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Mentoring for Distance Education Introduction
This page presents the mentoring component of a Master of Arts degree via distance education (MA Religion) from the Virtual Campus of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS/Virtual). The MA (Religion) program is an innovative effort for lifelong learning, Christian worldview application, and ministry preparation from RTS/Virtual via a fully distance, fully accredited graduate curriculum. The degree is a 60-credit Master of Arts (Religion), which is equivalent to two years of full-time study at a seminary program of theological education on one of the RTS residential campuses.
The mentoring component is a unique feature of the MA (Religion), designed to help you attain a greater balance of growth during your course of study. During critical periods of church growth in the past, mentoring was an important element of pastoral training. Under the care and oversight of gifted, godly leaders, young men were helped to receive a quality of training that has been often lacking in theological education today. Our desire is to recover some of that discipleship dynamic, to help you gain the benefit of the spiritual and practical input of a mentor of your choice, and to help your mentor do the best possible job of assisting you in your preparation for ministry.
Purpose
The purpose of the mentoring component of the MA (Religion) is to provide a balance for the intellectual material you will be studying. The Apostle Paul wrote, "The goal of our instruction is love, out of a clean heart, a good moral understanding, and a sincere (walk of) faith" (I Tim. 1:5). This is our goal as well. We want to help you grow in love for the Lord, for His people, and for the lost men and women of the world. The course material you will be studying will speak to the cognitive dimension of your personal growth, what Paul referred to as "a good moral understanding." We think you will find that your course work has been prepared at the highest possible academic level in order to ensure that your intellectual development is the best it can be.
The mentoring component is designed to address the other aspects of your preparation, what some modern educators call the "affective" objectives, and what Paul referred to as "a clean heart" and "a sincere (walk of) faith." For each course that you study, guidelines have been developed that will assist you in setting goals for spiritual and practical growth. Working with your mentor over the course of your studies, you will find that you are becoming more "complete in Christ" (Col. 1:28) through this balanced approach to learning.
How It Works
It is your responsibility to recruit your mentor, who will, in most cases, be your pastor, associate pastor, a gifted elder or other lay leader, or some combination of these. In the case of our women students, they should seek out a competent woman to be the mentor in conjunction with the leadership of the church. We encourage you to follow these steps in recruiting your mentor:
1. Make an appointment to meet with your chosen mentor. You will need about 30 minutes.
2. Begin your time together in prayer. Explain to your chosen mentor that, as part of your MA (Religion) program you need to recruit a mentor to help you in spiritual and practical growth.
3. Briefly outline the program for him:
| | a. | RTS/Virtual provides guidelines for setting growth goals on a course-by-course basis. | | b. | For each course you and your mentor will decide on personal growth goals, following the guidelines provided. | | c. | You then meet at least four times during the course of your study in that course -- usually at the beginning and then once a month -- to assess progress, deal with problems, share challenges and prayer requests, etc. | | d. | At the end of the course you and your mentor will write a brief assessment of your progress toward the goals you set. This will be sent to RTS/Virtual and reviewed as part of your course requirement. |
4. Ask your chosen mentor if he is willing to serve in this capacity for all or part of your MA (Religion) training. Explain to your chosen mentor that RTS/Virtual will provide him with a packet of materials, including a cassette tape and a book, to introduce the concept of mentoring and further clarify how he can succeed at this challenging work.
5. Have your mentor sign the mentor agreement form at the end of this booklet. Send that to RTS/Virtual.
6. Set another appointment in which you will set your goals for the next course, using the materials that will be provided.
Once you have enlisted your mentor and enrolled in a course at RTS/Virtual, we will send you the materials you need to begin gaining the benefit of this exciting component of your training.
Questions You Can Anticipate
Your chosen mentor will no doubt have several questions. Among them may be the following:
How many times will we need to meet?
Usually, the student and mentor should meet at the beginning of the course, and then once a month to fulfill the requirement.
How long do you think those meetings will last?
They shouldn't take more than an hour.
How will I be able to help you with the practical growth goals?
In most cases you will be working through your existing ministry. For instance, a requirement for each student is to do some teaching on the topic of each course. This is very flexible, large group or small, a few times or more, depending on the needs of your church. You will seek guidance from your mentor and ask him to do some evaluation of your work. At other times, it might work best if your mentor can bring you into some aspect of his ministry, show you what he does, and then watch as you do some of the ministry yourself. In each case, your course syllabus will guide you in how best to proceed, and RTS/Virtual will work with your mentor as needed. The twin goals are to train the student and to serve the immediate church context.
I'm not sure I know exactly what is required of me. Can you tell me more?
RTS/Virtual will be happy to explain in more detail what this ministry requires of your mentor. You or he may call us any time. In addition, we will send introductory materials to your mentor, which will help him to see the importance of this ministry and to consider how he can fulfill what is required.
Can I get other people to help me at times?
Yes, in fact, that would be really great. The more input from gifted, godly leaders you can gain, the better.
Why are you asking me to be your mentor?
You're on your own here; you know better than we the reasons why God has led you to this person. Be honest and sincere, and let him know how much you look forward to the time he will be giving you.
If you have any questions about the mentoring component, please do not hesitate to call Reformed Theological Seminary Virtual Campus. We are ready and eager to help.
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