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Mini-Sabbaticals: |
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Mini-Sabbaticals: A. H. Newman Scholars The Center for Baptist Studies of Mercer University sponsors a one week mini-sabbatical program for Baptist clergy. These ministers may be senior pastors, ministers of children, ministers of education and spiritual formation, ministers of music, campus ministers, missionaries, or any other type of minister on a local Baptist church staff or Baptist institution or organization. The mini-sabbatical is designed to provide opportunities for Baptist ministers to read and reflect on Baptist convictions and to implement that reading and reflection into the life of the minister’s particular form of ministry through some practical educational program. The Center for Baptist Studies hopes to offer two to three such sabbaticals per year, depending on available financial resources. The Center will pay for all lodging and food expenses during the week that the sabbaticant is on the campus of Mercer University at Macon, GA. The applicant is responsible for all other expenses, including transportation to and from the Mercer campus and personal expenses while at Mercer. The sabbaticant arrives at Mercer University on a Sunday afternoon, meets with the executive director to plan the week, and engages in research and writing at Tarver Library until Friday noon. This schedule may be adjusted to accommodate specific circumstances of the sabbaticant or of the Center for Baptist Studies. The sabbaticant will be named as an A. H. Newman Scholar. Albert Henry Newman (1852-1933), a graduate of Mercer University, was the premier Baptist historian of his age. Serving in Northern, Southern, and Canadian Baptist conventions, Newman taught at Colgate-Rochester in Rochester, NY, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Baylor University in Waco, TX, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, Mercer University in Macon, GA, and the University of Chicago. Newman wrote numerous articles and books on church history, including the celebrated A History of the Baptists in the United States. The Mini-Sabbatical Program consists of three parts. 1. Completion of Reading Program PRIOR to arriving on the Mercer campus. Each sabbaticant, prior to arriving on campus, must complete all of the reading and the written responses required for the “Mercer Certificate in Baptist Studies.” Go to www.mercer.edu/baptiststudies and click “Certificate Program” to see the reading list and required writing assignments. If this reading program is not completed prior to the dates for the sabbatical week, the Center will work with the Newman Scholar to arrange a future week of study on campus. 2. Reading Program while on campus for the week. The reading program while on campus will be supervised by Walter B. Shurden and Bruce T. Gourley, the director and associate director of The Center for Baptist Studies. This particular reading program will focus entirely and exclusively on the sabbaticant’s particular interest that will help the candidate implement some ministry project. 3. Implementation of project. When the sabbaticant returns to the local place of ministry after the week of concentrated reading on the Mercer campus, she or he will implement some type of educational program in a local church or institution that will be based upon the sabbatical study. After the program has been implemented and completed, the sabbaticant will receive from The Center for Baptist Studies two awards. The first award will be an attractive wall plaque naming you as an “A. H. Newman Scholar of the Center for Baptist Studies.” The second will be a framed “certificate,” indicating that you have concluded the requirements for the Mercer Certificate Program. Some examples of projects of previous Newman Scholars and suggestions for possible projects would include the following: ► A series of sermon on Baptist distinctives ► A series of sermons on major Baptist personalties ► A series of
educational forums on the different ways that Baptists have funded their
denominational ► A class led by the
sabbaticant that would lead local church members through the completion of “The ► A series of Sunday
School lessons for children and youth on the Baptist heritage, its distinctives
and ► A Vacation Bible School curriculum based upon the Sabbaticant’s reading and study ► A brief written history of the candidate’s local church ► A series of Wednesday
night studies or Sunday School lessons that would focus on the study of
To apply to become an “A. H. Newman Scholar,” email a one page proposal of your commitment to completing the Mercer Certificate in Baptist Studies and your preliminary idea of a ministry project in your local church. Also send a one page biographical information sheet. Both your proposal and your biographical information should be sent to Shurden_WB@Mercer.edu . Dr. Walter B. Shurden The Center for Baptist Studies Mercer University 1400 Coleman Ave. Macon, GA 31207
Click pictures below to read comments by past A. H. Newman Scholars: |
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The Center for Baptist Studies, Mercer University, 1400 Coleman Avenue, Macon, GA 31207 Phone (478) 301-5467 |
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