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The Residency Program of the Wesleyan Church| A Study with Recommendations

<p> There is a significant leadership leap that must take place when one enters ministry after graduating from college with a ministry degree. Many do not navigate this leap well. In the hope of helping graduates make this leap and in order to develop strong young leaders, the Wesleyan Church has promoted the development of two year residency programs. The main promotion came at the General Conference of the Wesleyan Church when Kevin Myers from 12Stone Church gave a keynote address advocating for this kind of ministerial development. </p><p> While the residency program was promoted and set in motion, no one has monitored its development or efficacy. This dissertation set out to find where the program exists in the Wesleyan Church. It then looks at two questions: Are people graduating from the residency program better prepared for ministry that those who have recently graduated from college? Are people going through the residency program being prepared for ordination? </p><p> This study was able to identify 22 Wesleyan Churches that operate or are about to run a residency program. Fifteen of these churches are networked with 12Stone and use their curriculum. From these 22 churches I was able to interview 13 Program Supervisors. As of September 2017 these programs have 57 residents. Surveys were returned from 30 of these residents. The information obtained through these interviews and surveys led to six conclusions and five recommendations. Amongst the conclusions are that graduates of the residency program are better prepared for ministry than those coming out of college. The study also concluded that residency programs give their residents the possibility of developing and demonstrating the competencies need for ordination in the Wesleyan Church. This study recommends that the Wesleyan Church continues to promote the residency program.</p><p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10786922
Date04 May 2018
CreatorsRussett, Brent W.
PublisherNortheastern Seminary
Source SetsProQuest.com
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typethesis

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