Field Education: Practicing and reflecting on ministry
11-01-2022
Becoming an intentional leader calls for opportunities to grow in competency and self-awareness. McCormick’s field education program provides for both.
While experience is said to be the best teacher, reflecting on our experiences is the best discipline for being transformed by them. That’s the value of reflective practice and the reason “it’s the absolute center of field education,” says Rev. Julian DeShazier, director of Experiential Education.
Field education, opportunities to practice and develop competency in ministry, places a high value on taking the time and space needed to develop the kind of self-awareness that has theological integrity. “When we slow down and ask questions of our experiences, we enhance our ability to work authentically and with integrity in the midst of others,” says Rev. DeShazier. “We no longer just talk about what happened. Theological reflection requires us to ask what does this experience mean for me…what does it require of me…what do sacred texts have to say about this experience? When we begin to interrogate our experiences, we see opportunities for growth, both as a person and as a member of a community.”
Reflection: a helpful practice for any vocation
A growing number of students today are coming to seminary seeing themselves in vocations outside pastoral ministry, notes Rev. DeShazier. “I like to listen with them about the questions they have about life, themselves, God, and the world around them,” Rev. DeShazier says. “They talk about equity in housing, immigration advocacy, restorative justice. Reflecting on vocation starts before students are placed within an organization or church. We want every vocational experience we offer to be ones that allow them to grow in their sense of call.”
Helping students grow in their sense of call is a fundamental aim of McCormick, Rev. DeShazier points out. “More and more we’re looking to engage the work we do in field education with what’s shared in our classrooms,” says Rev. DeShazier. “This kind of collaborative approach makes field education more integrated into the life of the seminary, helping to further connect the classroom with the realities of what students might face in their vocations, lives, and the world they will serve.”
The pastor of University Church in Chicago’s Hyde Park community, Rev. DeShazier has had a field education student at the church every year since becoming its pastor in 2010. “The curious student adds value just by being present within a church or organization,” says Rev. DeShazier, reflecting on his experience hosting a field education site. “They bring to us their own stories, experiences…their questions about our history…how we live out our faith. Their fresh eyes and different perspectives are reminders to me that vocation is not only what I do, it also holds the possibility of being one of the most transforming aspects of my life.”
