avenue for a cheap priest but a of meetings is held to discern who
means for the whole community to take on ministry. The
role of the Canon IX priest is quite different from a
seminary-trained priest. Our goal is to have more than would be invited to the positions of
one person in a congregation that is Canon IX and more
than one permanent deacon. Because there is no priest
in charge the ministry expectation is mutual.” presbyter (priest), deacon,
Bishop Jim Kelsey
stewardship coordinator, Christian
educator, and so on. At least two persons are invited for each position so that no one
person would be looked upon as “the priest” or “the deacon.” These individuals become
22
a covenant group that meets twice a month for 3-4 hour sessions for 18-24 months. They
missioner facilitates the curriculum, which consists of eleven units ranging from two to
four three-hour sessions per unit. The missioner is a theologically trained but not
necessarily ordained person. The session topics range from studies of diaconal, priestly
and apostolic ministries to an examination of the history, liturgy and program of the
Episcopal Church. Other studies range from the Biblical and theological, focusing on the
origins of the Scriptures and the story of Jesus, to practical topics such as ways to
Upon completing the curriculum, the covenant group is examined as a team by the
as a ministry support team at a service that affirms the ministry of the whole congregation
and members of the team are duly ordained or licensed, as their ministry requires. The
term “ministry support team” is significant.” The goal of the team is not to replace a
priest in charge but to support the baptismal ministry of the whole congregation.
Periodically the discernment process repeats itself and new covenant groups are formed
congregations served by mutual ministry teams. Approximately one hundred and thirty
ministry staffing needs within the rural geography of Nebraska. The geography is
23
expansive and contains numerous small congregations, some of which lack accessibility
key issue for the Synod is attracting clergy to serve in what are perceived to be isolated
settings. One illustration of impact of a clergy shortage is that west of Kearney, Nebraska
(near the center of the state), there is not one resident retired Lutheran pastor available for
occasional services.
The lack of available clergy, then, deeply influenced an original vision of the
program to prepare and support persons to augment the ministry of the local
congregation. However, the role and practice of the program has grown to exceed the
original vision. As one of our informants noted, there are two distinct needs being met:
One is to augment the ministry of the pastor or local congregation. The other is to
provide interim ministry and, in some cases, to provide full time pastoral support for a
program draws its lay participants from within the memberships of congregations.
The entry into PMA study is by petition of an applicant that is endorsed by a local
church council and pastor. The key factor in discerning a person’ s readiness for study is
that the person demonstrates spiritual maturity and leadership skills. Upon approval, the
applicant begins a three-year course of study that involves six required core courses and
three pre-approved electives. The courses generally are carried out in regional cell
“These are side by side ministries -- not hierarchical. This
model empowers all of the laity, not just those who are taking groups. The student works with a
the course. Laypersons see the ministry gifts in others and
they are empowered to recognize their own gifts. Also,
pastors are changed. They see the laity’s gifts in new ways.” supervisor who is an individual
Gretchen Ritola
assigned by the bishop to oversee
24
a students or graduates course of study and ministry. Second, there is a facilitator of the
cell group who organizes group sessions and helps the student process course materials
such as the SELECT video courses and lectures prepared by the Division for Ministry,
E.L.C.A.. Retreats, also, are locations for faculty from Lutheran seminaries to support
the course process. Finally, a student selects a mentor who is an individual in ministry
who serves as a sounding board and support person for the student. Upon completing the
course of study and being appropriately interviewed by synod officials, the bishop
certifies the individual to engage in ministry with the requirement that twelve contact
bishop to a ministry, which may include service in part or full time roles. Currently
approximately 17 persons are serving in ministries that range from “side-by-side” service
with a pastor, to social justice ministry, to serving as a pastor or several pastors in a team,
in 1989 and currently has fourteen students enrolled. By intent, the program is not
oriented toward preparing lay ministers. The purpose of the program is to provide a
25
degree program, that there will be a diminishing need for the program, and that the
Eligibility for the program is that the applicant be a member of a U.C.C. church
and serving in a pastoral role within it; have a high school diploma or its equivalent; be at
least 30 years of age; and be approved by the Church and Ministry Commission of the
designed course of study for each student is structured in four units, each requiring 125
contact hours in course work and 100 hours in supervised ministry practice. Unit 1
addresses the practice of Ministry in the U.C.C.; Unit 2 focuses on communication skills
in the practice of ministry; Unit 3 is advanced study in the Holy Scriptures; and Unit 4 is
advanced study in history and theology of the church. The student has a maximum of
that arrangement led to other institutional options. Shaw University has become the
academic site where most students complete their academic courses. Shaw has an
associate arts degree in theology and cooperates with SCOPE in providing coursework in
U.C.C. history and polity. As well, at Shaw most students are bi-vocational, as are the
SCOPE students.
26
Program Dimensions
descriptive sections, we trust that brevity, which is necessary, will not detract from what
we believe are some common themes that articulate essential characteristics of the
programs.
Number of Programs
education programs was of the seven sites, the most significant and surprising discovery
for us has been the number and ubiquity of these programs. Within the denominations
that we surveyed there are programs across the country aimed at meeting the leadership
needs of small churches, rural and urban. Our initial mailing identified 158 different
programs in the six denominations serving as the focus for this study. From our query of
these, we received 104 completed responses, some of which noted more than one
program entity. From these responses we identified the following listing of programs:
fifteen were United Church of Christ, thirty-five were Episcopal, ten were United
Presbyterian Church (USA), two were United Church of Canada, and two were from
programs and received information about American Baptist efforts in judicatory and
seminary based programs. Included in the Disciples references was the Missouri School
27
of Religion which has had both degree and non-degree programmatic emphases as its
Additional references were added at the two major project consultations. Except
for the United Methodist Course of Study programs, which have been in existence for
over a hundred years, we did not include seminary based alternative education programs
or tracks. Examples of these would be the alternative route to ministry in the Evangelical
Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. We continue to add to the list through referrals
While some of those programs have existed for a long time, most of them have
come into existence in the past fifteen years. Sixty-one of the programs responding to the
Diversity of Programs
and more diverse than is usually assumed in current conversations about its nature and
forms. For the most part these discussions presume theological education for authorized
ministries in the church to be restricted to the graduate studies of seminaries and divinity
Schools. We find that theological education takes institutional form in multiple ways
within these denominations and leads to multiple legitimated leadership roles. Even
those who have responsibility for these programs, for the most part, do not realize the
developed and sponsored by local or regional judicatories, wider awareness of the scope
28
and variety of approaches is limited not only among denominations but within
denominations. This limitation, the exclusion from wider theological discussion, and a
general resistance on the part of some clergy to recognize the legitimacy of the programs,
generate a general sense of programs being alone and somewhat marginalized in their
mission. Raising awareness of each other among a few of these companion programs has
theological study programs. First, such programs emerge from the needs for ecclesially
relevant and legitimated leadership within the churches. As such, they have a distinct
“At first it (the founding of a mutual ministry denominational identity based on the ways
program) is because of remoteness and
economic issues —in some cases it is an act of in which leadership is raised up and
desperation. But within that context people
beginning to become aware of the possibilities
of a new understanding of church” defined within particular contexts. At the
Rayford Ray, Missioner, Diocese of Northern
Michigan
same time, innovative thinking in
ecclesiology, theology, and the practice of ministry inform the shape a program takes.
For example, the ordination of local priests in the Episcopal Church is an innovation in
rooted in a quite firm ecclesiological conviction regarding the sacramental nature of the
church. Within the same tradition, other models of ministry are supported through
alternative theological education programs. Such is the case in the efforts of the Diocese
of Oklahoma through its Deacon Formation Program to recover the role of deacon as
servant minister in the world. In Lutheran contexts supporting a full Word and Sacrament
29
Parish Ministry Associate program. Such programming has led to various models of team
ministry besides models of the singular pastor. Presbyterians note the significance of
church order that is supported through their Commissioned Lay Pastor programs.
Training as a CLP draws upon already ordained elders and enhances their leadership
capacities not only in the local congregation but also in the presbytery. In the case of the
United Church of Christ with polity roots in the free church tradition, it is vital to have
leadership oriented to its singular and diverse theological and polity traditions. Thus, the
role of pastor as a practicing theologian is important. For United Methodists the Course
A second and related factor is that the alternative education programs appear to be
conferences, presbyteries, synods, and dioceses. In other cases, the leadership already is
in place and the desire to provide training to empower such leadership becomes the
the programs provided education and formation that empowered both individual persons
and congregations. The significant point is that we hear people describe innovations in
innovations often include a reconfiguration of the ways the distinctions between laity and
clergy are understood and practiced and the ways church order functions.
size, financial viability, sparse population, geographic location, and historical or cultural
30
identity. The need to provide leadership where employing or calling seminary-trained
“In South Dakota, we are a sparsely populated conference and programs. On the other hand,
state. We have around 100 churches. One third have around 50
members. Increasingly it is difficult to find ordained clergy to there are congregations that have
serve those churches. In the foreseeable future, it will not get
better. We are in need of pastors. It (the lay pastor program) puts
a little less stress on the system of finding ordained clergy to serve been small in number for years,
these churches.”
Gene Miller, Conference Minister, South Dakota Conference,
U.C.C. have had a history of lay pastors,
and desire to continue that pastoral model. These contextual variables do influence the
style of leadership a congregation is able to employ, and they shape how seminary trained
clergy seeking full time positions select, by whatever discernment process, to settle in
A final factor is the belief expressed by a number of key founders of the programs
that there is a value in a type of theological study for ministry that is located near or in
proximity to the communities of faith to be served. This is not a general rule. But
whether the issue is with aboriginal peoples or with individuals who choose to remain
respondents was the close connection between the person preparing for a ministry and the
that judicatory. Often the composition of the governing boards reflected a diversity of
constituents with a stake in the program. There are exceptions. In the case of the United
31
Higher Education and Ministry of the national church and the seminary or center that
conducts the program. Yet within local programs, efforts are made to increase advisory
“The English and Spanish schools have the same courses input by students, denominational
in common but not the same bibliography. Some of the
Hispanic program texts deal with theologies of the representatives, and other
marginalized. The Spanish language faculty is drawn from
around the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico…. The
Hispanic program is funded through a wide variety of interested parties. Most programs
church-wide sources.” Roy Barton, Perkins COS
have a student role either in membership on the official board or committee or in some
Funding of the programs generally comes from the budget of the judicatory
sponsoring the program. Various funding models are employed. The most usual
approach is to operate a program from limited judicatory funds with added support from
student fees. Other models are variations on this theme. One U.C.C. Conference utilizes
trust or endowment funds from the sale of a college to support their program. The United
Methodist Board of Higher Education grants funds to Course of Study programs. The
Diocese of Northern Michigan has endowment monies to support their missioners that
work with congregations. Still, “Pathways to service has been called a modern train but
with no fuel, or dollars to move it. It is vastly under
funded.”
those programs levy fees to cover Louis Uzueta, Episcopal Diocese of Alaska
various costs. Other funding innovations develop, such as in the Lay Ministry Program of
the New York Conference of the U.C.C. where lay ministers are asked to return 40% of
their speaking fees to help fund the program. Lay ministers with part or full time
churches are not required to pay into the fund. Our findings, though, indicate that the
programs operate with minimal budgets. These budgets provide limited resources for
students.
32
Relationship to Seminaries
varies. Only in limited cases are there formal links between seminaries and the alterna tive
theological education program. The most obvious connection is between the Board of
Higher Education of the United Methodist Church and the Course of Study programs.
Lutheran Judicatories and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. The Indian Ministries
Program of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and the Episcopal Diocese
Most programs at one time or another utilize seminary faculty either in courses or
in the leadership of retreats. Like many relationships, some program directors sensed that
“Having the seminary connection
is a strength. They (the seminary they were supported in their work by the seminaries.
faculty) love coming here. The
Seminary likes having the Others felt their programs received little support from
connection with the churches.
Good quality classes are taught.
It creates enthusiasm for the lay seminaries. However, our respondents were clear on this
people for ongoing education for
ministry.”
--Peter Sethre, Luther Seminary
point: There is no intent for these programs to be
considered a graduate theological school. In every program site the researchers visited,
people affirmed the need for graduate level “I think more and more that these
programs are going to become
vital. These programs can
theological education. The denominational judicatory become complementary
components of ministry
leadership preparation. They
theological study programs function within some need to be undergirded.
Churches deserve competent
fairly clear boundaries of being centers for ministry leadership even though they are
unable to afford seminary trained
person.”
support and preparation. In this way they are --Raymond Hargrove, Southern
Conference, U.C.C.
