Monday, February 28, 2011

Marsh Associates and the Fund for Theological Education

The Fund for Theological Education (FTE) has awarded Marsh Chapel a Pastoral Internships Grant to support our Marsh Associate program. Marsh Associates are paid undergraduate interns in the ministry department at Marsh Chapel who explore a vocation to ministry through practical ministry experience and theological reflection on that experience. FTE not only brings financial support to the program but also the rich resource of their VocationCARE program, in which interns will participate as a benefit of the program.

Marsh Associates, as members of the ministry staff at Marsh Chapel, participate in leadership at the 11AM Sunday morning Interdenominational Worship Service and attend Monday evening Community Dinner followed by ministry staff meetings. March through May of 2011 will be spent getting acquainted with each other, with Marsh Chapel, and with the University context. During the 2011-12 academic year, interns will work with identified constituencies among the student population in pastoral and spiritual care as well as community development. Throughout these practical engagements, interns will meet regularly with senior ministry staff at Marsh Chapel as well as members of the Marsh Chapel and greater Boston University communities to reflect theologically on their experiences and the ways those experiences contribute to their discernment of a vocation to ministry.

The purpose of this blog is for Marsh Associates and others on the Marsh Chapel ministry team to reflect on their ministry experience as it informs their sense of vocation and discernment process.  It is also a forum for others to reflect on their own sense of call by commenting and participating in conversation.  We hope and pray that it is a blessing to the Boston University community and a source of inspiration to other students who may be discerning a call to some sort of ministry.