Free Church Ministry Module

In addition to the Core Curriculum for the Bachelor in Theology, candidates for the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland are required to take a specific Free Church Ministry Module. This normally involves one additional class meeting one day per week. Among the subjects covered are Free Church Practice, Psalmody and Gaelic Preaching.

In addition to normal arrangements for teaching Homiletics in the Department of Practical Theology, Free Church students are required to attend Expository Preaching workshops once a week for six weeks, and, on a weekly rota, to conduct a Service of Public Worship (including a sermon) in the Chalmers Hall.

They also fulfil a number of external preaching engagements each session: 4 weekends in their first year, 6 in their second and 8 in their third.

Students should cherish these years as an unrepeatable opportunity to lay a solid academic foundation for their future ministry. Constant preaching during College years not only steals hours which should be devoted to study: it inculcates fatal habits of skimped, rushed preparation. Jesus spent thirty years preparing for a three years' ministry.

Free Church students are also required to undertake two six-week placements, under ministerial supervision, in Free Church congregations. The Professor of Practical Theology is responsible for these placements.

Students preparing for the ministry of other denominations may be admitted to any or all of the above arrangements at the request of their own churches.