A) Target Audience
Service leaders in the church, including priests, church council members, heads of service sectors and their assistants, and candidates for leadership responsibilities within the church. This course focuses on the church as a unit of training, with each church represented by a group of participants to form a learning nucleus for the purpose of application and development.
The institute awards a certificate of participation to trainees who complete the full five days. The certificate is presented by His Holiness Pope Tawadros II at a ceremony organized by the institute once every two years.
B) Terms of Study and Application Deadlines
Enrollment in the foundational training course is based on the following:
– Direct request from the diocesan bishop or priests.
– **Participation of church members** (the priest, secretaries of service sectors – head of the church council, council member for servants, council member for youth, and council member for women), with an average total of 25 individuals per course.
- Trainees are informed of the open program dates.
A single training course includes an average of three to four churches, with each church represented by five to seven individuals—such as the priest, heads of service sectors, the head of the church council, and council members for servants, youth, and women—for a total average of 25 participants per course.
Courses for the remaining churches in the diocese are organized and implemented in coordination with the institute's administration. Trainees are required to attend the prescribed number of course hours and to implement a graduation project upon completion of the training, which falls within the strategic plan for developing the church's ministry and is conducted under the supervision and follow-up of His Eminence the Bishop.
C) Foundational Course Topic
Modules
Challenges facing the Church in its contemporary ministry and how to develop ministry; the meaning of ecclesiastical stewardship, how the Church can serve as a successful institution, the identity of the Coptic Church: its formation – its development – its revival; Church members as the Body of Christ, how to integrate the roles and responsibilities of members in the Orthodox concept; how the one body works (teamwork); how the Church plans for its future ministry; the Church's various resources and how to mobilize, develop, and manage them scientifically; how to manage the necessary funding for developing the Church's financial resources.
Unit The second is about the wise stewardship of ministry. (Good Governance Church Governance) (14 training hours) and includes topics:
Principles of wise stewardship (governance); what are the roles and tasks of participation structures in ministry (Clergy Council, Church Board, Secretariat of Ministry, Social Services, Church Projects, etc.) and how do they work together as integrated and harmonious units; how effectiveness (fruitfulness) and efficiency (optimal use of resources) are achieved in ministry; what are the methods of effective communication within and outside the Church (with the local community); how principles of transparency and accountability help in the living testimony of the Church as an embassy of heaven on earth.
Course Evaluation الدورة
Each training session, as well as the entire training course, is evaluated through detailed forms prepared to review the trainers' performance, the extent of trainees' benefit, and recommendations for performance improvement.
Trainees are also evaluated based on 80% attendance and a group graduation project from the partner church. Participants receive a "Certificate of Participation in a Training Course."