Wilshire encourages followers of Christ to listen for the call to vocational ministry. We want children, youth and young adults to view a calling to ministry as equally significant as a calling to medicine, law or business. Pathways to Ministry is Wilshire's initiative to nurture the work of the Holy Spirit within the lives of motivated, interested and gifted young believers as they test their gifts and consider a calling to vocational ministry.
Wilshire's Pathways program includes these key elements:
Pastoral Residency
The flagship program of Wilshire's Pathways to Ministry provides two years of practical ministry and learning inside the church, much like a medical residency operates in a hospital. Currently funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, the residency gives recent seminary or divinity school graduates an opportunity to apply and develop their training in a real world setting while working as full-time ministers under the supervision of the senior pastor.
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Summer Internships
As part of the discernment process for vocational ministry, Wilshire offers opportunities for 10 weeks of hands-on work in the church, with emphases on preschoolers, children, youth, single adults, music or missions. Internships are intended for upper-level college students or for seminary students.
YourCall
YourCall is a unique vocational discernment program for high school students created at Wilshire as a first step in the Pathways to Ministry program. The idea is that high school students ought to be confronted with the challenge to consider God's work in their vocational calling. Whether a young woman or man is to become a doctor, attorney, teacher, minister or accountant, how might the work of the church shape their future?
Pastoral Residency
The goal of the Pastoral Residency program at Wilshire is to provide young clergy with the time and space necessary to train for lifelong ministry within a congregation in order to create a greater chance for pastoral success. Modeling after experienced mentors while living through the rhythms of congregational life, residents begin to find their identity as a pastor.
Wilshire has been driven in its work by a mission statement and six congregational practices. These shared spiritual practices summarize the holy habits of a healthy church and form the basis for the training of ministers to promote them. The Wilshire mission is to build a community of faith shaped by the spirit of Jesus Christ. The congregational practices that support the church's mission are: Worship, Discipleship, Fellowship, Witness, Ministry and Stewardship
These six areas of church life provide a natural framework around which to build a curriculum of pastoral rotations that meet the expected competencies of an effective pastor. While each of the six practices is a part of the full, ongoing life of the church, it is possible to focus the resident training program on one at a time for intensive learning. These six areas will allow for rotations on a trimester schedule, thus covering the full complement in two years.
Worship: Pastors are chief liturgists of the congregation. They must lead the church to worship God in ways befitting the character of God and the need of human beings created in God's image and likeness. Residents hone their preaching skills to do justice to the biblical text while discovering their own the unique voice. It is in the context of worship that the cycles of the liturgical year intersect with the natural rhythms of life in community. Residents learn the art of public Scripture reading and pastoral prayer, work effectively with a worship planning team and become prepared to lead the church in the liturgical rites of communion, baptism, child dedications, weddings and funerals.
Discipleship: Spiritual formation begins at the top. It comes from God first of all, but it requires human participation. Likewise in the church, pastors must be growing in the practices of discipleship themselves if they expect their congregations to grow spiritually. Residents have opportunity to develop the habits of the spiritual life that include prayer, Scripture reading, devotional reading, journaling and retreating. Residents also become effective teachers of others across the life cycle-children, youth and adults of all ages. They build personal boundaries and disciplines in self-care, both mental and physical, and in scheduling of time and priorities. They gain familiarity with resources for spiritual formation and are encouraged to master principles of ministerial ethics.
Fellowship: The common life of the church is nurtured by a culture of caring for one another in times of woe and weal and in ordering the life of the church in a way that allows the work of the people to be effective. Vulnerable but confident pastoral care in the cycle of people's lives from birth to death is a model that blesses. Residents develop appropriate and helpful practices of hospital and homebound member visitation. They conduct effective weddings, child dedications and funerals. They become acquainted with divorce and grief recovery stages, as well as 12-step addiction programs. Residents also learn the basics of premarital preparation, lead new members through a church assimilation process and learn how to moderate a church business meeting according to Roberts' Rules of Order. Residents also gain experience in clarifying the relationship between staff and lay leadership, in particular the role of the deacons.
Witness: Evangelism is the work of the whole church and especially those who have the gift for it. But the pastor is the primary public proclaimer of the gospel for and to the congregation. Whether with children who are coming of age to the faith or with adults for whom conversion is a more radical act of belief, the pastor must be adept at leading people to faith and teaching others to do so. The church partners with other missions and evangelism agencies to accomplish the task beyond the church. Residents learn to assess the readiness of young people and adults who express interest in making professions of faith and lead them to make first steps in relationship to Christ. They learn to extend a clear and effective invitation to faith at the conclusion of worship and become confident in answering questions that can be stumbling blocks to faith-for example, religious pluralism, theodicy, biblical authority, faith and science. Residents also become effective in outreach contacts with those who have visited the church and gain understanding of partner organizations and missions agencies.
