Students study on campus and off to get their seminary degrees.

Because increasingly diverse journeys are leading students to Mennonite Church USA’s seminaries, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart, Ind., and Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS) in Harrisonburg, Va., are opening new doors to these “travelers.”

Many students fit the “traditional student” category of spending their seminary career on the main campuses. But many others do not. They commute from home while remaining engaged in their current work and community. They take online classes from afar. They do part of their coursework at the EMS extension in Lancaster, Pa., and the AMBS Great Plains extension in North Newton, Kan.
Eastern Mennonite Seminary photo.

Some students pursue a master’s degree to enhance various ministries or vocations or to use as a springboard for more advanced study. Some pursue the professional master of divinity (MDiv) degree to become lead pastors. Some pursue a certificate or other kinds of studies. The many paths that lead to preparation show that one size does not fit all, and seminaries are adjusting.

“Seminaries are striving to get as close to the congregation and their needs as possible, and increased flexibility is one way to do that,” says Mark Wenger, director of pastoral education at EMS-Lancaster, who guided the process that led the extension to become fully accredited last October. “There are so many people in midlife who are sensing a call to seminary, but it’s not feasible for them to come to campus centers.”

For the first time, the full accreditation means that EMS students who are rooted in southeastern Pennsylvania don’t have to pull up stakes and move to the main campus—not even for a third of their studies, as was required in the past. Now they can take all the coursework for their MDiv at the EMS extension and at several nearby seminaries that are in a cooperative relationship with EMS.
EMS Lancaster campus. Photo by Dale Gehman.

Striving for “ah-ha” moments: Bringing seminary to where students are residentially, spiritually and academically is helping potential students of all ages and all walks heed their call into ministry. But no matter where it is—on the main campus or an extension site—professors and faculty strive for the same thing: to transform people from students who hover on the periphery of a call to those who plunge wholeheartedly into a call they own.

“I believe our Mennonite seminaries are most deeply serving the church by the way they help solidify God’s call in people’s lives,” says Lois Barrett, director of the AMBS Great Plains Extension and assistant professor of theology and Anabaptist studies.

“We’re not only concerned about the skills for ministry they can hone, but we also want to help birth the pastoral identity of each person,” she says. “I am always working for the ‘ah-ha’ moments, the day when a student says, ‘I am called. I am a pastor. I am a minister.’ ”

Barrett says the practicum—a hands-on ministry experience that often accompanies coursework—is what often evokes this identification. “Ah-ha” happens for 20-somethings entering seminary directly out of college. “Ah-ha” happens for the many people in their 40s and 50s preparing part-time for a second vocation.

“Ah-ha” happens for people who don’t have an undergraduate degree but choose options in line with their academic level, such as the STEP program. “Ah-ha” happens for people who want a more limited amount of credit hours.

Even high school students who want to explore a future in pastoral ministry can partake of programs such as LEAP and !Explore. And pastors serving in Mennonite congregations but who come from other faith traditions can now complete core requirements—in a program called Gateway—that shape them in Anabaptist perspective.

Wenger, Barrett and other seminary professionals believe that God’s call is as varied as the lives of those who sense that call, which is evident in hearing students’ stories.

Rosanna McFadden, free-lance artist and commuter student at AMBS
“I was a busy free-lance artist and a mother trying to keep up with my three kids when I first took a couple of classes without enrolling as a student,” says Rosanna McFadden, 45, Goshen, Ind. She is now enrolled as a part-time commuter student pursuing a 60-credit-hour master’s degree in Christian formation with a concentration in worship and plans to graduate this spring.

“The logistical flexibility helped me explore first before I jumped in with both feet,” she says. “The intellectual flexibility helped me as an older student who wasn’t seeking certitude as much as I wanted deeper ways to connect my life with what I was learning.”

The flexibility opened up new vistas she hadn’t initially sought. She first came because she wanted more theological background for the artwork she did for her denomination, the Church of the Brethren. But the longer she studied, the more she discovered a love of worship and made new connections about how the arts and drama enrich it.

“The Anabaptist branch of the church hasn’t been known for affirming the arts and drama in its worship,” she says. “It has been such a joy for me to have that artistic side of me recognized and encouraged.”

Lorie Hershey, EMS grad, pastor at West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship
Lorie Hershey left her community in Lancaster, Pa., in her mid-30s to pursue an MDiv on the main Harrionsburg campus. Leaving “home” helped her establish her own faith identity and vocational choice separate from her past.

“I came from where people weren’t sure about women in ministry,” she says. “Women, including my mother, did a lot of lay ministry. And I was given leadership opportunities as a young person, too. But formalizing that into a pastoral role was not in our paradigm.

“I know it’s not possible for everyone to move and come to the main campus, but it was the best route for me. The on-campus experience really helped me develop my own personhood.

“At seminary you learn about how your background shaped you, how God is shaping you now, where God is calling you in the future,” she says. “This is important for your pastorate. There are so many different people at so many different junctures in their walk with God, and knowing your own story helps them to know theirs, too.”

Corey Miller, AMBS grad, pastor of Tabor Mennonite Church, rural Newton, Kan.
Corey Miller’s completion of his MDiv studies spanned a decade and occurred at two different sites—the AMBS Great Plains Extension in North Newton, Kan., and the Elkhart campus.

Corey was a youth pastor at Mennonite congregations in Hillsboro, Kan., while taking coursework. “I had the best of both worlds,” says Corey, 43. “I could do youth ministry on a more hands-on level while I took classes at Great Plains. I spread out my first 60 hours over a nine-year period, which gave me time to discern whether completing my master of divinity was what God was really calling me to do.”

For the remaining 30 hours, he, Nancy (his wife) and 7-month-old daughter Hannah moved to Elkhart for a year. Campus life helped balance out the intensity of studies and dispelled some stereotypes about seminary being lopsided in caring only about academics, he says.
“The campus felt like a real home and a real faith community,” he says. “My family and I were encouraged emotionally and spiritually through the activities provided for families through socials, chapels and other events.”

Integrating a historical heritage with new horizons: No matter what facet of seminary education professors and administrators are called to provide, many of them believe the 21st century is a new day, calling for a new strength. It will be the kind of strength that bends but does not break, that holds fast to its fixed heritage while opening hands to new horizons.

One way the seminaries are developing new strengths is in technology. For example, Linford Stutzman, director of the John Coffman Center at EMS, which provides resources for developing missional leaders, is helping develop some hybrid courses. Students’ coursework includes online studies as well as face-to-face, on-site interaction with the subject matter. For example, he taught a class about the first-century church in the Mediterranean last spring.

“We must provide some bold, innovative and attractive options for the young adults who are hungry to use their gifts but who also have so many options today for how to develop those,” he says.

Bob Rosa, AMBS director of enrollment, agrees with Stutzman. Older and more seasoned students as well as the young and untried are gifts that complement one another.

“It’s so encouraging to see an upswing in the numbers of young, first-vocation students coming in,” Rosa says. “Like all denominations, Mennonite Church USA needs more pastors to strengthen congregations and plant new ones. So these younger students are not only encouraging for the seminary but also for congregations.”

Laurie Oswald Robinson is a freelance writer and photographer from Newton, Kan.