Bethany Theological Seminary : 2005 Seminar
Narrative
SO MANY VENUES, SO MANY ROLES, SO LITTLE TIME
HOW CAN WE BE ALL THAT THE SEMINARY AND THE CHURCH REQUIRE?
BETHANY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Anna got up at 5:00 A.M. to work on her article. She felt tired, but also virtuous and scholarly. The coffee tasted good, the ideas were flowing, and she was glad that she had committed herself once more to a pattern of writing every morning. She knew from experience it was futile to wait for some tract of free time that never arrived. The only problem with less sleep was that it weakened her immune system, and if she got sick her schedule tended to unravel. She wanted to have the paper ready to submit for a guild meeting, and she was close; there would be time to finish, if not to polish.
Two hours later, she noticed the clock, quickly collected her things, and headed out the door. The early January snow was but a dusting, though the forecast had been for more. Living in Ohio and teaching in Indiana meant that she had time in the car to prepare mentally for the day. The driving was easy, except when the weather was bad. The time zones were different half the year, and then on a good day she could arrive at work before the hour she left; though the hour got paid back every evening.
She made mental notes: Call to confirm that the denominational representatives are still coming from Elgin despite the weather. Pick up xeroxes for the intensive class from Sue. Grab a good whiteboard marker. And so on.
The teaching went well that morning. Her lecture was short, but good and by their questions the students showed they were grasping the basic contours of her argument and even connecting it to ideas discussed earlier in the week. This was a week-long intensive for the Brethren Academy. The Academy is a partnership of Bethany Theological Seminary and the Church of the Brethren General Board. It provides non-graduate ministry training and continuing education. The Bethany faculty members take turns teaching the courses; this semester that duty fell to her. Most of the students already had jobs in ministry. Some of them had college degrees, others did not, but they were all eager to learn, or at least it felt that way on good days. This was a good day. The format was intense for all involved, but there was something nice about compressing a semester’s teaching into one week, even if it was fairly impossible to cover a semester’s worth of material.
After class, Anna went to pick up her mail, then to her office to respond to email. There was not time for lunch, because Anna had to get to an M.Div. Review interview. The M.Div. Review is a capstone course in the Bethany curriculum and required for all graduating seniors. It culminates in a final interview for which each student prepares a portfolio of their “best” papers, field education evaluations, a self-assessment of their education, and other materials that the faculty committee is supposed to peruse prior to each interview. The committee is composed of the Academic Dean, the professor of Ministry Formation, the professor who teaches the M.Div. Review course, the student’s advisor, and a peer representative. As an advisor to more than one senior, Anna had several interviews to attend in the next two weeks.
The advisee being interviewed today was David Mack, a youth pastor in his congregation. At the start of the meeting, he apologized that his portfolio was turned in late and explained that it was due to fact that some kids in his youth group had needed extra attention this past month. As the final paper for the M.Div. Review course, every student had to describe their metaphor for ministry. David made the case that ministry is like cooking, and the ideal pastor is like a cross between Emeril Lagasse and the Naked Chef on television’s Food Network. He explained that the purpose of ministry is to help each person find the “BAM!” of Jesus Christ. He explained that “BAM!” was Emeril’s way of telling people to get ready for transformation.
His paper included several stories about transformation drawn from personal experience, church history and the world of cinema. During the interview, he expanded upon these stories and attempted to clarify the connection he had made between the Food Network and the account of Martha serving Jesus in Luke’s Gospel. Thankfully, David had brought in a loaf of bread and some apple butter to set the stage for his interview; the food also served as Anna’s lunch.
When asked to reflect on the whole of Bethany education, David told the story of his first ministry formation site, a rural church. The congregation taught him a lot about hunting and NASCAR, but he was not sure how much he was able to teach them, or whether he had learned enough in his cross-cultural class to be prepared for this ministry setting.
Silently and fondly, Anna recalled her own years starting out as a pastor. She had a clear sense of vocation. She had basically one context to learn. She had found her voice as a preacher, and the congregation had found in her a friend and leader. Recognizing her abilities, some of them had encouraged her in her doctoral work, saying she could serve the church as a whole. Of course, the church as a whole had become increasingly fragmented and the seminary served a small denomination that was surprisingly complex. Sometimes it seemed the seminary could span the diversity, holding polarities in tension. Sometimes it felt as if there was just tension, with both sides of any church dispute feeling alienated, and the seminary feeling somewhat anxious, wondering where its future students would come from.
