Scripture is the starting point for the Graduate Theological Urban Studies (GTUS) program. In particular, a biblical theology…

…of the powers serves as our lens for understanding the city. However, seminary students are also themselves immersed in the urban environment and engaged with those very powers. Here they learn to discern ministry in the city, frame social analysis and come to a deeper self-understanding.

At its very beginning, SCUPE developed the GTUS program in partnership with schools of theology to link traditional theological education, largely conducted in the classroom, with the concrete experience of ministry in urban communities.

The GTUS program helps seminary students deepen their understanding of what it means to work within urban realities and beyond the traditional church setting.

Admission to GTUS

To apply for the full spring or summer term program, students fill out a GTUS Application Form and mail it to the SCUPE office. This provides us with the information we need to identify the internship that best suits you and your situation. When you submit the application form, we also ask for an official transcript from the seminary you are enrolled in and a check for $50 (non-refundable application fee).

Recognize that your seminary must approve your enrollment in SCUPE. We ask for signatures from seminary representatives to confirm this. Note that all application and registration forms are available on seminary campuses in the registrar’s office.

The deadline for spring term registration is November 15. The deadline for summer registration is April 15. Late applicants must contact the SCUPE registrar to receive special instructions. Students are notified by letter of their acceptance into the program.

Individual Course Application

No admission process is required for students wishing to enroll in individual GTUS courses. See GTUS Registration for enrollment instructions and forms.

ACTS School Students

All GTUS offerings are listed in the catalog of the Association of Chicago Theological Schools and are available to students at ACTS schools through cross-registration. The application, registration and payment procedures for ACTS school students are the same as for member schools, but the student must first obtain permission from the seminary administration to participate in the GTUS program.

Students from other non-member schools

Seminary students from non-member schools from outside the Chicago area are welcome to inquire about integrating GTUS coursework into their graduate theological program. Special permission will need to be obtained from the student’s seminary to accredit the coursework and to facilitate payment of tuition.

GTUS Registration

Admitted GTUS students register for their GTUS coursework at their seminary according to that school’s normal registration policies and procedures. This being the case, there is no SCUPE registration form for the GTUS spring or summer terms. SCUPE depends on the GTUS Application Form for student information. Contact the registrar at your seminary or SCUPE’s registrar with questions about registration.

Students wishing to enroll in individual GTUS courses instead of completing the full spring or summer term program register at their seminary according to that school’s registration policies and procedures. In addition the enrollee must print and complete the SCUPE Individual Course Registration Form and mail it so the SCUPE office: 200 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601-5909.

All GTUS application and registration forms are available in the registrar’s office of your seminary.

Students may contact the SCUPE registrar at any time, (312) 726-1200 or dody@scupe.com, to find out whether a GTUS course is still open for registration.

Auditing GTUS courses

Students may audit GTUS courses for non-credit at a cost of $250 per course. Register for audits using the GTUS Individual Course Registration Form.

Paying for GTUS

Since GTUS functions as an adjunct department of urban ministry for SCUPE member seminaries, the cost of a GTUS course (three semester credit hours) is the same as the cost of an equivalent course at your seminary.

The student pays for the course at their seminary according to the institutions policies and procedures for tuition payment. SCUPE will bill your seminary for payment.

Students from non-members schools must first obtain permission from the seminary to facilitate the payment of tuition. SCUPE will bill the seminary for tuition for courses taken.

GTUS Internship

Internship is the neighborhood classroom, where seminarians learn urban realities and issues through first-hand experience. It is where they develop critical and theological skills through integrating these experiences with academic theory and course content. Internship is a place where the student’s gifts and calling are tested, where specific professional skills are developed, and personal growth is facilitated through learning how to care and be cared for.

Placement sites are typically urban churches, para-church agencies, or other community organizations. To be effective training laboratories, they must be places where:

• Interns are assigned significant tasks and leadership roles

• Competent and active supervision is provided

• In-depth experiences with people facilitate the intern’s learning

• Living expenses are provided, allowing the intern to focus on ministry and growth

How does the internship work?

• Students schedule interviews with placement supervisor in advance of internship.

• Final placements are determined by agreement and signed contract between placement supervisor and student intern.

• SCUPE interns reside in the community where they minister, and commute downtown to classes (normally two days per week, except orientation intensive).

• During fall or spring term, interns work at their placement sites 20 hours per week. During summer term, interns work 40 hours a week for half the number of weeks.

• Written evaluations are requested at mid-term and at the conclusion of the semester.

• Placement sites provide the intern with housing and a modest living stipend for the duration of the internship.

