August 2018 Course Descriptions
BKSM welcomes anyone to take courses with us for personal enrichment or continuing education!
We encourage you to experience the remarkable community of learning, worship and fellowship that makes BKSM such a remarkable place for formation.
Did you know that scholarships are available for students taking classes for personal enrichment?
August courses begin officially on July 16, the focus weekend takes place August 11-12, and final assignments are due September 7.
While the weekend begins with breakfast at 7:30 for students on ordination, lay certificate and PMA tracks, course instruction does not begin until 1:00 p.m., which gives you the flexibility of driving to Topeka on Saturday morning if you take a class for personal enrichment.
That being said, you are welcome to spend the night at Upton Hall on Friday night, and join us for breakfast and morning prayer on Saturday morning. While the 8:45 colloquium session is a closed group for students on ordination, PMA, and lay certificate tracks, you are encouraged to join us at 10:15 for our praxis session, which addresses some practical area of ministry.
If you would like to audit a course, the tuition is $100. If you would like to take the class for credit, the tuition is $180. The cost includes meals and overnight accommodations at Upton Hall on Friday and Saturday night (on a space-available basis). If you wish to take the class for credit, we encourage you to enroll by July 16. If you wish to audit the class, you may register at any time prior to the focus weekend. However, your learning experience will be better if you have time to complete the assigned readings for the class.
Get started by completing the online course registration form. If you have any questions, please contact the Very Rev. Dr. Don Compier, BKSM dean, at [email protected] or (816) 217-4053.
We encourage you to experience the remarkable community of learning, worship and fellowship that makes BKSM such a remarkable place for formation.
Did you know that scholarships are available for students taking classes for personal enrichment?
August courses begin officially on July 16, the focus weekend takes place August 11-12, and final assignments are due September 7.
While the weekend begins with breakfast at 7:30 for students on ordination, lay certificate and PMA tracks, course instruction does not begin until 1:00 p.m., which gives you the flexibility of driving to Topeka on Saturday morning if you take a class for personal enrichment.
That being said, you are welcome to spend the night at Upton Hall on Friday night, and join us for breakfast and morning prayer on Saturday morning. While the 8:45 colloquium session is a closed group for students on ordination, PMA, and lay certificate tracks, you are encouraged to join us at 10:15 for our praxis session, which addresses some practical area of ministry.
If you would like to audit a course, the tuition is $100. If you would like to take the class for credit, the tuition is $180. The cost includes meals and overnight accommodations at Upton Hall on Friday and Saturday night (on a space-available basis). If you wish to take the class for credit, we encourage you to enroll by July 16. If you wish to audit the class, you may register at any time prior to the focus weekend. However, your learning experience will be better if you have time to complete the assigned readings for the class.
Get started by completing the online course registration form. If you have any questions, please contact the Very Rev. Dr. Don Compier, BKSM dean, at [email protected] or (816) 217-4053.
Christian Spirituality
This course acquaints you with some of the major themes, traditions and practices of Christian spirituality, introduces you to resources so that you may assist others with their spiritual journey, and provides you guidance in developing your own Rule, or way of life, to sustain you through the discernment and/or education process and your current and future ministry.
Book List
Christian Theology II
Christian Theology II provides a biblical, historical, and systematic overview of the following Christian concepts: Christ and Salvation, the Holy Spirit, Church and Sacraments, and Eschatology. The goal of this course is to provide diaconal candidates (as well as lay persons interested in personal enrichment) with a theological foundation for effective ministry in the world today.
Reading List
Diversity, Justice and the Church's Mission
(meets Saturday only)
This course provides an introductory survey on historical and contemporary issues of race and racism as a social and political constructs in the United States of America and the role the Episcopal Church has played both in supporting racist politics/policies as well as in dismantling such racism to build creative and justice-oriented communities. Through our work and conversation, we will explore how systemic oppression, specifically but not limited to racism, plays a role in creating barriers to true multicultural diversity. We will also discuss how to move congregations along the continuum from “exclusive” to “transforming” communities. This workshop satisfies the canonical anti-racism requirements for clergy and lay leaders.
Book List
Homiletics for Lay Preachers
(meets Saturday only)
Unlike most courses during the academic year, this is a one-day workshop (9:00-9:00). It provides students an overview of basic homiletical principles as these pertain to the ministry of lay preaching. Students will offer practice sermons.
Reading List
Practice of the Eucharist
This course prepares students to plan and lead eucharistic worship according to 1979 Book of Common Prayer with an understanding that no two communities have exactly the same gifts and abilities, and consequently, no two need have exactly the same worship service. Covering the (actual) requirements of the Prayer Book as well as certain variations of worship space, timing, and the needs of a congregation, students will acquire the skills necessary to preside with grace and confidence in various worship settings.
