Using a Mentoring Approach to Teaching Students How to Plan, Design, Lead and Implement Spiritually Formative and Transformative Worship

Heidi Miller Yoder
1.5 scholarship practice hours

Project Dates:

Planning and Designing-Fall 2006 There were eight, one-and-a-half hour worshipful work sessions, scheduled throughout the fall with the students who participated. In addition, there were at least four, one-on-one sessions with students.

Leading and Implementing & Reflection-Winter 2007 This occurred in the time leading up to School for Leadership Training (SLT) and during SLT itself (January 15-18, 2007). Debriefing from School for Leadership Training happened on a one-on-one basis and in a group session on January 30, 2007

Summary:

This scholarship report falls into the category of practice. The specific purpose of these practice hours was to mentor a group of students who teamed with me in order to plan, design, implement and assist in leading worship for the School for Leadership Training in January of 2007. My hope was that the very nature of doing intentional, "hands on" work alongside of students will assist them to deepen their learning experience beyond the classroom setting while being attentive to the theological and contextual dimensions the "why" and "how" questions of worship.

Anticipated Outcomes:

As stated in my original proposal, the anticipated outcomes of this study were quite measurable: students will be taught via a mentoring approach in the area of worship, .worship will be planned and implemented for School for Leadership Training, a feature about mentoring will appear on the Seminary website and an article will be written for Leader. On another level, the outcome of this proposal is not as easily measured. The shift of place, awareness and function of Scripture having a lead place at the worship planning table called these students to intentionally craft the worship gathering with primary attention to how the worship gathering assists in evoking, embodying and enacting God's story.

Status of Project:

In large part, many of the anticipated outcomes were met in this scholarship practice: I met with the students (as a group) a total of eight times throughout the planning and designing process.

In addition I guided students in leading, implementing and reflecting on the various worship gatherings. I also gave time to deliberately debriefing students in the mentoring process. I did not complete an article about mentoring to date. I still plan to do this in the future.

Summary of Outcomes:

Students involved in this process reported that it was a "high caliber learning experience" in which they were enabled, ''to connect the reading to reality in a way that did not seem trivial," and ''take ownership of something that is a life-giving experience for others." The students stated that knowing they could trust me as a mentor was essential to the learning process. In order for deeper levels of learning to occur, I discovered that a mutual trust needed to form with the team at large. Furthermore, I continually worked at creating an intentional, informative, personal, communal, collaborative, innovative, truthful, relaxed atmosphere of learning. This did not happen on its own. We carefully noticed how the speaker she intended to build our understanding of "Christian practices" throughout the week. We connected this to planning for worship using a biblical narrative methodology. We deliberately and prayerfully chose and attended to four table stories that tapped into specific practices that are to occur within the congregation and extend into the world. Each of these biblical stories helped us shape the intent, movement, and flow of the respective worship gatherings. Through my experience of mentoring, I am discovering that deliberate, original, attentive, mature work in mentoring, requires a humble form of informed boldness.