Internships
Columbia's M.Div. students are required to complete a congregation-based internship and have numerous other choices in elective Supervised Ministry courses. Students seeking a call find a wide range of ministry options available to them at graduation. Serving an integrative function in the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degree programs, Supervised Ministry helps students explore relationships between theology and life experience, between private convictions and public actions. Its goal is pastoral integrity.
To achieve this goal students undertake specific acts of ministry through internships or practicums supervised by an experienced practitioner. Supervisors and students engage in theological and pastoral reflections about their practices of ministry.
All supervised ministry courses emphasize five core elements:
- Experience in Ministry: Any Supervised Ministry experience must take seriously both the learning needs of students and the ministry needs of the ministry context.
- Learning Covenant: Students and supervisors negotiate a written learning covenant to identify learning goals, pastoral activities, and plans for supervision.
- Pastoral Supervision: Students and supervisors are required to engage routinely in theological and pastoral reflection about the student's work. In most contexts a team of laypersons or peers also participates in the reflection process.
- Evaluation: The supervisor prepares written assessments of the student's ministry.
- Academic Requirements: Students are required to write self-assessments and/or other assigned materials.
Information
For more information:
Office of Contextual Education
404 687-4519
1 888 601-8916 (toll free)