Spirituality and Story | Wesley Theological Seminary

Download the PDF flyer on the Spirituality and Story track

Pastors live and work at the teeming intersection of stories. They follow a call and look for providence in their unfolding autobiographies. They spend themselves helping parishioners to reframe the bits and pieces of their lives. They discern and lend themselves critically to the legends, tragedies, and emerging traditions of the congregations they serve. And they do all this more or less intentionally shaped and informed by the great stories of the Bible and of the church.

This doctor of ministry program will further equip pastors to live and work at that intersection by focusing on narrative as a category of spirituality and by fine-tuning the skills by which pastors participate in the demanding but rewarding work of weaving human stories into the fabric of God’s story.

Track begins January 2023.

Class schedule:

January 2-6, 2023

Narrative Collapse and Restoration: Story and Healing — Dr. Bruce G. Epperly, Pastor and Teacher of South Congregational Church, Centreville, Massachusetts. He is a theologian and author.

January 9-13, 2023

TBD

May 1-June 9, 2023

Leader as Story Teller —Dr. Lovett H. Weems,Jr.,Distinguished Professor of Church Leadership and Senior Consultant, Lewis Center for Church Leadership, Wesley Theological Seminary.

September 4-October 13, 2023

Embodied Proclamation for Preaching, Liturgy and Formation (online) —
Dr. Tracy Radosevic,adjunct faculty at St. Mary’s Ecumenical Institute and Wesley Theological Seminary.

January 8-12, 2024

Paul’s Use of Narrative to Shape Congregations — Dr. Carla Works, Associate Professor in New Testament at Wesley Theological Seminary.

May 7-10, 2024

James Baldwin’s Understanding of God: Overwhelming Desire and Joy —
Dr. Josiah Ulysses Young III, Professor of Systematic Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary.

May 13-17, 2024

Engaging the Narratives of Other religions — Dr. Salih Sayilgan, Louisville Institute Post-Doctoral Fellow & Professor of Islamic and Interfaith Studies at Wesley Theological Seminary.

Students are required to fulfill 30 credit hours; Eight core courses in a mix of one week on campus intensive classes plus on-line and two elective courses that can be taken either on-campus, on-line or as a seminary sponsored study trip opportunity.

Earliest possible graduation date: May 2026

Application deadline is October 15, 2022. Apply Now!

For information please contact our Admissions Office or call 202-885-8659.