Co-Vocational Certificates

Back in the summer I was trying to figure out a way for Co-Vocational Canada to be sustainable. As you may be aware, Co-Vocational Canada is a ministry of Briercrest Seminary that has been funded by a generous grant from the Lilly Foundation through the Pathways for Tomorrow phase 2 initiative. Our funding is set to run out at the end of 2026 (or possibly 2027). 

While thinking about sustainability, I was in conversations with denominational leaders to try and find a way to help lay people gain some biblical and theological foundations without having to enrol in a full degree program. As I talked with them I realized that most of them were open to accepting an unaccredited pathway, like our new CoVo certificates, as credible learning for those seeking denominational credentialing.

The certificate concept is simple. Briercrest Faculty members will teach their specialties, split them into 3 hour, online sessions. Participants pay what they would for an accredited course and they receive the same number of in-class hours and weeks as they would for an accredited course. However, there are no assignments and they will have five different faculty members and diverse topics covered over those 12 weeks. We are piloting our Basic CoVo Certificate in January and 12 participants have already signed up. I'm thrilled! This will not only help lay people learn and grow it will also go a long way to making CoVocational Canada sustainable for the long term. 

If you want to know more or to sign up, click this link: www.briercrest.ca/covo    

 

Briercrest Seminary Discounted Tuition Offer

Here's something you might be interested in:

Briercrest Seminary is excited to announce specialized courses for everyone, and discounted tuition (or free coaching!) for those who have never taken a Briercrest College or Seminary course before.
 
Our goal is simple: we want to expand the reach of Briercrest Seminary, making it easy and affordable for pastors and laypeople to access courses taught by scholars with international reputations (such as New Testament professor Dr. Doug Moo), ministry practitioners (such as Forge Canada’s Dr. Cam Roxburgh), as well as our own gifted and extraordinary faculty. We also want to highlight classes that address current issues, such as Left to our Own (De)vices: Theology and Technology, Men and Women Leading Together, and Approaches to Supporting Clergy Well-being.
 
As with almost all our Seminary classes, these “special promotion” courses are weeklong intensives. Five of the ten are offered online and accessible across Canada, while the other five are offered in-person at our seminary in Caronport, SK.
 
You can view more information and register here. If you know someone in your network or church that might be interested, please let them know.

Briercrest Seminary Team and the Talented Brian Westnedge

Our Seminary Team met this afternoon for some team building. Our director of online education, Brian Westnedge, kicked things off with a 90's throwback tune:

I love my job. And, in case you're wondering, Brian has all four verses memorized.

 

Free Online Counselling for Multivocational Ministers and Families

Here's a great opportunity:

The Canadian Thriving Multivocational Ministry project (CTMM) offers free online counselling to people who are multivocational and work in ministry, and to their immediate family members. The CTMM is a funded 5-year project that is a partnership between Briercrest College and Seminary and New Leaf Network to support multivocational leaders by providing a variety of supports. If you are interested in learning more about the free counselling available for yourself or your immediate family, please email CTMMCounselling@briercrest.ca.

CPE and Chaplaincy MDiv

I was inspired by Regent College's summer announcement that they have started a chaplaincy focused MDiv. They are giving twelve transfer credits for 2 units of Clinical Psychospiritual Education (CPE). If you are not familiar with CPE units, they are 400 hours of immersive education in a clinical setting (usually a healthcare setting like a hospital) meant to prepare spiritual care practitioners and religious leaders for ministry.

Chaplaincy education, with an integrated CPE program, is something I am interested in exploring. I think it could be a good fit for Briercrest Seminary, especially with my work in military chaplaincy and we have a CPE teaching centre located just down the road in Regina. I am hoping to teach an introductory course on spiritual care and chaplaincy this fall, as a way to educate those who many be interested and gauge interest levels in a possible degree program. If you are interested in Saskatchwan's CPE programs, you can read more here. If you want to know more about the Briercrest chaplaincy course, be sure to check the Seminary website. The course schedule should be posted in the coming weeks.

