Grad Cert: Capstone Paper 2025

Length: 3000 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, and the texts you have read during the program, along with your experience in ministry.

Bibliography and Referencing: This is a reflective paper, and so specific lectures/slides do not need referencing, but if you are engaging with a particular source please reference it appropriately.

Due: 15 October

Submission: Submit your work as a single document through the Arete LMS  

Marking criteria for this task

Grade	High Distinction	Distinction	Credit	Pass	Conceded Pass	Fail
Criteria	Exceptional Performance	Excellent Performance	Good Performance	Adequate Performance	Inadequate Performance	Inadequate performance
Mark	80-100	70-79	60-69	50-59	48-49	0-49
Understanding of the Topic	The paper demonstrates an exceptional understanding of the topics	The paper demonstrates an excellent understanding of the topics	The paper demonstrates a strong understanding of the topics	The paper demonstrates an adequate understanding of the topics	The paper demonstrates an inadequate understanding of the topics	The paper demonstrates an inadequate understanding of the topics
Personal Appropriation of the Topic	The paper engages in an in depth application of the topics to the student’s parish/ ministry	The paper engages in some depth when applying the topics to the student’s parish/ ministry	The paper engages in  reasonable reflection upon the student’s parish/ ministry in the light of the topics	The paper engages in  an adequate reflection upon the student’s parish/ ministry in the light of the topics	The paper provides an in adequate reflection upon the student’s parish/ ministry in the light of the topics	The paper provides an in adequate reflection upon the student’s parish/ ministry in the light of the topics
Demonstrates Personal Integration of the Material covered in the four courses	The paper reflects an exceptional level of personal integration of the four courses	The paper reflects an excellent level of personal integration of the four courses	The paper reflects a strong level of personal integration of the four courses	The paper reflects an adequate level of personal integration of the four courses	The paper reflects an inadequate level of personal integration of the four courses	The paper reflects an exceptional level of personal integration of the four courses
Language and writing style	The writing style is clear and concise – enjoyable to read	The writing style is easy to read	The writing style is easy to read but confusing at some points	The writing style is adequate	The writing style is difficult to read and confusing for the marker	The writing style is difficult to read and confusing for the marker
Spelling and Grammar	Excellent – few if any errors	Very few errors	Some errors	Quite a few errors	Frequent grammatical and spelling errors	Frequent grammatical and spelling errors