MISS6000 SML Oral Testimony – Due 18 January
Due: 18 January
Value: 10%
Type of assessment: individual
Length: 5-7 minutes
Rationale: The practice of testimony is both crucial for evangelisation, and also helps to build and concretise an experience through sharing one’s lived experience of God. The assessment provides feedback for the students concerning their appropriation of the lecture material on testimony.
Task description: Students are required to give an oral presentation to the group during the first intensive. This presentation will take the form of a testimony that either a) refers to their experience of initial conversion or b) is a “story of grace”, that describes a concrete experience of God’s grace in their daily lives.
Format: Oral Presentation
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 | 0-47 |
| Deeply authentic and appropriately vulnerable; voice feels personal and lived. emotionally intelligent and discerning | Strong authenticity and personal voice; self-aware without being self-absorbed. Insightful and balanced | Honest personal story, though less reflective or nuanced, emotions appropriate | Story present but more descriptive than reflective. | Shows minimal personal reflection; tends toward simple description of events rather than deeper meaning. Emotionalism | Not recognisable as a personal testimony | |
| Narrative structure and clarity | Compelling, vivid, concrete narrative with intentional shaping; story unfolds with clarity and grace; meaning emerges naturally. | Clear narrative form with minor lapses; concrete, engaging, well-shaped. | A recognisable story with coherence; somewhat flat, rushed, or under-shaped. | More reporting than storytelling; general rather than concrete. | Abstract, homiletic, argumentative, or purely reflective; story missing. | No narrative form present. |
| Spiritual Depth and focus | Deep integration; spiritual coherence; grace evident without overstatement. | Spiritual insight present and articulated well | Spiritual elements are present but either assumed or lightly sketched. | Minimal spiritual framing; emphasis on self more than Christ/God’s initiative. | Displays very limited spiritual content (God/Christ/faith referenced lightly, implicitly, or inconsistently). | Spiritual or faith dimension is irrelevant, or entirely disconnected. |
| Communicative style | Engaging, pastorally attuned, rhetorically strong; metaphors serve grace. | Clear and communicative; audience-awareness evident. | Mostly intelligible and appropriate | Understandable but flat | Disconnected from audience; tone inappropriate | Communicative breakdown. |
| Closure, Discernment and Appropriateness | Discernment and pastoral maturity evident; boundaries honoured. | Clear closure; respectful and appropriate. | Minor awkwardness but essentially appropriate. | Some signals of insufficient closure or boundary issues. | Raw, unprocessed, self-serving, or pastorally unsafe. | Grossly inappropriate or harmful disclosure. |
| Formation and Practice | Clearly formed by prayer, reflection, practice and principles taught. | Strong preparation and appropriation evident. | Some preparation; could deepen appropriation. | Minimal preparation; surface-level appropriation. | Poor preparation; misunderstands testimony principles. | No preparation evident; task misunderstood. |
Assessment Feedback: Feedback on this task will be available through both the Areté LMS and via email, usually within two weeks of the due date.