Mentorships

Participation in the InMinistry MDiv delivery requires mentoring relationships. Mentors are usually an ordained, skilled and experienced person, who serves as defender, role model, encourager, facilitator and counselor for an entering, unordained, less skilled and/or less experienced ministerial candidate. The purpose of this relationship is to facilitate personal, spiritual, and professional development of pastoral competencies and accountability in the candidate.
 

Mentor

The InMinistry MDiv program seeks experienced, ministry persons possessing above average knowledge and insight into holistic and wholesome clergy ministry. Mentors are committed to assisting and supporting a seminarian's accountability toward personal and professional growth. Such mentors exemplify exceptional behavioral qualities in building trust, giving advice, encouraging alternatives, providing challenge, promoting motivation, and instilling initiative.

Mentees (Seminarians)

InMinistry MDiv seminarians who anticipate benefiting from a mentoring relationship should expect to actively pursue all possible opportunities for personal and professional growth offered in a mentored relationship. Successful mentoring occurs when mentees reciprocate to the mentor's gifts of trust, advice, alternatives, challenges, motivating, and initiative.  Topics of growth naturally cover a variety of ministry issues and should also include accountability for InMinistry assignments.
 

Matching

InMinistry MDiv mentorships function best when the mentor selection involves the mentee (seminarian). Proximity is second only to the quality of the matching. These pairs are then trained by the InMinistry Center Director in an on-line 2-hour orientation for all participants. Thereafter, regular contact between mentoring teams is required with an evaluation of progress a joint responsibility of employer and seminary staff. Mentorships normally last until the seminarian arrives at Andrews University for the residency portion of the program.

 

2012 Mentorship Training