Prospectus

for the

Worship Studies Course

& the

Unitarian Studies Course

Provided under the auspices of Local Leadership Strategy Group (LLSG). Managed by the Worship Studies Group (WSG). The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.

Core Values

To enable Unitarians to become better informed about Unitarian thought and history and to help equip Worship Leaders with the skills and background knowledge they might need.

Members of WSG

• Rev Ernest Baker (Tutor)
• Rev Alex Bradley (Principal of Unitarian College, Manchester and Tutor)
• Dawn Buckle (Chair of Joined Up Education Panel)
• Rev Dr Vernon Marshall (Tutor)
• Winnie Gordon (Course Administrator)
• Rev Dr Arthur Stewart (Advisory Member)
• Rev Sue Woolley (Representing UALM)

Outline of the Two Modular Courses

There are two parallel Courses:

The Worship Studies Course (WSC) prepares students for conducting worship and lay preaching. It can be a intermediate course for Lay Pastor or Ministerial training.

The Unitarian Studies Course (USC) gives students increasing personal knowledge and understanding of the Unitarian and Free Christian movement.

Click here for details of the Worship Studies Course Modules and Tutors

Click here for details of the Unitarian Studies Course Modules and Tutors

Explanation of the Two Modular Courses

Preamble: It is recognised that considerable informal education and training of lay people takes place at congregational and district level. These courses are intended to build on that and to provide nationally recognised qualifications.

The Courses are organised in incremental steps. Each step will be delivered by a combination of distance learning, daylong and residential elements. Part of the residential elements will be provided at the Unitarian Association for Lay Ministry (UALM) Annual Conference each year.

Both courses will:

• Help students to return to learning.
• Work within a modularised structure.
• Provide evidence that a student is capable and is knowledgeable about Unitarianism.

The WSC Course is a useful preliminary to undertaking Lay Pastor or Ministerial training.

Personal Record of Achievement

Each student is expected to maintain a portfolio of their work and a record of any additional relevant courses attended throughout the steps, for example, Hucklow Summer School, Unitarian Experience Week, UALM Conference, other relevant conferences, courses or meetings. Such a portfolio will be useful to WSC students applying for Lay Pastor or Ministerial training.

Foundation Step

For WSC Students only, this step is an introductory course in the conduct of worship and lay preaching. This step prepares students to conduct worship for their own, or neighbouring congregations and fellowships.

Provision: The WSC Foundation Step is provided by Districts or occasionally, nationally for groups of students unable to access a District course.

Content:

1. What is worship?
2. Speech and Communication.
3. Elements of the service
• readings
• prayers/meditation/silence
• hymns/music
• sermon/address
• stories/children
4. Practicalities and Precautions.
5. Sources and Resources.

Useful courses to be used for this Step include:

The ABCs of Lay Preaching from the Midland Unitarian Association (Copies are available from the Midland Unitarian Association). Please contact:– Rev Sue Woolley at – (SEND SUE A MESSAGE) Cheques made payable to The Midland Unitarian Association for £9.50 (inc. p&p).

Taking the Service by R Lovis and P Sampson. Available from Unitarian Headquarters. Cheques made payable to the General Assembly of Unitarian & Free Christian Churches for £2.00 (+p&p).

The Conduct of Worship Revised' edited by Rev Sue Woolley. Unitarian Association for Lay Ministry, 2009. price £3 (inc. p&p), cheques to be made payable to 'UALM' Available from Rev Sue Woolley (SEND SUE A MESSAGE)

Assessment:

• Regular attendance throughout the course.
• Preparation and delivery of two services to be assessed by the District Course Leader or other appropriate person e.g. a minister or recognised lay leader/preacher/pastor who should provide feedback.

Assessor feedback sheets are available from the Course Administrator. (Districts may have their own feedback sheets).

Each successful student receives a Foundation Certificate on application to the Course Administrator.

Internediate and Advanced Steps

The Education and Training Commission appoint staff for these steps

Intermediate Step

(For WSC and USC students) this step consists of an optional Study Skills Module and an introduction to the Four Main Modules.

Study Skills Module

Gives both WSC and USC students an opportunity to revise or improve their study skills.

The four main modules are

1. Unitarian theology/thought.
2. Unitarian history-local/broader.
3. Biblical studies.
4. World religions and worship including new age/earth spirit spirituality.

For WSC students this step extends their knowledge giving them more material to use for service content.

For USC students it is an introductory course.

Provision

• This Step is provided nationally mainly by distance learning. In addition, daylong or short residential sessions will be provided by the Course Tutors and suitable others either as freestanding events or as part of the UALM Annual Conference.
• There is a Course Tutor for each of the Four Modules. Each Tutor has been approved and recognised by the Education and Training Commission.
• The designated Course Tutor assesses written work for both courses.

WSC students are expected to find their own suitably qualified or experienced assessor for the Conduct of Worship element. Assessment schedules are available from the Course Administrator.

Time limit

It is expected that the Preliminary Step would be completed within twelve months with the possibility of extension negotiated through the Course Administrator.

Assessment

The Study Skills Module has no assessment but students on both courses are expected to show use of study skills in their written work.

