There are still so many wonderings about what the church would look like, to face the current state of affairs in the world. What does it take to transform entire generations into disciples of Christ on their journey witnessing that a better world is possible?
Here is the story of an initiative called REET (the Ecumenical Network of Theological Education):
Before launching into the third of his four Sprunt Lectures recently, the Rev. Dr. Ted A. Smith offered what he called “a sermonic interlude” based on Jeremiah 31:31–34.
Long before the pandemic and the social upheaval of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, the church had been preparing and mentoring leaders who could lead communities in faithful means of protest. The New Poor People’s Campaign, co-chaired by Presbyterian pastor the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Disciples of Christ pastor the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, is one such visible and contemporary example of this work.
“We started our curriculum discussions asking what kind of person do we want to graduate,” said the Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Lapsley, Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Old Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary.
That sort of design thinking has led to curriculum innovations across Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) theological institutions including Columbia Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Union Presbyterian Seminary.
Once upon a time, theological institutions were seen as stewards of self-sufficiency. Aside from a visiting professor now and then, tenured faculty formed the core of the identity and mission of most seminaries. Students sought out specific professors as mentors and advisers. Aside from denominational affiliation, a school’s internal prowess in missiology, homiletics, liturgy, music, pastoral counseling or evangelism was often the main draw for new students.
The Rev. Dr. Ted A. Smith, Professor of Preaching and Ethics in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, presented the fourth and final 2021 Sprunt Lecture Wednesday, hosted by Union Presbyterian Seminary. The final virtual lecture was followed by a Q&A session on the overall lecture theme “No Longer Shall they Teach One Another: The End of Theological Education.”
When mission co-worker and regional liaison the Rev. Paula Cooper thinks of this passage in Matthew, her thoughts are drawn to how the CCAP Synod of Zambia developed and is growing Chasefu Theological College.
When the Rev. Jane Anabe — associate pastor at Silver Spring Presbyterian Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania — first heard about Minister Educational Debt Assistance through The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), she didn’t think she would qualify. One of the many programs the Board has implemented to provide support to ministers, particularly newly ordained ministers, Minister Educational Debt Assistance, offered through the Assistance Program, helps ministers repay educational debt, making it easier for them to accept a wide range of positions and wholly commit their best gifts to ministry.
The Rev. Dr. Hugh Fleece Halverstadt, one of theological education’s foremost experts on managing church conflict, died April 14 at The Pines continuing care community in Davidson, N.C. Described by his former colleagues at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago as good-humored, wise, supportive and always authentic, he was 81.
