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Field Education
Field Education Personnel
The Director of Field Education is responsible for orienting students to their responsibilities, assisting in identifying potential ministry sites, serving as liaison with Ministry Supervisors when required, and evaluating the student’s progress in the program.
The Ministry Supervisor assists the student in designing the scope of the ministry experience. He or she will exercise oversight of the student during the duration of the experience and will assist in the evaluation of the student’s performance.
The student’s Mentor may also be a helpful resource in reviewing the balance of spiritual life, academic life, ministry, employment, and personal concerns.
Field Education Requirements
A core value at Phoenix Seminary is to prepare students to serve Jesus Christ effectively in a changing world by providing ministry training. Significant components of this training are accomplished through three categories of field education:
1. INTERNSHIPS (BC 591-592 & LD 591-592)
Internships are designed to integrate students into living ministry situations in roles of creativity, leadership, and direct ministry training by qualified ministry supervisors. Students will experience training critical to their ministry plans as well as cross-training to learn other aspects of ministry.
Students are responsible for arranging a ministry environment in which to complete their Internship, along with oversight and evaluation from a qualified Ministry Supervisor. Students should plan to intern in the area of their expected ministry service following graduation, and should become involved in and committed to a potential internship site as early as possible in their Seminary experience. For assistance in securing a ministry environment, or for any other questions regarding the Internship process, please contact the Director of Field Education.
Internships are transcripted with a grade of S (Satisfactory) or U (Unsatisfactory) as determined by the Director of Field Education.
Students register for Internships as they would any other course. The Internship Information and Registration Packet (available on http://courses.ps.edu) should be submitted to the Director of Field Education well before the start of the semester in which the student plans to complete an Internship and no later than the 2nd Friday of the semester.
Internship Information and Registration Packet
2. COUNSELING PRE-PRACTICUM / PRACTICUM (CF 593)
The Counseling Pre-Practicum / Practicum is designed to integrate students into client-based environments under the care of qualified ministry supervisors. Students will experience training critical to their counseling skills as well as learn about the dynamics of clinical practice.
This summative experience combines knowledge of Scripture, knowledge of counseling theory, counseling skills, biblical character, and gifts of the Spirit into a unified, coherent experience. Students bring together these different skills and are matched with actual clients in a real-life counseling setting. All students complete their Pre-Practicum / Practicum hours at Scottsdale Bible Church Counseling Ministries (www.scottsdalebible.com/ministries/counseling).
The CF 593 Counseling Pre-Practicum / Practicum is transcripted with a grade of S (Satisfactory) or U (Unsatisfactory) as determined by the Director of the Counseling Program. Prerequisites: 15 counseling hours including CF 500, CF 503, CF 509 (and for M.A.P.C. students, Ottawa University’s PYF 8012). Enrollment is limited to four students per semester.
Students register for the CF 593 Pre-Practicum / Practicum as they would any other course, but it is imperative that students follow all procedures including registration, application, letters of reference, fingerprinting, and insurance. The CF 593 Information and Registration Packet (available from the CF 593 page on http://courses.ps.edu) should be submitted to Dr. Justin Smith, the Director of the Counseling Program, well before the start of the semester in which the student plans to complete the Pre-Practicum and no later than the 2nd Friday of the semester.
Students are encouraged to pursue ministry opportunities early in their Seminary training that may later provide the context for their field education experiences.
CF 593 Pre-Practicum Handbook & Registration Packet
For information not covered in these pages or in the course-specific documents on http://courses.ps.edu, contact Dr. Chip Moody, Director of Field Education, at cmoody@ps.edu. M.Div. C.F. and M.A.P.C. students should contact Dr. Justin Smith for Pre-Practicum matters at jsmith@ps.edu.