Sampling of SCUPE internship ministry sites:

Trinity Episcopal
Bethel New Life
Faith Community of Saint Sabina
Lawndale Community Church
“The House” Covenant Church
Erie Neighborhood House

Spring 2012
SCUPE M 306:     The Art of Prophetic Preaching in the Urban Context
Freedom to preach in the spirit of the prophets requires preaching with the mind, body and spirit. Prophetic preaching in the city is an invitation to enter into the redemptive story of the gospel as it is evidenced in our urban world and requires not only a biblical and theological framework but also prophetic imagination, evidenced in a kind of playful energy that has the potential to both delight and shock the listener out of stuck thinking and stuck places while, at the same time, kindling and strengthening hope. We will apply the language and homiletic tools and resources of the arts, theater, and popular culture, to describe both the social context of urban life and the preached word.
Credit: 3 semester hours
Faculty: Dr. David Frenchak and Dr. Otis Moss III
Course Schedule: April 13-14, 20-21, 27-28 (Fridays 1-9pm; Saturdays 9am-5pm)
MS V. Preaching and Communication

SCUPE S-H 305:     Restoring Urban Communities
Field-based in one of the nationally renowned Christian community development organizations, this course introduces the principles and practices of congregational-based community development. It examines the relationship between biblical faith and community development practice through site visits to exceptional Chicago development models, and identifies the leadership competencies, organizing principles, skills and resources necessary for an asset-based approach to sustainable community building.
Credit: 3 semester hours.
Faculty: Dr. Mary Nelson
Course Schedule: May 4-5, 11-12, 18-19 (Fridays 1-9pm; Saturdays 9am-5pm)
RSS Religion and Society Studies

SCUPE Supervised Ministry Practicum
Required for students actively engaged in a ministry internship, the practicum focuses on personal formation for ministry by integrating work in the ministry setting with SCUPE’s academic curriculum. Using a case study approach, it provides a forum for faith sharing, personal self-awareness of gifts and skills for ministry, theological reflection on experience, and peer group reflection on actual ministry in response to the Gospel. It is also the course vehicle for SCUPE’s full-time internship field education/ministry credit. Credit varies by seminary.
Credit: Varies by seminary.
Faculty: Dr. Garnett Foster
Schedule: TBA

Summer 2012
SCUPE  M 302: Cross-Cultural Ministry & Interfaith Dialogue Intensive
The world has come to the city. Using the city as a global classroom, this two-week intensive provides students with a practical theology for ministry in a multicultural context, engages biblical study of the early church’s struggle with cultural barriers, encourages respect and appreciation of world-views and value systems different from one’s own, offers anti-racism training, builds skills in movement and communication across cultural divides, and exposes students directly to a wide variety of ministries in diverse cultural settings.
Credit: 3 semester hours.
Faculty: Dr. Shanta Premawardhana & Rev. Cynthia Milsap. Guest Lecturer: Dr. Eboo Patel
Course Schedule: June 4-8, 11-15 Mondays to Fridays (9am-5pm)
MS I Nature and Practice of Ministry

SCUPE Supervised Ministry Practicum   
Required for students actively engaged in a summer ministry internship, the practicum focuses on personal formation for ministry by integrating work in the ministry setting with SCUPE’s summer academic curriculum. Using a case study approach, it provides a forum for faith sharing, personal self-awareness of gifts and skills for ministry, theological reflection on experience, and peer group reflection on actual ministry in response to the Gospel. It is also the course vehicle for SCUPE’s full-time summer internship field education/ministry credit.
Credit: Varies by seminary.
Faculty: Dr. Garnett Foster
Schedule: TBA

Fall 2012
SCUPE B-TH 303:     Public Theology and the City
Public theology in the city is an art form that brings the separate elements of diversity together in a way that images the kingdom of God on earth. Public theology, in contrast with private or individual theology, is a collaborative process best learned in the context of urban diversity where public concerns or issues are found. Together, in partnership with an urban church, the class will learn the basics of the art of doing public theology that leads to redemption and transformation of social sin.
Credit: 3 semester hours
Faculty: Dr. David Frenchak
Course Schedule: September 7-8, October 26-27, December 7-8 (Fridays 1-9pm; Saturdays 9am-5pm)
*Location: Taught in context at Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
TS III. Topics in Theology (Cross list MS I, RSS)

SCUPE S-H 307:     Eco-Justice: A Vision for a Sustainable City
The church has a significant role in developing a holistic vision for a sustainable city as an outworking of the concept of shalom, a just peace.  The course will evaluate the three components of sustainable community development: the three E’s of economics, environment and equity (or social justice).  Participants will explore the course topic via readings, panel discussions and site visits.  Students will have the option of developing a project or ministry proposal that explores a key issue such as energy policy, food production, environmental justice or pollution, and how these challenges relate to the central course themes.  Central to the course is the question, “What does it mean to be a sustainable urban community?”
Credit: 3 semester hours
Faculty: Dr. Clinton Stockwell; Pam and Lan Richert, Eco Justice Collaborative
Course Schedule: October 12-13, 19-20 , 26-27 (Fridays 1-9 p.m., Saturdays 9am-5pm)

