Four pastors share their experiences in pastoral training.

While a pastor can pastor without a degree, most people would agree that pastoral training is beneficial. So what difference does it make? Does the experience benefit only the pastor, or does it also benefit the church? Four pastors share about the impact of their pastoral training.

Opportunity to learn close to home by Haroldo Nunes

I am enrolled in the Seminario Bíblico Anabautista Hispano (SeBAH) program, a program that combines distance education with face-to-face instruction. Before SeBAH, many of my Hispanic brothers and sisters didn’t have the option to continue with higher education due to the financial cost or because they couldn’t leave their jobs to move closer to a university. The convenience of not having to leave my secular work and my ministry has made it possible for me to participate in this undergrad program.

I learned so much during the initial intensive workshop I attended with other students. “Comprendiendo la Biblia,” my current course on the Bible and its exegesis, is taught by Ron Collins via e-mail. SeBAH has already made an impact on my spiritual life. My mind has been opened to a more comprehensive understanding of the biblical text, which I can then share with my congregation.

I hope many more will be able to access these courses to help grow their ministries. We need to promote this program strongly and get ongoing funding.

Once I complete eight courses, two workshops and a final project, I will earn a certificate in pastoral ministry.

Haroldo Nunes is pastor of Open Arms Hispanic Ministry at Salem Mennonite Church in Wooster, Ohio.

A tree bearing fruit by Brad Roth

Psalm 1 proclaims that the disciple of God is like “a tree planted by streams of water.” I feel a little like that tree; Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) trained my roots to find water and pruned my branches to grow in fruit-bearing ways.

Before entering seminary, I had sensed the first inklings of a call, but I didn’t know the shape of that call—what it might entail or require of me. Through a deeper reading of the Scriptures, through study of history and theology, through the simple community of friends on a similar journey, I sank my roots into the deep, living water of God’s Spirit.

This rootedness has helped me minister among God’s precious people, to be with them, through the challenging dry times as well as the celebrations. It is this rootedness that made my seminary education more than simply acquiring the technical skills that ministry demands.

Nevertheless, those technical skills are essential—the preaching, the counseling and the exercising of the priestly office in the ritual life of the church. This is where AMBS pruned me to think like a pastor. Seminary education helped me grow so that I could bear some fruit.

Most of the time, I haven’t felt like the mighty cedar of Psalm 1—maybe more like a tumbleweed or a dandelion. But I minister in the confidence that God takes pleasure in all things he has rooted and made to grow.

My congregation, Warden Mennonite Church, is a small-town congregation that ministers in a diverse community. Some 75 to 80 percent of the town is Hispanic, primarily of Mexican descent. We have worked to engage our town in many creative ways over the years, but ministry to children has proven central and abiding. We run an afterschool program for kids and participate in a community Vacation Bible School.

Brad Roth, pastor at Warden (Wash.) Mennonite Church, received a Master of Divinity degree from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., in 2006.

Grateful for foundations by Beth Jarrett

The intersection of life, learning and faith is an important component of who I am as a pastor. Daily I return to the foundation that was laid by my thoughtful and challenging professors.

As a pastor, I am faced with a barrage of pastoral tasks, theological challenges and congregational needs that test the preparation I received during seminary. I don’t always know the answers, but I often know where and how to find the resources needed.

My classes at Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS) were informative, necessary and useful. I especially appreciated the “Christian Tradition” class in which I was exposed to the rich expression of worship and movement of God throughout the history of the church.

I also valued finding my wings as a preacher in preaching class. Not only was I given the tools I needed to prepare and exegete a text, but I was also given a lab in which I could take flight. My professor and fellow students encouraged the good and refined the rough edges in the safety of a classroom.

EMS was also successful at introducing me to a rhythm and rule for life. I was encouraged to cultivate intentionally a spiritual rhythm in which I tended to my own needs and areas of personal growth as a pastor. Times of worship and reflection were incorporated in our studies each week, and spiritual directors were available.

My sense of preparedness, however, comes from more than just sitting in hours of classes. It comes from countless hours of conversations with professors who cared enough to listen, mentor and guide my pastoral formation process. It comes from the rich debates that unfolded over lunches and coffee breaks. These are the things for which I daily breathe a prayer of thanksgiving in my sanctuary of books, half-written sermons and e-mail.

Beth Jarrett, pastor at Neffsville Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pa., received a Master of Divinity degree from Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, Va., in 2006.

Acquiring identity, knowledge and skills
by Karen Dalke

When I received word in the summer of 2007 that I had been accepted into the Hesston (Kan.) College Pastoral Ministries Program, I was exhilarated. But as the first day of class approached, I found that my emotions were turning to dread and panic. What made me think I could go back to college after a 32-year absence? So many things had surely changed after that many years.

Changed they had. But with the amazing, dedicated staff and faculty at Hesston, I succeeded.

The pastoral leadership training I received was invaluable, and I daily apply those skills in my ministry at Des Moines Mennonite Church. Hesston’s unique, threefold approach of addressing identity, knowledge and skills prepared me for congregational leadership and ministry.

I found my identity as a pastor through sharing with other students my perceptions, strengths and weaknesses and how they would ultimately play into my ministering roles. Weekly formation seminars let me gather with the other pastoral ministries students and their spouses to discuss our individual faith journeys, our faith journeys as married couples, and our calling into ministry.

We were also required to be in a mentoring relationship with one of the Bible professors. This was a wonderful opportunity to glean information from an experienced pastor outside the classroom. And what a privilege to sit in prayer with one of my instructors!

The program is academically challenging and well-rounded, building the knowledge pastors need. From learning proper exegetical study of a passage to conflict management classes to visiting churches of different faith denominations, the program exposed me to as much as possible.

The program also prepared me through practical ministry experiences—clinical pastoral education at a local hospital and supervised ministry working in a church setting alongside the pastor.

The Pastoral Ministries Program enriched my life in so many ways, and it is an experience for which I am extremely grateful.

Karen Dalke, pastor of Des Moines (Iowa) Mennonite Church, graduated from the Hesston (Kan.) College Pastoral Ministries Program in 2009.