Clinical Pastoral Education
It is also possible to take Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) to fulfill internship requirements of the Seminary. Clinical Pastoral Education is interfaith professional education for ministry. It brings theological students and ministers of all faiths (pastors, priests, rabbis, imams and others) into supervised encounter with persons in crisis. Out of an intense involvement with persons in need, and the feedback from peers and teachers, students develop new awareness of themselves as persons and of the needs of those to whom they minister. From theological reflection on specific human situations, they gain a new understanding of ministry. Within the interdisciplinary team process of helping persons, they develop skills in interpersonal and inter-professional relationships.
Elements of CPE include:
- The actual practice of ministry to persons
- Detailed reporting and evaluation of that practice
- Pastoral Supervision
- A process conception of learning
- A theoretical perspective on all elements of the program
- A small group of peers in a common learning experience
- A specific time period
- An individual contract for learning consistent with the objectives of CPE
- The CPE program must be conducted under the auspices of an ACPE certified supervisor (faculty) attached to an ACPE accredited CPE center.
Students may receive transfer credit for completion of ACPE-accredited Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) units. CPE is designed to advance the skills, attitudes, and ethics of pastoral caregiving under a theological and behavioral health model. It is especially useful for those considering work as a pastor or chaplain. Certain chaplaincy opportunities are only open to those who have completed two or more units of CPE, either in seminary or after graduation.
The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. is a multicultural, multifamily professional association committed to advancing experience-based theological education for seminarians, clergy and lay persons of diverse cultures, ethnic groups and faith traditions. They establish standards, certify supervisors and accredit programs and centers in varied settings. ACPE programs promote the integration of personal history, faith tradition and the behavioral sciences in the practice of spiritual care through the clinical educational methods of Clinical Pastoral Education. CPE may be used as an avenue for completing certain Field Education requirements in your Seminary degree program. It is up to the student to make contact with the CPE center of their choice, register and pay all fees associated with the center, and to communicate to the Director of Field Education and / or the Registrar his or her intent to complete one or more CPE units in order to receive transfer credit.
The CPE centers in Arizona are:
- Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center
Department of Spiritual Care
1111 E. McDowell Road
PO Box 2989
Phoenix, AZ 85006-2612
Phone: (602) 239-4324 - Banner Thunderbird Medical Center
(a satellite center directed by Banner Good
Samaritan Medical Center)
Spiritual Care Department
5555 W. Thunderbird Road
Glendale, AZ 85306
Phone: (602) 865-5807 - Banner Desert Medical Center
Department of Spiritual Care
1400 S. Dobson Road
Mesa, AZ 85202
Phone: (480) 512-3199 - Yuma Regional Medical Center
Department of Spiritual Care & Patient Advocacy
2400 S. Avenue A
Yuma, AZ 85364-7127
Phone: (928) 336-7002
For each completed unit of CPE the student will receive up to 4 hours of transfer credit toward BC 591, LD 591, and / or general electives. A maximum of two units of CPE will be considered for transfer credit.
Students are encouraged to undertake CPE only after they have completed approximately one half of their degree program. Evidence of completion of the unit will be the student’s final CPE supervisor’s evaluation and/or a copy of the certificate of completion awarded by ACPE.
For other questions related to CPE, please contact Dr. Chip Moody or a CPE center of your interest.
Phoenix Seminary Future Professor Program
For select students, the Future Professor Program is an arrangement with Arizona Christian University in which highly qualified seminarians serve as graduate assistants to Southwestern faculty members in the university’s Department of Bible and Theology. Appointments are made through the Director of Field Education in consultation with faculty members who wish to have a student assistant.
Special Notice Concerning Chaplain’s School
Students who successfully complete military Chaplain’s School as chaplain candidates, and provide official documentation of completion, will receive up to 4 hours of transfer credit toward either BC 591, BC 592, LD 591 or LD 592 and / or general electives, subject to the approval of the Director of Field Education and / or the Registrar. (Credit is limited to programs of the United States Department of Defense or Canadian National Defence.).
Advanced Standing
Students who have extensive ministry experience may apply for Advanced Standing to be exempted from the Internship. Download the Advanced Standing Application for Internships (available from the appropriate course pages on http://courses.ps.edu) for more details.