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8.17.05
Dr. James Hering
Practical Ministry degree offered
at Erskine Seminary
Erskine Theological Seminary is offering a
new master's degree
program this fall — sort of.
The
Master of Arts in Practical Ministry (M.A.P.M.) degree program has been
approved by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) to replace the
Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry, Seminary Dean Dr. R.J. Gore said.
Gore
said the institution received notification from ATS two weeks ago, completing
a two-year process that included review by the curriculum committee and
seminary faculty. ATS had to approve the name change of the degree program,
as well as the reduction in the number of hours required to graduate — from
60 to 48.
The
practical ministry degree is designed to educate people for specialized
leadership in the ministry of the church and equips people for competent
leadership roles in the local congregation or other settings and also
prepares laypeople for the hands-on practice of ministry.
Gore
said the new degree is not designed as a substitute for the professional
degree, the Master of Divinity, which is the usual requirement for people
preparing for ordained pastoral leadership in congregations. Instead,
the practical ministry degree is aimed at laypeople — Sunday school
teachers, deacons and elders, etc.
Gore
called the degree "probably the most flexible of all the
degree programs we have," in that a student can tailor the content
of the degree to his/her own particular needs.
Thirty-three
of the 48 hours must be taken in the foundational areas of Bible, theology,
and ministry. The remaining 15 hours will be selected to concentrate
in one of the five areas of practical ministry — Bible teaching,
local church ministry, diaconal ministry, evangelism and missions, and
youth ministry.
Dr.
James "Jay" Hering is heading up the practical ministry degree
program.
"Jay
is the newest addition to the faculty," Gore said. "His discipline
is New Testament and when he was overseas doing missionary work, he was
involved in church planting.
"He's
had both evangelism and mission training and is ideal to guide students
in this program," the dean said. "He's also an educator
and knows what is needed to complete the degree program. His education
and vocational experience made him ideal to the be the first director
of the program."
Hering,
a 1990 graduate of Erskine Seminary, is excited about the new program.
"It's
a very useful, pragmatic kind of degree," he said. "It's
a response to a need — people feel a need to be prepared for lay
ministry. It's exactly what we were doing in the mission field
for lay leaders in the church."
The
appeal of the degree is the flexibility, Hering said. "In every
field, it's wide open — they can go right where they want
to go," he said. "Students select the concentration and can
take a lot of courses — there's so much freedom."
Hering,
wife Kerstin (a native of Germany) and their first child moved to the
area about a year ago when Hering's father became ill. A second
child was born here, and a third is on the way. They moved from Scotland,
where Hering had been working on his Ph.D. at Aberdeen University.
He
started teaching at Erskine Seminary in Spring 2004 on an adjunct basis.
Five
new students are already registered for the degree program and three
more have transferred into the program from other programs.
"I
have a feeling it will be really popular for lots of deacons and elders
seeking enrichment," Hering said. "It's not the professional
degree required for some denominations, but works for those denominations
that don't require a Master of Divinity."
Gore
said Dr. Steve Lowe, associate dean for distributive learning, is working
on a proposal to offer an entire distance education-learning program.
"We
think it is viable," Gore said. "The next question is can
we package it in this particular fashion."
The
M.A.P.M. is a stand-alone degree, but students who complete it could
upgrade it at some point to a Master of Divinity by meeting additional
requirements, Hering said.
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