Mentor's Manual

Sec t i on I I : Under s tand i ng the Ro l e of the Mentor

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These dynamics affect our classes and teaching in several ways:

Grading Traditional seminary education has a difficult time helping people who do not come with existing academic credentials and skills. A certain level of proficiency in the dominant culture’s language, education, and values is required before the investment can be attempted by them. This is especially significant because in many cases the seminary is being used as a way to see if the student qualifies for leadership. They must, in essence, “weed out” the unqualified, and this is generally done, not on the basis of calling or spiritual gifting or evaluation of the student’s ministry in the congregation, but on the basis of academic achievement. Grades are used as a way to evaluate a person’s fitness for ministry. If a person earns a Master of Divinity degree, they become part of the potential leadership pool that churches in the dominant culture can draw from for pastoral leaders. In our context, leadership education is not used to evaluate a person’s leadership potential but to enhance their existing ministry skills. We are not trying to determine whether they are fit leaders because their church has already determined that they are. This means that we are only interested in helping people succeed. The primary use of grades in our system is to help a student assess their own progress. Students should fail courses only if they did not complete the assignments. Students who complete all the course requirements to the best of their ability should receive a passing grade although the nature of the grade will obviously vary accord- ing to the degree of competence achieved. This does not mean that challenging content should not be offered or that high stand- ards should not be maintained. It does mean that investment in motivated Christian leaders is the primary goal and evaluation is a subordinate goal. NOTE: It should be stressed to students that they are not ever being graded on their ministry calling or competence but only on their current mastery of the particular subject matter in the course. Assigned Reading Students are required to read, reflect upon, and be ready to discuss selected assigned textbooks for every TUMI course. These text- books are selected to enhance the student’s mastery of the subject,

Literacy and

Language Issues