33
theological study programs. For those denominational programs without a contractual
relationship with a theological school, it is most likely that the use of seminary faculty,
cooperation.
Finally, our research uncovered another role for the alternative theological
education program. That role is to provide a support and educational growth base from
visited, note was made of those students who had decided to attend a seminary and, in
curriculum designs, strategies to provide faculty and other educational resources, and
procedures to admit and evaluate students. Our research indicates the powerful role the
contextual factors behind a program’s founding influence the ways curricula are
Curricula Origins
With regard to curricula and resources for theological education, these programs tend
to innovate in accordance with local situations and need. Four primary factors influence
the shape that programs and curricula take. As noted above, the initial motivation most
often comes from particular stress points on local congregations and their communities.
Demographic, geographic, and economic issues head the list of these stress factors. Once
a program begins to take form three other influences help shape the program.
34
Denominational ethos and polity contributes both form and constraints: convictions about
is.
within which the program is constructed. The United Methodist Church and the
though not necessarily the most requirements. A final influence is the pervading sense
“We are attempting to offer not a watered down seminary
curriculum, but a whole different approach. The typical that, in whatever form it takes,
approach to learning in our culture has been described by
some as ‘front end loading,’ whereby there is intensive theological education in these
education before an individual takes up responsibilities. Then
one is licensed or otherwise credentialed, and though there is
always hope for continuing education, the norm is that one is denominational judicatory
considered an ‘expert….Our approach is not front-end
loading, but life long learning. We are hoping to transform
congregations into learning communities…. Thus the program programs must be responsive to
is not intended to be an extensive, all inclusive training
program, but almost an orientation to the lifelong task of the encyclopaedia of areas of
learning.”
Tom Ray, Bishop (retired) Episcopal Diocese of N. Michigan
study normally included in the
curriculum of the theological school. In most instances, the traditional topics of seminary
education (scripture and historical studies, and systematic and practical theology)
Curricular Approaches
It probably is not possible, nor wise, to categorize the programs into types since
there is such diversity. Programs will be inclined toward a model or method that is
consistent with their own theological or ecclesiological rationale, but most will also pick
and choose according to what instruments best serve the needs within their particular
context. Given these caveats, our research reveals at least four general curricular
35
approaches used: 1) A defined set of courses, often taken with a cohort of participants
(This is the general model described earlier for the Holston Presbytery program and the
Course of Study of the United Methodist Church); 2) A facilitated process that utilizes
independent study following specific guidelines (This is the model generally applied in
the Parish Ministry Associates program of the Nebraska Synod of the E.L.C.A. and the
Lay Ministry Program of the New York Conference of the U.C.C.): 3) A process of
selecting courses at colleges, seminaries, and graduate schools (This model is used in the
SCOPE program of the Southern Conference of the U.C.C.); And, 4) a study and
that congregation to its ministries (This is modeled in the Mutual Baptismal Ministry
the assumption that the educational outcome connects with some process instituted by a
We often heard this statement or something similar: “We are flying the plane
while we are building it.” Frequently, the original rationale for a program is superceded
by creative thinking in ecclesiology, theology, and the practice of ministry because of the
particular “flight path” of that program. As noted above, programs tend to innovate as
they encounter the needs and problems of their local communities. Subjects of study,
36
Programs select their own faculty except in those cases where students take
accessible faculty, that is, local pastors, some with Ph.D’s; area college religion
“They are trying to emphasize a collegial model of resources, workshops, and small
learning.”
Bruce Ford, Holston Presbytery
group discussions. These formats,
“The teaching staff and students share in expertise. The
session form is a more intimate setting. People come to however, seem to be more closely
the (DJSRC) Center to see if it is a healing place. Things
people face in their communities find support in the circle.”
Melody McKellar, DJRSC related to ecclesial practice than is
“We use the term ‘synagogy’ rather than ’pedagogy’ to
describe the learning style. Instead of having a single the case in a typical graduate school
teacher or expert who lecturers to the group, the
expectation is that everyone who comes is a teacher and a classroom. We believe that this is
learner.”
Bishop James Kelsey, Diocese of Northern Michigan
an outcome of the fact that program
“The sharp distinction between becoming more educated
lay persons and becoming a minister is really a continuum.”
Raymond Whitehead, School of Theology, University of designs, students, and most faculty
Winnipeg
remain contextually proximate to
From what we have seen, there is minimal use of distance learning technologies.
This is not because of a lack of interest but because of a lack of availability, accessibility,
and relevant resources. There is some difference of opinion about what sort of distance
learning resources would be helpful. Some say that any kind of Internet generated
content in the typical areas of theological inquiry would be helpful. Others say they are
not interested in relying alone on “canned” content that does not take into account the
context of their ministry concerns. They would welcome resources that allowed for and
37
Admissions and Standards
Standards for admission to programs are as diverse as there are programs of study.
Most programs admit on the basis of call to ministry, prior service and commitment to the
church, and gifts for ministry rather than on academic credentials. The exception would
of persons of the questionnaire surveys had come into an alternative program through
congregation that pressed them into what they perceived to be a need for deeper more
formal study.
Typically, there are no commonly held standards among the programs that would
define any shared characteristics. Implicit standards may exist in the expectations of
Schools. In effect, criteria for study and for the programs that shape the study curricula
tend to be more outcomes-based, with review and renewal of authorization for ministry
bounds and bonds of ongoing organizational, leadership, and educational systems. Our
38
Church Structures
How these judicatory study programs are perceived within the structures of the
denominations depends to a large extent on their visibility and on the roles they are
fulfilling in supporting the ministries of the churches. Often the new contextual
preparation for and practice of ministry challenge expectations of how the problems
generated by those variables are to be addressed. One story the researchers heard was
that a bishop was supportive of having a meeting for inquirers into a lay ministry study
program. The bishop suggested that he felt few would be at the meeting. In fact, fifty
generates differing responses. As one former program director noted, the judicatory
theological education program had to “make its claim on the conference program.”
Michigan, the rules for voting in the diocesan convention were changed to expand the
type of ordination, general or specific, is authorized. Most of the ministries are to serve
or to provide support for traditional venues for ministry, namely the local
congregation. While these services include some sort of full or part time pastoral
ministry, most graduates of programs serve on ministry teams or engage in part time
39
case shows. A further matter is the diversity of compensation packages for these new
employment packages that include salaries and various forms of or lack of benefits.
Relation to Clergy
Needless to say, denominational polities are different. This difference allows for
theological and institutional rationales for the envisioning the role and place of persons
“This is a larger issue for the church: the way that educated in denominational judicatory
power is used and distributed. It really does have
to do with who is in charge, who gets the reward,
who has status. These programs challenge the study programs. Each denomination has
church to reflect on how it used, abuses, and
distributes power.”
its own debates over legitimating the
Barry Cotter, Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi
programs are to fill; and defining the particular nomenclature for that role. One would
not be surprised to find resistance to the alternative theological education programs, not
some form of ministry. Most interviews with our informants told of that suspicion
mainly generated by ordained clergy. Such criticism was directed to the type and depth
of study offered in the judicatory programs. Some critics claim that such study is
graduates of the programs taking jobs normally held by clergy. Finally, some ordained
pastors felt the programs increased their time demands to mentor and supervise students
ministry positions.
40
On the other hand, there are indicators of support given to the programs and their
graduates. One informant noted that as a small church rural pastor he already felt on the
positive commentary rest in the observations that new models of team ministry are being
Program Participants
Students
with students, program directors, faculty, and program founders; 2) interviews with
students and graduates during our site visits; and 3) a mail survey of advanced students
students in their program. The excerpts from those interviews in the tables on pages 42-
education program. The first thing one might notice in those tables is how often
respondents begin their descriptions with the assertion that there are no typical students.
In a sense this is true, for each program does involve people of all ages, men and women
from many different backgrounds. Yet, as one looks more closely at all of the responses
For example, while people of all adult ages are represented in these programs, it
soon becomes clear that the preponderance of students are older (40’s-70’s) with most
41
TYPICAL STUDENTS
(Source: Telephone Interviews)
Diversity of students:
ú No typical students. ú Anybody - no educational requirements
ú Such a variety. ú All different types of people with different types of
ú Students are all over the map. backgrounds.
ú There are people in every category. ú Different backgrounds. Different denominational
ú Cross-section of the churches in our Assn. backgrounds.
ú Don't fit any profile. ú Wide spectrum.
Age:
ú Young - old. ú Most people are in their 40's.
ú 30-60's age range. ú Most mid-life. Some late 20s - early 30's. Most 40-65 age
ú A lot of women in the 50-60's age range. Age range range.
40-60's generally. ú We have young people. We have elderly people. Like any
ú Late 30's or older. other program - cross section of where we are drawing
ú When I first started I felt young - but in the last few from.
years - there are younger people in the p rogram. ú Most middle aged.
ú Maybe a third are older and retired. ú Wide age range. Some are retired.
ú Between 40-60. ú Age 35-50.
ú All 45 or older. ú Mid 20's - 40's.
ú Age range typically 40-55. ú Range from really young to really old. Most of them in
ú Tend to be older and female. their 40's- 50's. Young parents to a woman who is in her
ú In the past it has been males of about age 45-65. 80's.
ú 20's - 70's age range. ú 35-60 age range. Mid 40's more common.
ú 17-75 age range. ú Age range from 35 +.
ú Age range - 30-60's Average age - 40's. ú Average age is 50.
ú Few under age thirty. ú Age - 32-55.
ú Age range - 30-75. ú Age range = 20-70's.
ú Age 40 +. ú Bulk would be middle aged.
ú Most are older – 40’s-60's. ú Usually mid-life or older and , with some exceptions .. Of
ú Typically 40+ years old and up. these a number are widowed. People in last ten years of
ú Age range typically middle aged - retired their work life.
ú Different ages. ú Median age around 40.
ú The age of the group is representative of the church. ú Age ranges from post-college to retired people.
Late 30's +.
Gender:
ú Equal gender-wise. ú Probably 2/3 male 1/3 female.
ú 60/40 women to men. ú Gender-wise 11 are women, 13 men.
ú Men and women. At this stage - more women. ú Currently we have 10 people. Seven women and three
ú Most are women: 60-65%. men.
ú Mostly men, some women. ú Gender-wise more women than men, but it fluctuates.
ú Generally female. In my parish all 7 are women and all ú 2/3 women, 1/3 men.
work outside the home except for one. ú In the beginning 60/40 men to women. Now mainly
ú 80/20 male to female ratio. women 80/20.
ú Three women currently in program. ú Almost equal number of men/women.
ú Half-and-half male/female. ú Balance between male/female.
ú Pretty equally divided men and women. ú Gender 50/50.
ú Gender 1/2 and 1/2. ú Gender-wise there are a little more women than men.
ú A balance of men and women. ú There are maybe 10% female.
ú Current class just completed. 12 students, 3 female 9 ú Gender wise - CLP's 3 women/2 men, Lay supply 3
male. women/ 3 men.
ú Fair gender mix. ú More women than men.
ú Pretty even gender-wise. ú They are evenly divided male/female.
ú Balanced gender-wise. ú Mixed gender wise.
ú Male and female. ú Mixed gender wise. . On the younger side it is women, on
ú Fairly equal gender-wise. the older side it is men.
ú We are a little unbalanced gender-wise. There are more ú A few more women than men.
females than males.
42
Work Status:
ú Many students are bi-vocational/some retired. - serving a church as a pastor/75 year old female - at 72 she
ú Farmers, housewives, lawyers, city engineers. was called to ministry. 2/3's of the people are professional
ú Either working or retired. in their basic occupation.
ú Lawyers/farmers/blue collar. workers/teachers/home ú Second career. Realize that they will not get paid much.
makers Either settled in their finances or see an opportunity to do
ú Most are working at secular jobs. Some are retired. something that they had not been able to do before.
ú Most have families and employment. ú Students are bankers/police officers/they run the full gamut.
ú Retired people, businesswomen, and men from other ú Most of them will be bi-vocational.
areas. ú Primarily established with family/careers.
ú There are a number of women who do not work outside ú Primarily bi-vocational.
of the home. Lawyer/real estate agent/railroad ú The group that I am in: one is a farmer/one is a part time
worker/lost his job/variety of backgrounds. farmer - US Govt. worker/one is a nursing home
ú The majority of the people are working. administrator who is retired/one is the head of a community
ú Most are still working full time jobs. college who is close to retirement and I am a salesman.
Doctor/attorney/accountants/ business people. ú 2/3 are working and 1/3 retired.
ú Over 40 and working at another job or retired. ú In addition to a full time job for most, although several are
ú Approximately 40% retired and 60% currently retired.
employed. ú Most younger people are working.
