EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Transcription

1 EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Ahead of the Curve Many of us like to brag about being ahead of the curve. What does that phrase mean? Well, if you re playing baseball, it means that a batter has recognized, nearly instantaneously, that an incoming pitch is a curve ball and has made the necessary adjustments to hit it where the ball will be when it crosses the plate, not where it appears to be coming when it leaves the pitcher s hand. To be ahead of a curve ball requires keen eyesight, lightning flash instincts, and considerable experience. Doing that on a consistent basis is, indeed, something to brag about. The phrase, however, comes not from baseball but from statistics. A normal distribution of data tends to clump toward the center, with fewer results at the extreme ends of the spectrum. Illustrated on a graph, this distribution looks a tad like a bell (or at least so thought early statisticians who didn t get out much!). In the 1960s George Rogers developed a bell curve illustrating the life cycle of innovation (see below), in which he calculated (roughly) how the general population responded to opportunities for innovation. In this bell curve, being ahead of the curve means that one is an innovator or early adopter and something of a rarity. Innovation has not typically been a hallmark of theological education. I have noted on more than one occasion that the kind of higher education we have adopted and institutionalized in the United States is an industrial model, created to meet the needs of the industrial revolution in the late 19 th century. As the clergy became increasingly professionalized, theological education followed suit, moving toward an almost exclusive focus on the awarding of graduate degrees within an academic environment far removed from the churches its alumni were to serve. Seminary has been done this way for so long that we remember no other way to train clergy.

2 Well, this has finally begun to change, but only slowly. Cultural, demographic, and economic trends that began provoking fresh innovation in other sectors of higher education a generation ago have now caught up with theological education as well. There s nothing like what Daryl Conner called a burning platform to motivate change! All of a sudden, seminaries like Evangelical are becoming quite creative, for to not do so would mean certain, perhaps even sudden, demise. Innovation for the sake of survival may be necessary, but we have a greater motive for creativity than that. If the purpose of a seminary is to serve the Church, as we fervently believe, then it is incumbent upon the leaders and faculty of a seminary to be ahead of the curve to be very much like a baseball player at bat, anticipating what is to come, making adjustments even before the ball is thrown, so as to have one s bat at the right place at the right time to make contact. Preparing ministers for service in the Church of the 20 th century is of dubious value in the second decade of the 21 st century. Insisting on the way things have always been done reflects a poor reading of history as well as a shortsightedness regarding what God is doing in our own generation. Your seminary, therefore, has become very innovative in recent years. We have had to, yes. But we have wanted to, even more. We ve wanted to because you need us to. We ve wanted to because our creative Creator God is always innovating, using people and resources that we would be tempted to overlook or cast aside to accomplish his mission in the world, the missio Dei. Following are four areas in which we are now ahead of the curve, anticipating as best we can where the culture and the Church are going, so we can prepare you, clergy and laity alike, to serve God well. Learn Where You Serve, Not Just in a Classroom The factory model of education developed in the industrial revolution took students out of their natural environments and put them into artificial environments called classrooms. There s nothing inherently wrong with this, and classrooms will have a place for centuries to come. But we believe that, when possible, learning should take place within the context in which it is or will be practiced. For Evangelical Seminary, that means that we re turning learning to the churches. For instance, our new Master of Arts in Ministry program, launched just this past fall, is half online and half onground. The onground portion is not at our campus in Myerstown nor even at our classroom sites in Harrisburg or Lancaster. Students and faculty meet for six 5-day residencies at churches in this region, each church selected because it does well the ministry practice being taught for that course. The leaders of the church become part of the teaching team for that residency. The point is to ground the education in a collection of local communities of believers and to allow practitioners to stand alongside academics in the teaching of ministry. This program is new but we ve been doing learn where you serve in other ways for some time our marriage and family therapy students hone the skills learned in the classroom by service in one of our marriage and family counseling centers, for instance. But it s safe to say