After the M.Div. Review, Anna hurried to a worship service in the chapel. The music and singing were vibrant and Anna felt renewed energy. Soon the preacher stood up and began: “Last night I was called to the hospital to meet with someone from my church. In light of what I saw the Lord doing in that hospital room, the sermon I had prepared seems superficial. There is a time and place for exegetical work, but it is not here and now. Instead, let me share what is on my heart.”
Anna’s own heart sank a bit. The sinking feeling was familiar, but she had learned to look for redemptive possibilities. The story of the hospital visit turned out to be compelling and eloquent. Walking from the chapel after the service, she heard one middler turn to another with enthusiasm: “That sermon really rocked. We spend so much time learning things that don’t relate to ministry. But Stan really got to the heart of it.” Her friend agreed. “It was inspired,” he said.
Back in her office, Anna waited for Larry to arrive. Anna took her mentoring responsibility seriously. Mentoring was supposed to be one of the things that would attract students to the seminary. Mentoring Larry was hard, first, because it was doubtful that was what he wanted and second, because it seemed that for every rule, Larry liked to be the exception. Today, the issue was Larry’s ministry formation site. It had been the issue last week as well. The site was still not working out, he reported. His supervisor still did not understand the nature of his ministry. Anna tried to convey once more that perhaps Larry did not understand the nature of accountability, but she sensed that Larry, despite all his nodding, was not listening to her so much as planning strategy. As he left her office, she felt pretty certain he was headed to either the Dean or President. Everyone was accessible and soon everyone would be talking to one another, collectively rehearsing their individual conversations with Larry.
Anna began to resent Larry and the fact that she had to spend more time talking about his situation, which meant she had less time to spend thinking about her own research and writing. Then she caught herself. Wasn’t teaching central to her vocation? Wasn’t advising students an important dimension to teaching?
Her last afternoon meeting was with the Urban Ministries Commission from Elgin, the denominational headquarters of the Church of the Brethren. They had asked to have all the teaching faculty meet with them to discuss the future of the church and theological education. Since Bethany is the only graduate seminary of the Church of the Brethren, the faculty frequently found themselves drawn into such meetings.
The chair of the Commission began the meeting with prayer. “Dear Lord, give wisdom to this faculty and to all of us here. May we discern your will for the cities. Give us courage to face the challenges of change. Open our ears to what you are saying to Bethany. We pray in the name of Jesus, who ministered to the poor of the city. Amen.”
The chair then said how happy he was that the faculty had taken this time to be with them. He asked, “How are you preparing people for urban ministry?”
Several faculty members offered comments. Anna said, “I try to help students to think theologically and contextually. Skills are important, but my aim is not to hand out cookie-cutter approaches, so much as it is to help students explore a mutually critical correlation between the issues of urban life on the one hand and the sacred texts and traditions on the other. Seminary needs to offer something more than the Food Network.”
One committee member responded, “That sounds good, and I’m sure I benefited from my seminary education. I’m just not sure what kind of language we need to be speaking to people from my part of Oregon.”
Another voice asked, “What is Bethany doing as an urban ministry center in Richmond?” And another suggested: “If you really want to transform theological education, move to the city and enter bi-vocational ministry. Then students will see you and be transformed.” In the flurry of questions, Anna stepped aside mentally to let her colleagues handle it.
After the meeting, Anna took an hour to work on her Connections course for the next semester. Two years ago, Bethany began a new track for the M.Div. degree that made it possible for students to earn a degree by taking hybrid courses that combine online learning with intensive sessions on campus. In the short span of years from her own time as a student at Bethany until now, the school had gone from offering courses only on the Oak Brook campus near Chicago, to more courses taught in Virginia and Pennsylvania, to courses taught simultaneously in Richmond and the rest of the world, wherever Internet access reached. Anna was a leader on the faculty, so she was one of the first to learn the new formats. Five years ago, she had not anticipated that she would be uploading streaming audio and video to her course site in cyberspace.
It was dusk outside as Anna headed to her car. It had been that way in the morning coming to work, but sun had shone into her office throughout the day and the chapel was sunlit too. Working between light and dusk—perhaps that was a kind of metaphor for her own vocation. At times it seemed fully clear, at other times not. Was she spending the best hours of her day (even the best years of her life?) doing what mattered most? What did matter most?
