Ministerial

Practice

Handbook

2012-2013

1

Contents

Introduction

Where is God in all this?

Ministerial Practice Programme

Overseas Placements

Expenses

Guidelines for drawing up Contracts

Assessment and Reflection

Assessment of block placements

Assessment of mission studies blocks

Faith Sharing Weekend

Personal Safety

It is important to be mindful of your own safety during placements. Further information can be found in a document entitled, ‘Personal Safety at Work’ which is available on DUO.

  • Theology and Ministry Courses>Documents>Ministerial Practice>Safety at Work

We strongly recommend you read this document prior to attending your placement.

Introduction

Welcome to the Ministerial Practice Handbook. These are the parts of your training which will help to ground it in the ministry in which you will work when you leave college. We hope it will also help to connect what you learn in college to your experience of church and ministry prior to college.

During this experience you will find yourself involved in a variety of settings: urban, rural and suburban; in hospital or workplace chaplaincy; in areas of social deprivation and in places of affluence; in Fresh Expressions of church and in places deeply rooted in tradition. We hope that these experiences will help to broaden your knowledge and understanding of the church and how God works among people in our contemporary world; and that they will be a major contribution to your developing sense of vocation.

There are three main aspects to Ministerial Practice:

-Term-time placements to churches, communities and institutions

-Long vacation placements anywhere in the UK or abroad

-Mission studies blocks: two weeks immersed in a particular aspect of ministry – such as inner city ministry or relating to other faiths

We hope that these experiences will also enrich the churches, institutions and places in which you work. Supervisors have often commented on the significance for them of having a student on placement, and the privilege they feel this to be. Churches can often appreciate the different perspectives which you can bring at this particular point in your life.

Please read the handbook, and make use of it. Copies of various forms are available on DUO:

  • Theology and Ministry Courses>Documents>Ministerial Practice>WSC Placement Packs and Forms

This handbook should also be read in conjunction with the Placement policy, also available on DUO.

If you have further questions of any kind, please don’t hesitate to ask. If you have questions about placements you are welcome to knock on my office door when I am free. You can also contact me by e-mail: or leave a message by phone: 0191 334 3893, or text 0790 863 0705.

Independent students (that is students who are not formally sponsored by the Methodist Church) are very welcome to participate in the programme outlined in this handbook. While for those training for ordained ministry the programme is part of the essential formational work they do, independent students can choose to opt into the various parts of it. If a student wishes to do this, they should speak with their tutor in the first place and then with myself. Please note that the course fees do not cover the cost of transport or accommodation for placements, nor the cost of participation in Mission Studies Blocks.

I hope you enjoy your time at the Wesley Study Centre and the experiences offered through the ministerial practice programme.

Andrew Lunn

Director of Studies and Practice

Where is God in all this?

Some Pointers for Theological Reflection

Theological reflection is the most important part of placement and often the hardest part. Sometimes we start by looking at theology and asking what theological patterns might be found in a particular context. On the other hand sometimes we start by exploring the context of a church and things which happen there, and asking what theology is represented. Here are two sets of pointers to gauge the deep theology embedded in the practice you witness.

1. Starting with Scripture or Tradition

Significant scriptures or scriptural blind-spots. How does your placement church use (and not use) scripture? Which passages or books are emphasised and which are avoided? For instance, you might think of a church where the Old Testament is hardly ever preached on, or a church which doesn’t connect the gospels with the rest of the New Testament.

Trinity. Which person of the Trinity is most central, or is one ignored?Peter Adam’s Grove Booklet,Living the Trinity,shows how churches can over-emphasise one or other person in the Trinity, forgetting the other persons. Is your church a church of the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit? Is your placement context rooted in the trinity in its fullness? And if not, in what ways are its Trinitarian thinking and practice deficient?

Default doctrines. George Morley, a former staff member of Cranmer Hall, coined the very helpful phrase ‘default doctrines’. We all have them – and so do the churches to which we go. Which doctrine or doctrines does your placement church focus on ? And to which ones does it need to give greater prominence? A church may, focus on the cross and atonement, passing over the doctrines of creation and resurrection – or vice versa.

Tradition. Church tradition can be taken as ‘Methodist’, Anglican’, ‘catholic’, ‘evangelical’, and so on. But it means much more. There is ‘deep tradition’, those things which are implicit, embedded, but often not stated. There is ‘contemporary tradition’: more recent thinkers like Gregory Dix or Donald Soper, John Stott or John Wimber, who have left a lasting impact. There is ‘local tradition’: people and communities who may be obscure to the wider world but whose faith–for good and ill–has left a lasting impact on the place where you are on placement. What is the tradition where you are?

