There are three individuals working together in the final steps a student takes toward ordination. These individuals include the student, Supervising Pastor, and Supervised Ministry (S. Min.) Coordinator. The Supervising Pastor works closely with the student over the time of the S. Min., which may be completed in three months, but is anticipated to be completed in a twelve month period of time. The Supervising Pastor serves as mentor, encourager, instructor, and cheerleader for the student during their time together. The Supervising Pastor needs commitment to help the student just as the students needs commitment to finish the ordination requirements. This commitment is displayed through a biweekly accountability/planning/ discussion time with the student. The S. Min. is divided into three units. Each unit focuses attention on skill development in a particular area of the ministry, realizing various ministries will be experienced at the same time. The units are divided into the following areas: Administrative Roles; Public Presentation; and Pastoral Care. If the student is working in the same church as the Supervising Pastor, it is understood these can be easily observed. If the student serves another congregation, these will, no doubt, be discussed in the regular times of discussion. The guidelines for the Supervising Pastor can be seen in the following list.

Unit One: Administrative Roles

The Discipline of The Wesleyan Church includes an entire section of the various administrative duties of the local church pastor. These are included in 725:16-33. Unit One allows the student to experience these roles. If the student serves another congregation, help them to see how to prepare for, and evaluate how they handled these responsibilities. This will include, but not be limited to the following areas:

various meetings within the structure of the church (LBA, Christian Ed., etc.)

various reports for which the pastor is responsible (Service Report, Statistical Report, Quarterly Report, LBA reports, etc.)

Financial system of the local congregation

Responsibilities to the district

auxiliaries of the local congregation

day to day administration of the church

structure of various ministries (Sunday School, children’s ministries, etc.

Unit Two: Public Presentation (preaching, teaching, etc.)

The Supervising Pastor will have opportunity to discuss the student’s preparation for preaching, teaching, etc., and also help the student to evaluate their public presentation. The student is responsible for having these messages recorded on audio or video and available to the Supervising Pastor. You may either evaluate these tapes or have the student forward them to the S. Min. Coordinator. You may discuss how the student approached the message, difficulties they encountered, illustrations they used, the response of the congregation, etc. The student may just need a sounding board or encouragement in this area.

Unit Three: Pastoral Care

The student should be able to observe, or at least discuss, how you provide ministries of caring for your congregation. This may include local traditions, proper etiquette in the hospital and funeral home, or how to present yourself in the homes of your people. The discussions here may be varied.

Things to Consider:

All written work will be graded by the S. Min. Coordinator. You may desire to read and evaluate also. This may be beneficial in the discussion times.

Keep the student accountable for the ministry investment time. This is 100 hours minimum per unit. This is clarified in the "Supervised Ministry Requirements."

Honor your commitment to the biweekly meeting with the student. These times need not be lengthy, but allow sufficient time to accomplish the goal.

You may desire to assign readings to the student. The requirement is 20 hours of reading per unit. These may be discussion items also. If you choose not to assign the readings, this will be done by the S. Min. Coordinator.

Monitor the progress or completion of the writing projects. If you choose to assign the research project, please notify the S. Min. Coordinator of the topic. Ask the student about their journals. This may open up another topic of discussion.

Allow the student access to your library. Suggest books which you find helpful.

Final grades will be issued by the S. Min. Coordinator after consultation and input from the Supervising Pastor. The S. Min. Coordinator will rely heavily on the comments of the Supervising Pastor in regard to grades. Final grades will reflect their ministry opportunities and the written work which are submitted.

The S. Min. Syllabus and Requirements may be helpful to you. Please call for any further clarification which you may need.

The S. Min. Coordinator for Greater Ohio District is Danny Gordon. He can be reached at 614-870-6962 or at P.O. Box 508, Galloway, OH 43026.

Finally, you are making a lifetime investment in the ministry of a future pastor. Approach this time as you would if the roles were reversed.

On behalf of Greater Ohio Wesleyan, thank you for your investment in our ministerial students. You are vital to their preparation!