SO MANY VENUES, SO MANY ROLES, SO LITTLE TIME
HOW CAN WE BE ALL THAT THE SEMINARY AND THE CHURCH REQUIRE?
BETHANY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Anna got up at 5:00 A.M. to work on her article. She felt tired, but also virtuous and scholarly. The coffee tasted good, the ideas were flowing, and she was glad that she had committed herself once more to a pattern of writing every morning. She knew from experience it was futile to wait for some tract of free time that never arrived. The only problem with less sleep was that it weakened her immune system, and if she got sick her schedule tended to unravel. She wanted to have the paper ready to submit for a guild meeting, and she was close; there would be time to finish, if not to polish.
Two hours later, she noticed the clock, quickly collected her things, and headed out the door. The early January snow was but a dusting, though the forecast had been for more. Living in Ohio and teaching in Indiana meant that she had time in the car to prepare mentally for the day. The driving was easy, except when the weather was bad. The time zones were different half the year, and then on a good day she could arrive at work before the hour she left; though the hour got paid back every evening.
She made mental notes: Call to confirm that the denominational representatives are still coming from Elgin despite the weather. Pick up xeroxes for the intensive class from Sue. Grab a good whiteboard marker. And so on.
The teaching went well that morning. Her lecture was short, but good and by their questions the students showed they were grasping the basic contours of her argument and even connecting it to ideas discussed earlier in the week. This was a week-long intensive for the Brethren Academy. The Academy is a partnership of Bethany Theological Seminary and the Church of the Brethren General Board. It provides non-graduate ministry training and continuing education. The Bethany faculty members take turns teaching the courses; this semester that duty fell to her. Most of the students already had jobs in ministry. Some of them had college degrees, others did not, but they were all eager to learn, or at least it felt that way on good days. This was a good day. The format was intense for all involved, but there was something nice about compressing a semester’s teaching into one week, even if it was fairly impossible to cover a semester’s worth of material.
After class, Anna went to pick up her mail, then to her office to respond to email. There was not time for lunch, because Anna had to get to an M.Div. Review interview. The M.Div. Review is a capstone course in the Bethany curriculum and required for all graduating seniors. It culminates in a final interview for which each student prepares a portfolio of their “best” papers, field education evaluations, a self-assessment of their education, and other materials that the faculty committee is supposed to peruse prior to each interview. The committee is composed of the Academic Dean, the professor of Ministry Formation, the professor who teaches the M.Div. Review course, the student’s advisor, and a peer representative. As an advisor to more than one senior, Anna had several interviews to attend in the next two weeks.
The advisee being interviewed today was David Mack, a youth pastor in his congregation. At the start of the meeting, he apologized that his portfolio was turned in late and explained that it was due to fact that some kids in his youth group had needed extra attention this past month. As the final paper for the M.Div. Review course, every student had to describe their metaphor for ministry. David made the case that ministry is like cooking, and the ideal pastor is like a cross between Emeril Lagasse and the Naked Chef on television’s Food Network. He explained that the purpose of ministry is to help each person find the “BAM!” of Jesus Christ. He explained that “BAM!” was Emeril’s way of telling people to get ready for transformation.
His paper included several stories about transformation drawn from personal experience, church history and the world of cinema. During the interview, he expanded upon these stories and attempted to clarify the connection he had made between the Food Network and the account of Martha serving Jesus in Luke’s Gospel. Thankfully, David had brought in a loaf of bread and some apple butter to set the stage for his interview; the food also served as Anna’s lunch.
When asked to reflect on the whole of Bethany education, David told the story of his first ministry formation site, a rural church. The congregation taught him a lot about hunting and NASCAR, but he was not sure how much he was able to teach them, or whether he had learned enough in his cross-cultural class to be prepared for this ministry setting.
Silently and fondly, Anna recalled her own years starting out as a pastor. She had a clear sense of vocation. She had basically one context to learn. She had found her voice as a preacher, and the congregation had found in her a friend and leader. Recognizing her abilities, some of them had encouraged her in her doctoral work, saying she could serve the church as a whole. Of course, the church as a whole had become increasingly fragmented and the seminary served a small denomination that was surprisingly complex. Sometimes it seemed the seminary could span the diversity, holding polarities in tension. Sometimes it felt as if there was just tension, with both sides of any church dispute feeling alienated, and the seminary feeling somewhat anxious, wondering where its future students would come from.
