Ministry Proposal Lay Counseling

Lay_Counseling_1.pdf  Here you will find the summary of Dr. Siang-Yang Tan’s book, Lay counseling: Equipping Christians for helping ministry (1991). Please read and refer to it when working on your project paper, although do not clone your projects by this. The book is listed in the optional resources.

The last week should be dedicated to finalizing the work on your project; follow the syllabus instructions (see below as well). Note that you are to focus on a Mentoring or Mediation ministry (NOT “Counseling ministry” per se). The project is a ministry project, not a teaching project. So the process must incorporate doing mentoring, or doing mediation as a service, not teaching mentoring or mediation.

There are no other assignments for you to complete this week. If you have any questions regarding this project, please contact me no later than 10 days prior to the due date. That will give us enough time to preview and make necessary edits.

As a reminder, I do not want to see titles that have anything to do with “…..Counseling Program” as I specifically want them to focus only on either of the two topics we’ve studied in this course. 

An experiential exercise/project will provide an opportunity to put into practice the principles and concepts studied in the Course. Imagine that your church leaders have asked you to develop a Lay Ministry with the focus on either: 1) Mentoring, or 2) Mediation services, and present your proposal to the pastoral leadership team for review. In order to accomplish this, you have been assigned the following tasks:

a. Outline your ministry proposal in a systematic way through a detailed position paper and formal proposal. The paper must include the following elements under separate appropriately-titled headings (in approximately 8 pages):

1)     name of your ministry [keep this short in one strong complete sentence]

2)     purpose of your ministry [why have this ministry? What was the need that precipitated it?]

3)     the counseling philosophy of your ministry [this must agree with the church philosophy and vision to have buy-in]

4)     the use of supporting scriptures regarding your vision and purpose [list several scriptures that support the need for this ministry but write out only the pertinent phrases of each verse]

5)     the scope of the ministry (including any limitations) – [what is the target population? specific gender or ages? who would you exclude and why? how wide a catchment area?]

6)     the hours and location/s of services [address, phone, website, to where the people will come, or where the main offices are]

7)     how the ministry is accessed – describe the process [how do you get the word out? how do the people reach you? what do they have to do to get services?]

8)     the duration and process of care [what’s the procedure for the service? how long do they partake of services? how do you care for them?]

9)     the potential benefits of the ministry [Use Acts 1:8 as the model: start with a center and go out in widening circles thinking of all who would benefit from this ministry e.g. pastors, congregation, community, etc.]

10)  any costs or fees associated with the ministry [what are both the tangible and intangible costs (borne by whom?), even if the church is already bearing some of those costs; if church policy now is not to have fees, is that wise for your program?]

11)  how staff (mentors or mediators) will be selected, trained, and supervised [start with who will select the staff, how will they be trained, who will supervise them]

12)  how confidentiality and consent issues will be addressed [include any appendices with forms that you may use]

13)  how the ministry will be connected with other community and Christian resources [list how you will network with other similar ministries (which ones?) and how other ministries will support you – how might you collaborate in your “Mentoring/Mediation” services?]

b. List potential references and local contact points that would provide additional resources for the particular ministry focus (in approximately 1-2 pages). [are there other ministries in your community that offer similar services? The ministries should be connected with the type of services you offer]

c. Organize your proposal under the different headings or key elements listed in Sections “ a” and “ b.”

d. Type the whole proposal double-spaced and approximately 12-15 pages in total length (including the Title page, Table of Content, and Appendices). Write the paper in APA style format and organize it in an appropriate presentation format[this is not PowerPoint, but properly titled for respective ministry/church], similar to what could be distributed for a leadership review.

 *** Submit all files (for all assignments) as MS Word documents only and name them according to the following format: first use the course number; then underscore; then your first name and first letter of your last name; then underscore; and finally, the name of the assignment itself e.g., HSC560_JohnD_proposal. Also, use the same file name in the “subject” line of the email.

Additional Notes and Tips:

• “Counseling Philosophy” Since you’re not to use the term “counseling” it will be the philosophy of your mentoring or your mediation ministry. So what is “philosophy?” You have to go along with what your church’s or organization’s philosophy is (their vision, their main objective) as you are proposing to be an arm of that church or organization. You can’t appear out of left field with something new that takes the focus away from the aim of your ministry, which should either be mentoring or mediation for this assignment. That section should not be long, just prove that your ministry will be fulfilling the philosophy of the church (are they a relational? community-minded? bible knowledge-based? family oriented? seeker friendly?).

• Scriptures you use should support this, but not be preachy or long-winded.

• Scope means who exactly are you serving?

• Cost: there are also intangible costs that must be considered.

• Process: how is the (mentoring; mediation) going to happen? Please don’t write out a whole program or a training here, just go through the steps of how do they come for it, then what do they/you do? for how long? how do you know they are finished? This should be a process, not a canned training; so you don’t use someone else’s package. You’ve studied both in this course, so use the phrases and concepts you now know.

• “Staff” – you will not have counselors, you’ll have mentors or mediators

• Community connections means from who/where will you get support and who/what will your ministry support?

• Resources: should be along the lines of what you’re trying to do. If it’s “women mentoring,” then find resources for just that, for women’s services, and/or for mentoring. It shouldn’t be for counseling, family therapy, marriage therapy, finances, poverty support, etc. When pulling resources, keep Acts 1:8 as your pattern. Who’s the closest (Jerusalem)? county (Judea)?, state (Samaria)? uttermost (national and world)?

• Be sure to give me the reference page if you use ideas from anyone – references is not the same as resources.

• No, you don’t need to write an abstract. This is a proposal paper.

  Costs/Benefits: there are intangible costs and benefits to any project, aside from financial. Consider energy, time spent, effort, being away from family, other investments, etc. You want to make sure you consider these as the “board” may ask when you give the proposal.