ú Wide range of occupations. Farmer/cleaner/retired ú One is a retired dentist (52 years old). One is a hair dresser
professor/agricultural engineer. In my cell group – all (35). One is a policeman (32). Teacher (52). College
males. professor (40), Dentist hygienist (45). Primarily bi-
ú Mostly bi-vocational. vocational.
ú Professional/non-professional. ú Some working.
ú Some are busy in trade or profession. Only a ú Quite a few of them are working.
sprinkling of retirees. ú Everyone had a full time job/either paid or unpaid.
ú One student is a homemaker/two are in their own ú All are either employed or early retired.
businesses/two full time pastors/restaurant ú Not retired/all keep full time jobs. Have a
operator/computer pediatrician/CPA/nurse/teachers/accountant/ lay preachers -
programmer/accountant/farmer/retiree from John Deere teachers/business owner/farmer/trucker.
- computer programmer - serving as a full time ú Most have career while in the program. Most have career
associate minister/ school teacher/ retired math teacher and serve the church at the same time.
Commitment to Church:
ú Committed people. Sacrifice to go through this ú Most have sensed a definite nudge to go into ministry.
program. Few enter a new community to do ministry. ú Most of the people certified are active in their home
Many stay and work in their own churches. Call is churches.
very important. Self-motivation is important. ú People faithful in the church for years, people who sense
ú Most come from medium to small churches. "they can do it."
ú All have had a tremendous love for the church. ú They have been active church people for a long time.
ú Mostly lay people committed to Jesus Christ. They ú People who love the vision of servanthood. Seeking
want to serve the Lord. people, people who can live with ambiguity. Not people
ú Small church members with a love of the church who looking for a credential. Already see themselves in ministry
want to lead. - want to make it life long.
ú Feel a call to do this. ú Not your average people. Very dedicated/focused/educated
ú All active in their churches. people.
Prior or Further Education:
ú Educated people ú Some of the people have had no higher education at all.
ú Only one or two have had theological education. Most ú Four or five of us do not have a degree. One has gone off to
are not college educated. seminary.
ú Do not have an education requirement. ú Some people are in this program as a precursor to
ú Wide range in formal education. seminary.
ú A few do not have a college degree. ú Not ready to pull up and go to seminary.
ú Most have degrees.
Non-European Ethnic or Racial Background
ú One African American who has gone through the ú In the first class - 70 % not born in the US.
program. ú Target Population was indigenous people. Diocese aspires
ú Cree majority. to get more of the native people involved.
ú Two are African American.
43
falling in the 55-65 year range. While we had no means for obtaining the individual ages
of all current students, the results from our survey of advanced students and graduates
corroborates this conclusion. We could presume that the survey respondents would fall
in a slightly higher age range, having completed all or a significant portion of their
Number of Repondents
this to be the case. There is some 20-29
30
30-39
20
indication in a few of the telephone 40-49
10
50-59
interviews that some programs are 0
1 60-69
large in our site visits, we found most students to be older, some retired from other
careers.
With a few exceptions, men and women make-up the student population of the
programs in about equal numbers, though it would appear that overall there are more
women than men in the programs. There were some suggestions from respondents that
the numbers of women have been increasing and that the attrition rate for men is higher.
whole the average age of men students is older than that of women students but we have
44
Students come from a great variety of vocational and occupational backgrounds.
As one respondent observes, “they run the whole gamut:” Farmers, housewives, lawyers,
doctors, nurses, administrators, police officers, dentists, et. al. Many are retired, but many
are fully employed while going to school. Most who are not retired will continue to work
in their “regular” jobs after completing their program of study and being authorized for
All of these folk with such varied backgrounds have one thing in common; they
are recognized leaders in their local churches and will most likely remain as ministry
leaders in their local churches and judicatories. One consistent theme these students and
graduates demonstrate is a high level of commitment to their churches and the Church’s
° I always felt called to ministry. I never
followed that call. I heard about this ministries. In interviews and
program from my pastor and saw it as an
opportunity to answer the call.
° In 1973 I felt a strong call to seminary.
conversations, whether participants
The courses I wanted led to a M.Div.,
which at that time was not a possibility for were speaking of the typical student
me and I wasn't sure how I felt about the
ordination of women. By the time I sorted
things out. . . . I could not justify the in their program or reflecting on
expense of seminary and lost wages to
accept a non-stipendiary position. The 1/4
million dollars could feed a lot of hungry
their own motivations, they referred
people.
° Was teaching Adult Sunday school. Felt inadequate. to seeing a need in the church for
Heard about the program - thought it might help my
feeling of inadequacy. About 1/2 through 3-year
program I felt God's call to something other than trained leadership and better
teaching adult Sunday school. Became a licensed
minister 1 1/2 years after completion of training. preparation for themselves to do
45
their ministries. One program director summarizes what we found to be the general
spirit: “We have focused our program on the servanthood motive. People really see it as
servanthood. They are ready to serve where ever they are needed.” Students and
graduates often speak of an irresistible sense of calling to the ministries they are engaged
in, saying that the judicatory-based education program gave them the opportunity to
When it comes to prior education this seems to be the area where there is little in
leadership rather than according to academic Some College &/or Grad No College
these programs work so well across such a range of academic backgrounds. Nowhere did
we hear program leadership lamenting a poor quality of students. It is our guess that
proven leadership ability, a universal desire to learn, and deep commitment to the
46
ministries of servanthood account for the ability of these programs to hold together such
divergent populations.
Eighty-five percent of graduates respond ing to the questionnaire say they were
One surprising finding was the relatively few people in the programs we surveyed
who were of other than Euro-American descent. There were certainly exceptions. The
SCOPE program in the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ, the ATELA
program in Los Angeles and the Perkins Course of Study are among those programs
raised the challenge that even when programs are initiated to serve non-Euro-Americans
Congregations
While information about students provides us with some sense of why these
programs exist and who their audience is, it is in the life and faith of congregations that
one begins to understand what is at stake here. We visited several congregations served
47
by graduates or students in judicatory-based education programs. The following
congregational profiles are representative of a much larger picture. In some ways they
portray the best of outcomes, models for arguing the positive needs for and results of
judicatory-based programs. Our study indicates, however, that these are not isolated
success stories but are truly representative of the larger picture, demonstrating the
important role that non-graduate study programs play in the provision of appropriate and
Stafford, New York. Stafford is a town of 2600 people located in Genesee County in the
northwestern part of New York State, situated between Rochester and Buffalo. Batavia,
about six miles west of Stafford, is the county hub and, with a population of 16,000, the
largest city in the county. According to U. S. Census reports, of the sixty thousand
folk live in rural areas of the county. At one time Massey-Harris and Sylvania were
located in the county and provided significant employment opportunities for the area.
The county has had some sU.C.C.ess in replacing these industries with smaller industries,
including the conversion of the Massey-Harris facility in Batavia into a small industry
of the richest truck farming regions in the country and is the largest red beet producing
area in the world. Dairy farming is also an important component of the economy. A
nearby prison employs a number of local people. Many area people work in Buffalo or
48
Rochester and this contributes to a relatively stable economy. Agricultural zoning,
however, restricts the building of bedroom communities and, consequently, limits the
“Most of the churches in the area are small. Many have part- Public institutions include
time ministries…. In most of these towns each house had a
business, an ‘at home business.’ Now we have become
bedroom communities in villages. Otherwise, the area is a state school for persons with
primarily agricultural. Many work in Batavia, others in
Rochester. It is a highly churched area, although the older disabilities, a state community
people tend to be the ones who maintain the churches.
Their ministries tend to ebb and flow depending on pastoral
leadership.” college, and two high schools.
Question: What were the worries of 30 years ago?
“We were facing extensive building maintenance. The
children were leaving, but what could we do?” Catholic and public hospitals in
(Interview with Florence Gilbert, local historian)
Batavia have merged and the
former is being converted into a rehabilitation center. Area religious institutions include
Episcopal, United Church of Christ, and Catholic churches. Local historian Florence
Gilbert says that many of the churches in the area struggle to survive: “Building
maintenance has been a major issue. Parsonages often seem a ‘stone around your neck.’”
Nevertheless, “There has been a resistance to merging the churches. They have found
other means.” Our local guide Jean Smith, a lay person at Morganville U.C.C., adds,
“Larger churches are losing members. Our church has remained stable.”
thriving little village in its own right. In the words of retired Stafford City Historian,
Grace Woodruff, “Morganville was a busy little hub. There was a gristmill, a pottery
shop, a blacksmith, a wagon shop, two stores, a hotel, a corn planter manufacturer, a rag
carpet factory, a weaver, and a sawmill.” Nothing of this former activity remains though
the Call Inn is still maintained as a community meeting place. Jean Smith recalls that
49
Morganville was on the Underground Railroad and that the Call Inn may have been a
station. Other stories about how the town got its name [in a conflict between Masons and
anti-Masons] and of how Devil’s Rock came to be called such [competition between two
local communities] make us aware that a sense of history and of historical place runs
The Morganville United Church of Christ has its origins in the organization of the
First Christian Society of Stafford on October 20, 1817. In 1833 dissension in the
Association of the New York Christian Conference, thus their current affiliation with the
United Church of Christ. Part-time pastoral leadership has been the norm for the church
with their current pastor Tom Bur ns, a graduate of the New York judicatory-based
program, being their first resident pastor. Grace Woodruff comments: “Morganville
changed ministers frequently. Tom Burns has been here longer than anyone. In the 30’s,
40’s, and 50’s we had ministers from Colgate/Rochester. Then Dr. Willis, a psychologist
with a practice in Batavia was here for six years. This church has been served by
denominations.”
50
attendance averages about 50 people of all ages, double the attendance when Tom Burns
first came to the church. They have recently added younger families who are attracted to
the “family church” style and the non-hierarchical leadership that is apparent even to the
casual observer.
When asked to describe their church with adjectives, members respond with
warm, homey, hard-working, willing, working for the right goals, comical. With the last
descriptive they are ready with numerous humorous stories about their life together.
Then in a more serious vein someone offers: “We are not just spinning our wheels here
trying to get somewhere. The procedure for starting a program is to go to the quarterly
meeting. Voting tries to seek a consensus. We really know one another and respect one
another.”
Since there is no U.C.C. in Batavia they draw some members from there. They do not
believe that they can afford a full-time, seminary trained minister and feel liberated from
that expectation. Their pastor also experiences that liberation, freed to serve the
congregation in terms of their need rather than his own. There is no sense of there having
been a “golden age” with decline following and necessitating a part-time ministry. In
fact, if anything members consider this to be the “golden age”—financially stable with
Throughout our visit we witnessed an authentic keeping of the lay role by the lay
pastor. In worship there was no up- front leader who took a position of physical or
ideological leadership. Tom was not vested. His presentation of a relief opportunity was
non- ideological. At the quarterly meeting all sat around tables and leadership came from
51
within the circle in a very informal manner. It has been very important for Tom to move
into the community. He has in that way become very much a member of the community,
Language, stories, and enthusiasm all denote a high level of lay engagement and
excitement about the church, its leadership, and its role in the community. This is a
ministry tied very much to place—a ministry of caring for this place. Members are fairly
clear about their mission and ministry. The paradigm is that of replenishment and
service—ministries of the duties of the heart, in church and community. The church is
known for its participation and generosity within the larger community. Tom contributes
a regular article to the community newsletter, the Morganville Messenger. The church
holds an annual swiss steak dinner for the town with up to 350 people attending. They
support the local Salvation Army and the Genesee County Ministry of Concern. As Tom
puts it, theirs is a ministry of reaching out to “those who have fallen through the cracks.”
Hence, the local newspaper article cited above, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and
he is at Morganville.” The current Stafford City Historian Martha Heddon, not a member
of Morganville Church, is quick to say, “When we have town doings I make sure the
Morganville Church gets involved.” She adds an assessment of the relative health of the
Morganville congregation: “The U.C.C. is doing better than other churches in the area.
The church also reaches out in ministry on the international scene. Their global
outreach is clearly service oriented, as is their local outreach. Through Tom’s leadership
they have contributed generously to Kosovo relief and other international efforts.
52
When asked to give their impressions of the lay leadership program, members are
quick to say that this is the most stable period of pastoral leadership they have ever had.
reflective of general responses from parishioners when asked for their opinion about their
pastor’s leadership.
Jim: I don’t even perceive Tom as a lay minister. He meets my needs. I don’t see him
as other than my minister. Tom has just done a great job. He represents our church. He’s
prepared every Sunday.
Kathy: My feeling is that they [lay ministers] do it from their heart not to make a living.
They really want to take care of people.
Jean: We had really high expectations following our prior minister. [Implication: Tom
has met those expectations].
