Student Ministries
Believing that your academic learning is enhanced through a weekly ministry, the University Ministry Center wants to be sure that the ministry in which you are serving expands your mind and challenges your heart. It is very important for us to find the ministry that fits your giftedness and passions. With that in mind, we have created a number of ministry resources that will assist you in locating the ministry God has for you. The University Ministry Center offers individual counseling, ministry information, and ministry connections with specific contact information as well as other services. Please stop by our office as we exist to serve you!
The Value of Your Ministry!
To help achieve the mission of the University, all traditional baccalaureate students are required to participate in the Student Ministries program designed to integrate students’ classroom experience with church-related and professional ministry experience. Its primary purposes are to provide opportunities for students to integrate, enhance, utilize, and apply what they are learning in their course work, and to develop their leadership skills and a heart and passion for ministry! All baccalaureate students will be expected to fulfill a plan of student ministry experiences during their course of their study at PBU,that will enable them:
- To share the Word of God with believers and unbelievers and have a confidence to share Gospel
- To participate in outreach ministries to the community
- To cultivate a deep passion for a lifetime of ministry service
- To serve in the ministry of a local church
- To gain expertise and promote biblical integration in the area of their professional specialization at PBU
- o develop creative ministry opportunities on campus and in the community that meet the changing dynamics of the culture around them
Requirements
- Students must satisfactorily register and complete six (6) ministry experiences and receive a satisfactory evaluation from a ministry mentor in order to graduate from PBU.
- Transfer and part-time students who do not have six (6) full time semesters will have the number of required ministry experiences reduced proportionately.
- Students may be involved in ministry experiences during the fall, spring or summer term.
- Only two (2) of the six (6) ministry experiences may be completed during the summer term.
- A maximum of two (2) ministry experiences may be registered and completed during any given term.
- Ministry experiences during the Fall and Spring semesters require involvement of 3-5 hours per week for a minimum of 12 weeks for each semester. Ministry experiences during the summer require a minimum of fifty (50) hours or a minimum of a week-long mission trip or camp experience.
- A Ministry Covenant Form and Mentor Evaluation Form must be submitted by the due date for each ministry experience in order to receive a satisfactory grade.
- All students involved in a ministry experience must read and sign a KidSafe form. KidSafe is a ministry program that ensures all students understand and implement a ministry protocol when working in ministry with people under the age of 18. This is required of all students regardless of their ministry assignment and need only be filled out once during their time at PBU.
- Ministry experiences may not be completed in advance of a semester.
Local Church Requirement
- A minimum of two (2) ministry experience must be completed in a local church setting.
- Students must complete the required church ministry to graduate. Other types of ministry will not substitute for this requirement. It must be local church-based ministry!
On-Campus Ministry
Student ministry experiences require students to integrate what they are learning in their course work into ministry with people. It is the goal of the University Ministry Center to see students involved in ministry that is off-campus. Students at PBU may use four (4) semesters of on campus ministry as a fulfillment or their ministry experience. The remaining semesters of ministry must be off-campus.
Creative Ministry Experience
Over the course fo a student’s education at PBU, unique ministry opportunities become available that are not associated with established churches or organizations. It is our desire that students would have the ability to “create” a ministry that would impact them as well as those to whom they minister. Students may use a creative ministry for one (1) ministry experience. Examples of a creative ministry would included coaching, evangelism, outreach events, or bible studies. Each creative ministry will be approved by the University Ministry Center. Students will submit a Creative Ministry Form by the due date for each term. Students will be held accountable for a creative ministry by self evaluation and by having a ministry mentor who will evaluate the ministry at the end of each term completed.
Other Ministry Experiences
A student’s ministry experience may include a mission trip (minimum of one (1) week).
A student’s ministry experience may include the final semesters fo their professional program such as: student teaching assignments, social work field placement, internships, and other community services prescribed by a student’s professional program and supervised by the program faculty in cooperation with the University Minsitry Center.
Reporting Procedures and Grading
- Ministry experiences are arranged through, and approved by, the University Ministry Center. Students will register for a student ministry when they register for classes for the fall or spring semester. Each ministry experience requires a ministry mentor and a completed Ministry Covenant Form. Ministry Covenants are due by September 30th in the fall and February 28th in the Spring. Students will register for a summer ministry experience by submitting a signed Ministry Covenant Form by the Friday before May graduation. Ministry Covenant Forms will not be accepted after the due dates for each term.
- Students will be assessed by their mentor and a grade of “S” or “U” will be recorded on the student’s academic transcript. No grade will be recorded if the mentor’s evaluation of the student’s ministry is not returned. This grade will be changed when the evaluation form is received. This must be within three (3) months of completion.
- Students may not graduate until all six (6) ministry experiences are successfully completed. (Exceptions will be made for transfer and part-time students that do not have six (6) full time semesters at PBU.)
