Denver Seminary's Unique Approach to Mentoring
Mentoring is...
a relational process in which people assist in the growth of another person using personal and spiritual resources.
Denver Seminary’s Vision:
Denver Seminary seeks to glorify God by equipping leaders to think biblically, live faithfully and lead wisely for a lifetime.
All Denver Seminary degree programs involve an intentional mentoring component alongside the traditional classroom-based courses.
What It Takes
A Passionate Vision
It takes a special kind of person to faithfully minister for Jesus Christ in our rapidly changing, deeply broken world. You must be able to think biblically, live faithfully, and lead wisely. If your ministry depends on that type of integration, your training process also must address your whole person: head, heart, and hand.
A Unique Approach
The Training and Mentoring process in Denver Seminary’s core curriculum addresses areas of character and competence that are essential to your ministry, integrating those areas with rigorous study in the classical biblical and theological disciplines. In contrast to older models of field education and internships, the Training and Mentoring process is intensely relational, personalized, contextual, and self directed.
An Integrated Process
The Training and Mentoring process depends on tightly knit partnerships between the Seminary faculty and ministry leaders who serve as your mentors. During a one-semester introductory course a thorough assessment process will help you identify important personal growth horizons by sharpening your picture of your ministry passion, gifting, and calling. You will also be introduced to spiritual formation resources that can nourish a healthy, vibrant relationship with God in seminary and in ministry.
Once this introductory course is completed, the Training and Mentoring process involves three consecutive semesters for M.A. students or five consecutive semesters for M.Div. students. Each semester you will participate in the following activities and relationships designed to integrate "head, heart and hand."
1. Interacting weekly with one or two mentors (depending on your degree program) who are external to the Seminary community.
2. Participating weekly in a campus-based formation group with other students and a faculty mentor.
3. Developing and implementing personalized learning contracts that address vital areas of character, spiritual formation and ministry competence. Your classroom-based courses can be integrated with your Training and Mentoring process so that all facets of your overall Seminary experience are connected and inform each other. This process connects Seminary education with life as you really live it; life as it is lived by those you will serve in ministry.
NOTE: Due to the unique requirements of the Counseling licensure program, the particular elements of the Training and Mentoring process described above are modified and embedded in the Clinical Training sequence (i.e., Practicum and Internship). Please consult the program information in the Academic Catalog or contact the Counseling Division.
What’s Mentoring Really Like?
“The T/M process has been invaluable, since it helped me to stay ‘connected’ with my soul and with God in the midst of academic studies. It has been precious because, along with the weekly meetings with my mentors, it helped me to grow holistically and intellectually. It is definitely one of the strengths of Denver Seminary.”
- Daniele Pasquale
“For me, to mentor is to be blessed and to build a mutual relationship for prayer and spiritual growth. By mentoring I gained new insights into students’ needs and their potential for future ministry.”
- Dr. Marjorie Shelley, mentor
“My external mentor is so encouraging! I still don’t understand why Deb wants to invest so much into me. What a blessing!”
- Talitha Sanderson
“The learning contract experience has proven to me the value of being very intentional on focusing on one area of my life. In other words, growth rarely happens passively or haphazardly.”
- David Warn
“Frankly, I simply enjoy having a spiritual formation group. So much of seminary education is about academics and scholarship—as it ought to be. My formation group, however, enables me to stay connected with students in the press of ministry and life outside of the rigors of the classroom.”
- Dr. Bill Klein, Professor of New Testament
We would be arrogant to think that as a Seminary, we alone could effectively train people for ministry. Most seminaries require some type of ministry involvement. This, however, has not been sufficient to prepare people for the wide range of personal and professional demands that ministry makes on them. Tragically, attrition and struggle in ministry have often been related to issues other than those addressed in the academic curriculum. Effective ministry training always involves a rigorous and thorough-going approach to biblical and theological disciplines, but it is much more. It must also provide tools and create environments in which God can develop vital areas of character and skill. It must teach people how to be lifelong learners.
All Denver Seminary degree programs involve an intentional mentoring component alongside the traditional classroom-based courses.
For students, the mentoring experience involves custom-designed, self-directed learning contracts that focus on key areas of character, spiritual maturity and ministry skill. Students meet with their mentor(s) for approximately one hour per week (a time commitment of 15 hours per semester) during the school term. The learning contracts provide focus and content for discussion, but the mentoring conversations normally touch on a wide array of topics that are relevant to life and ministry. A mentor comes alongside a student for encouragement, reflection, challenge and prayer. Every other semester the student is responsible to schedule a one-hour "mentor team meeting" in which the mentor(s) come together with the student and one or two faculty members involved in the student's mentoring process. At the end of each semester, the student writes a brief reflection on that semester's learning contract and mentoring experience, then gives copies to mentors along with a brief evaluation form. Mentors are asked to read these summaries and offer written comments that will help the student continue growing. Students in M.A. programs participate in the mentoring sequence for three consecutive semesters (one and a half years, excluding breaks). The M.Div. degree program involves five consecutive semesters of mentoring (two and a half years, excluding breaks).
Who Can I Contact if I Have Questions?
A Denver Seminary Admissions team member can answer many of your questions about the Training and Mentoring process. If you have more specific questions or would like to speak with someone in the Training and Mentoring department, please feel free to contact us. We would love to interact with you about how our approach to seminary education could help prepare you for the next steps in ministry.
Training and Mentoring at Denver Seminary
Training and Mentoring Department
6399 South Santa Fe Drive • Littleton, CO 80120
Phone: 303-762-6917 • Toll free: 800-922-3040
Fax: 303-761-8060
E-mail:
For more information about how the Training and Mentoring process works in the Counseling licensure program, please contact:
Counseling Division
Phone: 303-762-6954
Email:
