OSIJEK DOCTORAL COLLOQUIUM 2016
The Osijek Doctoral Colloquium (ODC) is a
program of a consortium consisting of the Osijek Institute for Mission Studies
of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, the Central and Eastern
European Association for Mission Studies (CEEAMS), the Eurasian Accrediting
Association (EAAA) and a financial support granting foundation.
Osijek Doctoral Colloquium Application Process
Please read the following information
carefully. Communication is an important component of your arrival at Osijek.
We will do everything possible to facilitate your time here as you communicate
your questions, needs, and information to us. If you have been invited to apply
for the Osijek Doctoral Colloquium, either as a student or as a mentor, or if
you meet the selection criteria, please read the following information
carefully and fill out the forms completely. The application form is available
here: http://goo.gl/forms/7A94YgtOLy.
General information
The ETS-OSIMS: Who we are?
Osijek Institute for Mission Studies (OSIMS)
of the Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) seeks to serve as a bridge
between East and West, between reflection on the situation of Church and
Mission in what was called till recently Eastern Europe and Western Europe.
The geographical location of Osijek in the
triangle of Croatia, Romania and Hungary, near the confluence of the Drava and
the Danube, could serve bridging the gap between Church and the (increasingly
secularized) world, in communicating the Gospel, in essence the Good News that
in Jesus Christ the gap between God and men is bridged. The new Institute seeks
to build on, renew and strengthen the vision of ETS as a Learning Center for
Mission in Eastern Europe.
OSIMS is as an international learning
community which seeks to facilitate the academic reflection on the missionary
practice of Church and mission and of mission related issues in the societies
of post-communist Europe by way of a thorough study of the biblical foundations
and a critical analysis of the history of the mission of the Church, and of the
contemporary context. The final aim is to support, strengthen and equip the
local Church to grow into open, welcoming, witnessing communities of Jesus
Christ in today’s world.
The scope of the Institute is contextual,
taking its own Evangelical heritage seriously, encouraging a critical
reflection on its mission history and contemporary experience in the light of
worldwide mission experience and missiological reflection. It also seeks to
fulfil a window opening function to church and academia, in ever widening
concentric circles, being ready to share lessons learned in its own context,
and being ready and open to learning from those from different ethnic or Church
backgrounds.
The Osijek Doctoral Colloquium
This program seeks to facilitate a guided
study period of 2-6 weeks in the summer months, from July to mid-August to PhD
students that have started a PhD program with universities elsewhere in Europe
or e.g. South Africa. Also, those seriously exploring the possibility to enrol
in a PhD program, working on their proposal are welcome.
It seeks to take those 5-15 PhD students
out of their busy environments and bring them into a learning community. A
mentor will be assigned to plan, co-ordinate and moderate this project. At
least three faculty members will attend as mentors. The outcome of this program
hoped for is to provide theological institutions with qualified faculty, but
also to develop relevant, contextualized literature, and to have capable people
from Central and Eastern Europe participate in broader academic conversations,
including those with orthodox and Muslim leaders. The Osijek Doctoral
Colloquium could include courses in research methodology.
Lena and George
Hendrickson Library
The ODC will take place in the Learning and
Conference Center of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek. It houses
the Lena and George Hendrickson library on the ground floor, and a reference
room on the next floor. It also features administrative offices and educational
space. At the second floor, space is provided for classrooms, professors’
offices and other educational facilities.
With a library of more than 80,000 books,
most of which are in English, but many also in the regional languages, and with
excellent facilities, we have been working to make our resources available as a
regional research library and learning centre for trainers and educators of
Christian leaders in all the countries in the region. It is a resource centre
for theological and mission studies unique in Central and Eastern Europe.
Practical Information
The Osijek Doctoral
Colloquium will be taking place from July 1st 2016 to August 13th,
2016.
