We are excited to have you in Journey Together, our Competency Based Education TEEM program – a program designed to provide you with theological education and to be in close partnership with the ELCA candidacy process through your synod. Journey Together candidates are people who have completed the Candidacy Application Process, received a positive Entrance Decision from their synod Candidacy Committee, have been recommended by their synod bishop, and have been accepted into the program by the ELCA Director of Candidacy. All steps of the Candidacy Process must be completed (Entrance, Endorsement, and Approval) by every candidate accepted into the Journey Together program.

Estamos muy contentos de tenerlo en Caminemos Juntos. Nuestro programa de TEEM de Educación Basada en Capacidades es un programa diseñado para proporcionarle educación teológica, y para estar en estrecha colaboración con el proceso de candidatura de la IELA, a través de su Sínodo. Los candidatos de Caminemos Juntos son personas que han completado el Proceso de Solicitud de Candidatura, recibieron una Decisión de Entrada positiva por parte de su Comité de Candidatura de su Sínodo, una recomendación por su obispo, y han sido aceptadas en el programa por el director de Candidatura de la IELA. Todos los pasos del Proceso de Candidatura deben ser completados (Entrada, Endoso y Aprobación) por cada candidato aceptado en el programa de Caminemos Juntos.

Curriculum for the Journey Together program flows through nine modules that together provide a wholistic map towards fulfilling the five competencies and the associated learning objectives.  The conclusion of each module is marked by a summative project that expects the integration of the student’s work in the module with their service in the local parish.  Each summative project tends to a different question, cleverly called the summative project question. The project, rooted in the student’s regular weekly rhythm of ministry in the parish (e.g., a sermon, parish education, worship, etc.), is the opportunity for the student to integrate the learning objects of the module in a single event (preparation, event, reflection).  The summative project will be designed by the student in conversation with their assessment team.  Students may choose to workshop their summative projects with their mentor groups.

Wartburg Seminary supports the ELCA’s requirements that students pursuing a call to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament complete a unit of CPE and a pastoral internship. Students have the option of doing a full unit of CPE at an accredited ACPE site or a unit of CPW with the clinical hours being done in their local context.  The preferred time for completing the required CPE/CPW unit is between the student’s successful completion of Module #1 and their completion of Module #6.

The student’s pastoral internship runs through most of the program.  The initial Competency Assessment Panel (CAP) will happen prior to the student starting the program.  At the completion of Module #2, the student, together with their Assessment Team, will complete their Learning Service Agreement (LSA), which sketches out formative needs and goals for the remainder of the program.  The mid-internship evaluations will be conducted when the student has completed Module #5, and the final internship evaluations completed after the student has completed Module #8.