2. Starting from Context

Relationship to the surrounding culture. Is your placement church accommodating to surrounding culture or resistant to that culture or are they trying to engage with it and yet transform it ? Look beyond the rhetoric – it is possible to sound ‘inclusive’ and yet exclude; or to sound sectarian and yet connect. Practice is embodied theology. What does the practice of your placement say about its relationship with the surrounding culture ?

Decision making. How does a church go about making decisions? Are you aware of how specifically Christian values are brought into decision making? Is there a sense of Christian discernment, or might this be any secular organisation?

Critical Incidents. One place where pressures emerge is when critical incidents occur: happenings which break the normal routine, and expose weaknesses or vulnerabilities. What is revealed in your placement church when such things happen? What do they tell of the values which direct and guide the church? Are there responses which need to be challenged? (See Grove Booklet P84 Growing in Ministry: Using Critical Incident Analysis, by Charles Chadwick and Philip Tovey.)

Action. What is done by or on behalf of the church in your placement setting? What actions have you witnessed, and what values do those actions embody? Are they related by clergy or church members to Biblical or Christian themes, or do you perceive such links and relationships yourself? Do action and theology relate in the minds of church people, or is there a disconnection?

© Dave Walker. Used with permission.

Ministerial Practice Programme

Placement work is a vitally important part of ministerial training and formation for all students. They are assessed in a variety of ways, and for students on the undergraduate Theology and Ministry courses it forms a part of the assessment for their award.

The aims of the programme can be summarised as being:

to deepen understanding of Christian ministry through observation, experience and active participation;

to analyse and reflect on the theological, personal and ministerial implications arising from the experience and the life of churches, institutions and other contexts of ministry.

In all, there are three elements in the practical experience programme, all of which need to be completed by student ministers. The term time placements are undertaken during the first two terms, the other two elements during vacations. Packs of guidance, information and forms are available on DUO:

  • Theology and Ministry Courses>Documents>Ministerial Practice>WSC Placement Packs and Forms

or from the WSC administrator. You need to ensure you have the appropriate pack and have read it carefully before your placement begins.

In each case a contract form is provided (see p.11 below). You should use this to agree with your supervisor and tutor the main learning aims of the placement, either before the experience begins, or immediately on its commencement. For term time placements this should be subject to review with supervisor and tutor as the placement proceeds.

1.Term Time Placements

  • Student ministers will undertake a term time placement during each year in training at WSC.
  • Students are placed in local churches or sometimes in other institutions e.g. hospitals, prisons, work places, schools. The type of placement will normally be decided through consultation between the student, the Director of Studies and Practice and the student’s personal tutor.
  • Term time placements take place during the first two terms. The commitment is: for undergraduates: 120 hours; for postgraduates: 180 hours. Normally these hours will include attendance at the church or institution for Sunday worship during term-time.
  • Student presbyters take four preaching appointments in each of the first two terms as part of the placement. Student deacons who are preachers take two appointments in each term, unless it is decided to make preaching a focus of the placement in which case they can preach up to four times each term.
  • Some students not taking a full year of the Theology and Ministry programme will have the opportunity for an extended placement. This involves spending 180 to 300 hours total contact time(three to five sessions a week on average) in the placement situation, or even more. This affords greater opportunities for involvement in the life of the church or institution, and normally involves the same preaching commitment.

2.Block Placements

  • Two block placements are usually undertaken each summer when a student minister is returning to WSC for the following academic year. They are undertaken in circuits or in other institutions e.g. hospitals, prisons, work places, schools. The type of placement will normally be decided through consultation between you, your personal tutor and the Director of Studies and Practice.
  • One placement is for four weeks of full-time work. It is hoped that the pattern of work will mirror that of ordained ministers. This means ensuring that appropriate time off is built into the placement.
  • The other placement is for two weeks, and often is in a chaplaincy setting.
  • There is the possibility of doing placements outside the U.K. This needs to be planned well in advance and should be discussed with your personal tutor at an early stage (see p.9 below).
  • These placements are formally assessed either by means of a seminar for THMN2057/3117Practical Theology 2/3 module, or by means of a written report. You need to read carefully the sections on Assessment and Reflection and Assessment of Long Vacation Placements(p.14below). Keep the final report in mind during the placement, and use the various aids in the Long Vacation Placement Pack to help you gather data and to record your experiences.

3.Mission Studies Block (MSB)

A mission studies block is a unitnormally of two weeks containing the elements of a short placement and a course of academic study, offering the opportunity to observe and reflect on a specific issue or institution from a theological perspective.

This should be discussed with the WSC director and your personal tutor when you draw up your development plan for the year. MSBs are planned by a member of Cranmer Hall staff.

