How can the CTS curriculum better prepare students to minister in these times of tremendous change?
What can we learn from vital congregations that are already involved in social transformation and |
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that are successfully partnering with community-based organizations to improve their neighborhoods?
How can we make seminaries more responsive to changing communities of faith?
These are some of the questions that inspired the creation of the Center for Community Transformation, one of our efforts to celebrate and embody CTS’ history of engaging the wider culture.
Through the CCT, teams of Master of Divinity students, faculty and staff spend a year teaching, learning and working collaboratively in Chicago neighborhoods with congregations and community organizations that have been actively involved in their surrounding communities. Congregations, a drop-in center for homeless youth, a community economic and
leadership development program or a church’s meals program all become a part of the CCT learning community. In each case, students and faculty ask themselves, “What are the connections between the congregation and the community
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organization, between Sunday morning worship and Thursday community kitchen, between the scripture being studied and the human stories being shared?”
Along the way, students gain skills in the theological,
sociological and psychological competencies needed for effective leadership such as understanding political processes; building new relationships in diverse, cross cultural settings; considering power dynamics within an ethical framework; and integrating theology, ministry and spirituality.
As the work of the CCT continues, its impact can be seen throughout the Master of Divinity curriculum and contextual education design at Chicago Theological Seminary.
Begun in 1999, the CCT is part of a larger Lilly Endowment, Inc. funded research project designed to transform theological education across the nation.
For more information, click here to review or print the CCT Brochure.
Several issues of the CCT Register are available for downloading:
Volume 91, No. 1
Volume 92, No. 3
J-Term 2004 Cultural Immersion Trip
Downloads will be in the Adobe Acrobat PDF format. If you don't have the Adobe Acrobat reader, you may download it from www.adobe.com.
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