General News and Announcements

May 27, 2010

The W. Norman McLeod Scholarships are available to people in the Order of Ministry who are engaged in post-graduate education and intending to serve The United Church of Canada.

McLeod Scholarships were awarded to eight recipients this year:

• Tracy Fairfield received her diploma in diaconal ministry and is continuing her studies toward a Master of Arts in Applied Theology from the University of Winnipeg through distance learning. Her focus on applied theology will allow Tracy to learn more about different religions and denominations with a Christian tradition. As the United Church lives into becoming an intercultural church, Tracy believes that ministers need to be knowledgeable about and understand the diversity of cultural perspectives.
• The focus of Bob Fillier's Doctor of Ministry program at the Chicago Theological Seminary is in the area of preaching and how that relates to pastoral ministry. Through this program, Bob's goal is to further develop his skills as a preacher. His thesis, "Preaching in a Digital Age," will examine how preachers can effectively use digital media along with different homiletical forms in order to holistically engage congregations.
• A second-year student in a Ph.D. program at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, Carmen Landsdowne continues studies that will prepare her “to teach and research in the areas of indigenous epistemologies, indigenous theology, and theologies of mission.” Carmen is examining ways in which indigenous epistemologies can help critique existing theologies of mission and help in constructing new theologies of mission.
• Karen MacLeod-Wilkie is enrolled in the Doctor of Ministry program at the Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. The focus of Karen’s studies is spirituality and story. She states, “Our Christian faith is based upon a core narrative that shapes our understanding of God and of our lives as those who try to follow in the way of Jesus whose story revealed God to us in a very intimate manner.”
• As a diaconal minister, JungHee Park wants “to identify and explore feminist and other theological images of God and theological understandings of different relationships with God, which shape the theology and practice of ministry and mission, in particular diaconal ministry.” Through her studies in the Th.D. program at Emmanuel College, Toronto School of Theology, JungHee also wants to explore how one’s theology is affected by changes in social status, for example, what happens to one’s theology when one crosses cultural boundaries.
• In her third year of a Master of Theology program at St. Stephen’s College, Edmonton, Dawn Rolke continues to explore questions in the context of pastoral ministry. She is drawn to courses that focus on the ways in which people and roles have been constructed by the societies in which they live. This year’s focus examines the construction and performance of masculinities by White male ministers in the United Church.
• Leigh Sinclair is in a Master of Sacred Theology (STM) program at the Saskatoon Theological Union (through St. Andrew's College), focusing on her passion for smaller churches and rural ministry. Leigh is preparing a thesis to explore how rural folks understand the theologies of providence and how that affects their faithful living. Leigh believes that this exploration will benefit her own understanding of rural folks' real faith experience and, thus, her pastoral care for them. She also hopes to share this study so others can explore this theme in their own contexts. She has been a co-recipient of the Clifford Elliott Rural Ministry Award for the last two years.
• Bright Young-Hwan Yun is in a Master of Theology program at the Toronto School of Theology (Knox College). A primary object of his education is in the area of pastoral ministry and its integration of academic and experiential learning. He is studying homiletics, examining the nature and importance of preaching and the relationship between preaching and pastoral ministry that will benefit his preaching skills, equipping him to be a better contemporary and prepared preacher in the church.