1. PURPOSE
1.1 The policy details the attendance and ministry practicum requirements for School of Theology (SOT) courses of study.
2. SCOPE
2.1 All students enrolled in SOT courses.
3. POLICY STATEMENT
3.1 SOT firmly believes in training students in both theology and practical ministry. Where onsite courses are offered, students are required to attend academic classes, serve during the Ministry Team Duty, as well as be involved in a local church ministry over the course period.
3.2 During the course of study, SOT expects students to be punctual for all activities.
3.3 To graduate, there is a minimum attendance requirement of 80% of all SOT required activities.
4. PROCEDURES FOR SOT ONSHORE COURSES
4.1 Attendance
4.1.1 Classes are held every Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The required clock in timings are as follows:
Monday to Friday
8am: For students who are on Ministry Team Duty that week (Monday).
8.15am: For students who are on Ministry Team Duty that week (Tuesday to Friday).
8.45am: For remaining students who are not on duty.
4.1.2 Students’ late-coming will be monitored. For every 30-minute block of accumulated late-coming minutes, students will be required to carry out 1 session of late-coming duty. (please see Para 4.3).
4.1.3 Habitual late-coming may be cause for disciplinary action (please refer to SOTPH-301 Code of Conduct Policy).
4.1.4 Apart from the lessons, SOT required activities also include: Church-wide seminars, prayer meetings, cell group meetings, weekend services and other church-wide events as and when required by SOT.
4.2 Ministry Practicum
4.2.1 Students are to be involved for a minimum of 3 hours a week in a local church ministry, for the period of the ministry practicum.
4.2.2 Non-CHC students who belong to another local church may be exempt from the above requirement, if they are currently serving in their own church.
4.2.3 The respective CHC Ministry Head or their designate will sign off on the Ministry Practicum sheet, and this document is to be submitted to the SOT office before graduation.
4.3 Mission Trip
4.3.1 As part of the student’s practical ministry experience and exposure, students are strongly encouraged to participate in mission trips.
4.3.2 Through the mission trips, students are exposed to every aspect of the mission trip, from planning to execution, such as preaching, song-leading, home visitations, ministry, prayer, liaison work with the other churches, organisation and administration work.
4.3.3 Students may excuse themselves from participating in a mission trip if they have valid reasons to do so. No academic credits are given for students who participate in these mission trips.
4.4 Late Coming Duty
4.5 Each late-coming duty session will be held on a weekday after school hours or over the weekend.
4.6 The SOT staff will supervise the students on late-coming duty and sign off on the Late-coming sheet to indicate the completion of the duty.
5. PROCEDURES FOR SOT OFFSHORE COURSES
5.1 SOT’s offshore courses are conducted entirely via Zoom.
5.2 Students have to meet the course minimum attendance requirements in order to graduate.
6. RESPONSIBILITIES
6.1 The SOT Dean of Students is responsible for implementing this policy.
7. FORMS & RECORDS
7.1 All forms and records should be retained for archival purposes, or for a minimum of five years, whichever is longer. This is consistent with CHC’s document retention policy.