At Western Theological Seminary, we believe learning should take place outside the classroom as well as inside it.
That’s why our Formation for Ministry office prepares you for a rich ministry through internships in real-life supervised ministry settings, honest reflection through peer group discussion, an intercultural immersion experience, and the feedback and support you need for ministering in today’s world.
Intercultural Immersion
In groups of 10-15 students with at least one professor as a guide, Western’s M.Div. students travel to other cultural contexts to experience the diverse character of the church’s witness and mission.
These 11-day trips present students with problems and opportunities posed by cultural differences, secularism, social fragmentation, religious pluralism, and ecumenism. The trips are taken during the J-term for both distance-learning and residential students.
Our students have been immersed in cultures such as:
- India
- Oman
- Chiapas, Mexico
- Borderlands (US/Mexico)
- Israel/Palestine
- Brazil
- Cambodia
In-residence M.Div. students participate in four 100-hour part-time units and one 400-hour full time unit of a supervised in-ministry experience within an approved ministry setting.
Distance learning students participate in six 130-hour units of a supervised in-ministry experience during the five years of the program.
Ministry settings may include:
- Congregations
- Hospitals
- Faith-based agencies
- Parachurch Ministries
- Campus Ministry
- Care Facilities and nursing homes
Matching students and ministry sites is an important part of the WTS educational experience. We want to discern the best ministry context for each student’s learning and to connect that student with an internship at a supervised ministry (or “Teaching Church” site). Students can suggest ministry sites that interest them.
