Presbyterian Ministry Candidates

Applying

Those considering the work of the ordained ministry in the Presbyterian Church of Victoria should notify their own minister and the clerk of their Presbytery to guide them in their application. They should also confer with the Principal of the Theological College.

Course of Training

The program involves four years' full-time training, including:

University Background Subjects

Philosophy/Apologetics; Historiography (part of Church History Survey); English Language and English Literature.

Core Subjects

Old & New Testament Surveys; Church History Survey; Hebrew; Old Testament Exegesis (2 years; 1 year Hebrew, 1 year Hebrew or English at the student’s discretion); Greek; New Testament Greek Exegesis (2 years); Reformation History; Systematic Theology (2 years); Christian Ethics; Introduction to Canon and Text; Hermeneutics.

Presbyterian Distinctives

Westminster Confession of Faith; Australian Presbyterian Church History; Presbyterian Church Polity.

Practical Subjects

Candidates shall do 8 semester length courses in Practical Theology. Two of these shall be in the field of Evangelism and Mission (EM) and two others shall be Field Education subjects (SFE).

Exit Thesis

All candidates for the Presbyterian Ministry must submit one exit thesis in the area of Biblical Studies (Old or New Testament). This thesis, presented in the student’s final year, is to be supervised by an appropriate lecturer and passed by an external examiner appointed by the College Committee.

The standard required for the thesis is equivalent to 400 level BTh essay (length 4,000 - 15,000 words). See the Academic Dean for a copy of the thesis guidelines prepared by the College Committee. The thesis should be submitted no later than 30th September.

Field Education

The Supervised Field Education (SFE) is the element of training in which students are actively involved in ministry and in reflection on this ministry in congregational and other settings.

Definitions

Student: A ministry candidate enrolled at PTC or a student enrolled in an SFE subject.

SFE Trainer: A person requested by PTC to provided personal training for a student during a ministry placement.

SFE Co-ordinator: The person responsible for organising the SFE program - at present Nello Barbieri, PCV Training Officer.

Semester: SFE appointments are usually made from year to year. The year runs from February to November. Semester 1 is from February to June and Semester 2 is from July to November.

Aims

The aims of the SFE program are to assist students to develop:

ministry competencies and skills that are appropriate to their future ministry roles;
an awareness of issues and dynamics in congregational life and ministry and in the denominational setting; and
an awareness of the culture and society in which they minister and its impact on ministry.

The goals of SFE relate to ministry formation. The PTC course of training also involves theological formation and spiritual formation. The course is integrated, so SFE will involve aspects of ‘theological formation’ and ‘spiritual formation’, however these are not the primary focus of SFE.

Method

Ordinarily a student is enrolled in SFE over 8 semesters or 4 years. During the first two years SFE involves having a certain number of sermons reviewed, attending college mission and attending a class on preaching. In the latter two years SFE is much more involved (see below). The major element of SFE in the latter two years is training in a ministry placement with an SFE Trainer.

	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4
Sermon Review	2 sermons reviewed by faculty	4 sermons reviewed by faculty	6 sermons - 4 reviewed by faculty	6 sermons - 4 reviewed by faculty
Preaching Subject	Nil	Biblical Hermeneutics	Biblical Homiletics	Nil
College Mission	Urban Mission	Rural Mission	Urban Mission	Overseas Mission
Parish Placement	Nil	Nil	4 hrs per week in an assigned church	8hrs per week in an assigned church
Lectures	Nil	Nil	442/642	443/643 or 440/640
Country Placement	Nil	Nil	4- 6 weeks	Nil

Classwork Education

Ministry candidates are expected to take 8 subjects drawn from the Evangelism & Mission (EM) and the Pastoral & Church Focussed Ministry (PC) fields. Not all of these subjects will be offered in any one year.