School of Ministry News

Rev Dr. Susan Werstein, lecturer at School of Ministry in Dunedin.
Responsibilities: Field Education Coordinator, Lecturing in Ethics, Practice of Worship, Christian Education and Pastoral Care.

<typohead type=2>What May You Hear in One of Susan Werstein's Courses?</typohead>

"People experience God and learn of God's grace and love in many ways. Through listening to music and the Word preached. Through working with others. Through making things with their hands. Through seeing the beauty of nature and art. Through silence and prayer. If our worship leadership does not know that we are all made differently, then we risk leaving folks out. Colours, sounds, drama, art, movement, silence all matter.”

"And know also that at every worship service, there may be one person grieving, one person overwhelmed by guilt, one person filled with worry, another elated with joy, another keeping a secret. Don't leave folks out by maintaining one style and one form of worship."

"To counsel someone ethically and effectively, we need to know ourselves. Why are we drawn into a helping profession? Are we also seeking compassion, understanding, justice? How do we discern when a problem is a parishioner's and when it is our own?"

"Rev Jones, we have an ordinand whose learning goals are in narrative preaching, evangelism to the un-churched and in learning to moderate meetings. Your parish may be the best place for our student to practice these three things. May I introduce you to her?"

"If you make a decision based solely on the consequences while ignoring truth and duty, you may find yourself pleased with the outcome but far from living out the Gospel."

"Discernment may be one of the most crucial gifts in your ministries."
"If the minister does not maintain their own devotional life, their journey may stall. How would we inspire others if we are not inspired by Christ's Spirit ourselves?"

Development of skills, practice of ministry, encouragement of faith development, recognition of gifts, these are what I'm about at the School of Ministry.

<typohead type=2>Field Education Programme Radically Changed from 2004</typohead>

We've changed our programme so that the first semester plus three weeks of each year is in classroom while most of the second semester is doing ministry in the field or doing CPE. This allows ordinands time to emphasise learning and formation half the year and to concentrate on practical experience and formation the other half.

Dunedin is a special place for Field Education. This is not simply practicing skills. It is learning about oneself as one leads worship, teaches, visits, moderates and evangelises. No ordinand is like another. Some have great experience in a parish, others do not. Some have gifts of teaching or preaching, others in pastoral care or outreach.

As Coordinator of the Field Education Programme, I meet with each ordinand several times to guide them in setting learning goals. In a time of specialisation, one choice students make is whether to build on their special talents or to broaden their abilities. A balance is needed, so goal selection is crucial.

For example, if a student has had a career in public speaking, they may want to become an expert preacher. On the other hand, they may know they already have that skill, and prayerfully decide to concentrate on effective visiting or team building or working with the poor.

We have more than twenty potential churches and agencies for our ordinands to go to. This year, for example, one ordinand is focusing on mission work and travelling throughout the area helping with training events for mission and growth. Another ordinand is interested in creative worship, and is going to a church known for it cutting-edge worship.

A third is drawn to ministry with tertiary students and will work with University of Otago's chaplaincy programme.

Other Topics Susan Werstein Teaches

When not interviewing potential supervisors and ordinands and helping with ideal matches, I lecture in Ethics, Christian Education and Pastoral Care and Practice of Worship.

For example, one question students address is: What do you do when a child's puppy dies? Often a child's first experience with death is that of a pet. How you respond to a tearful child during the children's time can influence how he or she thinks of heaven, of grieving, of the church's involvement during crisis. It is both a pastoral situation and a time to think creatively about rituals that are meaningful for a child.

I connect the topics of Christian Education and Pastoral Care in one course called Christian Nurture. If a person has been taught the basics of faith: the presence of a loving God who joins us in our joys and sorrows, the transforming power of prayer, life as a journey with and toward God, Christ's teachings, life, death and resurrection as a paradigm for our lives as God's children - If a person believes such things in their day-to-day lives, then Pastoral Care in times of crisis and transition already has a common understanding of what is happening.

Knowing that Abraham and Sarah, Ruth and David, Jesus and the apostles all suffered while maintaining their faith may be a deep source of comfort and hope. Knowing that Abraham both argued with God and obeyed God, that David both cried out in anger and danced in ecstasy, that Jesus both wept and partied with friends, that Mary both accepted the angel's message and tried to get Jesus to come home when he was teaching allows future ministers and parishioners and elders to support one another in the Body of Christ.

<typohead type=2>Being the Body of Christ in Dunedin</typohead>

Finally, I learn from those I teach. The ordinands grow while listening to one another. The illusion of sameness disappears when a group of faithful Christians discusses baptism, music, evangelism, Presbytery authority, priesthood of believers, ways to pray. In their discussions, they see a variety of styles of worship and ways of ministering. They learn that the Body is filled with people of different gifts and visions. They grow to appreciate different ages, ethnicities, backgrounds.

I also learn from the ordinands every day, for only when we are together for a prolonged period do our sharp edges become finely polished surfaces. God's Spirit works as two and three and ten and fifty are gathered in God's name. For Presbyterian polity to work well, discovering the faithfulness of other perspectives and the wonder of working together needs a training period. Otherwise, secular society's individualism permeates and influences the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand despite our best efforts.

The School of Ministry is equipping the Church's future leaders by the grace of God. I am grateful that I may serve Christ in this place.

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