Each
doctoral participant is expected to spend 6-8 hours per day in the study of
their selected topic. In addition to your directed study with a mentor, there
will be daily group meetings each morning. You should be prepared to present a
30-minute personal testimony and outline of your ministry at home. These brief
presentations will encourage us to pray for each other.
We plan to
have different events together too, such as an opening and/or closing dinner
which may be a wonderful opportunity for you to present music, dance, poetry,
or stories from your home culture as part of the entertainment.
Again, please do
not hesitate to communicate with us as you have questions, we look forward to
meeting you in July and August.
God bless
you as you prepare to join us in Osijek.
Obtaining Your Visa
If you are admitted, you will receive a
letter and a visa application document to be used in obtaining your visa. These
papers should be sufficient to enable you to obtain a visa for the 6-week
Tutorial Program.
Medical Insurance
Medical insurance is mandatory for
obtaining a Schengen visa and it will offer you an extended coverage wherever
you travel in the Schengen area or in Europe. Applicants are required to buy
travel health insurance with an insurance company in the country of their
residence that is acceptable for the embassy where they apply for the Schengen
visa.
Fees and Costs
Costs
The costs of the ODC are a non-refundable
registration fee of EUR 25 and a personal contribution towards travelling costs
of 100 Euro. Participants have to also cover the costs related to obtaining
their visas.
ODC Scholarship
The Osijek Doctoral Colloquium Scholarship
covers accommodation in shared (two-persons) bedroom, meals, and coffee break
drinks and snack for the duration of the
2-6-week program. It does not include health insurance for the duration of the
program. Also, it does not cover personal expenses such as telephone calls,
laundry costs, and personal items while at Osijek, or visa application fee, and
personal expenses incurred prior to departure for Osijek. It does not cover the
cost of shipping personal items home that you have acquired during your time at
Osijek. Spouses cannot be accommodated by the ODC participant unless the spouse
has also applied and been accepted to the program. The program does not accept
children.
For more information,
please visit: CEEAMS web link.
Selection criteria:
1. One should at least have a working proficiency of English, in order to benefit from community life offered by ODC.
2. One should be willing to respect and contribute to the community focus:
OSIMS is marked by the characteristics: Innovation, Cooperation, Learning
Community and Kingdom:
·
Innovation, as it seeks to explore new
ways for connecting Gospel and culture;
·
Cooperation, as it seeks to work
together with theological institutions and networks for mission studies of
different Christian traditions in a consortium format;
·
Learning Community, as it seeks to counter
an individualistic approach to education with the strengths of an interactive
educational model.
Focus will be on building, strengthening,
and extending the Kingdom of God as
revealed in Jesus Christ.
3. The potential areas of study are wide open, preferably one’s research topic should have a missiological dimension or motivation.
The ODC program intersects
with one of the aims of OSIMS as development of research into the missionary and missiological developments in Central
and Eastern Europe, after the changes and on the place of Christianity in
post-Christendom Europe. Missiology is defined as a dimension of each of the
theological disciplines. The limiting factors of the areas of study are the
possibility to find an appropriate mentor, and the availability and
accessibility of library resources at ETS.
4. One should be a current or potential key Christian leader within one’s nation.
The ODP program embodies
the OSIMS aim to develop an innovative, cooperative platform and learning community for reflection, research and
retreats, marked by the transformative power of the Gospel, as a safe space for
learning, capacity building and empowering of a new generation of leaders as
agents of transformation in their particular churches and societies.
5. Participants need to be in Osijek preferably for the full six-week program. There is a minimum requirement of two weeks.
6. Respect the core values of the ODC program
OSIMS is marked by the
following core values, which also characterise the ODC program:
·
Missionary spirituality – is the driving
work of mission in all times;
·
Ecumenical cooperation, in light of the
complex mission challenges in Europe. However, it does not imply giving up
one’s own denomination identity.
·
Service –giving priority to serving and
mobilising churches - clergy and laity, to be better equipped to communicate
the Gospel holistically with the whole world.