Jim: Tom says that he gains experience of working with people every day at his Gleason
job.
Kathy: Because we are small and Tom is the lay pastor, we all pull together. Our
relation with each other is more intense.
Jim: When we decide to do something Tom doesn’t worry about [managing] it. We just
get it done. We feel like he is one of us. Two years ago there was an article in the
Batavia newspaper: “Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus and he is at Morganville.” We
try to help people who might fall through the cracks.
Jean: We have a Ladies Aid society that supports local charities. Tom is showing
leadership in the larger picture as well as locally. He is involved as a leader in the lay
ministry program. In preaching Tom relates Scripture to [life events in the community].
He is very good at relating Scriptures to my everyday life.
Jean: One thing about the lay ministry. Go ing way back our pastors have been students
from Rochester Divinity. They were good pastors but there was never enough money to
quite make it. Consequently, they were short-term ministers. I don’t think anyone in the
church wants the church to grow much bigger.
Jean: If you have a problem and go to Tom and he doesn’t have the resources to help he
will be the first to admit it and refer you to help. Tom was obviously highly motivated but
the curriculum of the lay ministry program has to be strong because it has prepared him
well. Tom does his research. He brings in outside resources. He is obviously well-read.
The church cooperates with other churches in the area.
53
Tom Burns came to Morganville in October 1987. At the time he was a student in
“I’m here to serve them, not the other
the Lay Ministry Program of the New York way around.” Tom Burns
Conference, U.C.C. Tom works for the Gleason Corporation in Rochester, making
machines that cut gears. He began the Lay Ministry Program after attending a Marriage
Encounter event and having a conversion experience. He considers himself to have been
an agnostic until that experience changed his life. During his first year in the Lay
Ministry Program he had been doing some supply preaching when Morganville needed a
short-term interim. He interviewed and was offered the postion. After six months the
church asked him to stay on as their pastor. When the church called him to be their
pastor, he bought a home in Stafford and has been commuting the eighty miles daily ever
since. “When I moved to the area it kind of threw them. They had never had a resident
minister.”
When asked how many hours he works for the church each week, he replies, “It’s
hard to say. I’m on call. . . . I’m here to serve them, not the other way around.” He tries
to work out funerals and weddings so that they fit his work schedule, but if it is necessary
he takes a vacation from his Gleason job to attend to these ministries of the church. He
retires from Gleason Corporation at the end of 1999 and says that he can hardly wait.
“Gleason gets in the way of many things I want to do. I want to do more volunteer work,
Our exposure to this congregation and its leadership suggests in all respects that
this is a healthy faith community with a clear sense of its mission and strong,
54
program. In fact, without that program we surmise that the church would be in desperate
straits at this time in its history, although we don’t want to sell them short! As Tom says,
“They are an independent bunch. . . . They can do it on their own. If I get called into
work on Sunday? Don’t worry. They’ll sing songs or something.” The point is that
without the leadership provided through the Lay Leadership Program, we believe that
Holston Presbytery, Inc. of the Five churches define the Holston Presbytery:
• FIRST ELIZABETHTON is small but could be a
Presbyterian Church (USA) includes First Church anywhere.
• MAGILL MEMORIAL in Roan Mountain. There
is a core of people in this church who have lived
the churches within the areas of the there all their lives. It is the main church in the
town of Roan Mountain. The church is growing.
It has had a lay pastor but no longer does. The
following twelve counties in upper lay pastor brought them through a transition as
the church has changed from indigenous
East Tennessee: Carter, Cocke, membership to mixed.
• COVE CREEK PRESBYTERIAN is right up the
road from Magill. It is totally indigenous and is
Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, currently served by a Baptist minister.
• GRAYS CHAPEL is a church up a “holler” about
Hawkins, Jefferson, Johnson, Sullivan, four miles. It has about fifteen members. Two
Commissioned Lay Pastors serve it. It is
Appalachia at its most bare.
Unicoi, and Washington plus the Mt. • CHUCKEY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH in the
Nolichuckey Valley has been served by a woman
Commissioned Lay Pastor graduate for seven
Hermon Presbyterian Church of Big years. They are reaching out to the Hispanic
community. Nolichuckey Valley on the
Stone Gap, VA which is within the Nolichuckey River is one of the most fertile
farming valleys in the country. Vegetable farming
attracts migrant workers. It is southeast of
geographical bounds of Abingdon Greenville, and southwest of Johnson City.
-- Bruce Ford, Associate Executive Presbyter
Presbytery. We visited churches in
Johnson City, Greenville, and the Roan Mountain area, all of them with memberships
under one hundred. Grays Chapel, four miles from the town of Roan Mountain has just
fifteen members. The Presbytery is situated amidst breathtaking natural beauty but also
in the most economically depressed area of the state. Average household income in the
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Presbytery is $35,000 compared to a Tennessee average of $44,000. Median household
evenly spread in sales, professional, small industry, farming, and tourism. Many of the
churches and local buildings are constructed of stone, reflecting the fact that the area was
originally settled by Scots-Irish pioneers who made good use of the ready availability of
stones for building material. Environmental issues, education, and the lack of monetary
resources make up the major challenges for the region. Over forty percent of those over
twenty-five years old in Carter and Greene Counties, for example, have not completed
high school. Children in poverty in these counties approach thirty percent of those under
Tom Burleson was our guide for a tour of some of the area church buildings. He
is a retired FBI agent who is a graduate of the Commissioned Lay Pastor program of the
and has played a significant role in its revitalization. He organized “The CLP was a very
rewarding experience for
me. The quality of
the Doe River Interfaith Flood Recovery Team as a response to the instruction was first-rate….
Well-meaning folks in
congregations can cause
recent floods in this area. Under his leadership, DRIFT brought the untold damage. That’s
why these CLP programs
churches of the area together to provide relief aid. They built are so important.”
Tom Burleson, CLP
homes, raised money, and organized volunteers from all over the
Gray, a lay person and Sunday School missionary. The current building was built in
1940 as a part of the home mission board work of the Presbyterian Church. The church
56
has about forty three members and is growing.
of the facility and in the enthusiasm with which Tom shows us the church and its
community.
Gray’s Chapel is about four miles from Magill. It was founded in 1927, also a
product of the Sunday School Movement. On the Sunday prior to our visit Tom preached
Commissioned Lay Pastor, is a different situation from these small town and country
churches. The church is surrounded by older homes located in an older suburb of Johnson
City. The congregation is mostly from the local community that is lower middle to upper
middle class. Housing projects form its northern boundary. Religious institutions in the
area include Assembly of God, Baptist and Church of Christ churches; and a Church of
Christ seminary. The Pastor David Light is one of the original graduates of the
Commissioned Lay Pastor Program. He has served two churches and has been here at
For most of its history, Shenandoah has been served by retired ministers or by the
campus minister at Eastern Tennessee State University. The church currently has twenty
two members and has never had more than fifty. The current building was built in 1966
after their original building, an old farm house, burned in 1965. Recently the church had
57
been declining, falling as low as eight or nine in attendance. Under David’s leadership
they now have about thirty who attend regularly with as many as fifty attending their
fifteen members located in Wesley Heights in Greenville, Tennesseee. Victor Price and
Anna Mattox were our guides for a tour of the church community. Victor is the recently
called lay supply pastor of Tabernacle and Anna, a life- long member, is the clerk of
“I have to say one more thing. This church is really good
session. Both Victor and Anna about welcoming. That’s why I’ve stayed. You are
welcomed here and not condemned.” A young woman
who has been a member for four years.
grew up in the community.
Tabernacle is the oldest church in this African American community. Other local
churches include AME, Baptis t, United Methodist, Church of God in Christ, Seventh Day
Adventist, and Full Gospel Mission congregations. Friendship Baptist has about 450
members. Others have less than one hundred. The AME is the second largest with just
under one hundred members and Macedonia UMC is third at about seventy- five
members. Tabernacle was started in 1867 in the basement of First Presbyterian Church.
After a time they paid one hundred dollars for a lot on Rankin and Cutter Streets and built
a building there. When the Austin Tobacco Company moved to town they had to move
the church to its present location to make way for the plant. Austin Company was a
major employer in Greenville until it closed in the 1990’s, leaving a lot of people out of
work.
Church members say that integration brought a loss of the sense of closeness in
this community. Access to the dominant white culture has exposed young people to the
fragmenting affects of that culture. When asked what is most needed in the community,
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the universal response is “Something for our young people.” One respondent remarks,
“They walk the streets. Go cruising. They are accepted into places where Victor wasn’t
when he was a kid.” Victor confirms this as his key concern: “They need anything to get
Ninety-year-old Ms. Lottie Henry, who has lived in the neighborhood most of her
life, laments the loss of a college in the community for African Americans. The college
was founded by the AME in the 19th century. Later it was reduced to a high school and
then the public schools bought the facility. It is clear that the loss of the neigborhood
there is also the opinion that the churches have lost their
through the communities, visit, talk with young people. . . .That isn’t the case anymore.”
church was built by the members, who went down to the river and hauled stones to the
site for the construction. Inside, the blocks are exposed except for natural pine wainscot,
ceiling, and chancel. The pulpit is hand-made and centered with a small communion
table in front. The pews are plain benches built by members of the church. They were in
the original building. Many of the pews have the names of people who made them
inscribed on the bottom. When asked what they remember as the most central story or
event in the life of Tabernacle Church, everyone is quick to refer to or give their
recollections of the building of the current structure. In fact the building as visible sign
59
of community seems to hold this congregation together. Families who built it possess a
strong sense of loyalty connected to that experience. Anna Mattox remembers helping to
The church has had one long-term ministry by an ordained pastor who had some
seminary education, but it has been served over the years mostly by lay pastors. The
majority of their pastors have been itinerant ministers who lived outside the community.
They have had a difficult time for many years finding leadership. The two pastors
“I had been following Victor for a long time. I prayed over
this. I had a dream about being in church and God told me immediately prior to Victor were
that Victor would be the next pastor. Bruce (Ford) had gone
to colleges looking for someone to lead our church. He lay ministers. One served for four
couldn’t find anyone. When they told me Victor was going to
be the pastor, I got to shoutin’ and jumpin’.” Anna Mattox
years, the other about one year.
Victor Price was approved as the pastor of Tabernacle in December, 1998. Since
his coming, attendance has increased to about twenty- five people for Sunday worship.
He works full- time in maintenance at Phillips/Magnavox Five Rivers plant. He did not
grow up in a Christian home and did not go to church regularly. He was baptized in
Friendship Baptist nearby, felt called to preach the Gospel and was put on a one-year trial
When the pastor at Tabernacle announced he was leaving, Anna Mattox knew of
Victor’s call. She asked Victor if he would be interested in serving the Tabernacle
congregation. She told him that he would need to go through the Commissioned Lay
Pastor program. Speaking of this initiative from the Tabernacle Session, Victor modestly
says, “I felt like I didn’t have the right to tell them no.” In response, he started the
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Members are clear about the qualities they want in their pastoral leadership. They
want someone who is a part of their community, someone with whom they themselves
and others can identify, someone who preaches at a level with which everyone can relate.
They want someone who “stands tall in the community.” Suggesting that Victor fits
denomination of which they are a part and to those denominations which typically require
a graduate degree for pastoral leadership and ordained ministry. They raise the question
of what constitutes a viable “CLPs are very good about involvement in presbytery. Their
motivations, attitudes, and commitments are positive. They have a
different sense of calling than seminary educated ministers. They
congregation and, by already have a profession; this is a call of the Spirit.”
--Bruce Ford, Associate Executive Presbyter
inference, they ask the church
financial feasibility and local economics? Or, does viability have to do with religious
capital and thus with the mission of the church? From a strictly financial construction of
viability these congregations should not exist. Yet, each of the churches cited above have
Pastors and, as a consequence, have augmented the religious capital of their communities
and neighborhoods. More than that they embody a profound faithfulness that will not be
thwarted by financial exigencies. They will find a way to survive. The Commissioned
Lay Pastors program enables them to serve with integrity and mission within their own
faith traditions.
