WESTERN SEMINARY
THS 508 INTEGRATION OF MINISTRY AND THEOLOGY
Spring Semester, 2004
Gerry Breshears & John Johnson, Instructors
SYLLABUS
REQUIRED TEXT
Beck/Blomberg, Two Views on Women in Ministry
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Building on the exegetical, theological and ministerial foundations laid in the seminary curriculum, students will build an integrative approach to such issues as women in ministry, divorce, bio-ethics, and church discipline. Students will also work toward this integration by finalizing and defending their personal doctrinal statements. (2 hours)
COURSE GOALS
A. You will learn and apply a method of approaching ministry problems from a biblical and theological perspective.
B. You will work through key issues of ministry in class and in a team project to enhance the implementation of your theology into ministry.
C. You will integrate your personal theology by reviewing each aspect in light of the whole and finalize your personal doctrinal statement, editing each part of it as we review the various aspects of theology.
D. You will gain confidence in your philosophy of ministry and theology by preparing for an oral examination akin to an ordination exam based on your personal ministry manual.
RESPONSIBILITIES
A. Team Formation
An important part of the class is working together as teams. You will join into a team of three to do the application project and the oral exam. You are encouraged to work together for all the phases of the course. A major purpose of the teams is for mutual support and stimulation toward the successful completion of the requirements of the class.
B. Ministry Manual
In order to consolidate your preparation for ministry, you encourage you to prepare a ministry manual. It will consist of things like your personal doctrinal statement, a church doctrinal statement typical of a church you might serve in, a church purpose-mission statement, a ministry vision statement, statements of theology/philosophy of such core ministry issues as worship, pulpit, pastoral care, staffing, team building, conflict, leadership, women's role in ministry, missions, evangelism, ordinances, small groups, youth, children, affirmation of life (abortion & euthanasia), weddings, marriage-divorce, funerals, political involvement, child abuse prevention, confidentiality, personal & church core value statements, and a statement of pastoral identity. We will discuss many of these issues in the class time to assist you in formulating your ministry position from a firm biblical/theological foundation. This is NOT a class assignment, but you are encouraged to share resources you discover with all of us as you develop it.
C. Integration Work Sheets
At the beginning of the class you will receive a handout with some key questions relating to the class discussion. Following the class session, you will write out answers to the questions, thinking especially of the integrative issues involved. Your answers will be a page or two in length. Turn them in at the beginning of the following class period. The final assignment will be to review and revise these to submit them to the instructors with the final draft of your doctrinal statement. You are encouraged to do this work in your team. (20 hours)
D. Revising Your Doctrinal Statement
As you worked through your theology courses, your theological understanding grew. Now it's time to look again at theology and bring coherence to it as a whole. We will do this by discussion of key questions in our class sessions. Bring your questions and your Bibles to class. We will wrestle and review together. The only outside preparation necessary will be done as you rework your doctrinal statement.
An important part of preparation for ministry is the written and oral expression of your personal doctrinal commitment. We will review the sections of the standard doctrinal statement. Prior to each discussion take some time to review your theology class notes and Erickson to refresh your memory of the issues and points where you have questions for clarification. As we work through each head of theology in class discussion, you will rewrite the personal doctrinal statement you did in your sequence theology classes. In your teams, you will partner to help each other do an excellent job of formulating your statement. You will share each section with the other members of the work team. Each member of the team will read the statements of the other members, giving feedback while learning from the work of team members. Give your chapter to the other team members and to your team leader by Tuesday following our discussion of that chapter. You will receive chapters from each of your team members. Ready them carefully, write suggestions in the margins and return them to me by the next Thursday in class. Prior to the oral examination, you will do a final edit of your statement and provide a copy for the other members of your team. (15 hours)
E. Application Project
We will work through the issue of women in ministry as an example of a ministry integration project. You will read the assigned sections in Two Views on Women and Ministry by July 1. (4 hours)
Each team will pick one of the areas of ministry as a focal point for practicing integration for the semester. This could be a large topic like marriage/divorce, euthanasia, political involvement, discipline, or many others. Another good approach would be to pick a specific book, major article or movie that has shaping impact on the practice of ministry and analyze it theologically.
The assignment will begin with general reading to determine the key issues and views relating to the problem. Then you will do a careful biblical and theological analysis of the question. The final step will be to develop a set of principles for dealing with this issue in actual ministry situations.
Your team will make a 15 minute presentation of the results of your work to the rest of the class to assist them in their understanding. We encourage you to prepare handouts summarizing your presentation for distribution to the students participating in your presentation. Creativity and clarity are virtues of good presentations (15 hours)
D. Oral Examination
In the finals week of class the other members of your team will question you on your philosophy of ministry and personal doctrinal statement. The examination will be akin to an ordination exam. You must pass this exam to complete the class (4 hours)
FINAL GRADE
To get credit for the class, you must earn a pass on your written doctrinal statement and your oral doctrinal examination. The letter grade will be determined on the basis of your class participation, the team presentation, your doctrinal statement, and the ministry manual.
TENTATIVE CLASS OUTLINE
CLASS DISCUSSION
TOPICS
DATE
June 22 Introduction to the class: Revelation; Theology Proper/Worship
June 24 Christology/Pastoral Identity, Knowing myself as shepherd
June 29 Anthropology/Pastoral Identity, Knowing myself as person
July 1 Women in Ministry
Beck/Blomberg, 9-22, 77-235, 305-372
July 6 Angelology, Demonology, Sin/Conflict and Temptation in Ministry
July 8 Atonement/Ordinances
July 13 Pneumatology/Empowerment for Ministry
July 15 Soteriology/Mission
July 20 Ecclesiology/Defining Ministry (business, hospital, university, mall, etc.)
July 22 Eschatology/Death & Funerals
July 27 Presentations
July 29 Oral Exam