SCUPE S-H 303:     Public Issues in Urban Ministry
We will learn public theology by doing theology. Doing theology begins by identifying the theological issues that underlie urban culture, economy, politics and society.  The class will practice a process of theological reflection rooted in an interaction of biblical insight, as it relates to Christology, principalities and powers and social justice. Exercising prophetic imagination and using the city of Chicago as a learning laboratory the class will explore what it means to pursue and advance substantive Christian moral values in the midst of systemic injustice and secular society.
Credit: 3 semester hours
Faculty: Dr. David Frenchak
Course Schedule: Nov. 2-3, 9-10, 16-17 (Fridays 1-9pm; Saturdays 9am-5pm)
RSS Religion in Society Studies

Winter/ Spring 2013
SCUPE M 302:     Interfaith and Intercultural Ministry Intensive
The world has come to the city. Using the city as a global classroom, the two week intensive provides students with interfaith understandings, cultural competencies and practical theology for ministry in a multicultural and interfaith context. The course promotes respect and appreciation of world-views and value systems different from one’s own, offers anti-racism training, builds skills in movement and communication across both faith and cultural divides, and exposes students directly to a wide variety of ministries in diverse cultural settings.
Credit:  3 semester hours.
Faculty:  Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, Cynthia Milsap
Course Schedule: January 7-11, 14-18, Mondays to Fridays (9am-5pm)
MS I Nature and Practice of Ministry

SCUPE S-H 304:     Urban Peacemaking in a Culture of Violence
This course on Urban Non-violence pursues and deepens the themes opened up by SCUPE’s Congress on Urban Ministry in March 2011. It will address peacemaking in its “full spectrum,” which is to say from direct action and intervention to restorative justice and conflict resolution. Certain skills, such as active listening, circle process, and non-violent practice will be introduced. The pedagogy of this course will involve an interplay between the biblical witness of gospel non-violence, narrative theology, and the experience of practitioners and students.
Credit: 3 semester hours
Faculty: Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann
Course Schedule: January 14-19, Monday – Saturday (9am – 5pm)

SCUPE B-Th 302: Urban Principalities and the Spirit of the City
Drawing from the ground-breaking theological work of Wink and Stringfellow on the biblical language of “principalities and powers”, this course examines the profound spiritual realities foundational to understanding and transforming the social, economic and political structures of our urban world.
Credit:  3 semester hours
Faculty: Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann
Course Schedule: Feb 1-2, 8-9, 15-16 (Fridays 1-9pm; Saturdays 9am-5pm)
TS III. Topics in Theology (Cross list MS I, RSS)

SCUPE M 304: Christology and Culture
Employing a narrative hermeneutic, this course explores Christology from a global, cultural and liberation perspective – and its significance for urban ministry.  The course cultivates an understanding and appreciation of the diversity of cultural images and models used to elaborate the meaning of Jesus throughout history. Through theological and historical analysis, students engage in an in-depth study of the meaning of Christ’s life-death-resurrection for his contemporaries, the early church and specifically for this present time in history
Credit: 3 semester hours.
Faculty: Dr. Jim Perkinson
Course Schedule: March 8-9, 15-16, 22-23 (Fridays 1-9 p.m.; Saturdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m.)
TS III. Topics in Theology (Cross list: NT III)

To register for any of the above courses, please contact Dody Finch,
Registrar at the SCUPE office, (312) 726-1200, dody@scupe.com.

GTUS Faculty

• Dr. Yvonne V. Delk, Founding Director — Center for African American Theological Studies (Chicago), former Executive Director — Community Renewal Society (Chicago), D.Min. New York Theological Seminary

• Dr. Garnett E. Foster, Field Ed. — SCUPE; D.Min. McCormick Theological Seminary

• Dr. David Frenchak, President Emeritus — SCUPE; D.Min. Andover-Newton Theological Seminary

• Rev. Carol Ann McGibbon, Executive Vice President, Academic Dean, and Director of Graduate Theological Urban Studies — SCUPE

• Minister Cynthia R. Milsap, Program Director, Nurturing the Call — SCUPE; M.S. Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University; Doctoral candidate at Northern Illinois University

• Dr. Mary Nelson, Founding President — Bethel New Life (Chicago)

• Dr. Jim Perkinson, Lecturer in Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences — Ecumenical Theological Seminary (Detroit)

• Dr. Clinton Stockwell, Executive Director — Chicago Semester

• Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann, Pastor-in-Charge — St. Peter’s Episcopal Church (Detroit)