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School of Ministry News

Ordinands and staff at the School of Ministry are settling into the routines of the year after the wide variety of orienting, community building and learning experiences undertaken in the first few weeks. For new students this period means not just orientation to the school and its programme, but also to life in Dunedin for both themselves and families. For many the most significant part of the adjustment is the shock of significant climate change, especially if they have come from north of the Bombay Hills, as have all this year’s new intake. It doesn’t help to remind them we are not into winter yet, although some days recently make that a questionable point.

A significant change in the make up of the school community this year has been brought about by the fact that three of the four new ordinands are single. With the loss of a number of families last year, it means children are a much less visible part of life here. The single ordinands though are able to contribute to community life in some ways that are different from those with family commitments and so give a different flavour to it.

We have made some significant changes to our programme this year, which both we and the ordinands believe will make their time here more worthwhile. Basically we have divided the year into two quite different halves. In the first semester the focus is on learning through academic subjects and there will be three of these during this period. In the second semester it will kick off with a three week intensive (this year Mission in Many Cultures, which I will be teaching along with some input from John Roxborogh). Following this those in their first year will be involved in a full time field education placement and those in their second year in Clinical Pastoral Education, which is a highly focused pastoral counselling experience. We believe this change will enable ordinands to be more focussed and intentional in what they are about at different stages in their time here, and lessen some of the time conflicts that arise when they are trying to do all aspects at once.

A significant experience for the school was the unveiling of the photo of Mona Riini, alongside that of her husband Sonny, in the Sonny Riini room. It was a rich learning experience both during the formal proceedings and in informal dialogue with members of Mona and Sonny’s family afterwards. We are fortunate to have amongst those training with us at the moment Hariata Haumate who has entered deeply into the life of the school and the other ordinands and she is proving a rich resource for us in learning about Maori culture and religious practices.

Beyond my direct responsibilities in the School I am also teaching a new course in Religious Studies at the University of Otago in Spirituality in Film. It has attracted over eighty students and is proving very stimulating. I did a survey of those in the class, and the makeup of it confirms my own writing and research on the kind of culture we are now in. Only 30% of the class identify with any traditional religion, and almost 50% of the class define themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” Few are studying it because they want to study Christian theology or formal religious studies. Almost 50% have taken the course because they have a general interest in spirituality and religion. Certainly very few of these young people identify with older modernist or rationalist understandings that dismissed concepts of transcendence or otherworldly spirituality.

Once again as a teacher I find myself learning as much as I might be transmitting. Three of our ordinands are acting as tutors for the course and I believe are also learning much that will help them in their ministries. Most of my reading has of necessity this year been in this area of religion and film, or more broadly religion and popular culture, which fits in with my own perspective that for us how we connect with the broader culture around us is, perhaps, our most significant present task. (If you want a good starter to read on this try Craig Detweiler and Barry Taylor, A Matrix of Meanings: finding God in popular culture, Baker, 2003.)

As well as this I have a number of continuing opportunities to be involved in helping resource the wider church. In the week following Easter I am involved in speaking at the Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship Conference, at Living Springs out of Christchurch. A week later I am providing some input at a Dunedin Presbytery training weekend for elders, then in May am off to the Hawkes Bay and combined Auckland/South Auckland (along with Neville Emslie at the latter) Presbyteries to provide input for ministers and elders in training events. I also gave the inaugural lecture at the School this year and this can be found on our website if you are interested in reading it.

I really enjoy the work I am involved in here, helping to form ministers for the future of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand, and also to help resource those already in ministry in the church, and consider myself very privileged to have such a wonderful place to exercise whatever gifts God has entrusted to me.

Kevin Ward