What is a Pathways Project?

(rev. 2016.10)

A Pathways Project integrates specific course content into a student’s actual ministry context. Students reflect upon the implementation of Pathways Projects in a context.

 

Pathways Projects . . .

  1. Provide opportunity to practice what you learn within a ministry context.
  2. Require you to integrate the resources of particular course or theological discipline with the ministry you are doing.
  3. Serve as contact points between your class learning, your ministry practice, and the Learning Outcomes of your degree program.
  4. Allow you to draw on the experience of different faculty as your reflective capacities develop.
Description of the Process

At the beginning of each term, take note of Pathways Projects in course syllabi (or courses with potential for a Pathways Project). Speak to the professor on the first day about your intentions to do Pathways. It is up to the student to keep track of and see to the completion of the required number of Pathways Projects for your degree program.

You will submit to the professor a brief, one-paragraph Pathways Project proposal. Indicate intentions for development of the contextual project and explain the gist of your project. Some courses will have a clearly identified Pathways assignment, yet it is the student’s responsibility to imagine the assignment within the student’s ministry setting.

You will apply resources from the course to ministerial activity within a real context. You must develop and implement a contextually appropriate project that explicitly utilizes the resources of the course and its discipline—e.g. a short sermon series, a series of Bible lessons, equipping and training classes, youth mentoring, an implementation of and reflection on specific service, a pastoral intervention, etc. The project must be doable within the time frame, exhibit fundamental reliance on the course, and meet the approval of the teacher.

Upon approval, the teacher will integrate your project as one of your assignments for that class. You are responsible to meet the specifications of the teacher in completing the assignment in order to receive credit for it in the class. After implementing the project, include the reflective implementation paper of your project in your Portfolio.

Key Information:
  1. Plan to do one or two Pathways Project each year of your program.
  2. The total number of Pathways Projects depends upon your degree (MDiv students complete 3; MACM & MAGS students complete 2).
  3. Each of your Pathways Projects should be in a different area (BIBD, BIBH, BIBL).
  4. At the beginning of each term, identify courses with potential for a Pathways Project.
  5. Talk with the professor early in the course and collaborate with them to create a proposal for an integrative assignment in your context.
  6. Ensure you meet the expectations of your professor and the needs of the context.
  7. All Pathways Projects are created for implementation in your ministry context.
  8. No less than one of your Pathways Projects must include a follow-up Pathways Implementation Paper reflecting what happened with the project in your context.
  9. Pathways Implementation papers are student generated and posted before your Final Review.
  10. Demonstrate how the project shows your growing competency in pertinent Learning Outcomes for your degree program.