TM 672: Contextual Pastoral Praxis and Resource

An interactive, action-reflection, and collaborative learning experience for the participant and the church, culminating in a professionally written resource-manual, which must be submitted the final semester of the program. This course has two options. Option 1 provides pastoral researchers, who have been authorized by the IRB, with the opportunity to show in writing how data collected from their praxis in the context of their ministry may contribute to generalized knowledge or the improvement of an aspect of ministry. Students who successfully complete Option 1 will receive a grade of ‘B’ or above. Option 2 provides an opportunity for students to apply their overall academic learning from the degree to the construction of a meaningful capstone project resource suitable for training purposes and workshops. Students who successfully complete Option 2 will receive a grade of ‘B’. The Project is a major assessment and evaluative component of the student’s learning. It is intended to help participants make a critical contribution to the spiritual life, evangelistic mission, management, and caring ministries of a local congregation. It requires participants to formulate a thesis-project proposal focused on a specific issue, need, or challenge in pastoral ministry. This must be followed by pastoral praxis programs designed to meet that need. The project must be carried out by the participants in their context of ministry, and must be critically informed by the academic courses and assigned readings. A selected Project Group (PG) and a Focus Group (FG) from the context of need will evaluate the process and value of the pastoral interventions for the church, as well as the overall growth of the participant. The project will be developed and conducted at specific times during the two-year period of the degree. The participant will finally summarize the overall effectiveness of the project and produce a final integrative pastoral resource manual. The resource manual must be presented in a form that would make it easy for other pastors to implement the program to address a similar need in their own context.