The Master of Divinity (MDiv) provides a program of theological studies designed to provide academic qualification for ordination as elder or deacon by the UMC and other denominations. The program is ministerial formation with an embodiment of Wesleyan and Filipino Spirituality rooted in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Our theological ethos will engage students in conversations, and the reality of the church and its witness to the world.

The program will enable students to formulate a biblical philosophy of education, understand principles of the teaching-learning process, and develop skills and values essential for teaching and administering educational programs in various settings. The key objectives of this concentration include holistic formation and praxis. The students will demonstrate skills in practice of ministry; liturgy and worship, teaching, preaching, and pastoral care. The program is primarily designed to be a 3 year full-time residential degree. However, there is a need to create a revised 2 year MDiv program for Mission Track due to the rising need of theological education and formation for Filipinos in Diaspora who serve as Missionaries for UMC Communities.

Rationale

The vision of Wesley Divinity School this academic year, 2021-2022 is “Towards Local and International, Pastoral and Lay Formation.” It is the goal of the Divinity School to have accessible theological education and ministerial formation here in the Philippines and abroad. We have created a regional center and assigned a regional coordinator in offering the program. We have revised the existing 3 year program to 2 year program that focuses on the principles and strategies of Mission.

This program addresses students’ needs to be theologically informed and to grow personally, professionally, and spiritually and serve in a variety of mission-related ministries. The program includes biblical, historical, theological and practical issues that must be addressed by missionaries in the current century. The concentration addresses both religious and cultural pluralism in an effort to equip persons for a variety of ministerial situations.

The Revised MDiv Curriculum addresses the needs of OFW’s serving as supplied missionaries for UMC Filipinos in Asia and Europe. The curriculum focuses on mission principles with an emphasis to advance the missions of the UMC abroad. The Curriculum will require each course to be concluded using the Project-based Approach.

Program Outcomes
The following are the intended program outcomes for the Master of Divinity, Mission Track

Program Structure and Duration

The Master of Divinity, Mission Track Program is primarily designed to be a 2 year full-time Ecclesiastical Degree, preparation for theological training and formation. The program consists of 99 units.

Curriculum

As a cohort, Master of Divinity-Mission Track students take the classes together until the completion of the program. The program is designed to be completed for two years, offering two courses a month. Each class has its teacher-student interactions and off-class requirements offered each month. The Course Sequence below is for Cohort 1 for Master of Divinity, Mission Track, for Asia and Cohort 2 for Master of Divinity-Mission Track, Europe.

Program of Study and Curriculum Delivery

The Master of Divinity Program-Mission Track is a full-time, 2-year program consisting of 99 units, divided among core courses, major courses, required institutional courses, and integrative courses. The curriculum focuses on mission principles with an emphasis to advance the missions of the UMC abroad.

Restrictions because of the pandemic also inhibit classroom meetings. For these reasons, the program utilizes a Flexible Integrated Outcomes-Based Curriculum with alternative learning platforms and activities.

Two Courses per Month. The expectation is that two courses—with all its requirements—are completed within a month, thus ensuring that students do not have backlogs of assignments as they proceed to other classes in the following months. Since the goal is for students to graduate the program as a cohort in two years, much will be expected from the students during the duration of the program in terms of motivation, commitment, and diligence in accomplishing their requirements for each course.

Student Learning Hours. Each 3-unit class requires 90 learning hours from students. These can be divided among various learning activities such as “classes” where the professors give lectures to listening students in a video conference setting, cyber activities such as discussions in forum, off-class requirements such as reading, reflection papers, book reports, research papers, and other projects. Professors are free to divide the expected 54 lecture hours between synchronous and asynchronous learning activities, while 36 hours are allotted for research or field activities. However, it is expected that a minimum of 30 hours out of the 54 hours lecture will be spent in a video conferencing “classroom”.

Teacher-Student Conferences. The college uses Canvas as their official learning management system. It comes with a built-in video conferencing app. However, professors can use other app that may require less bandwidth and are more accessible to students.

Learning Management System. Professors and students will use Canvas as their online platform to communicate information about the class, store files, submit and grade papers, interact in forum discussions, provide helpful links, handouts, audio and video files, and perform other activities such as corresponding with one another and conducting quizzes. The University prepares access to Canvas for professors and students.

Educational Resources. The students are OFW and missionaries abroad and unable to come to the University Library on campus at Cabanatuan City because of geographical constraints.
However, students of WU-P Wesley Divinity School have access to the academic journal databases of EBSCO Host and GDTL-Global Digital Theological Library where they can access books wherever they are in the world.

Reflective Engagement. The ethos of the whole degree program is “reflective engagement,” although the emphasis falls more on the reflective element. While the University honors the actual engagement of the students in ministry, this does not warrant granting a master’s degree. Therefore, the thrust of the program is that students, while deeply engaged in Missionary work, are guided to pause and perform reflections informed by scholarly insights about their functions. Furthermore, as experienced practitioners, the reflections they share with their classmates in class discussions and group interactions will be valuable insights to others in their co-learning journey.

Instructional Delivery
The curriculum framework is Flexible Integrated Outcome-based Curriculum with workplace and community orientation/immersion. This curriculum provides the students with an educational experience that integrates theory and praxis throughout the program. The degree program employs an educational planning approach that prepares a student for life-long learning and opportunities for critical and creative thinking. The integrated curriculum helps graduates put together learned facts to get the whole picture and adopt a holistic approach while leading and serving in their constituencies. Integration is both horizontal and vertical.

Class settings. There will be synchronous meetings where teachers will conduct lectures and facilitate activities. The professor will deliver content, demonstrate skills, and facilitate various online learning experiences in the class to ensure that students will have mastery of the skills being taught. There will also be asynchronous meetings. There will be recorded videos, reading materials and online forum discussions.

Online Interaction. There will be ongoing inline forum discussion to engage students and provide avenues to exchange ideas, interact and collaborate. Students will use Canvas accounts throughout the week to participate in the online discussion forums and to accomplish tasks required by their professors. Tasks may include watching video recordings, forum discussions, reading a required chapter, taking a quiz, submitting papers, responding to posts, and others.

Research-Based Engagement. In order to train graduates to make informed decisions and plans, students will be engaged in various researches throughout their course of study. They will not only be taught research skills, but will engage in gathering and analyzing data.

Projects and Praxis-based Methods of Assessment. The program, as a professional degree, requires praxis-based learning activities where theories and insights learned in classes may be implemented, tested, and evaluated. These requirements may come in the form of project proposals, community engagement and/or development, needs assessment, and actual field engagement.

Field Activities. Students will be engaged in various field activities throughout their course of study. There will be
hands-on activities, guided by experts in the field of pastoral, educational and missional ministries.