3 you ll be seeing more of this in the years to come, perhaps to the point where the campus may be a central administrative hub but not the focal point of the learning experience. We are ahead of the curve in learning where one serves, and intend to remain so. Be Formed, Not Just Taught By making ministry preparation an academic venture, our forefathers ran the risk that we would eventually be content to merely fill the minds of students with worthwhile knowledge, or even teach them useful skills, without also asking them to be formed in the character of Christ. One can grade a paper but cannot easily evaluate a student s piety, so over time the expectation to become spiritually mature was neglected and we focused on academic achievement. To do well in seminary was to be smart and to know the right answers, not to be good and know the right questions. Fortunately, the Evangelical Congregational Church is deeply rooted in the pietistic tradition, which refuses to accept this kind of imbalance; therefore, your Seminary has tapped into the richness of your own story to again emphasize spiritual formation as a key and necessary component of what we do. We cannot force anyone into greater spiritual maturity, but we can create the space, provide the resources, and offer incentives for a student to seek it. We have therefore built spiritual formation into our entire curriculum on a program-by-program basis sometimes by requiring courses in it and sometimes by requiring students to meet oneon-one with trained spiritual directors and to journal on what they re learning about themselves and God. We ve also developed a Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation and Direction to provide specialized training for those who will lead spiritual formation ministries in congregations or serve as spiritual directors for others. Our brand new Certificate in Spiritual Direction is, as far as we can determine, the very first such program for evangelicals on the entire East Coast. We are ahead of the curve in asking students to be formed, and we intend to remain so. Integrate Now, Not Just Later Ministry requires us to integrate what we have learned. We have to bring our knowledge of the Bible to the pulpit, the classroom, and the counseling room. We have to think theologically, whether we re conscious of it or not, in nearly all that we do in ministry. We cannot separate these aspects of our ministry, but yet we have separated them in the curriculum of our seminaries. The reasons for this are obvious faculty bring their specialties to the curriculum. But maybe it s time that we stopped organizing the curriculum around the specialties of the faculty and started organizing it around what students need to be, know, and do. That s exactly what we re doing. Our courses are increasingly team-taught, so as to bring multiple perspectives into the discussion. More than that, as we rethink our curriculum, we are breaking down walls between academic disciplines. The new MA in Ministry may serve as an example again. We organized this program around essential ministry practices. But we recognized that simply learning a practice (such as

4 preaching, evangelism, or pastoral care) was not enough; one also needed biblical, theological, and historical foundations for that practice. A minister needs to know not just what to do and how, but why, particularly as the what and how will change over time. So each course in this program is taught by a team of six faculty members in addition to ministry practitioners. At the end of each course the student prepares a comprehensive project that demonstrates an ability to integrate what has been learned in a real-life ministry context. It s a beautiful thing. We are ahead of the curve in helping students integrate now, and we intend to remain so. Collaborate, Not Compete The original sin of American Christianity is almost certainly our competitiveness, a trend deeply rooted in our history but amplified by the baby boomer generation of which I am a member. The church growth movement, for all its benefits, has sanctified the idolatry of bigger, better, faster. This idolatry sets churches, parachurches, and Christian institutions of higher learning into competition with each other for what is valued most: the ABCs of attendance, buildings, and cash. As a result, enormous amounts of money and energy are expended in competing with each other, rather than in collaborating to further the kingdom of God. At Evangelical, we have recognized that this is not helpful for anyone. After long and heartfelt deliberation, we came to realize from the board level down that the mission God has given us will flourish only in relationship with other institutions. I have spent the last several years talking assiduously with leaders of Christian seminaries and universities, looking for ways we can partner together, on both the small and large scale. In some cases we have been quite disappointed; in others we have been encouraged. We are exploring a significant relationship with Huntington University, associated with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. I am UB myself, and am an alumnus of Huntington, as were two of my predecessors (Ray Seilhamer and Kirby Keller). The UB bishop, Rev. Todd Fetters, is an alumnus of Evangelical. The two denominations were part of a collaborative federation in the 1980s, and even considered merger. So we are hardly strangers; we are brothers and sisters about the same business for the kingdom. And we are wondering how we can work together. By the time National Conference meets I may have more to share with you regarding that relationship; in the meantime, I ask you to pray for wisdom as we discern together what God may have in store. No matter what partnerships we may form, with Huntington or others, we remain your seminary, committed to serving you with excellence, wisdom, and passion, and we trust that you will long remain our friends and partners in this ministry. We are ahead of the curve in seeking collaboration, and intend to remain so. The Curve Keeps Curving In 1964, the year I was born, Bob Dylan released a song called The Times They Are A Changin. It was the sixties, and Dylan was obviously right. But the times kept on a changin, and probably always will. As early as 1975 Alvin Toffler warned us of future shock, the effect on the psyche

5 of rapid change. Forty years later, our culture shows many signs of having failed to fully absorb the rate of change we have experienced. The Church has an opportunity to show another way. That other way is not to resist change. It is not to do like the Amish, who stopped in the 18 th century and refused to budge. Rather, it is to find the hand of God in everything that is curving and then to enjoy the ride. It is to celebrate each new revelation, each new good thing that God or this world bestows on us, and to discern with great wisdom what changes are not good for us or our neighbors. We dare not be Luddites those 19 th century followers of Ned Ludd who resisted technology because they were afraid. Fear is not a mark of the follower of Christ. Rather, we are to embrace the good, redeem the evil, and provide a safe place for people to breathe in the healing breath of the Spirit of God. This is what churches get to do in our generation! And Evangelical Seminary will be there to help you, ahead of the curve. Gratefully, Dr. Tony Blair, President