No matter what profession you enter, your values and your faith can and should influence who you decide to be in the world. Alongside a community of peers and the university chaplains, EVM offers students the opportunity to examine their beliefs and values, explore connections between their faith and the classroom, and experience internships in fields of service, justice, and ministry.
Students in EVM come from many majors and choose many paths after Furman including seminary and ministry, nonprofits, academia, legal, medical, and corporate professions. Students in the program reflect a diversity of backgrounds and interests which offer open, robust, thoughtful exploration and conversation. Internships are chosen in consultation with the chaplains and customized toward your goals for further learning and engagement.
Students who enter EVM include those who:
- Wish to explore their sense of calling in their life
- Come from any faith background
- Desire to examine their faith critically and integrate their classroom learning with their beliefs
- Want to consider the ethical implications of their faith
- Hope to explore professions in fields of service, justice, academia, or ministry
- Are looking for a spiritual community that will challenge and inspire them
Potential internships include:
- Non-profit organizations (alleviating poverty and homelessness, legal aid, after-school programs, re-entry programs for formerly incarcerated, art and marketing for nonprofits)
- Pastoral, youth, music, or children’s ministries in local congregations
- Chaplaincy at Greenville area hospitals
- Research and projects with University chaplains or other campus staff or faculty
Program Requirements
- First-year students agree to participate in weekly sessions led by the chaplains. You’ll also plan and participate in University Worship during your first year in the program. Students of non-Christian background are welcome meet with the chaplains to discuss alternatives to the University Worship requirement.
- All students agree to participate in weekly gatherings of the Exploration of Vocation and Ministry program on Tuesdays at 6:30pm.
- After completing the year-long orientation seminar, you’ll participate in an approved internship in nonprofit settings, urban ministry, hospital chaplaincy, congregational ministry, at the university, or other setting approved by the chaplains. In order to expose the student to a variety of settings, internships will change at least annually. You’re expected to devote five hours per week to these internships.
- Students commit themselves to satisfactory academic performance.
Internships
After your first year in the program, we’ll discuss your personal and professional goals with you and work together to find a supervised, off-campus internship that will help you realize those goals. We’ve worked with over 150 churches, non-profits, social agencies, and other organizations around Greenville. Sure, we’ve had students working in churches, but we’ve also had students helping with mediation in a lawyer’s office, working with social justice non-profits, and even working with the chaplain at a prison.
Apply for Exploration of Vocation & Ministry (EVM) program
Does EVM sound right for you? Contact the chaplains for more information or apply now for EVM.
