Areté Certificate Capstone Paper
Length: 2000 words
Rationale: The capstone paper demonstrates the student’s reflective integration of the spiritual, intellectual, and ministerial formation, and the human development that the Graduate Certificate in Missionary Leadership has provided.
Task description:
This capstone paper seeks to integrate your knowledge and the formation you have received across the four courses in the Program through a process of reflection.
1. Use the questions in the document “Personal Reflection upon the Year” (see below) as a stimulus to your reflection upon the year.
2. On the final intensive (September 13-15), we will meet in mentor groups and discuss our responses to these questions.
3. The capstone paper is a sustained reflection upon the year. It should draw upon your reflections in step 1 above, and from the conversations you have on the final intensive, but don’t submit individual answers to each question. Instead, write a single paper that:
- demonstrates the ways in which you have grown and what you have learnt over the whole of the course
- gathers together your understanding of the way in which the four units form an interconnected whole.
You may wish to use the headings in the Personal Reflection upon the Year document (Prayer, Personal Growth, Intellectual Growth, Missionary/Pastoral Growth, and the Summary) as headings to structure your paper, but you do not have to.
Personal Reflection upon the Year
Some questions to spark your reflection (don’t feel like you have to answer all of them!):
Prayer:
1. What happened to my prayer life over the course of this year?
2. What happened in my relationship with God on the first intensive (January)?
3. How did the silent retreat weekend help me grow in prayer?
4. What were some of the struggles in prayer over the course of this year?
5. What from the course has been most helpful for my prayer life?
Personal Growth:
1. Have I grown as a person over the course of this year? How?
2. Did the themes of vulnerability, shame, resilience, and/or leading when you are not in charge speak to me? What will I take away from this lecture (drawing upon the work of Brene Brown)?
3. Did I learn some new skills concerning time management and priority setting? How have they helped?
4. Am I more of a visionary, operator, or processor? How has this understanding of myself begun to shape my ministry?
5. What have I learned about being a synergist in a team?
6. Have I become more adept at crucial conversations? How?
7. What leadership insights have been most helpful for me?
Intellectual Growth:
1. What have I learned about mission over the course of this year?
2. We covered topics such as the sociocultural context for mission, an introduction to the theology of mission, missionary discipleship, the kerygma and the entire process of evangelisation, thresholds and models of conversion, apologetics, the significance of the crucifixion, resurrection, and the role of the Holy Spirit in the Church. What struck me most? What did I find most helpful? What did I have to really wrestle with? Why?
3. Have I gained greater clarity about mission, vision, and values in relation to a parish’s mission?
4. What is important to me about changing the culture of the parish/community in the light of the program?
Missionary/Pastoral Growth:
1. What has been most helpful in the program for my personal life – with my family, friends?
2. What has been most helpful for my ministry, my role in the Church? Why?
3. Where has it been a challenge to apply what I have learnt to my ministry?
4. What has changed in my ministerial praxis over the course of this year?
5. What insights from the course do I hope to apply to my ministry over the next twelve months?
6. What have I learnt about executing a mission and realizing the vision?
Summary:
Sails: The way in which the Holy Spirit has been most at work in my life through the Foundations of Missionary Leadership Program is:
Oars: The most important idea or skill I want to take away from the Foundations Program is:
Arete (excellence – human flourishing): If I were to sum up how I have changed as a person over the course of this year I would say:
Format: Reflective Paper
Sources: You will be drawing from the lectures, intensives, mentor conversations, along with your experience in ministry.
Bibliography and Referencing: As a reflective paper this paper does not require bibliography and footnoting, unless you are providing a direct quotation.
Due: 15 October