Clinical Pastoral Education
Equipping for Pastoral Ministry in Anxious Times
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Extended (Part-Time) CPE Unit
This unit spans the two semesters of the school year, beginning the first week of the fall semester and concluding at the end of the spring semester in April. Four hours each week are scheduled for group education. Students are expected to serve approximately 10 hours per week as chaplian interns at Rockingham Memorial Hospital and/or a local retirement community. Students may schedule much of thier "clinical" time (including daytimes, evenings, and weekends) to fit their own schedules. Semester breaks will be observed.
Phil Weichart, CPE student, visits with Caroline Plank, a resident at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.
Summer CPE Unit
The Summer unit is a full-time ten week program beginning near the end of May and concluding in early August. Monday through Friday (8 a.m.-5 p.m.) is spent in clinical ministry or in the nearly 12 hours of group seminars. Students typically divide ministry time as chaplian interns between Rockingham Memorial Hospital (RMH) and a local retirement community. Students are expected to provide occasional "on-call" coverage in the hospital on evenings and weekends.
Congregation-Based CPE Unit
This unit is designed for those holding at least a half-time position of ministry in a congregational setting. The congregation serves as the student's ministry assignment. Learning in this unit includes gaining an understanding of the congregation as a family system or emotional unit. Characteristics of a "healthy congregation" will be explored along with the qualities and dynamics of "differentiated" leadership.
Eastern Mennonite Seminary's Clinical Pastoral Education Program is an accredited center of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. and offers CPE Levels I and II.