Doug Moo

Ever have a flash of inspiration that leads to rejection? It happens to me fairly regularly. The inspiration and rejection. Yet, sometimes inspiration leads to a breakthrough.

One of my roles as Dean of the Seminary entails finding course instructors. This is quite a task for a school that relies heavily on adjuncts to teach courses. Since most of our courses are week-long modular intensives, it is not as daunting as it would be if I had to find locals in small town Saskatchewan to teach specialized graduate level courses. 

Since I have only been on the job five months, I am still figuring out how things work. In this case, I decided to reach out to some of the best educators I could think of. Douglas Moo was my first choice for Pauline Epistles. If you don't know Doug Moo, here's what Wikipedia says about him:

Douglas J. Moo (born March 15, 1950) is a Reformed New Testament scholar who, after teaching for more than twenty years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, has served as Blanchard Professor of New Testament at the Wheaton College Graduate School since 2000. He received his Ph.D. at the University of St. Andrews, in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Moo has published several theological works and commentaries on the Bible; notable among them are An Introduction to the New Testament (with D.A. Carson and Leon Morris) and The Epistle to the Romans (part of the New International Commentary on the New Testament series). His current research interests are Romans, Pauline theology (and exegesis) and environmental theology. He has been a member of the translation committee that produced the NIV and TNIV since 1996, and is its current Chair. He previously edited Trinity Journal.

In 2014, a Festschrift was published in his honour. Studies in the Pauline Epistles: Essays in Honor of Douglas J. Moo included contributions from G. K. Beale, Craig Blomberg, James Dunn, Grant R. Osborne, Thomas R. Schreiner, and N. T. Wright. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_J._Moo)

Now that you know a bit more about him, you might appreciate how this "flash of inspiration" would almost certainly result in rejection. I emailed him asking him to consider coming to southern Saskatchewan to teach. In the subject line I wrote "Shot in the Dark". 

Doug emailed back and accepted my offer. Yes, you read that correctly. He's in. So, Doug Moo is coming to teach a one-week Pauline Epistles course at Briercrest Seminary. Please join us in October 2023 to learn from one of foremost New Testament scholars. Stay tuned for more details.

 

Big News and a Coming Move

I've been preoccupied. Overwhelmed is perhaps a more fitting term. So, for those who follow my blog, I apologize for my absence.

Just over a month ago I accepted an offer of employment from Briercrest College and Seminary as seminary dean and assistant professor. It's sort of a dream come true.

The same week my wife was hired as the director of spiritual care and mission at one of the very few facilities in the province of Saskatchewan that provide Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) training for spiritual care practitioners. God's hand was all over this.

So, three of four family members will be packing up and moving halfway across the country from Southern Georgian Bay, Ontario to Southern Saskatchewan. We'll be leaving the valley of apple orchards for the land of the living skies. Our daughter will remain in Ontario to finish up her final year of university. I think it will be harder on me than it is for her.

Pray for us. We are excited about the adventure that awaits but sad about the many friends and family members we leave behind. We are looking forward to new opportunities, friends, and a new place to call home.

Christian Education in a Secular Age

Last month I wrote a blog post about how I was reading Charles Taylor's A Secular Age for a conference paper proposal I was writing. Last week I submitted the proposal and I hope to hear back by the end of the month about whether it will be accepted. If accepted, I'll be presenting the full paper at Christian Education in a Secular Age, an online conference hosted by Briercrest Seminary. 

In an interesting twist, after submitting the proposal I received an email from one of the conference organizers who noticed my focus on pastoral education. She put me in touch with one of her colleagues who was looking to collaborate on a round-table discussion about clergy resilience and the implications for pastoral education. After an email exchange, I agreed to join Margaret Clarke, assistant professor of marriage and family therapy at Briercrest, and Beth Fisher, a PhD candidate a researcher involved with Wycliffe's Wellness Project in a roundtable discussion at the conference. I am humbled and honoured to be at the virtual table with these two researchers. We are going to meet at the end of this month for some initial planning and brainstorming. I look forward to seeing where the conversation leads.