The Art of Ministry curriculum focuses on vocational formation, integrating classroom and internship-based learning to introduce students to the life and work of ministry.

Students have the opportunity to be deeply involved in community engagement and internships throughout the region of our state, engaging ministries addressing poverty, child welfare, LGBTQ advocacy, chaplaincy, palliative care, community-supported agriculture, racial justice work, community organizing, refugee resettlement, prisoner re-entry, disability accommodation, and advocacy for victims of sexual assault.

  • In the fall of the first year, students take a one-semester introduction to ministry course.
  • In the next two academic years or in the intermediate summers, students complete one, 300-hour internship placement in a congregational, chaplaincy, nonprofit, or another ministry setting.
  • In the third year, students complete a one-semester capstone course emphasizing cumulative and integrative reflection on the MDiv learning experience and professional development skills that support the job search process.

The primary “text” of Art of Ministry coursework is experience:

  • Life experiences students bring with them to theological education
  • experiences in ministry internship placements that invite theological reflection on the practice of ministry
  • experience of God’s presence and work in the communities of faith that minister to and with our students.

The Art of Ministry program attends to three related sources of ministry wisdom: ministerial identity, ministry practice, and theological reflection.

Ministry cannot be reduced to technical knowledge of the sort one finds in an instruction manual. Instead, a well-formed minister possesses wisdom about their work, not unlike the wisdom a skilled craftsperson brings to their art. Ministry wisdom can only be learned through intentional and critical reflection on practice and experience. In that process, students begin to understand the instincts, habits, virtues, and skills that hang together in complex and organic ways and that nourish the life and work of ministry. The Art of Ministry program attends to three related sources of ministry wisdom: ministerial identity, ministry practice, and theological reflection.

Want to learn more about the Art of Ministry Program?

Contact Dr. John Senior, Director of the Art of Ministry and Assistant Teaching Professor of Ethics and Society: seniorje@wfu.edu | 336.758.5523