These churches and their leadership, and indeed the Commissioned Lay Pastor
Program, thus present the denominations with the challenge of providing contextually
61
fitting pastoral leadership. Should pastoral leadership be only for those congregations
who are upwardly mobile enough to afford clergy with graduate degrees? Even if funds
were available to provide a seminary educated clergy person as the pastor of one of these
congregations, would that constitute an appropriate and fitting assignment and would it
Gladstone, Michigan is a town of 4600 people on the Lake Michigan side of the
Upper Peninsula. It is a quiet, tidy family town, attractive for its recreational and
retirement resources. Gladstone was first settled in 1877 and named Sanders Point. It
was incorporated ten years later and named for the British statesman William Ewart
dreamed of it becoming the Chicago of the north because of rail and shipping
connections. Today, Mead Paper is its main industry and primary employer. The city lost
closed in 1983. Many local people work in Escanaba, about eight miles south, which has
the advantage of greater economic development and manufacturing. The median family
income of $30,000 for the city is about twenty percent lower than that of the state of
Michigan but, in spite of that, poverty statistics are slightly lower than the average for the
state. Brian Horst, the city manager, takes some pride in recent economic and social
development in the city. City finances have stabilized and a new eighteen million dollar
high school is being built on a fairly large campus in the newer section of town. His
62
concerns include the needs for transition housing for poorer singles and for older people
“Each generation of ministry development is to widen the Methodist, Reorganized LDS, and
leadership. People continue to grow. In time they are
ready for new roles and ways to express their gifts.”
Member, ministry support team. Trinity Episcopal.
Trinity, with a membership under one hundred, like many churches in the Upper
Peninsula, struggled for years to provide pastoral leadership, depending on lay readers or
new seminary graduates who would come for one or two years. During this period of its
history the church was categorized as a mission church. When the Mutual Ministry
program was initiated, they were among the first to participate. At the time of our visit
they were in the third generation of formation for the ministries of the church. Three
ordained for local ministries, forming a ministry support team charged with developing
the ministries of all the people. They are no longer designated as a mission church.
When visiting the church one can feel the vitality and excitement about ministry among
the people of this congregation. When they get together to talk about their church they
63
talk about ecclesiology—the ministries of the baptized and what it means to be the
church. It is apparent that although financial constraints may have provided the occasion
for their participation in the Mutual Ministry program of the Diocese of Northern
stimulates the renewal and ongoing enthusiasm within this church. While a few members
will express their preference for a rector in the role of leadership, most of the people say
that even if they could afford it they would never go back to the old model. Their reasons
include:
• “We have watched people come alive in faith, in their gifts. There is real power in
knowing that the church went through the discernment process. God is in that
process and people are called by the church.”
• “I have become aware of the gifts of others in ways I had not before.”
• “We are working together, not owning, no turf
“To be called and affirmed wars. It is a collegial partnership.”
within the family of the church • “People not called have grown also. Everybody is
and to be able to explain our
process of mutual ministry is a so much more alive.”
great joy.” • “We have excellent homilies here. I don’t want to
Maria Maniache,
Deacon/union officer at Mead
hear the same person every Sunday.”
Paper. • “The names or the congregation are drawn and
every one is prayed for daily.”
Member responses to the question of what changes they see as a result of mutual ministry
(women at the altar), and “the opportunity for regular Eucharist”. One person
64
“The first Sunday I came was a The service was led by
Sunday in June. . . .There were commissioned and ordained
few people and no children. They graduates of the Mutual Ministry
all sat on the end of the pews, in Program, members of the
separate pews. It was very congregation. It was an
private. I didn’t take the inspiring service in which the
Eucharist. I wasn’t invited.” Word was preached [quite well],
Carol Clark, Mutual Ministry the Eucharist was celebrated,
ordained priest and preacher, and the people sang and
retired nurse,on her first prayed and passed the Peace.
impression of Trinity before the Ed Martin, from field notes,
initiation of Mutual Minitry. December 6, 1998.
When asked what they saw as problems in the mutual ministry model,
respondents generally were hard-pressed to come up with issues that were not
manageable. They say that initially it was sometimes difficult to know who was “in
charge”. Finances are still a struggle, but they are much better than before. There have
been a few people alienated by the discernment process, but all- in-all members consider
that problems are far fewer and less daunting than before they initiated the model.
The local E.L.C.A. pastor, Jonathan Schmidt says that it took some time for him
to figure out what was going on at Trinity, to realize what their model of ministry is. In
his two years in Gladstone, however, he has come to appreciate the high quality of
ministry and public leadership of the Trinity congregation. He notes that whenever the
Among the programs and congregations that we visited Northern Michigan has
been the most theologically intentional about structuring their judicatory-based programs.
They think of their approach as formation rather than training or education. They have
change in the understanding and practice of ministry, basing that understanding and
65
Bishop Jim Kelsey , who succeeded Tom Ray in 1999, says that the Mutual
Ministry model is not just an avenue for a cheap priests, but a means for the whole
community to take on ministry. The role of the Canon IX priest is quite different from a
seminary-trained priest. Our goal is to have more than one person in a congregation that
is Canon IX and more than one permanent deacon. Because there is no priest in charge
seminary-trained leadership has been involved in the role of ministry delivery, in mutual
Our experience with Trinity Church confirms that their outcomes match their
Trinity is not a lone example of success but is an illustration of what is happening across
the Diocese of Northern Michigan in churches that choose to participate in the Mutual
Ministry program.
.”I came away convinced that a lens is being ground in Northern Michigan which could throw critical
questions ~ questions about church structure, questions about the very nature of ordained ministry --
into new and sharper focus. Out of the praxis of which were oppressed communities within the
church, a theology of ministerial liberation is emerging.
. . . what is happening at Trinity is more than the blossoming of "lay ministry" or the establishment of
‘team ministry,’ and certainly far more than the ordination of local priests. What is underway and
often overlooked by those outside --is a radical transformation of consciousness about what it means
to be church.” From “Liberating the Baptized, Shared Ministry In Northern Michigan”
by Marianne Arbogast The Witness, August/September 1994, pp 8-10
66
SCOPE (Southern Conference Ordination Preparation Education), Eastern North
Carolina.
The SCOPE program of the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ
serves the Eastern North Carolina Association. The director of the program, Raymond
Hargrove, is a graduate of its first class. He went on to complete M.Div. and D.Min
degrees and is currently the interim Southern Conference minister and Eastern North
alternative path to ordination. It is structured to meet the needs of “In the black community
the sense of call
precedes everything
a set of congregations whose common context has more to do else. That becomes the
driving force. The
with cultural and historical factors than with demographics. The response becomes ‘I’ll
do whatever is needed
to fulfill this call.’
congregations served by this program come out of the Afro- SCOPE becomes part of
the validation process of
their ministry.”
Christian tradition founded by James O’Kelly. Many of these Raymond Hargrove
the years immediately following the Civil War. They became part of the U.C.C. as a
call pastoral leadership from within the community based on the recognition and
demonstration of pastoral gifts. Most of the churches were originally rural, established in
African American communities across the tobacco and cotton belt of eastern North
and/or rural population decline. Students in the SCOPE program tend to be already
serving congregations, some of them for a considerable length of time. For them SCOPE
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provides the opportunity to enhance their leadership knowledge and skill. We visited
with two graduates and two current students of SCOPE. Their stories provide an entree
to the context and history of ministry leadership served by this program. In order to
thicken our understanding we spent time with the Rocky Branch congregation and their
William Carr, a graduate of SCOPE, has been the pastor of Arches Grove U.C.C.
membership from Graham and Burlington. They average about one hundred attending
worship on any given Sunday. The congregation was organized in 1875 in a brush arbor
near the current site by a man named Archer, hence the name Arches Grove. The church
split during the previous pastorate and Carr was called because of his skill in reconciling
and healing ministry. He has served three congregations prior to Arches Grove; all have
been in crisis when he came. He says that he learned his model for working with
was greatly involved in the conference from the age of sixteen, attending the conference
meetings every year. His father was a deacon. At sixteen he was elected as
superintendent of the Sunday School and at twenty-one was named to the diaconate. By
the time he was twenty-five, he was elected chair of the board of deacons. In his early
forties he felt called into ministry and enrolled in a Bible institute in Greensboro, a “white
school”, he says. “By that time I had six kids, but I always wanted some kind of study.”
He began his ministry in the summer of 1971 at Bishops Temple, a church of forty
members that had to move because of urban redevelopment. From there he went to
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Emmanuel Church, originally a white congregation that went through transition to
entered the second class of the SCOPE program. He received his certificate of completion
in 1988 and was ordained that same year. Until 1988 he was licensed as a local minister
by the Eastern North Carolina Association of the Southern Conference. “Nobody knew I
wasn’t ordained,” he says. “I served on every committee [in the conference and
association] because they needed one of us.” When asked why he enrolled in SCOPE
since he obviously did not need the credentials, he responded: “I felt a need. It’s like
anything else. You have to keep up to date. In life you never get to a point where you’ve
got it made. The world is constantly changing and we need to continually grow. God
called us to minister to the changing world and you can’t minister to people if you don’t
[keep up]. SCOPE helped me reflect theologically. It asked of me, where does this fit
into your faith? Maybe you don’t agree with everyt hing [in your study] but you
understand the logic of it. The church is not stationary. People are the church.”
an area effected by urban sprawl. Allen describes it as a family type, relationship based
congregation of about fifty active members. While the church was a little larger in the
past, they have remained about the same size over the years. Their ministers have always
69
own printing business, attends classes on Saturdays in the associate degree program at
Shaw University. He is about half- way through SCOPE. Before “accepting the call to
ministry” he was a deacon in his home church. Describing his call he says, “I felt like
God was giving me a sermon. I talked with my pastor and he said that often God calls
people into ministry in this way. I tried to resist the call, but once I decided to be
obedient to the voice of God, things began to change.” The mentoring relationships of
his home pastor and of a professor at Shaw have been very important formational
professionals and other people working in the public sphere. About two thirds are rural
and one third urban. The church is growing with a strong 18-35 age group and, according
to Thomas, a high level of energy and creativity. Using their buildings to full capacity,
they average about 200 in attendance for Sunday worship and Sunday School. Their
unexpectedly in the pastoral search process. Late in that process, the search committee
“There are those who deacon for a number of years and was serving as chair of the
have wanted to cut back
on associate degree board when called to be their pastor. The former pastor had
programs. I have resisted
that because there are so
many churches that need been his mentor and model for leadership. He says that at
leadership. Someone
needs to say, ‘this is
important.’” first he was concerned about becoming the pastor of his
Dr. Joe Paige, Faculty
,Shaw University
home congregation, but after conversations with the
70
association minister and a period of prayer and discernment, he was led to say “yes to
God”. When the church extended a call to him he went to the conference office for a
Veola Johnson enrolled in SCOPE in 1986, after a period of resisting the call to
“In 1985 I felt
ministry. She finished the program in 1995. called to preach.
I rejected it totally
at first. It (her
Johnson says that she has been active in church call) was
confirmed by a
as long as she can remember, involved in music pastor friend. In
1986 I accepted
this call. I prayed
ministry and as a Sunday School teacher. In about it. Why not
my husband, not
me. I would
1991 she went to Union Grove U.C.C. as an support him all
the way but not
assistant and stayed on as the pastor in 1993 me.”
Veola Johnson
when the former pastor left. Union Grove is
family style congregation of about fifty active members. Currently, they meet in a
converted house but plan to build a new building soon. Summing up her vision for the
church, she says, “We want to see ourselves as more than just a haven, but as
contributing to the community. We want to have a daycare for children and for the
elderly. We want to do things for families. We also want to start a tutorial program. We
are already part of a group that feeds people in the area. We contribute money and food.
We are looking for spiritual growth and growth in numbers. We worship once a week
and have a prayer service. We plan to add a Wednesday night worship once a month.”
Rocky Branch U.C.C., Buckhorn, NC. was started as a brush arbor church in
1870. It is a country church, well- maintained, sited on a large piece of land surrounded
71
by tobacco fields. The church building burned in 1987 and was rebuilt the following
year. Recently they have added a new wing for classrooms, church offices, and a pastor’s
study. They average just under a hundred in attendance each Sunday. According to
Deacon Ruben O’Neill, Sr., who has been a deacon of the church for twenty years,
ministers have never lived in the community. As he puts it, “They were only preachers,
not pastors”, coming only on the weekends. While their current pastor, Harvey
Hartsfield, does not live within the community, he does spend “pastoral time” there.
