The Teaching Communities Program recognizes that forming Christian leaders in the theology and practice of reconciliation requires a close connection with living signs of hope, the faithful witnesses throughout North America and the world who embody deep wisdom about the journey of reconciliation.

The program, inaugurated in 2006 in collaboration with the Office of Field Education, immerses Master of Divinity graduate students for summer field education training. Students participate in a 10-week apprenticeship in reconciliation with exemplary communities of practice that make their home in geographies of deep division and brokenness. Duke interns join fully into the life of these communities, living, working, learning, worshipping, and leading under the supervision of seasoned practitioners.

Many of the Teaching Communities are renowned for their rich ministries, visions, histories, writing, and teaching. The Center seeks to develop long-term partnerships with these Teaching Communities by involving their practitioner-leaders in the life of the Divinity School and Center programs and by gleaning from them practical wisdom and fresh knowledge about the ministry of reconciliation.