ISSUE 184 WWW.AUSTINSEMINARY.TYPEPAD.PORTAL/KAIROS.HTML
3
An
Urban
Ministry
SPM
Kate Loveless is a senior MDiv student and a Candidate for Minster of Word and Sacrament under care of GracePresbytery. She has served as a Young Adult Volunteer inLiverpool, England and is engaged to be married.
This summer, I worked full-time at FirstPresbyterian Church in Fort Worth to fulfill mySupervised Practice of Ministry requirement. FPChas over 2000 members and is very involved inoutreach to their community. They are a uniquechurch for several reasons: all four pastors are underthe age of 45; they have two different campuses, one being in a transitional neighborhood and the otherthe main traditional campus; they have fourworship services on Sunday, ranging fromtraditional to contemporary and everything in between.
One of the reasons I chose to work at FPCwas also their incredible generosity in mission andoutreach. They have a social worker on staff, whose job is solely to coordinate the mission and outreachprograms. My main responsibility was workingwith the social worker to help run the Urban GAPsprogram.
We had six different youth groups come fromfour different states to stay at the church for amission trip and do ministry in an urban setting.They worked for agencies that addressed a varietyof issues in the community, mainly people livingwith HIV and AIDS, hunger, and homelessness.While this was my main responsibility, I alsopreached, led worship, taught Sunday School, didpastoral visits, and helped with Vacation BibleSchool.
I learned so much – not only from the otherpastors, but also from the staff and members. I hadmany chances to apply practically what I havelearned theoretically in my classes in a churchsetting.
My call also seems to have been clarified; thisis now the second time that I have been assigned todo urban ministry with youth. I was reminded howmuch I enjoyed being in relationship with youth,how passionate I am about their Christianeducation, and how grateful I am to be a part of their faith journey.
Ancient
Greek
Summer
Day
Camp
for
Adults
Sally Wright is a Middler, MDiv student and an Inquirer for Minister of Word and Sacrament under care of New CovenantPresbytery. Sally spent his summer at Greek Camp and in theWilderness. She is one of two Middler Senators and a ReyahCoordinator.
Beginning seminary is an exciting time. It isexciting to learn the different editions of thePentateuch, the different sources of Matthew andthe date of the Reformation. But nothing bringsquite as much excitement as learning BiblicalHebrew and Biblical Greek. Being able to read andtranslate the original languages of the Old
Understanding
the
Alphabet
Soup
of
Seminary
Kate
in
the
midst
of
the
Urban
GAP
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