Learning is Partnership at ABSW

Education at its heart is relational. It is about dialogue, shared exploration, and accountability for mutual benefit. In a word, partnership .

As an educational institution that calls itself a community of learning, American Baptist Seminary of the West is deeply committed to partnership. That commitment is manifested in many ways as the school partners with churches, with pastors and lay leaders, with donors, with other institutions and communities, and with students and alumni/ae.

“Our mission is about creating community, beginning here in Berkeley yet always reaching beyond the campus to many partners who share this calling with us,” says President Keith Russell. Partnership is more pronounced than ever in the school’s new curriculum, now in its third year of implementation. Faculty collaborate in interdisciplinary colloquia. Churches and other nonprofit agencies are “contextualized” classrooms, places to explore theory and practice ministry. Pastoral leaders supervise students and engage in a rich exchange of ideas through shared readings and conversation. This year senior students are concentrating in a particular field of study, much like a thesis project, with the aid of a mentor – another form of partnership. (See related story, page 3.)

“In all these ways the community of learning at ABSW is knitted together, strengthened and extended,” says Dr. George C.L. Cummings, academic dean and professor of theology.

Marie Onwubuariri, center, with the Rev. Clark Flesher and the Rev. Karen Yee, of First Baptist Church, Alameda, CA

PARTNERING WITH LEADERS

ABSW is giving renewed attention to the relationship between the seminary, pastors and lay leaders. The appointment of Dr. Nancy Hall as director of continuing education represents a “redefined and intensified effort to relate to pastors and lay leaders in our regions of service,” Russell says.

The need for continuing education is great, according to seminary leaders. Continuing education and other services traditionally provided to churches by American Baptist regions have been scaled back due to reduced staff and financial resources.

“Consequently, we have a number of churches that are not served,” Hall says. “So that’s a gap ABSW can fill.”

Continuing education is about “building bridges between the seminary and the community,” Hall says, and it is a lifelong relationship for leaders.

Hall notes that it is easy for pastoral leaders to become isolated. Although pastors have more ways to stay in touch with their peers, they have more pulling at them in terms of congregational needs and expectations. The result, Hall says, is that leaders often feel discouraged and alone.

For their own well being and the health of their congregations, leaders must connect with others, Hall says. And the seminary helps make that connection. “It’s a wider community of colleagues who can be there to help when the going gets tough,” she says.

Fifty leaders met in January at the San Damiano Retreat Center in Danville, Calif., for the seminary’s annual Pastoral Leadership Conference. (See story, page 4.) The warmth of community and mutual support is palpable in such gatherings. “You can feel it in the room,” Halls says. “People are just so happy to be in each other’s company.”

The connection benefits the school, too, Hall adds. The seminary’s vision is broadened as leaders share their experiences – a “rich reservoir,” she notes, that ABSW can tap.

PARTNERING WITH CONGREGATIONS

ABSW is pursuing these partnerships even as the traditional ways that churches relate to the seminary shift.

A new funding arrangement in the American Baptist Churches means that the seminary no longer automatically receives mission dollars from ABC regions, except in Oregon and the newly constituted Evergreen Baptist Association in the Northwest. Now churches must either give directly to the seminary or designate their regional offerings for ABSW.

“The new funding situation means we must redouble our efforts to relate to churches,” Russell says. “We must say clearly: ‘We are partners in this enterprise. We depend upon each other.’”

ABSW is interested in building sustainable networks of mutual support with congregations, Russell says. Toward that end, the school is writing to every American Baptist congregation west of the Rockies, making many calls, and requesting support.

Already the seminary partners with more than 20 churches through the contextualized curriculum. Another several hundred churches support the school directly through annual giving.

And churches continue to play their most vital role, Russell says, which is to send students to ABSW.

Increasingly non-American Baptist partners are sending their leaders to ABSW. The school is welcoming Pentecostal, African Methodist Episcopal, Korean Presbyterian and Korean Methodist students.

Whether American Baptist or otherwise, these faith communities recognize in ABSW a partner with whom to explore, practice, and grow in ministry.

“This is our shared work,” Russell says, “to call out and cultivate leaders for the church. Because of such partnerships, our community of learning is deep and wide and growing.”

Spring 2004
Vol 26 Issue 2

From The President

Learning is Partnering At ABSW

Seasoned Staff Gets Season Tickets

Seminary Honors Longtime Trustees

Symposium to Explore Asian Ministerial Issues

Seminary Slates Evening Explorations

Pastoral Leaders Consider Conflict

Seminary
In The City

In Memoriam

Alumni/ae News


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