Ministry: Evangelism and social justice-"witness" and "ministry"-go hand in hand, but for the purpose of emphasis they are considered separately. The church exists to glorify God and to bear witness to the work of God's kingdom. Working in the world to promote a more just and peaceful society is part of kingdom work. Pastors must be able to lead the church in such community, ecumenical and interfaith missions efforts. Residents learn to articulate a holistic understanding of evangelism that includes social justice and a holistic understanding of social justice that includes evangelism. They gain discernment about the places of injustice and powerlessness in daily life, such as racism, economic inequality, homelessness and hunger, and failures in public education systems and government services, to name a few. Residents also learn strategies for mobilizing members to address human need locally and globally and discern possible areas of inequality and injustice in the systems of the church.
Stewardship: Pastors must manage their own financial resources and spiritual gifts wisely if they are to lead effectively. They must be consistent and generous givers, practicing the discipline of tithing. Congregations, like small businesses, thrive or die on the basis of capitalization. Churches need both strong financial and spiritual capital to achieve their mission. Pastors must be knowledgeable in budget and stewardship development, as well in identifying and employing people's spiritual gifts for ministry. Residents learn to effectively manage their personal finances and be consistent and faithful tithers. They gain practical experience in developing a church budget and stewardship campaign, while also learning to read and monitor financial reports. They equip themselves to help church members discern spiritual gifts and connect them to ministry. Residents also become familiar with the church committee structure and other opportunities for ministry both inside and outside the church while also gaining understanding of personnel management and evaluation.
Pastoral residents at Wilshire enjoy strong support from within the congregation and are readily accepted into the life of the church. This is facilitated, in part, by these special features in the program:
* Host families welcome and support each resident. They host the resident in their home and are in contact with the resident throughout the program, exercising a ministry of hospitality. This may include periodic shared meals, community cultural or sporting activities or any number of creative means of encouragement.
* Faith partners support the resident primarily through prayer and regular communication. Acting under a covenant of confidentiality, faith partners allow concerns for the resident's personal and professional life to be addressed in the context of Christian friendship.
* Lay mentoring teams meet periodically and review the progress of the resident and the residency program. They offer important feedback to both the resident and program supervisor from the perspective of the pew.
The pastoral residency also carries an academic component alongside the practical. Both components work hand-in-hand to create synergy in learning. Residents participate in two weekly seminars-the first, a practicum setting concerning the craft of preaching led by the senior pastor; the second, a seminar setting focusing on the life of pastoral ministry led by Doug Haney and numerous guest speakers.
The pastoral residency is a team-based approach to learning, with the group of resident collaborating on numerous projects, such as weekday Lenten services, monthly vespers worship and other periodic seminars.
About Wilshire:
Located in East Dallas minutes from Southern Methodist University and downtown Dallas, Wilshire's location is ideal for ministry in several contexts: urban, regional, community and neighborhood. Dallas, a center of American religious life, features some of the largest and most vital congregations of all major Christian denominations, as well as of other religions. Dallas is a thriving cultural community, and at the same time it is a city with ongoing racial tensions and economic inequalities. The challenge of ministry is enormous and rich.
Wilshire counts about 3,100 members, of which 1,800 are resident members. Weekly worship attendance averages 1,200 in two morning services. Fourteen full-time ministers serve the congregation, along with numerous support personnel.
The annual operating budget is $3.6 million, with about 20 percent of the budget designated for missions ministries. The church facility and grounds are in top condition, having undergone renovation and beautification efforts over the past eight years. Wilshire is a founding congregation of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a network of churches and individuals formed to help moderate Baptist congregations achieve their mission more effectively. The church also identifies with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Greater Dallas Community of Churches, Dallas Area Interfaith, Baptist World Alliance and numerous other ecumenical and interfaith ministries.
To apply for the pastoral residency program: Geri McKenzie, Pathways Administrator 214-452-3159
Please submit a current resume and a one-page statement of call. Be sure to provide complete contact information, including name, physical address, email address, telephone numbers, as well as an indication of how you learned about the program. Residents are selected on the basis of their demonstrated gifts and calling, their proven academic achievement and their likelihood for success in pastoral ministry. Candidates for the program must be at a minimum master's-level graduates of an accredited theological school or seminary and must have expressed a clear calling to vocational pastoral ministry. Residents receive competitive salaries and benefits packages. Resumes are accepted throughout the year. Additional questions will be presented to candidates with whom we desire to have further conversations. Finalists will be invited to Dallas for face-to-face interviews. Final decisions will be made by the end of spring. Residents begin their tenure on September 1.
To learn more about contributing to Wilshire's Pathways Endowment Fund to support the program in future years, contact Paul Johnson, Minister of Business Administration 214-452-3157
more about Wilshire's Pathways to the Future in GIVE>
