 C. N. Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church understands that by supporting seminarians in their walk to become skilled servant leaders, its congregation also is enhanced. That is why the Charlotte, North Carolina, church has made a commitment for over ten years to financially undergird students engaged in theological education at various Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminaries.
“Since the congregation started helping students attend seminary in 1996, ten have graduated, others are currently enrolled, and two begin their training in the fall,” said the
Rev. Dr. Jerry Cannon, C.N. Jenkins’ pastor. “We are intentional about helping folks seek their call,” he said. “We see ourselves as a teaching congregation.”
The church also regularly calls on faculty from the Charlotte campus of Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education, which is transitioning to a new name, Union Presbyterian Seminary.
“We utilize the faculty to teach and to preach here,” Cannon said. “And, when possible, the church uses space on campus for events such as retreats and meetings,” he said. “We are trying to put the voice and the face of the seminary in our midst,” said Cannon, who is also the resource person from the PC(USA) Synod of the Mid-Atlantic on the Theological Education Fund (TEF) Seminary Support Network. A healthy, holistic approach to ministry via the various PC(USA) seminaries is what each of the institutions hopes congregations and church members will gain through relationships with them and their students.
There are ten seminaries in the denomination: Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Columbia Theological Seminary, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, McCormick Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, San Francisco Theological Seminary, Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary,
Union Theological Seminary, and Presbyterian School of Christian Education. Two additional institutions, Auburn Theological Seminary and Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico, are related by covenant agreement.
In addition to training masters- and doctoral-level students for various missions and ministries, the seminaries are charged with being resources for congregations, lay leaders, and others seeking a deeper theological understanding. Everything from providing continuing education courses to facilitating middle governing body trainings is possible via PC(USA) seminaries.
“That’s what we are all about,” said the Rev. Wendy Tajima, associate dean of enrollment at San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS), which has campuses in San Anselmo and Pasadena, California. The seminary’s core business is “helping to form pastoral leaders.”
SFTS offers a number of ways congregations and church members, who are called to ministry, can plug in. For example, pastors and lay people alike can utilize the seminary’s “Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction.” According to the seminary, the program prepares persons for the ministry of contemplative listening for God’s action in the lives of individuals, groups, and congregations.
Another option is the SFTS’s “Take 3 and See” program, allowing prospective students who have the endorsement of their church, ordained pastors, and alumni to take up to three 3-unit courses at a 50 percent discount on tuition without going through the entire application process.
“The overriding message is that we want to be of service to the church in all of the different ways that people are finding their faith,” said Tajima. “We want to be available.”
That same sentiment is echoed at the various other PC(USA) seminaries, all of which have a plethora of resources and programs.
Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (LPTS) recently announced the creation of a Black Church Studies Program beginning in the fall. Among the program’s three tracks of study is a certificate program for students not enrolled in a degree program.
LPTS continues its strong commitment to continuing education, which includes providing fall and spring Bible studies and assisting middle governing bodies with training for Commissioned Lay Pastors.
Lay pastor training is emphasized as well at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, which maintains its “Education for the Laity” program. Even more specialized is Dubuque’s Native American Lay Pastor Training Program.
At Princeton Theological Seminary, a Hispanic Leadership Program is among the offerings through continuing education. The seminary heralds that the program is “engaging the church and global leadership from a Hispanic/ Latino(a) Christian perspective.”
“Life is changing, the world is changing,” said the Rev. Dr. David R. Sawyer, professor of ministry and director of Lifelong Learning and Advanced Degrees at Louisville Seminary. “Every individual ... Christian needs to be thinking about how we translate our faith into what is happening now.”
Translating faith into the here and now is precisely what is taking place in the leadership training process at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (PTS), according to seminary leadership.
“For students to be successful in ministry long term, being introduced to and seeing how to influence culture is critically important,” said Thomas Pappalardo, vice president for strategic advancement and marketing at PTS. “In turn, the larger church and the broader world are impacted,” he said. Students at PTS are encouraged to engage in wide-ranging educational experiences such as mentoring and tutoring at-risk youth, engaging in hands-on international mission work, and generally “working on the edges of society,” Pappalardo said.
In the last decade, recent PTS graduates were responsible for planting a number of new church developments. Among others, PTS alumni Jim Walker and Jeff Eddings formed Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community in Pittsburgh. The church, located on the city’s South Side, is intentional about reaching out to the neighborhood’s diverse population, and then mixes the arts and drama with traditional forms of worship in order to share the message of Christ.
“Healthy congregations are congregations that look outside the walls of their church,” said Pappalardo. Pittsburgh Seminary is trying to give its students “that vision.”
Visioning also is achieved through field-education opportunities, which provide students with real-life ministry experiences and enable them to discern what God is calling them to do. Simultaneously, field education, also called supervised ministry, provides churches and other placement sites with a live resource upon which to rely.
Supervised ministry allows for “intentional reflection” on academic knowledge, relational skills, and the students’ emerging sense of vocation, said Dr. Susan E. Fox, professor of supervised ministry and the supervised ministry and vocational planning director at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education.
“The opportunity allows students to find where their gifts and graces are,” she said. “Then they can take those learnings — what they should and shouldn’t do — and apply them to their own call once they’ve graduated,” Fox said.
Students frequently graduate from seminary saying their supervised ministry courses were the most valuable “because they get to understand themselves ... more clearly,” she said. “It gives them that sense of confidence.”
Leaders of today and tomorrow are enriched by the relationships between individuals, churches, and seminaries as together they explore and provide resources and tools for
healthy leaders, and healthy congregations.
Find out more about resources available via PC(USA) seminaries. Those interested in receiving a monthly electronic newsletter devoted to the denomination’s seminaries should go to the PC(USA) subscriptions page and sign up.
Toya Richards Hill is a freelance writer and former reporter for the Presbyterian News Service (PNS). |
