Buies Creek, N.C.—At any given time, over 500,000 people are homeless in the United States as a result of poverty, drug addiction or mental illness. Thousands more struggle to provide for their families. In order to address this population’s urgent need for pastoral care, the Campbell Divinity School has introduced a new Urban and Social Ministries concentration in its Master of Divinity program.“I don’t see the problems of poverty and homelessness going away,” said Dr. Barry Jones, associate dean of the Divinity School and program supervisor. “The jobless rate is higher than it has been in years in North Carolina. People are struggling and looking for help wherever they can find it.”Today’s divinity students want to minister to the whole person, Jones explained. They can’t separate the spiritual from the physical and emotional needs. The Divinity School is able to offer the Urban and Social Ministries concentration through a partnership with Wake Medical Center’s Pastoral Education program. The Wake Med program offers ministers, seminarians and laity the opportunity to be placed directly in supervised settings of ministry. In this dynamic process, residents are able to receive feedback and learn about themselves through relationships with supervisors and peers. Coordinated through Wake Med, the Campbell Urban and Social Ministries residency is a two-semester program in which the student serves as a chaplain at an agency that serves people with social and economic needs. Some of these organizations include the Alliance for AIDS Services, the Open Door Medical Clinic, Urban Ministries of Wake County and men’s and women’s shelters. “A major part of the Gospel is caring for the needy and the poor, that’s part of following Jesus,” Jones said. “We want to educate our students to do that. It’s not a new direction for the Divinity School, but it’s a new opportunity because of the partnership with Wake Med.”Currently there are eight students enrolled in the Urban and Social Ministries program, but the goal is to expand the program to up to 30 students over the next three years. The program structure includes foundational studies during the first and second semesters; contextual studies and residency during the second year; and core and elective studies in theological and vocational areas during the third year.“Studying and preaching the Bible are very important, but ministers need to be able to do more,” Jones said. “They have to be able to know how to counsel people in times of crisis and how to assess people’s needs and respond as a minister.”For more information concerning the Urban and Social Ministries program and the Campbell Divinity School, contact Dr. Barry Jones at 910.893.1824 or 800.334.4111, ext. 1824.Other concentrations offered in the Master of Divinity program at Campbell are Preaching and Pastoral Ministry, Christian Education, Counseling and Chaplaincy, Missions and Evangelism and Music and Worship.
Divinity School offers new ministry program