Newsline: Bethany Seminary receives $20,000 grant for ministry formation program

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl 
Brumbaugh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

Bethany Seminary receives $20,000 grant for ministry formation program

(Aug. 10, 2012) Elgin, IL --  Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., 
the Church of the Brethren's school for theological education, has received a 
$20,000 grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and 
Religion for assessment and refinement of its Ministry Formation program.

Entitled "Exploring Incarnational Ministry Formation through Contextual 
Pedagogy," the project will help Bethany develop the best educational 
strategies to encourage personal, professional, and spiritual growth in both 
current and future ministerial leadership. The project's time frame extends 
from the fall of 2012 to the spring of 2014.

For Bethany students earning a master of divinity degree, Ministry Formation is 
at the center of their course of study, incorporating traditional classes, 
spiritual formation groups, field placements, and group reflection and 
collaboration. As enrollment of distance-learning students has continued to 
grow since the establishment of the Connections program in 2003, alternate 
course formats have been incorporated, combining online sessions with onsite 
classes and discussion.

Grant writer Tara Hornbacker, professor of Ministry Formation, says, "We are 
constantly improving the ways in which we lead the Ministry Formation process 
at Bethany. Ministry Formation is the most natural place to expand learning 
beyond the classroom because our area is the place where classroom and context 
integrate in the most intentional manner."

One question to be addressed by the project is how the online versus the onsite 
pedagogical approaches used in Ministry Formation are preparing students for 
ministry in the 21st century. Hornbacker notes that Bethany's experience in 
online education puts the seminary in a good position to examine how the 
context of Ministry Formation preparation impacts the practice of ministry, 
specifically in contemporary settings.

A second question is how to define and shape Ministry Formation in light of the 
seminary's current mission statement: "To equip spiritual and intellectual 
leaders with an Incarnational education for ministering, proclaiming, and 
living out God's shalom and Christ's peace." As the grant proposal asks, "What 
signifies a well-formed ministering person embodying shalom-centered 
leadership?"

A primary objective in addressing these questions will be to ask those in 
leadership at current and prospective student placement sites to describe the 
qualities desired in those who minister. "This grant allows us to travel, 
observe, and ask questions of a variety of ministry settings so that the 
settings themselves have influence on the pedagogical strategies and shape of 
Ministry Formation for theological education," explains Hornbacker.

The data gathered from site visits will be used to develop models for effective 
ministry in today's contexts. It may also inform the work toward the additional 
project goals: crafting a definition of Ministry Formation that reflects the 
language of Bethany's current mission statement and determining the best 
methods for teaching Ministry Formation in the distance-learning setting.

Led by Hornbacker, the project team includes Dan Poole, coordinator for 
Ministry Formation; Amy Ritchie, director of student development; and Enten 
Eller, director of electronic communication.

According to Poole, the team has begun by examining how its work could set a 
new course for the program, specifically the distance-learning component; by 
addressing the logistics for collecting data from ministry sites; and by 
strengthening the team's own working relationships. "We've given deeper 
expression to our hopes for how this process will benefit not only the Ministry 
Formation program but the seminary as a whole."

The next steps will be to invite participation from selected sites and to 
arrange for visits. Ultimately the team will present methods and conclusions to 
the Association of Theological Field Educators.

"Bethany has been in the forefront of Ministry Formation in an online format, 
and other theological field educators look to our experience to guide their 
process. They are interested in how we involve the teaching settings in 
Ministry Formation as a context for learning and the appropriate use of 
technology to reflect upon the practice of ministry and spiritual formation for 
leadership," says Hornbacker.

The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion is located 
on the Wabash College campus in Crawfordsville, Ind. It offers a variety of 
programs and resources for teachers of theology and religion in higher 
education, all of which are funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continuing 
the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith 
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated its 
300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 123,000 members across the United 
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria, 
Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

(Jenny Williams, director of communications and alumni/ae relations for Bethany 
Seminary, provided this report.)

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org