We visited with Mrs. Georgia Shaw and her daughter Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Shaw, the
elder “Mother of the Church,” is in her 90’s. She has been a member of the church since
1925. Mrs. Smith is the church historian. She was baptized in the creek, which flows
through the church property, when she was ten years old. She told us of changes in the
church over the years. Membership of the church has remained relatively stable, but
where there was once a resident community with a school, most people now drive from a
distance, some from as far away as Raleigh and the southern border of Virginia. The
Sunday School numbers have declined as the congregation has gotten older. Most of the
children now are grandchildren of church members. They once had revival meetings
with three services a day. Now they only have night services, and they have trouble
getting people out for those. No longer are revivals for purposes of conversion but have
become means for revitalizing the membership. Before Hartsfield came, the church met
only once a month for worship. When he began his ministry they changed to twice a
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Harvey Hartsfield works as an Associate Funeral director and as a teacher’s
“A lot I have done in my personal life has led back to ministry. When I was assistant at a local
asked to become a deacon, I thought that was my calling, but it was not a
satisfying call. I was an industrial supervisor at the time of my call. I
changed my occupation to insurance agent to give more time to study and school. Rocky
preparation for ministry.” Harvey Hartsfield
Branch is the second
church that he has served. Like others we interviewed he was mentored into ministry as a
he conducts two bible studies every week at the church. About forty people attend each
of these. He wants to make use of the new church wing for some kind of community
service. At first they were planning to offer a day-care for children, but because of
liability issues they are now considering some sort of senior citizens care center.
His spouse, Joyce Hartsfield, a sixth grade teacher, has also responded to the call
to ministry. She has completed one course in the SCOPE program but is finding it
difficult to get courses that are near enough and offered in workable time blocks. Rocky
Branch has called her as associate minister though she is not licensed by the association.
“We work together,” she says. To which he replies in confirmation, “When I was sick
experience God’s calling and are confirmed and mentored into ministry by their
churches. The question that SCOPE addresses is how to recognize and enrich the locally
73
Nebraska Shared Ministry: Gloria Dei, Grace, Berea, and St. Mark E.L.C.A.
Churches
Chappell to Oshkosh, Nebraska, in the counties of Cheyenne, Deuel, and Garden. Once
centered among thriving farm communities, these churches struggle with the problems of
declining population associated with the major part of the Nebraska panhandle.
Community businesses and institutions throughout this area are engaged in a struggle for
survival. Along Highway 30 from Sidney to the intersection with I-80, small towns that
once bustled with activity present a ghostly quiet. Boarded up buildings give mute
testimony to what once was and is no more. In Lodgepole the vacant and weathered
opera house reflects the losses of the past forty years in even greater human depth than
the declining census numbers for that period. From 1960-1990 Cheyenne County, which
includes Sidney, dropped from 15,000 people to 9,500. In the same period Deuel
declined from 3,100 to 2,200, and Garden, from 3,500 to 2,500. While a one-third
decrease in population itself is startling in its significance, the deficit in local financial
and cultural capital precipitated by that exodus is staggering. In the midst of such
change two-thirds of the people remain adapting and recreating communities reflective of
the times. Berea, Gloria Dei, Grace, and St. Mark churches are among those, redefining
Evangelical Lutheran. Prior to the 1960’s it was the largest of the four congregations.
Today it has about forty-five members. In 1955, at the peak of its growth, it built a new
74
building and changed its name to Gloria Dei. Its building is a fine facility, well-
Grace Church began about forty years ago in Chappell as a split from the local
Missouri Synod church. It has never had more than about forty members. It meets in a
small but attractive church building facing Highway 30.Today it has about 30 members.
the 1950’s.
St. Mark is the largest of the four churches with one hundred and forty active
members, and a Sunday attendance of eighty. Founded in 1906, St. Mark had been yoked
with Grace Lutheran Church Lewellen until 1997, at which time it chose to go with the
shared ministry.
With the leadership of Keith Pfeifly at Berea and Brenda Pfeifly at St. Mark, these
four churches have covenanted together to share three ministers, two ordained and one
parish ministry assistant. The three ministers rotate worship leadership among the
churches, spending two Sundays with a congregation before moving on to the next. They
share pastoral ministries according to particular gifts that each brings to their vocation.
“We know there always is a pastor here. There is someone affecting the churches. Two of
to call on. This saved us from closing our doors.”
Church Member the churches were no longer able
75
to attract seminary-educated leadership and had called Parish Ministry Associates,
among the pastoral leaders and among the churches they serve eventuated in a trip to
review a shared ministry approach in North Dakota, the Tri-County Ministry. This
one time involving eleven area churches, ten Lutheran and one Presbyterian.
the participating churches, eventuating in the four congregations cited above deciding to
In conversations with members of the task force it is clear that although pastoral
leadership enabled the vision to take shape, the process and outcome was lay leadership
driven. As one task force member informed us, the pastors did not meet with the
committee every time, and when they did, the committee always met for one hour prior to
the presence of the clergy. According to Keith Pfeifly, each congregation moved slowly
and deliberately into the new model. They see this as a long-term strategy, not as a stop-
gap measure. Members of the congregations in various ways asserted that this strategy
has enabled them to look beyond a mentality of survival. There has been some resistance
from a minority of folk. No one we interviewed was openly opposed to the shared
ministry, but they reported that there was opposition within their congregations. A few,
concerned about the continuity of ministry within their community, did not like the team
concept. Others were resistant to women in the ministry and feared that the team
76
When asked to compare ordained leadership with Parish Ministry Associates,
interviewees unanimously spoke highly of the PMAs who have served their
One can detect “There always is a need for ordained pastors to assure good order in
the whole church. The issue is what pastors and lay people can do
together. This model is sort of a return to the model of the 18th and
here some underlying 19th centuries. Circuit riders would visit churches periodically, but
most congregations got along quite well.”
ambivalence. In terms of --Shared Ministry Task Force Member
practice the PMAs function very well, but there remains the suspicion that the churches
get something more, something less tangible, in a seminary-trained person. When asked,
if they could afford a seminary educated pastor , would they still choose a PMA, the
answer was “no”. They believed that an “ordained pastor had more cards to play”, more
Nevertheless, when the conversation turned to the Parish Ministry Associate who
is currently a member of the team, there was only prais e. Judy Gifford is a middle-aged
woman who entered the first class of PMAs. She had been very active in Lutheran
Women’s work and was a church secretary. She has an A.A. degree, but because of
family responsibilities never went on to complete her B.A. She notes that two of the five
students in her PMA class went on to seminary and that she would like to do that also but
does not have the resources. She drives ninety miles from Paxton to Chappell every
week and spends three days on the field. She obviously loves her ministry and goes
about it with energy and enthusiasm. The one sermon we heard her preach was well-
77
constructed, thoughtful, and delivered in a warm, relational style. Her worship leadership
is done with authority and presence. People find her to be a caring and personable
minister.
The Parish Ministry Associates program was begun as a means to enrich the
leadership of local congregations and many of its students begin their program wanting to
improve their skills and knowledge in what the y are already doing in their churches. The
serious shortage of pastoral leadership in the region, however, has caused the PMA
program to become a source for supply and interim ministers, and in some cases sole
pastors. The Shared Ministry experiment offers another possibility that teams seminary
educated and judicatory educated people in collegial ministries, addressing the issue of
declining local financial and institutional capital by reconfiguring the presence of pastoral
leadership in a long term mission strategy. Instead of mirroring the social isolation and
resistance to change that is a part of their context, these congregations are being renewed
of the expanding sense of mission is the gift to the E.L.C.A. Synod of Nebraska by a
member of the Gloria Dei Church of nearly a section of prime wheat and prairie land.
Now named Sullivan Hills Outdoor Ministry Camp, the project is envisioned as an
programs suggests that denominations must attend to the varieties of options that may be
available to prepare persons for authorized ministries. In many cases, these programs tend
78
to democratize access to substantial theological education. These programs engage
people in the midst of their home and life situations and return them to ministry in those
locations. The programs may have another significant purpose: to fulfill the needs for
adult theological education. To some extent, the programs continue the lay education
movements of the 1950’s and 1960’s. This is evidenced in those programs that tend to
graduate persons who stay in their present life situations. There is not an exodus of
persons from one life work or vocation into full time church work. In this way, the
not a new phenomenon as Timothy George documents well in “The Baptist Tradition” in
Theological Education in the Evangelical Tradition, ed. D.G. Hart and R. Albert Mohler,
Jr.
Our site visits to congregations indicate that preparation for ministry in one of the
ministry leadership, given the contextual situations and needs being served. At the same
time, we found a longing, in some settings, for a seminary trained clergy person.
However, in all cases this was not predicated on the inadequacy of the lay pastor or
commissioned leader trained in the judicatory program. In more than one situa tion
ministry leadership had been redefined and reconfigured adding both breadth and depth
complexity, the diversity, and the multiplicity of these programs. To state any one
79
implication from our study may address one program and its context, but it may not speak
to another situation. However, we do believe there are some common issues that call for
further discussion and action among those responsible for denominational judicatory
programs, those in national denomination offices charged with theological education, and
inclusion of the multitude of gifts of the baptized, and the democratization of theological
study are attributes which we have seen to one degree or another in each of our visits.
Nonetheless, our study reveals some critical issues that need to be addressed when any
First, our research confirms for us that local or regionally developed theological
education programs are workable options that support the mission of congregations often
with the needs of those congregations and taken from a local pool of leaders that desire to
exercise their baptismal gifts in authorized ministries. We suggest that more research is
readiness for ministry and their roles within a specific denomination’s mission.
The second issue has to do with the manner in which these programs can move
beyond being developed to meet a crisis or problem (for example, the small, under
funded congregatio n), to existing in mission that supports the renewal of local
congregations and their wider communities. It is important that the renewing and
80
whole church and its future, not just as interim arrangements. Denominations and
discussions of the nature and deployment of theologically trained people. The Northern
Third, the programs require resources for educational design and curricular
content. These programs must direct their courses of study to students of quite diverse
educational backgrounds. At the same time, student constituencies may be less plural
culturally and theologically than membership in their wider denominations and student
communicate with some regularity and to have available resources to assess the inputs
and outcomes of their educational practices and the quality of mentoring required to
guide students through programs that have limited on-campus involvement. Witho ut
exception there is a need for curricular materials that are learner oriented, designed for
in the long run, these programs will offer the depth and breadth of ministry preparation
that is sufficient to meet the demands that called forth the alternative model of education
are the topics that allow for an informed discussion of what constitutes the depth and
breadth of education necessary for ministry preparation. Within these discussions should
81
be a serious consideration of the relationship of theological education models and the
ecclesial communities for whom leadership is prepared. As well, our research has
ministry leadership and the forms that leadership takes. Efforts must continue to define
within and among denominations the ways innovation may occur in the delivery systems
of theological education.
of “professional” preparation for ministry and re- introduce the notion of ecclesial
programs and regional theological schools, together, present the possibility for a broader,
richer fabric of education for ministry leadership and, consequently, a fuller recognition
and use of the gifts of the baptized. Wider theological education is facing the question of
the appropriate role and interconnection among its institutional parts. How is it possible
their limits?
The above issues and challenges are real. For the present, alterna tives to graduate
experience God’s life-changing presence and to celebrate Scripture, the historical witne ss
82
of the church, and reason, as guides for making God’s presence alive, in themselves and
in the world.”
for the shape of theological education for this era: what is the relationship between
ordained and lay leadership; what is meant by the ministry of the baptized or the
priesthood of all believers; and what is the relation of context to the nature of ministry?
We believe these programs are here to stay for the long haul and that they have the
potential for the renewal of the church and for fuller recognition and inclusion of the
83
Appendices
THIS BRIEF QUESTIONNAIRE WILL HELP TO DEVELOP A BRIEF PROFILE OF THE TYPE OF
ALTERNATIVE THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS THAT PREPARE PERSONS FOR VARIOUS
TYPES OF AUTHORIZED MINISTRY. WE ASK YOU TO READ THE RESEARCH PROJECT
DESCRIPTION ON THE BACK OF THE ENCLOSED LETTER. IT OUTLINES THE SCOPE OF THE
PROJECT. WE ASK THAT YOU RETURN THE QUESTIONNAIRE IN THE ENCLOSED ENVELOPE. WE
ASK THAT YOU SEND US ADDITIONAL MATERIALS DESCRIBING YOUR PROGRAM. NOTE: TWO
QUESTIONNAIRES ARE ENCLOSED IN THE EVENT YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE PROGRAM . YOU
MAY REQUEST MORE QUESTIONNAIRES OR INFORMATION BY E-MAILING US AT:
ateproj@pclink.com OR BY CALLING US AT 612-633-4311 EXT 137.
______________________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
____an independent effort of a judicatory (if checked, note below location of judicatory)
____regional
____national
____a cooperative effort of a judicatory and seminary
____a seminary developed program
____a cooperative effort of the judicatory with another educational institution or school
____other (please describe)
84
⇐and⇒
7. Types of students the program primarily 8. Type of ministry for which program is
is directed to serve: (check as many as apply) intended to prepare persons:
(check
as apply)
_____bi-vocational ____ordained
_____second career ____commissioned or licensed
_____ethnic minority ____general lay leadership
_____other (please describe) ____other (please describe)
9. Estimated number of program graduates serving in ministry for which they were prepared:
_______
⇐and⇒
10. Funding of the program is: 11. If tuition or fees are charged, who pays?
(check all that apply) (check all that apply)
Name of person completing this questionnaire (in the event follow-up is needed):
85
Survey Telephone Questionnaire:
Program Directors
1. I note that your program was founded in ______. Would you tell me something about what was
“behind” the program’s founding?
