Jodie McNeill lives in Sydney, Australia, and is the Executive Director of The rhythms of the calendar are quite different for an outdoor ministry than a parish ministry. In NSW especially, the lion share of the ministry happens in the warmer months, leaving the winter months ideally suited for more intense training and preparation.
From this challenge came a solution that we believe will work to see people well-trained and thoroughly-equipped for a lifetime of ministry, whether in the outdoor context or otherwise.
Instead of adopting the ‘normal’ academic year, we will now be offering apprentices the opportunity to spend most days in the warmer months bringing the Word to children and youth, and spend the winter months of their second and four years being taught subjects in the Diploma of Theology. To complement this theological training, apprentices will train for a Certificate III in Outdoor Recreation in first year, and then a Certificate IV in their third year.
Four years of ministry experience, coupled with training in the hard skills of outdoor recreation, and the soft skills of theology.
Check out the whole article at sydneyanglicans.net
PS: I’m looking for ten new MTS Outdoor Ministry Apprentices to start in September. Applications close in two weeks. Visit outdoorministry.youthworks.net for details.
