Diploma in Indian Ministries
The
purpose of the Diploma in Indian Ministries program is to
provide students from a variety of denominations with graduate-level
preparation for forms of authorized ministerial leadership
(ordained, licensed, commissioned, etc.) in native and aboriginal
communities in North America. The program is designed as
preparation for those leadership roles where the M.Div. degree
is not a requirement and intended primarily for American
Indian students and secondarily for non-Indian students
intending to serve in native and aboriginal communities.
The
diploma uses a cohort model of education in which a group
of students enter and proceed through the program together
in order to provide for each other a supportive learning
community. The diploma is offered whenever enough students
are available to form such a cohort.
Educational
Goals of the Diploma
The
United Theological Seminary Diploma in Indian Ministries
aims to:
1.
provide students with a basic grounding in the traditions
and history of the church within native and aboriginal
communities in North America and with the nature and practice
of ministry in such communities;
2.
assist students to develop their abilities to interpret
life from a theological and religious perspective and
to develop their abilities to articulate that interpretation;
3.
provide students a basic acquaintance with the content,
idiom, themes, historical/social context of biblical literature
and with appropriate critical methods for interpreting
the Bible in the context of communities of faith;
4.
provide students with a basic grounding in understandings
of worship and preaching and with opportunities to develop
their skills in these forms of pastoral leadership;
5.
provide students with a basic understanding of approaches
to pastoral care and with opportunities to become more
self-reflective about their own practice as pastoral care-givers;
6.
provide students with courses that meet their denomination’s
requirements for the particular form of authorized ministry
to which they are called; and
7.
provide opportunities for students to begin to integrate
classroom learnings with the practice of ministry in native
and aboriginal communities in North America.
Requirements
of the Diploma
1. Satisfactory
completion of the following course of study:
| YEAR
I |
| |
| Fall
Term |
- IS100 – Principles
of Writing and Critical Thinking in Theological Interpretation
(non-credit course; may be waived at admission based
on writing sample)
- CL207 – Indian
Ministries Seminar I (3 credits)
- CL336 – Preaching
(3 credits)
- IS151 – Theological
Interpretation: God, Community, and Transformation (3
credits)
|
| Winter
Term (January) |
|
|
| Spring
Term |
- CL208 – Indian
Ministries Seminar II (3 credits)
- CL336 – Preaching
(3 credits)
- CL330 – Worship
of the Church (3 credits)
|
| Summer
Term (June) |
- One
elective in Pastoral Care (3 credits) or
- One
quarter of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE)
|
| Year
II |
- CL209 – Indian
Ministries Internship
|
2. Recommendation
by the faculty. |
|
