Vancouver School of Theology
Course Information:
Spiritual and Theological Foundations for Public and Pastoral Leadership
3 Credits
Graduate |
The time is one of “great turning,” “emergence,” a “threshold time” characterized by a recognized shift in inherited patterns of thinking and acting. The place is right here where your feet are planted and your relationship to those around you matters deeply. The task is preparation for contributing to the collective spiritual work of embracing the intersection of suffering and wonder where questions of meaning and purpose arise. The goal of this course is to deepen our understanding of the teaching and practices of contemplation and action integral to the Christian life as a foundation for public and pastoral leadership.
In this class we will honour the exploration of a call to ministry not first as an individual career path but as a beckoning into a “great work” – a mandate wider and longer than any one person’s lifetime. How do we articulate that mandate? How does our faith guide and inform our understanding of that “great work?” Who are our mentors in this time and place? What do we need to learn, individually and collectively, in order to lend our lives and leadership to the promise of abundant life? These are some of the questions we will explore together as we formulate a foundation in prayer and action for the collective work of public and pastoral leadership for our time. |
PERSONAL FOUNDATIONS FOR PPL: SELF AS LEADER
1.5 credits
Graduate |
What we offer one another emerges from within. To be accountable to one another, we must be accountable for our inner life, and how it is shared, for better or for worse, with others in all we do. When we do not know ourselves, we cannot be accountable for what we offer one another. The faithful person is a self-aware person. The effective leader has profound knowledge of the relationship between the inner life and the collective life. To develop such knowledge takes skill and practice. PT501 continues that deliberate work of becoming self-aware as an individual and in community.
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Practical Foundations in PPL: Leadership in Context
1.5 credits
Graduate |
Building on the skills and understanding of Leadership Foundations: Self As Leader, Leading In Context will provide method and opportunity to explore potential studio practicum sites that combine leadership challenges, ministry opportunities and demonstrate best practices in pastoral and public ministry. To be effective in ministry practice and leadership in the public sphere it is critical to understand the field and its demands, expectations and possibilities. Preparation for practice of ministry is not introduced simply as skill development but rather as the formation of leaders who will understand and respond to the continually changing landscape of contemporary ministry and navigate communities in the art of resourced and adaptive change.
This course normally includes concurrent registration in TFE1: Exploration – a student’s first unit of theological field education. |
Public and Pastoral Leadership Studio I & II
6 credits
Graduate |
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Leadership Skills for Community Ministry
1.5 credits
Graduate |
Whether in religious, secular, or border-crossing contexts, practitioners need skills that will enable them to put caring and conviction into effective practice. Leaders inspired by faith to work in community development and social entrepreneurship need experience in foundational skills such as writing proposals, implementing projects, supporting innovation, and building community partnerships.
Building on the skills of spiritual practice, theological reflection, self-awareness, and context mapping developed in previous MA-PPL courses, PT 611 will enable students to build a bridge between their theological education and the practice of ministry out in the community. Through instruction and support for their Capstone Projects and engagement with practices of community development, students will learn of the breadth and depth of possibilities for innovative and effective community ministry. |
Leadership Here and Now
1.5 credits
Graduate |
You are equipping yourself in faith for vocations in and beyond congregations – vocations of love, service, sacrament, reconciliation and compassion. There are challenges and opportunities for anyone called into vocations of guiding, nurturing, creating, building, serving and sustaining communities of faith and service. The effective leader has advanced skills in understanding, navigating and working within complex communities. Building on and advancing the skills acquired in the Leadership Studio (PT651/652), this course examines fundamental issues of leadership through the practice of self-reflection and group process and through the lenses of generational analysis and theological frameworks.
This course is required for all MA-PPL and MDiv students. The Leadership Studio (PT651/652) is normally a pre-requisite for this course for MDiv and part-time MA-PPL students. Fulltime MA-PPL students (and others with permission of an instructor) may enroll in PT653 and the Studio concurrently. |
Program Information:
Vancouver School of Theology
Degree and Certificate InformationDegrees
Degree/
Level | Title/
English Correspondence | Subject | Credit Hours | Working
Language | History |
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MAPPL
Graduate |
Master of Arts in Public and Pastoral Leadership |
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English |
The MA-PPL is a 48 credit hour degree, 30 credit hours in required courses, 9 credit hours in designated advanced elective courses, and 9 credit hours in open electives. Public and Pastoral Leadership will be anchored in 5 courses (15 credit hours) and 3 units of theological field education: |
No certificates listed.
Information on Training and Other Services
Additional InformationThe Masters of Arts in Public and Pastoral Leadership recognizes the kinds of leaders that are needed for the changing nature of Christian communities and supports persons engaged in various forms of leadership, from congregations to social entrepreneurship, faith-based social services, NGOs, community-based development, mediation services and community-based justice initiatives. A unique specialization in Spiritual Care prepares students for a variety of chaplaincy ministries (see following description).
This degree is anchored in practice-based learning, action-reflection, and contextual analysis. Attention is given to developing religious literacy for working in pluralistic contexts, honing the theological intellect for forming public theologians and leaders, providing biblical, ethical and spiritual foundations for inspiring the visionary capacities of organizers and ecclesial change agents, and practicing ritual, rhetorical and communitarian skills needed for offering vital, artful, generous leadership in both inherited and emerging pastoral and public contexts.
Students in this program are expected to connect to a community or project in which their ability to practice and grow their capacity for leadership will be tested.
SUITABILITY FOR PARTICULAR VOCATIONS AND OCCUPATIONS
An MA-PPL prepares people for offering theologically informed leadership in community organizations and institutions such as NGOs, non-profits, para-church initiatives, and community-based development organizations. This is especially the case when a student includes in their program courses from VST’s offerings in Indigenous and Inter-Religious Studies.
In the face of shifts in ministerial preparation in the churches, an MA-PPL, with a credit load of half of the MDiv, may be more achievable preparation for a variety of types of ministry leadership. An MA-PPL may meet denominational competencies for a variety of ordered ministries in some denominations, in some cases with the addition of denominational courses.
The degree is preparation for various forms of ministries and emerging models of Christian community, for example, as worker-priests and leaders of community-based ministries.
The MA PPL specialization in Spiritual Care is designed for those intending to pursue vocations as spiritual care practitioners in settings such as health care facilities, prisons and correctional facilities, pastoral counselling centres, and congregations.
An MA is recognized as preparation for graduate work should a person at some point decide to move to advanced study.
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