Program Overview
Westminster Seminary California’s Field Education Program is designed to integrate on-campus studies with part-time ministry in local churches. Field education involves supervised hands-on ministry experience and opportunities for evaluation and reflection with mentors, peers, and professors, in which students are given opportunities to develop the skills and gifts necessary for effective ministry. The Field Education Program at WSC provides an opportunity for Master of Divinity students to gain practical ministry experience to which they can apply the information learned in the classroom. In this way the WSC curriculum seeks to balance intense Christian scholarship with practical ministry.
The Director of Field Education advises students of service opportunities and coordinates the fulfillment of field education requirements with the M.Div. students and pastoral internship supervisors. Each M.Div. student is required to register for the pastoral internship (FE691) during the spring semester of his first full year of study at WSC. The Field Education Program requires seven hundred (700) hours of supervised ministry experience.
Students preparing for the pastoral ministry are urged to work under the supervision of a local church throughout the course of their seminary education. Churches throughout San Diego, Riverside, and Orange County regularly provide information regarding internship opportunities that current students may be able to pursue in fulfillment of their field education requirement. Students are also encouraged to return to their home churches to serve during the summer months if feasible.
Information regarding the Field Education Program is provided to all Master of Divinity students during their first semester at WSC. For more information regarding the program, students are encouraged to contact the Director of Field Education.
Field Education Forms and Resources
