Praxis

What is “praxis?”  It is action combined with reflection.  It is how experiential learning happens.  It is a chance to integrate what you’re doing and learning in one area with what you’re doing and learning somewhere else.  It is the ongoing learning community for students across the country.

The skills and understandings that you gain through Praxis are ones that develop over time, which is why Diaconal ministry students do Praxis for every year they are active in the diploma program.

There are four main aspects of the Praxis component:

  1. Reflection – Being able to reflect on your experience is a skill that deepens over time.  The CCS Spiral tool will help you make connections between what you are learning (in learning circles, externals, elsewhere) and your experience.  The more Spiral assignments you do over the years, the easier they get … until you realize that you can actually push yourself to deeper, more meaningful, reflection, at which point they get harder again.  But after that they get easy again.  And then harder.  (Sorry about that.)
  2. Intentional Learning – Knowing what you need to learn, and how to learn it, is an important skill for growth and for ministry.  Each year you will set your own learning goals and draft your own learning plan in consultation with Program Staff and the CCS Learning Guidelines.  You will check in with Program Staff during and at the end of the year to evaluate your progress.
  3. Diaconal Formation – Regular meetings with a Diaconal Mentor will help you develop your understanding of diaconal ministry and your own personal ministry identity.  Together you and a Mentor will reflect on key themes and ideas in diakonia.  It’s an opportunity to draw on the wisdom of someone else’s experience, and to make connections with the vital and supportive diaconal community.  (Non-diaconal students taking Praxis will meet with a vocational mentor who can offer wisdom from their experience in a relevant field.)
  4. Learning-in-Community – Community doesn’t just happen at learning circles.  Learning partnerships and occasional online gatherings through the year allow students to offer and receive support.