Reading List
This course acquaints you with some of the major themes, traditions and practices of Christian spirituality, introduces you to resources so that you may assist others with their spiritual journey, and provides you guidance in developing your own Rule, or way of life, to sustain you through the discernment and/or education process and your current and future ministry.
Book List
- Guenther, M. At Home in the World: A Rule of Life for the Rest of Us. New York: Seabury, 2006.
- Cox and Brown, V. Fully Alive: Inside Stories of Ordinary People and Extraordinary Authenticity. Dunnegan, MO: Rivendell Press, 2012. 2 vol. (available through instructor)
- The Rev. Virginia Brown brings wide pastoral experience to the ministry of teaching, having served congregations of various sizes in small town and urban settings, a new church plant, and college chaplaincy. In addition to teaching, her ministry has particularly focused on offering spiritual direction and retreats.
Christian Theology II
Christian Theology II provides a biblical, historical, and systematic overview of the following Christian concepts: Christ and Salvation, the Holy Spirit, Church and Sacraments, and Eschatology. The goal of this course is to provide diaconal candidates (as well as lay persons interested in personal enrichment) with a theological foundation for effective ministry in the world today.
Reading List
- McGrath, Alister. Theology: The Basics, 3rd ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
- McGrath, Alister. Theology: The Basic Readings, 2nd ed. Wiley Blackwell, 2012.
- Dr. Wilburn (Bill) T. Stancil is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Rockhurst University, Kansas City. Since 1980, he has taught theology at four different universities and theological seminaries. Dr. Stancil is a licensed lay preacher in the Episcopal Church and a frequent speaker to civic groups and churches of many denominations in the Kansas City area.
Diversity, Justice and the Church's Mission
(meets Saturday only)
This course provides an introductory survey on historical and contemporary issues of race and racism as a social and political constructs in the United States of America and the role the Episcopal Church has played both in supporting racist politics/policies as well as in dismantling such racism to build creative and justice-oriented communities. Through our work and conversation, we will explore how systemic oppression, specifically but not limited to racism, plays a role in creating barriers to true multicultural diversity. We will also discuss how to move congregations along the continuum from “exclusive” to “transforming” communities. This workshop satisfies the canonical anti-racism requirements for clergy and lay leaders.
Book List
- Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me.
- Douglas, Kelly Brown. Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God.
- Williams, Chad; Williams, Kidada; and Blain, Keisha (eds.). The Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism and Racial Violence. University of Georgia Press: 2016.
- The Rev. Marcus Halley serves as rector of Saint Paul's Church on Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis, MN. He holds a B.A. from Johnson C. Smith University, a M.Div from the Interdenominational Theological Center, and a Master of Sacred Theology from the School of Theology at the University of the South. An avid historian, theologian, and writer, Father Marcus wrote his thesis “Lifted Hands, Broken Chains: Exploring the Liberating Theological Praxis of Absalom Jones and the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, 1794 – 1808” which explores how Absalom Jones, the first black Episcopal priest, utilized traditional African religion and Anglican/Episcopal liturgy to craft a liberative theology for the black community in Philadelphia, PA in the late 1700s and early 1800s. To read his thesis, visit https://dspace.sewanee.edu/handle/11005/3625
Homiletics for Lay Preachers
(meets Saturday only)
Unlike most courses during the academic year, this is a one-day workshop (9:00-9:00). It provides students an overview of basic homiletical principles as these pertain to the ministry of lay preaching. Students will offer practice sermons.
Reading List
- Long, Thomas G. The Witness of Preaching, third edition. Westminster John Knox Press. 2016.
- The Rev. Dr. Bill Fasel has been an Episcopal priest since 1990. He currently serves as the Ministry Developer for the Northeast Episcopal Regional Ministry in the Diocese of West Missouri. He is also the Assistant to the Bishop for Leadership Development. Fasel holds a D.Min. in Congregational Development from Seabury-Western.
Practice of the Eucharist
This course prepares students to plan and lead eucharistic worship according to 1979 Book of Common Prayer with an understanding that no two communities have exactly the same gifts and abilities, and consequently, no two need have exactly the same worship service. Covering the (actual) requirements of the Prayer Book as well as certain variations of worship space, timing, and the needs of a congregation, students will acquire the skills necessary to preside with grace and confidence in various worship settings.
Reading List
- Lathrop, Gordon. The Pastor: A Spirituality
- Other books may be assigned with the syllabus
- The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Thomas is the Director of Church Relations for the St. Francis Foundation. Previously, he served as the Dean and Rector of Christ Cathedral, Salina, KS, after serving as Assistant Rector at Grace Church, NYC. He earned his M.Div. (‘07) and Th.D. (‘11) from the General Theological Seminary in New York. His research interests include patristic and early medieval theology. He lives in Eden Prairie, MN with his wife Holly and their four children.