Church Attendance and Involvement
All CGST students are expected to actively participate in a local church of their choice. Even though students may be away from their home church, they are expected to become actively involved in one local congregation during their studies at CGST. It is not acceptable to “church hop” or to simply “spectate” in one of the large congregations of Metro Cebu. CGST exists to train church ministers and thus students are expected to be actively involved in ministry during their entire CGST career. If a student wishes to find a ministry which fits his/her passion and spiritual gifts, the BTC Field Education Director is available to help match him/her with a local church that can use his/her gifts.
Some students travel to locations far from CGST for their ministry on weekends. This is the reason why classes are normally scheduled between Monday evening and Friday noon—allowing sufficient travel time for weekend ministry. Students who travel to far places, but not every weekend, are expected to be involved in a local church in Metro Cebu on the weeks when they do not travel to another location.
CGST Supervised Field Education
I. BACKGROUND:
Cebu Graduate School of Theology of Baptist Theological College is committed to developing men and women who effectively use the ministry skills they acquire and become trainers of others ( II Timothy 2:2).
It is CGST’s desire to teach students both in theory in the classroom and in practice in the field.
II. OBJECTIVES:
It is the purpose of the Field Education (FED) program to provide students with practical, meaningful experiences in ministry. Those experiences may involve a variety of settings and locations including ministries like witnessing, preaching, teaching, visitation, literature distribution, discipleship, mentoring, counseling, leadership and administration.
III. TIME REQUIRED IN FIELD EDUCATION PROGRAM:
The formal Field Education program of CGST covers only one semester of the student’s academic career at CGST. While all men and women at CGST are expected to be involved in ministry every semester they study, it is only reported to the Field Education office for one semester. “One semester” means at least 16 weeks of Field Education ministry, spending a minimum of six hours per week. The six hours includes actual field ministry, and some preparation time. Students are required to give no less than three (3) hours of actual on-site ministry each week; this does not include transportation to and from ministry settings. An additional three or more hours may be used in preparation time to meet the minimum total of six (6) hours.
Absences are normally not allowed. However, in case of sudden illness, students are expected to notify those involved in as timely a fashion as possible. In case an absence is unavoidable, (and presumably a substitute worker is found), the student will serve and report an additional week in ministry—making a total of at least 16 weekly sessions reported.
IV. PROCEDURE
Each CGST FED student proposes to the FED Coordinator a place for his/her supervised ministry experience. If he/she has no Metro Cebu contacts, they can ask the school to help locate a ministry setting for them. Each student identifies a Field Supervisor to whom he/she will make himself/herself accountable regarding their stated objectives for ministry. The student should meet regularly with the Field Supervisor for planning, advice and prayer. This meeting may be done face-to-face or via electronic contact, but it should be scheduled monthly. The Field Supervisor signs each of the monthly reports submitted by the student.
- The student provides a Job Description for their ministry participation for the semester.
- Specific, measurable goals are written by the student which are to be evaluated throughout the semester. These are written in cooperation with the Field Supervisor, to whom the student will be held accountable. The CGST FED Coordinator is also available as a resource in writing these goals. These goals and the job description are submitted to the CGST office at the beginning of the semester.
- The student will complete at least four Monthly Reports (covering ministry during a minimum of 16 weeks). These are submitted to the BTC/CGST office—either in hard copy or electronically. These reports detail the ministry involvement for the month as well as explain how the student’s activities have contributed toward the accomplishment of his/her goals for that semester.
- The student will complete a Final Report detailing the accomplishment of ministry goals during the semester.
- The Field Supervisor will read and sign the student’s Monthly Reports as well as the Final Report.