Pathways, KCC Gala 2010 and other ramblings

Been a while since I blogged. Usual reason ... :-) But time to quickly post up some pictures of last Saturday's KCC Gala - especially since I have a headache analyzing and commenting on my church intern's assignment on Galatians. It's an additional role have taken on this year - to be the supervisor for one of my young adults who has enrolled in a Bible training institution called Pathways.

BTW I am not saying it was a bad assignment! :-) Just that it has been a long time since I did any academic work so I am finding it hard to think in terms of assignment requirements. Doing assignments in the past tended at times to give me "headaches" and it is worse when I examine other people's assignments due in part to my "perfectionist" tendencies. Nothing is ever totally satisfactory to me. Can always do better ... yada yada yada. But the main difficulty is finding the balance between giving helpful advice that allows someone to develop as God has intended her to be and unintentionally imposing my preference / style of doing things on someone (and with it unneeded pressure and false and unhelpful expectations) *sigh*

Thank God she is patient with me :-) Had a good 2nd meeting with her earlier today....

I realize that it still takes so much effort (even till today) for me to decide that I have finished preparing a sermon and not look at it again till Saturday night or even early Sunday morning so I do not end up making more and more revisions and end up with over revisions :-) !

Anyway, from the supervisors' handbook - this is my "three in one" role.

Academic Supervisor

An Academic Supervisor is defined as the person who oversees the intern with regards to ensuring they comply with the academic requirements of Pathways College for the intern’s supervised internship experience.

Spiritual Mentor

A Spiritual Mentor is defined as the person who engages regularly with the intern to nurture their spiritual growth, stability and preparation/equipping for ministry.

Local Supervisor

A Local Supervisor is defined as the person who relates to / oversees the intern on a day by day basis and who is closely involved with the intern and their particular area of ministry.

It should be noted that although these 3 areas above are distinct, they may, in a number of cases, be appropriately undertaken by the same person.

Expectations of Supervisors

Fortnightly Supervision Meetings

We recommend meeting at least fortnightly for approximately 90 minutes in a formal session. The session should be utilised to assist the intern in personal and professional growth.

Each session should have a main focus (e.g. reporting a critical ministry incident or evaluating progress toward a particular goal), but it will also contain other aspects of an effective supervision relationship. Some ingredients that may be utilised in the supervision session are:

 Active listening

 Planning strategy for a ministry objective

 Ministry skill training (you can get another skilled person involved)

 Discussion of character issues

 Evaluating conflict situations

 Sharing of personal prayer requests

 Celebration of "victories" experienced by the intern

 Use of effective questions to draw out personal concerns/needs

 Mutual encouragement for spiritual growth

 Confronting in love in areas needing growth

 Explanation of the "why" of a particular ministry action

What does a Supervision Meeting look like?

Setting up your meeting structure with the internship student could be done this way:

 A Pre-meeting brief - where the Supervisor and the intern review past meetings and their ministry area, and set goals and agenda items for the upcoming meeting.

 At the meeting, get re-acquainted; set out agenda of both parties; look at ministry events through verbal or written feedback. Review the quality of performance so far. Always keep in mind the feelings experienced during tasks. Offer constructive feedback, reflection, alternatives, highlights and lowlights of work, dialogue, and alternative perspectives. Confrontation should be caring, reasonable, and immediate. Do not put off times of conflict. Be careful of avoidance and defensive mechanisms used by interns. Therefore, prepare for reactions and plan your follow-up possibilities. Look for other teaching devices to accomplish the same corrective goal. Examine future tasks. These meetings are for the intern’s development. Task related discussions are better handled at staff meetings. Make notes on what you have discussed.

 Post-meeting is a time to reflect and make notes (record facts and feelings, make future plans). The intern writes up the meeting in a supervision journal and keeps a log of the dates and times of the meetings.

Discussion Topics for Supervision Meeting

Here are some pointers as to what to discuss in your meetings. It is not expected that you will discuss or cover all these pointers at every meeting, although each should be addressed at some time:

 The particular theme focused on this semester (Vision/goals, ministry planning, ministry effectiveness)

 Connection of theoretical learning and approved practice (ministry situations)

 Ministry outcomes

 Self-perception of ministry

 Ministry ability and effectiveness

 Handling of new ministry situations

 Development of leadership skills

 Relationships with colleagues and supervisors

 Growth in interpersonal skills

 Spiritual development

 The intern’s assignments, assigned tasks and performance (planning, goal-setting, scheduling, securing resources, analysing, interpreting, and evaluating) and how these relate to ministry.

 Progress on assignments – are they keeping up to date, are their achieving the grades they had hoped to, are there any challenges to their completing required tasks/assignments?

 Seek to find ways that studies can be meaningful by using new learning in ministry situations. 2 Tim 3:16 says that ‘all Scripture is useful’. In what way can you help the intern to see this in their internship studies?

Scary list isn't it?

Anyway, the Gala went well. We raised over $2,000 (not sure of the exact figure but it will be less after deducting GST) and met many people. I am truly encouraged by the fact that more than 3/4 of the church were involved! And the children in particular were amazing - a lot of hard work in making and running the games stalls. The food was incredible - in terms of quality, taste and variety. I took loads of photos of the food :-) Since I blogged a little on this already in my Pastors' Notes devotion, I will not comment further ...

A little on the sample photos - we had live music ... BTW, that's Steven on the drums.

Many came early before the start time - that was the early crowd starting. We had whole row of stalls.

Bric a brac sale of pre-loved items was popular.

Picture of the children setting up their game stalls (under supervision of the SS teachers)

One of the earliest food items that sold out quickly was the satay. mmmm.... delicious

Tau foo fah and the various nyonya kuihs sold out fast too!

A great thirst quencher by the youth - watermelon pieces with ice cream of chocolate served in a natural watermelon bowl. Just two of many people enjoying this thirst quencher!

And the main Gala banner ...