Main course page

  • 2022 Lancaster Theological Seminary DMin Symposium

    Monday, April 4, 2022

    Symposium presentations will be conducted online using Zoom.

    Schedule of Events
    Time Presenter Topic
    9:45 a.m.   Devotions
    10:00-10:50 a.m.  Nora Driver Foust  "Competency-Based Assessment for Ministerial Authorization in the UCC: A Model for Implementation"
    11:00-11:50 a.m.  Wendell Yorkman  "Grappling with Grace: An Illumination of the Degree to Which Theory and Praxis Agree in the Matter of Grace in the African American Pentecostal Holiness Tradition"
    12:00-1:00 p.m.  Lunch Break  
    1:00‑1:50 p.m.  James L. Mills  "Coming Home: Inward Discovery for Outward Living after Long-Term Incarceration; Howard Thurman’s Notion of Community, Religious Experience, and the Inner-Life as Tools for Freedom and Wholeness after Incarceration"
    2:00‑2:50 p.m.  Richelle Foreman Gunter  "Are We There?: Journeys of Faith and the Role of Racialized Trauma in Individuals Who Identify as Religiously Unaffiliated"
    3:00 p.m.  Closing, followed by social time  
    All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC -4:00)

    • Test your device with Zoom in advance URL

      Recommended: Test your equipment and Internet connection before Symposium Day. (Note: You may be prompted to download the Zoom app.)

    • Presentation Details for Current DMin Students and Guests

      • Presenters are listed below in schedule order
      • Expand the presenter's section to find:
        • Supporting documents provided by presenter (if applicable)
        • Online evaluation form (made available at the time of presentation)
        • Recorded presentation (available after the Symposium concludes)

11:00 a.m. - Wendell Yorkman►

10:00 a.m. - Nora Driver Foust

  • 10:00 a.m. - Nora Driver Foust

    Competency-Based Assessment for Ministerial Authorization in the UCC: A Model for Implementation

    Time: 10:00-10:50 a.m.

    Abstract

    Knowledge is readily available today with Google and other search engines designed to answer any question. However, the integration of knowledge into understanding and competency is not as straightforward. To address the challenge of integration of knowledge and competency for ministerial authorization, this project follows Richard Osmer’s four tasks of practical theology and looks at the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) Marks of Faithful and Effective Authorized Ministers alongside principles of competency-based assessment. The project presents a working model for UCC Committees on Ministry across the denomination for implementation of the new Manual on Ministry (MOM). The new MOM embraces a single form of authorized ministry and the use of the competency-based Marks with all ministerial candidates, seminarians, and those on alternative paths to authorization. Alongside a model for UCC Committees on Ministry, this project opens doors to further change in the UCC’s process and points to possible implementation of competency-based assessment programs in other denominations. 

    This project opens with a glossary and the state of the field in Chapter 1 leading to the research question on how the UCC might move to embrace the Marks and develop an implementation strategy for using them in a true competency-based approach. Chapter 2 includes a literature review. Chapter 3 offers a glimpse at how the education world uses competency-based assessment and offers five principles for how their use might be carried over into the assessment work of UCC Committees on Ministry. Chapter 4 presents the model for how one UCC Conference implemented this use and Chapter 5 draws conclusions and points readers forward to possible application of a competency-based assessment model in their own setting.

11:00 a.m. - Wendell Yorkman►