The MSB programme for next summer will be available during the Michaelmas Term. Provisional dates for MSBs in summer 2011-12 are:

17th–30thJune 2012 for:

MediaLit: Communicating Christian Faith

17th–30thJune 2012 for:

Urban Ministry and Mission, based in Byker

4.Further details

For further details on all placements see:

  • Theology and Ministry Courses>Documents>Ministerial Practice>WSC Placement Packs and Forms

A Framework for Selecting the Elements of Your Programme

Five Principles for Placement Programmes:

  1. To always be on a placement, or preparing for one.
  1. To widen and to deepen ministerial experience, pastorally and missiologically.
  1. To develop skills in reading the context

(in combination with the Practical Theology modules).

  1. To consider three dimensions of the context: social, theological and geographical.

In which of these do you need to gain experience?

  1. To provide equivalent amounts of placement experience, specifically tailored for each person. This is managed through conversation between student minister, tutor and Director of Studies and Practice.

Five specifics to keep in mind:

  1. The first term time placement is normally in a circuit setting
  1. Engage with both circuit and chaplaincy ministry
  1. To have urban ministry experience
  1. We encourage overseas placements where possible
  1. To encourage experience of fresh expressions of church for all student ministers

Examples include:

  • network churches (eg ‘Mind the Gap’ in Gateshead)
  • involvement in new services and congregations around our Districts
  • researching possibilities for development and church planting in areas of new housing
  • helping to encourage new groups (e.g. groups for people in their 20s and 30s).

Overseas Placements

It is hoped that students will, as part of their ministerial formation, spend some time engaged in reflection and learning with people of other cultures and faiths than their own. For many this may be done through a MSB or placement in this country, but there is the possibility to do this by going on placement overseas. The perspectives of the world-wide church are increasingly important, and some awareness of the church in another country (as well as another culture) – particularly in the Two-Thirds World – can form a valuable part of preparation for ministry.

Why should you think of going overseas on placement?

  • To observe and feel the impact of a country and culture other than your own.
  • To seek ways of bridging the gap between different cultures so that greater understanding results, rather than conflict.
  • To discover how God is at work in different ways in different countries and cultures.
  • To help you learn what is cultural rather than Christian about your own faith.
  • To learn from different styles of worship, mission, church structure, leadership, and so on.
  • To research into approaches to theological teaching and learning in other cultures.
  • To try and understand more about how to share your faith more effectively with those of other faiths and culture.

Overseas placements are not designed:

  • to satisfy an itch to travel and see the world
  • to give overseas experience to somebody who has no exposure to circuit ministry in this country: the overseas placement should be part of a balanced programme that includes placements in this country.

Students are partly responsible for taking the initiative and will share in the tasks of sorting out the location, supervisor, domestic and travel arrangements for such a placement. Limited assistance with finance can sometimes be obtained from a connexional fund and applications are handled through the Director of Studies and Practice. Proposals should be discussed with personal tutors both before beginning to make any arrangements, and in detail before committing yourself to anything. The Director of Studies and Practice needs to be informed at a very early stage, and will also undertake the formal arrangements with supervisors. The same contract form and supervisor’s report form will be used as for placements in the U.K.

Expenses

Travel Expenses

Travel expenses can be claimed for practical experience. All claims should be backed up by receipts wherever possible. Make your claim by filling in a form and giving it to the WSC administrator. Claim forms are available from the administrator’s office.

Claims can normally be made for:

Term time placementsdaily travel to and from the placement.

Long vacation placementsone return journey from home to placement (in some circumstances we can consider further journeys between home and placement, and this needs to be discussed with the Director of Studies and Practice before the placement arrangements are finalised)

Others (e.g. MSBs)one return journey, or daily travel, as appropriate

If you have any travel expenses actually within the placement situation we would normally expect you to ask the host circuit or institution to reimburse you, although we can consider claims for this if there are problems.

Please try to keep travel costs down by using public transport where possible, and by buying advance tickets etc. If you travel by public transport please keep tickets or get a receipt. If you travel by private car please keep a record of miles travelled as you go. Claims can be made at the end of each term for term time placements, or at the end of a long vacation placement.

The rate for private car mileage is 25p per mile.

Accommodation expenses

The usual arrangement is for students to stay in someone’s home for any placements away from Durham. In this case expenses will be paid direct to your host and arranged through your supervisor. Payment is made at the rate of £10 per night.

Other expenses

We do not want students to be out of pocket because of legitimate placement expenses, and will consider any reasonable claims sympathetically. If you think that you may need to claim any expenses above and beyond those detailed above please discuss this with your tutor or the Director of Studies and Practice. Please consider first whether it is a claim most appropriately made to the WSC or to your host circuit.