Cue: Did denominational leaders sense there were particular issues that stimulated founding the
program?
2. Who were to be the main beneficiaries of the program, that is, were there any groups or target
audiences to benefit from the program?
3. At this time we would like to discuss your students. Would you tell me about several students you
might term as “typical”?
86
Cue: Does the seminary/college have any control over courses, admissions?
Is there any degree granted through the college or seminary for work
completed in your program?
10. How would you describe the ways your program forms or shapes persons
in their intellectual and spiritual lives?
Cue: Use words such as “spiritual formation” and “functional skill development”
11. Would you tell me about a couple of people who have completed your full course
of study in terms of how you see them applying their work in their program?
Cue: Are any lay pastors, cannon IX priests, or other authorized or commissioned
ministries?
Have any engaged the ordination preparation process?
Have any gone to seminary or other advanced study?
12.. We are interested in interviewing two students and two faculty from two programs. Would you
be willing to give us names that we could contact?
13. Are there any insights you would like to share about the emergence of these special theological
education programs that you believe would assist in our research process?
We do wish to talk with others. Would you be willing to give us the names of two
87
Survey Telephone Questionnaire:
Faculty/Teachers
1. Would you tell me something about how you heard about and were asked to be an instructor in the
study program offered by _____(insert name of program______.
• Cue: How long have you been involved in the program?
• Cue: How many courses have you taught: get titles/topics.
• Cue: Before being asked to engage in this work, had you heard about the program?
• Cue: What had you thought about the program –that is, did you have any preconceived ideas
about it?
• Describe some of the motivations for study you see in the students who were in the course(s) you
taught?
2. At this time we would like to discuss your students. Would you tell me about several students you
might term as “typical”?
6. We are interested in how people are eligible to study in the program? How do you understand the
background requirements for study in the program
7. Tell us about how you understand the governance of the program in which you taught?
• Cue: How is it governed?
• If people have complaints, who hears and acts on them?
• Does the governing board set policy, such as designing curriculum,
• approving those folk who sU.C.C.essfully have completed the program.
• Cue: How are faculty and students involved in this governance, e.g., in shaping curriculum…?
88
• Cue: Was there a unique teaching approach or method you took to address the uniqueness of this
educational set up or situation.
• Cue: How would you describe the educational method of your program?
--emphasis on in-class discussion/work/content
--emphasis on relating study to church/ministry context
--use of case studies
• Cue: Was there a syllabus with reading and writing assignments?
• Cue: Is there a process of evaluation?
• Is this evaluation similar or different than other evaluations you have given in your other teaching?
9. How would you describe the ways your program forms or shapes persons in their intellectual and
spiritual lives?
• Cue: Use words such as “spiritual formation” and “functional skill development”
10. Were you paid an honorarium for teaching? Does the amount compare with stipends paid, for
example, in other professional setting in which you have worked?
• Cue: Church
• Cue: Teaching in a college or seminary?
11. Would you tell me about a couple of people you know about who have completed your full course
of study in terms of how you see them applying their work in their program?
• Cue: Are any lay pastors, cannon IX priests, or other authorized or commissioned ministries?
12. Have any engaged the ordination preparation process?
13. Have any gone to seminary or other advanced study?
• Cue: What goals do you have for yourself?
14. Are there any insights you would like to share about this course of study that would help us gain an
insight into how it serves those it benefits?
• Cue: What are the strengths of the program in which you taught?
• Cue: Are there any particular issues or problems you see present in your program?
15. What do you see are the advantages for the church in having a program such as this?
16. What are the problems for the church?
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Survey Telephone Questionnaire:
Students
1. Would you tell me something about how you heard about and got involved in the study program
offered by _____(insert name of program______.
• Cue: Who was the main figure to encourage you to engage in this study: pastor, spouse, friend….? --
or was it just yourself?
• Cue: Would you tell me something about your background that leads you into this type of study?
What
• Cue: Did you pastor tell you about this program or did you hear about it from another source?
• Cue: Was the key reason you engaged in the program to secure some sort of authorized
ministry within your denomination? (By authorized ministry I mean some sort of recognized ministry
that involves certification, licensure as well as ordination?)
2. Describe some of the motivations for study you see in your fellow students to engage in this course of
study?
3. At this time we would like to discuss your students. Would you tell me about several students you
might term as “typical”?
7. We are interested in how people are eligible to study in your program. Would you outline the
procedure of admission:
90
• If people have complaints, who hears and acts on them?
• Does the governing board set policy, such a designing curriculum,
• approving those folk who sU.C.C.essfully have completed the program.
• Cue: How are students involved in this governance, e.g., in shaping curriculum…?
10. Do you get any academic credit for your study through a seminary or college?
11. Would you tell me about a course that would be a representative example of
courses taken in your program?
14. Would you tell me about a couple of people who have completed your full course
of study in terms of how you see them applying their work in their program?
• Cue: Are any lay pastors, cannon IX priests, or other authorized or commissioned ministries?
15. Have any engaged the ordination preparation process?
16. Have any gone to seminary or other advanced study?
• Cue: What goals do you have for yourself?
17. Are there any insights you would like to share about this course of study that would help us gain an
insight into how it serves those it benefits?
• Cue: What are the strengths of the program you are in?
• Cue: Are there any particular issues or problems you see present in your program?
18. . We do wish to talk with others. Would you be willing to give us the names of one
91
Program Site Visit Protocol
Alternatives in Theological Education Project
1. Context
Location
Program description
Meeting space
Number of attendees
Sponsorship
2. Participation
Why people commit to this program of study
Community developed in this program that keeps a person involved.
Importance of program to keep ongoing participation
3. Journey
How it comes about that one decides to be in the program
Benefits of the journey
Hardships of the journey
4. Formation
How a person’s life is influenced (shaped or changed) by being in the program
How the educational community stimulates growth
How the style of education is implemented, e.g., through
Readings Worship
In class work Practice
Instructional methods Knowledge
Interactions
5. Institutional Form
How one sees the program as a school
How one sees the program as a school of the church
How and why the program exists
Why the program is in this place
Strengths and weaknesses
6. Transformation or Outcomes
Needs met by person being in program
Ecclesial needs being met
Changes in congregation resulting from participation in the program
Changes in wider community resulting from program particpation
Beneficiaries of program
7. Interviewees
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Preparatory Requests for Congregational Visits
93
Site Visit Protocol
q Where/when was the congregation founded? Wider historical context of that founding?
q Key changes that have occurred over time shaping congregation and wider community.
q Whom do congregation members see themselves as in the larger community? (As a
congregation? As individuals?)
Founders? Builders? Innovators? Leaders?
q Sense of feeling about that history: good, satisfied, disappointed, et.al. Has this sense
changed in any way?
q How does congregation look upon itself: continuous or discontinuous with the past?
q How do people describe themselves in their wider community and denomination?
q How is current church life and practice described?
q How does the lay pastor model conform to, conflict with, or shape current identity?
q How does the congregation see both its place and purpose in the local community: de facto
and envisioned?
q How does the congregation see its relation to the denomination?
q How does the congregation see its relation to a wider/global world?
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Alternatives in Theological Education:
A Questionnaire
While some questions require a brief written response, we ask that you be sU.C.C.inct and use key words
or concepts that you believe convey your experience in the program. Other responses require a check off.
Your replies are confidential.
Please note: when you read the initials “ATE” (alternative in theological education program), please
substitute, in your mind, the course of study in which you participate(d).
⇓
4. Briefly note something about your life history that led you to participate in the ATE program?
Comments might include work, history of volunteer work, family experience, a key life incident,
avocations, etc.
⇓
5. As you consider your involvement in your home congregation prior to entering the ATE program,
would you say that you were:
comment:
⇓
6. How were you introduced to the possibility of engaging in a course of study through the ATE program
in which you are (were) engaged? If there are several influences, rank them 1,2, 3 etc. (with 1 being
most important.
____suggestion of pastor
____suggestion of spouse
____suggestion of friends
____suggestion of denominational official
____suggestion of another person in ATE program
____personal discernment or insight
____suggestion from or discernment from congregation
____other (comment)
⇓
7. Check the education you completed prior to your being admitted to the ATE program:
I completed: (check the “last” education you completed)
____high school
____vocational or technical school
____some college
____basic college degree
____graduate study
____other (note or comment)
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8. Check all that apply below that relate to your experience prior to being in the ATE program preparing
you for ministry:
I engaged in:
____study groups in my congregation
____denominational study retreat or continuing education events
____interdenominational study retreats or continuing education events
____personal study and reading in areas of religion or theology or
ministry
____took a seminary course
____on campus
____off campus
comment:
⇓
⇓
9. Note one key way the ATE program met your expectations and one key way the program
did not meet your expectations:
Met Expectations:
⇓
10. In what ways did you feel challenged in the course of study in which you engaged and in what ways
did you feel least challenged?
Most challenged:
Least challenged:
⇓
11. After completing the ATE basic requirements, how would you term your continuing leadership
involvement within your home congregation?
______significantly less involvement
______less involvement
______involvement about the same
______more involvement
______significantly more involvement
comment:
⇓
12. Because of your study in the ATE Program, were you: (check one)
____ordained ____commissioned ____licensed or certified
note designation other than given above:
⇓
13. If your study has led to placement or assignment or call where your gifts in ministry are used, how did
this take place?
⇓
13b. Was your call/assignment in your ___home membership congregation
___other congregation
___community or service ministry
___other (note this)
96
14. Briefly describe the site and context of your place of ministry (e.g., I assist a pastor in two small rural
parishes that have membership of less than 20 and cannot afford a pastor….)
⇓
15. Is there a stipend associated with you ministry? ____yes _____no
(go to “17” if you answer “no”)
⇓
16. If there is a stipend, how important is the income from this work to your total financial well being?
_____stipend is very important for my total financial well being
_____stipend is important “ “
_____stipend is neither important or unimportant “ “
_____stipend is unimportant “ “
comment:
⇓
⇓
17. Is your ministry: ___basically supply preaching
_ __part time in one church
___part time in more than one church
___full time in one church
___full time in several churches
Comment on other option if relevant:
⇓
18. Besides your ministry (noted in 17, above), indicate other work in which you, also, engage:
___ no other work (if checked go on to 19)
⇓
19. How would you describe your relationship with other seminary-trained clergy in the community where
you minister?
Among other clergy in your community
____very accepted
____accepted
____accepted with reservations
____not accepted
comment:
⇓
20. How would you describe your relationship with other seminary-trained clergy in your denomination?
____very accepted
____accepted
____accepted with reservations
____not accepted
comment:
97
21. What additional continuing education do you find you need for want to enhance your ministry? Rank
1,2,3, etc. (with 1 being highest priority)
____more study like I have just completed
____study at a seminary
____engage in distance education (internet or other technology)
____work with a mentor
____other
Note below (in order of priority to you) subject areas in which you would like more study (e.g.,
Christian ethics, pastoral care, theology, Christian education……)
____________________ ____________________ ____________________
⇓
22. If seminary education had been available when you started the ATE program, would that have been an
option for you?
_____yes ____no ____maybe
Comment:
⇓
23. Do you have any interest in attending a seminary?
____yes, for a short period of study
____yes, for a degree
____no
⇓
24. If you have an interest in attending seminary, what is needed to make this possible? (note two things
that would make it possible and two things that hinder or limit this possibility)
⇓
25. In what ways do you see theological seminaries or schools relating to and supporting the type of
alternative for theological education in which you participated?
