Describe a problem or topic in a particular context of ministry or nonprofit work that can be suitably illuminated by one or several of the course readings.
Self-Awareness and Congregational Care
Final Presentations
For your Final Presentation Assignment, you will write a two- page, single spaced paper indicating two main parts:
• Part One- Description of the problem or topic using course readings.
In the first two thirds of the paper you will describe a problem or topic in a particular
context of ministry or nonprofit work that can be suitably illuminated by one or several
of the course readings. Describe the problem in its context and draw it into conversation
with readings from the course. It is important to supplement this discussion with outside
resources that inform your work on this topic. In this descriptive section be certain to
address the specific links between the course reading and the problem you are analyzing
and show why these links are significant, building a case as to why the particular
theoretical framework you propose is helpful.
• Part Two- Propose how the problem or topic can be addressed in ways that lead to spiritual growth, empowerment, and social transformation.
In the final third of the paper make a constructive proposal that explicates a way forward in regards to this particular problem. If it is a particularly severe and intractable problem your proposal need not pretend to be definitive, but could acknowledge its limitation and still claim to be worthwhile. I am looking for you to integrate the themes of the course
toward a concrete proposal for how a problem can be addressed in more beneficial ways
that demonstrate that your approach could be improved by interacting with the course
material.
This could be a problem or topic that you have faced personally, provided you feel
capable of analyzing it in an academic context. Your papers will be held in confidence
and destroyed at the end of the semester. Nevertheless, if you have a question about how
much to share, err on the side of sharing less. The problem or topic that you choose to
focus on could arise from your own ministry experience, from a community that you
have witnessed or worked in, or from a community where you expect to work. If your
own pastoral work has been limited thus far, it could also be ‘ripped from the headlines,’
a community care or pastoral care problem that is not being adequately addressed by
society and needs our attention.
