It was lunchtime during the first week of Ben Alexander’s summer field education placement in Charlotte, N.C. As he finished his plate of fried chicken at Trinity’s Table, a free-lunch program at South Tryon Community Church, he asked the man seated next to him how his day was going.

On a busy Sunday morning in July, Ben Alexander (left) and Robert Ewusie Moses leave Myers Park United Methodist Church for South Tryon Community Church. Moses had preached at Myers Park earlier that morning, and Alexander was to preach later that day at South Tryon. It would be the second sermon of Alexander's life.

“I’m having a hard time,” the man said. His problems spilled out.

His name was Ronnie and he had been in prison. Now that he was out, he was scared he might land himself back there again. He was ashamed.

Alexander asked Ronnie if he wanted to talk in the quiet sanctuary. There, the two talked about Ronnie’s troubles and discussed a passage from Mark. Then Alexander asked Ronnie to close in prayer.

Ronnie looked at him with surprise, as though nobody had ever asked him to contribute in that way. With tears streaming down his face, he offered one of the most beautiful prayers Alexander had ever heard.

Walking out, Alexander promised to pray for Ronnie, and he asked Ronnie to pray for him.

This became one of the summer’s biggest challenges for Alexander and fellow student Robert Ewusie Moses: to convince members of South Tryon Community Church, located in one of the poorest African-American neighborhoods in Charlotte, that they had valuable gifts worthy of giving.

A study in contrasts

Alexander and Moses, both master of divinity students in the class of 2008, spent 12 weeks in an unusual internship-one that blended work in one of the city’s richest neighborhoods and one of the poorest.

Both were assigned to the wealthy Myers Park United Methodist Church, as well as to South Tryon Community Church, located in the midst of three public housing projects. This arrangement was one of more than 200 summer placements organized by The Divinity School’s Office of Field Education. Putting classroom theory into practice in churches or other ministry placements-whether a prison, homeless shelter or hospital-is an essential part of the curriculum. Two placements are required for the master of divinity; one for the master of church ministry degree.

In 2001, the congregation at Myers Park United Methodist purchased a vacant church building on South Tryon Street with the hope of reviving a congregation in the neighborhood. It worked.

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