⇓
26. List three contributions you believe programs like the one in which you particiate(d) offer for the
future of the churches’ ministries:
98
Coding Categories
(1)About Project
(2)Actors
(2 1)Founders
(2 2)Director
(2 3)Student
(2 4)Mentor
(2 5)Teacher
(4)Ecclesiology
(5)Pedagogy
(8)Program Characteristics
(8 1)DefinedCourseCurriculum
(8 2)FacilitatedStudy
(8 3)Independent Study
(8 4)CongregationBased
(10)Ministry Leadership
(10 1)Models of
(10 2)Quality of, plus or minus
(10 3)Outcomes, Benefits, Detractions
99
(11)Role of Background Issues
(11 1)Gender in Ministry
(11 2)Ethnicity_Race in Ministry
(11 3)Age in Ministry
(12)Student Motivation
(12 1)Life Transitions
(12 2)Service to People
(12 3)Divine Will and Call
(12 4)Personal Enrichment and Formation
(15)Vocational Issues
(16)Issues to Addressed
(20)Contextual Variables
(20 1)Physical
(20 2)Economy
(20 3)History
(20 4)Change Plus or Minus
(21)Congregational Attributes
(21 1)Size of
(21 2) Constituency of
(21 3) Vision or Mission of
(21 4)Vitality of
100
(70 11)* Faculty-Honorarium
(70 12)* Spiritual Formation-Skill Formation Feedback
(70 13)* People Who Have Completed The Program
(70 14)* Names Of Students-Faculty
(70 15)* Mentor
(70 16)* Clergy Response
(70 17)* Family-Friends Response
(70 18)* Advantages-Disadvantages For The Church
(70 19)* Strengths-Weaknesses
(70 20)* Insights
(70 21)* Other
(71)Survey Questions
(71 1)*1Gender
(71 2)*2Age
(71 3)*3Denomination
(71 4)*4Biography to ATE
(71 5)*5Prior ATE Home Cong Involvement
(71 6)*6How Introduced to ATE
(71 7)*7Ed prior to ATE
(71 8)*8Prior learning study prior to ATE involvement
(71 9)*9ATE met/not meet expectations
(71 10)*10Challenge/not in ATE program
(71 11)*11Continued involvement home cong after ATE
(71 12)*12Post ATE ministry authorization
(71 13)*13Where call to
(71 13 1)*13bHow called
(71 14)*14Ministry context
(71 15)*15Stipend
(71 16)*16Stipend importance
(71 17)*17Ministry type
(71 18)*18Other work besides assigned ministry
(71 19)*19Relat community clergy
(71 20)*20Relat same denomination clergy
(71 21)*21Additional continuing ed desired
(71 22)*22Option of seminary ed before ATE
(71 23)*23Interest to attend seminary after ATE
(71 24)*24What would make possible to attend seminary
(71 25)*25How seminaries could support ATE
(71 26)*26Three contributions of ATE to future of churches' ministry
(73)Key Quotes
(100)Attributes
101
(100 1)Locations
(100 1 1)Northern Michigan
(100 1 2)Nebraska
(100 1 3)Tennessee
(100 1 4)Canada
(100 1 5)New York
(100 1 6)Texas
(100 1 7)N Carolina
(100 1 8)N. Dakota
(100 1 9)California
(100 1 10)Alaska
(100 1 11)Ohio
(100 1 12)Virginia
(100 1 13)Oklahoma
(100 1 14)Iowa
(100 1 15) Missouri
(100 1 16)S. Dakota
(100 2)Denomination
(100 2 1)U.C.C.
(100 2 2)PCUSA
(100 2 3)E.L.C.A.
(100 2 4)Episcopal
(100 2 5)UMC
(100 2 6)U.C.C.anada
(100 5)Stories
102
Partial List of Programs
Lay Academy
P.O. Box 435; DeForest, WI 53532-0435
UCC- Wisconsin Conference
Program started in 1994
Leads to: commissioned or licensed ministry, general lay leadership
Partners in Ministry
2560 Clearview Avenue NW; Canton, OH 44718
UCC- Eastern Ohio Association
Program started 1967
25 Current Students
Leads to: Certified or Licensed Ministry, general lay leadership
5 graduates serving in ministry at this time
103
Lay School of Religion
416 Wentz Street; Tiffin, OH 44883
UCC- NW Ohio Association
Programs started 1971
18 current students
Emp: commissioned or licensed ministry/general lay leadership
20+ graduates serving in ministry
Untitled Program
825 M Street, Suite 201; Lincoln, NE 68508-2251
UCC – Nebraska Conference
Program started Fall 1998
0 current students
Emp: Commissioned or licensed ministry/general lay leadership
0 graduates
Note: Cooperative effort of 2 judicatories (UCC and Disciples) in same geographic area
104
CAML/LAMP
617 N. First St.; DeKalb, IL 60115
UCC – Illinois Conference
Program started 1980’s (early)
12 current students
Emp: Licensed ministry/general lay leadership
200 graduates serving in ministry
Center/Learn
600 42nd Street; Des Moines, IA 50312
UCC – Iowa Conference
Program started 1991
30 current students
Emp: Licensed ministry/general lay leadership
28 graduates serving in ministry
LINK
UCC - Western Association, Southern Conference
SCOPE
200 Davis Road; Hillsboro, NC 27278
UCC – Southern Conference, Eastern Association. Progra m started 1982. 14 current students. Emp.
Ordained Ministry. About 20 graduates.
Episcopal Church
Institute for Christian Studies
1017 E. Robinson Street; Orlando, FL 32801
Diocese of Central Florida
Program started 1974
35-45 current students
Emp: ordained,commissioned,licensed ministry/general lay leadership
Too many graduates to count
105
Diocesan School of Theology
2100 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 4; Las Vegas, NV 89104
Diocese of Nevada
Program started 1975
50+ current students
Emp: Continuing Ed for all baptized ministers/those on Canon III.9 ordination track
N/A graduates of program
Deacons School
Box 149; Fond du Lac, WI 54936-0149
Diocese of Fond du Lac
Program started 1987
7 current students
Emp: ordained (Diaconal) ministry
8 graduates serving in ministry
Untitled
804 East Juneau Street; Milwaukee, WI 53202
Diocese of Milwaukee
Program started 1970’s
5 current students
Emp: ordained (deacons) ministry/pastoral leadership
35 graduates serving in ministry
106
Deacon Formation Program
1108 Anderson Street; Durham, NC 27705
Diocese of North Carolina
Program started 1984
8 current students
Emp: ordained (deacon) and facilitate servant ministry by lay people
28 graduates serving in ministry
107
Paths to Service
1205 Denali Way; Fairbanks, AK 99707
Diocese of Alaska
Program started 1971
14 current students
Emp: Canon 9/lay leadership
7(?) graduates serving in ministry
108
Youth Ministry School
1017 E. Robinson Street; Orlando, FL 32803
Dioceses of Florida and Central Florida
Program started 1995
20-30 current students
Emp: Commissioned or licensed ministry/general lay leadership/lay staff youth workers
? graduates
Untitled Program
510 S. Farwell Street; Eau Claire, WI 54701
Diocese of Eau Claire
Program started 1996
1 current student
Emp: ordained ministry
0 graduates (yet)
109
30 graduates serving in ministry
and
OACES Inc. (Opportunities for Adult Christian Education and Spirituality
Diocese of Oklahoma
Program started 1989
250 current students
Emp: ordained, commissioned or licensed ministry/general lay leadership
N/A graduates
110
Ohio Valley Course of Study School
221 E. Gates Street; Columbus, OH 43206
Program started 1994
196 current students
Emp: ordained,commissioned or licensed ministry
4 graduates serving in ministry (just began graduating students this year)
Note: currently they only educate part-time local pastors but they are developing a proposal to become a
regional center with a different educational model than the other centers
111
Mississippi Course of Study
Millsaps College, P.O. Box 151550; Jackson, MS 39210
Program started ?
200+ current students
Emp: ordained,commissioned, or licensed ministry
40 graduates serving in ministry
Note: included in the materials is the annual report on the program
112
Melanchthon Institute
2353 Rice Blvd.; Houston, TX 77005-2696
Texas
Program started ?
? current students
Emp: general lay leadership
N/A graduates (not a degreed program)
Disciples of Christ
Lay Theological Institute
4325 W. 29th Avenue, Suite 369; Denver, CO 80212
Colorado
Program started 1996
11 current students
Emp: commissioned or licensed ministry
10 graduates serving in ministry
113
Preacher Enrichment Preparation Program (PEPP)
1336 Montgomery Hwy. S; Birmingham, AL 35216
Alabama
Program started 1991
10 current students
Emp: ordained, commissioned or licensed ministry/general lay leadership
12 graduates serving in ministry
Lay Academy
Dept. of Religion and Philosophy/Barton College; Wilson, NC 27893
North Carolina – Barton College
Program started 1995
22 current students
Emp: commissioned or licensed ministry/general lay leadership
7 graduates serving in ministry
Lay Institute
6212 Craigmont Road; Catonsville, MD 21228-1235
Capital Area
Program started 1995
35-40 current students
Emp: Prep. for licensed ministry/general lay leadership
0 graduates (yet)
114
Presbyterian Church (USA)
CLP
1415 Waverly Road; Kingsport, TN 37664
Tennessee
Program started 1986
8 current students
Emp: commissioned ministry/general lay leadership
11 graduates (on going)
15 graduates (intermittently)
CLP
890 W. Spiller Street; Wytheville, VA
Presbytery of Abingdon (VA)
Program started 1983
5 current students
Emp: commissioned ministry
25 graduates serving in ministry
115
CLP Training
309 South Fifth Street; Grand Forks, ND 58201
Presbytery of the Northern Plains
Program started 1998
0 current students
Emp: Commissioned ministry
6 graduates serving in ministry
Untitled Program
0245 SW Bancroft, Suite D; Portland, OR 97201-4272
Presbytery of the Cascades
Program started 1998
0 current students
Emp: CLP
? graduates
CLP
2002 Schuster Pkwy, #102; Tacoma, WA 98402-5373
Presbytery of _______ (Tacoma, WA)
Program started 1996
16 current students
Emp: commissioned ministry/general lay leadership
0 graduates (yet)
Untitled Program
P.O. Box 278; Dresden, NY 14441
Presbytery of Geneva (NY)
Program started 1996
20 current students
Emp: commissioned or licensed ministry/general lay leadership
12 graduates serving in ministry
116
South Carolina Lay School of Theology
515 Oakland Avenue; Rock Hill, SC 29730
5 Presbyteries in South Carolina
Program started 1992
100 current students
Emp: commissioned ministry/general lay leadership
75 graduates serving in ministry
Note: this program trains CLP’s for Presbyterian churches – the majority of those who attend the Fall and
Spring weekends come to learn more about their Christian faith and prepare themselves to be church school
teachers, Bible leaders, etc.
CLP Program
1122 Camelot Circle; Birmingham, AL 35226
Presbytery of Sheppards & Lapsley (AL)
Program started 1995
0 current students (new class starts March 1998)
Emp: Commissioned ministry
12 graduates serving in ministry
Lay Academy
Box 1405; Storm Lake, IA 50588
Presbytery of Prospect Hill
Program started ?
22 current students
Emp: Commissioned or licensed ministry
N/A graduates (new program)
Note: Barbara Anne Keely included a letter sent to her as she is part of the leadership of this program.
117
CLP Program
4423 N. 24th Street, Suite 200; Phoenix, AZ 85016
Presbytery of Grand Canyon
Program started 1997
5 current students
Emp: commissioned or licensed ministry
0 graduates (yet)
Note: to provide alternative means of preparing lay pastors for those who are living/working in remote
areas and unable to attend seminary – also to provide a leadership pool
CLP Committee
2000 Haskell Blvd.; Muskogee, OK 74403
Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma
Program started 1987
22 current students
Emp: commissioned ministry
22 graduates serving in ministry
CLP/Pastor Training
520 2nd Avenue; South Charleston, WV 25303
Presbytery of West Virginia
Program started 1986
? current students
Emp: commissioned or licensed ministry
30 graduates serving in ministry
118
Leadership Development for Ministry
4055 Abbott Drive; Willmar, MN 56201
Presbytery of Minnesota Valleys
Program started 1992
0 current students (one time program)
Emp: ordained, commissioned or licensed ministry/general lay leadership
18 graduates serving in ministry
CLP Program
1514 E. 3rd Street; Bloomington, IN 47401-3733
Presbytery of Ohio Valley
Program started 1986
11 current students
Emp: general lay leadership (must be ordained elders)
8 graduates serving in ministry
CLP Program
1710 South Grant Street; Denver, CO 80210
Presbytery of Denver
Program started 1998
10 current students
Emp: commissioned ministry/general lay leadership
0 graduates (yet)
119
Francis Sandy Theological Centre/Ontario.
Box 446; Paris, Ontario (Canada)
Program started 1987.
7 current students
Emp: ordained, commissioned, or licensed ministry/lay pastoral ministry certification
5 graduates serving in ministry
Ecumenical Programs
120
References
Carroll, Jackson, Wheeler, Barbara, Aleshire, Daniel, and Marler, Penny Long, Being
There. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).
Hadaway, C. Kirk and Roozen, David A., Rerouting the Protestant Mainstream.
(Nashville: Abingdon, 1995). p. 122.
Hart, D.G. and Mohler, R. Albert,Jr., eds., Theological Education in the Evangelical
Tradition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996).
121