American Baptist Churches of Maine

Institute for Ministry

AIM

Core Courses

Ethics

  • Practical ethical understanding of the issues of pastoral ministry.  

  • To understand the exegetical (historical grammatical literary cultural) context

  • Building an ethical biblical framework for resolving the issues.

  • Discovering tools for ethical decision making.

Old Testament Introduction

  • To apply the Old Testament for faith and practice

  • To form a basis for understanding the New Testament and the Ministry of Jesus.

  • To develop the Great Themes of the Old Testament and their relevance for New Testament interpretation.

New Testament Introduction

  • To understand the exegetical (historical grammatical literary cultural) context

  • To apply the New Testament for faith and practice

  • To form a basis for understanding the Gospels

  • To develop the Great Themes of the New Testament (found in the letters, prophecy, history) and their relevance for interpretation.

Preaching

  • This Course is designed to introduce and enable the student to construct an expository sermon based upon the skills of exegesis, the process of moving from biblical text to sermon manuscript.  In addition, the student will gain experience explaining a biblical passage and delivering a biblical sermon without notes.

  • How the preacher hears the word and how that word is heard within the congregation

Theology

  • Explore the art and science of the biblical discipline in the discovery of God’s self revelation in a systematic way.        

Suggestion:  A paper needs to be written by the student that provides a systematic theology.

American Baptist History and Polity

  • To survey the major ideas, personalities and developments in Baptist life.

  • To understand the distinctives of Baptist in the greater Christian family

  • To gain in appreciation the unity and diversity of Baptists

  • To understand the dynamics and structure of the local church, associational life, the regional, and national bodies.

  • To understand the “call to ministry” within the Baptist family

  • To compare the worship models found in Baptist Churches

  • To compare the biblical model of the church to the present-day Baptist model

  • To briefly survey the major personalities and movements that have been present in Maine.

Suggestion:  Have students bring their  local church’s constitution and by-laws.

Church History

  • Discovery of doctrinal development (the story of people – their motivations, the issues they grapple with, and the decisions they make) and the importance history that brings to the pastorate. 

  • Broad overview of the church and its development (Early church history, reformation history,) and American history, particularly in its American context.

Practice of Ministry

  • To develop a theology of ministerial practice and engage in the practice of ministry and skill development.   

Mentoring (Go to Mentoring Documents)

Mentoring is a new requirement and is fully explained on the page that give the full mentoring requirements and forms.