A) WSC Students:

• Written Work: submit four services one for each of the Four Modules with appropriate readings and hymns.
• Conduct of Worship: deliver two of the services for assessment by an appropriate person e.g. a minister or recognised lay leader/preacher/pastor.

Assessor feedback sheets are available from the Course Administrator.

B) USC students:

• Submit four short essays one for each of the Four Modules.

Tutors will normally mark and return written work within three weeks of submission. They will regularly update the Course Administrator of each student's progress.

On completion of the Course each successful student receives a Preliminary Certificate.

Advanced Step

(For WSC and USC students) this step includes further and deeper study of each of the Four Modules

The four modules are

1. Unitarian theology/thought.
2. Unitarian history-local/broader.
3. Biblical studies.
4. World religions and worship including new age/earth spirit spirituality.

For WSC students the step is suitable for those wishing to conduct worship regularly. It would be a useful preliminary for Lay Pastor or Ministerial training.

For USC students the step further develops their knowledge and understanding of Unitarianism.

Provision:

• This Step is provided nationally mainly by distance learning. In addition, daylong or short residential sessions will be provided by the Course Tutors and suitable others either as freestanding events or as part of the UALM Annual Conference.
• There is a Course Tutor for each of the Four Modules. Each Tutor has been approved and recognised by the Education and Training Commission.
• The designated Course Tutor assesses written work for both courses.

WSC students are expected to find their own suitably qualified or experienced assessor for the Conduct of Worship element. Assessment schedules are available from the Course Administrator.

Time Limit

There is an expectation that each module of the course would be completed within six months with the possibility of extension negotiated through the Course Administrator.

Assessment

WSC Students

• Written work: submit six services with appropriate readings and hymns for each of the modules. These should show a greater depth of understanding and knowledge than at the Preliminary Step.
• Conduct of Worship: Deliver six services selected from the written work. These should be assessed by an appropriate person e.g. a minister or recognised lay leader/preacher/pastor.

Assessor feedback sheets are available from the Course Administrator.

USC Students

• Submit six essays for each of the Four Modules showing greater depth of understanding and knowledge than at the Preliminary Step. Each assignment should be between 1500-2000 words.
• Tutors will normally mark and return written work to students within three weeks of submission.

Each successful student is awarded a Certificate of Achievement for each module.

On completion of the whole course each successful student receives an Advanced Certificate and WSC students are entered on the General Assembly list of Lay Preachers and Worship Leaders.

If after reading this prospectus, you would like to discuss any of the details or make an application to undertake this course, please contact the Course Administrator, Winnie Gordon.

Charges for WSC and USC Students

WSC

Registration Fee = £5.00 (exempt if you have completed the Foundation Step since 2008)

Foundation Step– This is ran and set by Districts. Please discuss this with your District.

Intermediate Step – £25.00 (for all written work)

Preaching Assessment £5 x 2 = £10.00

Total = £40.00

Advanced Step £25 per module £25 x 4 = £100.00

Preaching Assessment £5 x 6 = £30.00

Total = £130.00

USC

Registration Fee = £5.00

Intermediate Step – 4 Essays @ £10.00 each = £40.00

Advanced Step – 6 Essays @ £10.00 each for each module = £60 x 4 = £240.00

Both Steps Total = £285.00

Cheques made payable to The General Assembly of Unitarian & Free Christian Churches (GAofUFCC)

A Note on Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the passing off of other people's work as your own. Many of you have a background in education, or will be familiar with the formal requirements with respect to written work in this regard.

It is expected that students will refer to books, as well as on-line sources. In the case of Worship Studies particularly, a mere string of website extracts cobbled together might just fool the Tutors, but helps none of us in the privileged service we seek to offer our co-religionists as worship leaders.

The legendary words of Bill Shankly about football are particularly appropriate for us: "It's not a matter of life and death - it's far more important than that!"

The purpose of this course is to discover and explore what you believe and think in response to the question posed. You may of course quote other people in support of your argument and perspective.

If you do use someone else's words, indicate this with quotation marks in your script as submitted to tutors, and for worship addresses write something like "As Len Smith writes in The Unitarians: A Short History: "..blah, blah, blah.."; for essays, you can simply put the author's name in brackets afterwards.

Then at the end of your address/essay, provide a list of the resources cited, using the guidelines below:-

How to Cite Resources in a Bibliography

Book:

Geoghegan, Jeffrey and Homan, Michael The Bible for Dummies. Wiley Publishing, Indianapolis, 2003.

Part of a book:

Brown, Andrew. Is there a future for the Unitarian Christian tradition? in Smith, Matthew F. (ed.) Prospects for the Unitarian movement. Lindsey Press, 2002. pp. 9-18.

Journal article:

Kirk, Margaret. The golden heresy of truth: Charles Darwin and his grandfather Erasmus. The Inquirer, 7 February 2009, pp.3-4.

Website:

Unitarian Universalist Association website: www.uua.org, accessed 3 March 2009.

Taylor, Jeremy. Unitarian Universalist Roots - Ancient and Modern. 1997. Found on www.uua.org, accessed 3 March 2009.