After the M.Div. Review, Anna hurried to a worship service in the chapel. The music and singing were vibrant and Anna felt renewed energy. Soon the preacher stood up and began: “Last night I was called to the hospital to meet with someone from my church. In light of what I saw the Lord doing in that hospital room, the sermon I had prepared seems superficial. There is a time and place for exegetical work, but it is not here and now. Instead, let me share what is on my heart.”
Anna’s own heart sank a bit. The sinking feeling was familiar, but she had learned to look for redemptive possibilities. The story of the hospital visit turned out to be compelling and eloquent. Walking from the chapel after the service, she heard one middler turn to another with enthusiasm: “That sermon really rocked. We spend so much time learning things that don’t relate to ministry. But Stan really got to the heart of it.” Her friend agreed. “It was inspired,” he said.
Back in her office, Anna waited for Larry to arrive. Anna took her mentoring responsibility seriously. Mentoring was supposed to be one of the things that would attract students to the seminary. Mentoring Larry was hard, first, because it was doubtful that was what he wanted and second, because it seemed that for every rule, Larry liked to be the exception. Today, the issue was Larry’s ministry formation site. It had been the issue last week as well. The site was still not working out, he reported. His supervisor still did not understand the nature of his ministry. Anna tried to convey once more that perhaps Larry did not understand the nature of accountability, but she sensed that Larry, despite all his nodding, was not listening to her so much as planning strategy. As he left her office, she felt pretty certain he was headed to either the Dean or President. Everyone was accessible and soon everyone would be talking to one another, collectively rehearsing their individual conversations with Larry.
Anna began to resent Larry and the fact that she had to spend more time talking about his situation, which meant she had less time to spend thinking about her own research and writing. Then she caught herself. Wasn’t teaching central to her vocation? Wasn’t advising students an important dimension to teaching?
Her last afternoon meeting was with the Urban Ministries Commission from Elgin, the denominational headquarters of the Church of the Brethren. They had asked to have all the teaching faculty meet with them to discuss the future of the church and theological education. Since Bethany is the only graduate seminary of the Church of the Brethren, the faculty frequently found themselves drawn into such meetings.
The chair of the Commission began the meeting with prayer. “Dear Lord, give wisdom to this faculty and to all of us here. May we discern your will for the cities. Give us courage to face the challenges of change. Open our ears to what you are saying to Bethany. We pray in the name of Jesus, who ministered to the poor of the city. Amen.”
The chair then said how happy he was that the faculty had taken this time to be with them. He asked, “How are you preparing people for urban ministry?”
Several faculty members offered comments. Anna said, “I try to help students to think theologically and contextually. Skills are important, but my aim is not to hand out cookie-cutter approaches, so much as it is to help students explore a mutually critical correlation between the issues of urban life on the one hand and the sacred texts and traditions on the other. Seminary needs to offer something more than the Food Network.”
One committee member responded, “That sounds good, and I’m sure I benefited from my seminary education. I’m just not sure what kind of language we need to be speaking to people from my part of Oregon.”
Another voice asked, “What is Bethany doing as an urban ministry center in Richmond?” And another suggested: “If you really want to transform theological education, move to the city and enter bi-vocational ministry. Then students will see you and be transformed.” In the flurry of questions, Anna stepped aside mentally to let her colleagues handle it.
After the meeting, Anna took an hour to work on her Connections course for the next semester. Two years ago, Bethany began a new track for the M.Div. degree that made it possible for students to earn a degree by taking hybrid courses that combine online learning with intensive sessions on campus. In the short span of years from her own time as a student at Bethany until now, the school had gone from offering courses only on the Oak Brook campus near Chicago, to more courses taught in Virginia and Pennsylvania, to courses taught simultaneously in Richmond and the rest of the world, wherever Internet access reached. Anna was a leader on the faculty, so she was one of the first to learn the new formats. Five years ago, she had not anticipated that she would be uploading streaming audio and video to her course site in cyberspace.
It was dusk outside as Anna headed to her car. It had been that way in the morning coming to work, but sun had shone into her office throughout the day and the chapel was sunlit too. Working between light and dusk—perhaps that was a kind of metaphor for her own vocation. At times it seemed fully clear, at other times not. Was she spending the best hours of her day (even the best years of her life?) doing what mattered most? What did matter most?