SEMINARY IS CIRCLE OF LEARNING

Students and faculty at the American Baptist Seminary of the West are trafficking in theology. Their journey of learning is a continuous circle from the classroom to the local church and back. And all along the way is community.

Community is modeled as professors collaborate across disciplines. It is strengthened as students care for each other in the midst of challenging studies and ministry. It is enlarged as clergy and lay people take part in the formation of emerging leaders.

"I believe students, administration, and faculty are committed to creating an atmosphere of community, not just one of an institution of higher learning," says second-year student Marie Onwubuariri. "The ABSW community is an extension of the Body of Christ that is traditionally embodied in the local church."

In the second year of a new curriculum that situates theological disciplines in ministry settings, students and faculty are being stretched. They are exploring connections between the traditional subjects of Bible, history and theology alongside contemporary issues of ministry. All the while they are engaging with pastors and lay people in five Bay Area congregations. Together, these partners in learning are strengthening the bonds of community.

A Contextualized Approach
The seminary's new contextualized curriculum was inaugurated in the fall of 2001. A colloquium and small groups are central to this approach. Faculty teams lead the colloquium class through a lively interdisciplinary exchange. And students, faculty and mentoring pastors process theory through intense periods of group observation and reflection at various ministry settings.

The first year, called the Junior Colloquium, introduces master of divinity students to the Old Testament, theology and church history. The second year, the Middler Colloquium, draws together New Testament, ecclesiology and the pastoral arts of preaching, worship, Christian education, and counseling. In the third year, the mentor year, students will select a project, much like a thesis, and work alongside mentors in church and other ministry settings.

Traditionally, supervised field education is a second-year piece of an M.Div. program. In ABSW's new curriculum, field experience is weaved throughout.

"The new curriculum continually challenges me to contextualize what I learn in the classroom – that is, not only learn about history, theology, biblical studies, ecclesiology and the like, but to always think about these things in terms of how it informs practical ministry," Onwubuariri says. "I am constantly reminded through the curriculum that I am not in seminary just for the sake of gaining knowledge but to essentially become equipped for the work to which God has called me."

Learning With Partners
This year students in the middler colloquium are matched up with five teaching congregations: First Baptist Church, Berkeley; Imani Community Church, Oakland; First Baptist Church, Alameda; Church of the Valley, San Ramon; and Grace Baptist Church, San Jose. The students spend much time with a supervisory pastor. A lay committee also provides support. In fact, lay leaders came to ABSW this fall to hear students preach and to offer feedback.

First Baptist Church of Berkeley is located just blocks from ABSW. The church has long seen itself as a teaching congregation, where students are free to experiment with new ideas, says the Rev. Esther Hargis, senior pastor. But the new curriculum has the potential to deepen the relationship between the church and the seminary, she adds.

The new curriculum calls for more commitment from Hargis and other supervisory pastors. They joined students and faculty for a retreat at the beginning of the school year. Pastors and students share the same reading assignments. The result is a rich partnership. Hargis says there is "more conversation [with students] about the interconnectedness of what they're studying and what they're doing."

Onwubuariri's ministry setting is First Baptist Church of Alameda. The Rev. Clark Flesher, senior pastor, was Onwubuariri's pastor in New York. The chance to serve at First Baptist, a congregation whose vision is multicultural and intergenerational, was a big draw for her to come to ABSW.

As young adult director, she leads a weekly mid-week fellowship and Sunday school class for young adults ages 18-30. She leads in worship and is also engaged in evaluation and planning with the church staff.

The circle of learning never ends for Onwubuariri and her fellow students. "I take what happens at First Baptist and think about why things are the way they are. I take what I learn in class and think about what and how this has to do with the Christian life and ministries of the church," she says. "Evaluation and challenge goes back and forth constantly."

The Rev. Karen Yee, associate pastor at First Baptist, is Onwubuariri's teaching pastor along with Flesher. A 1997 graduate of ABSW, Yee sees a valuable difference in the training for current students. "There is much more integration between their classroom studies and what they are called to do in ministry," she says. "They are able to test out their ideas in real-life ministry settings."

The experience is mutually beneficial, she adds. "I also have enjoyed the closer working relationship the teaching pastors have with what is being taught and experienced at the seminary," she explains. "We are all able to learn together and grow together."

Everyone Is Growing
So how is the new curriculum impacting students at this midway point in the three-year program? "I sense a greater thoughtfulness toward pastoral ministry, a greater appreciation for how many different gifts and tasks are involved in being a pastor," says Dr. Nancy Hall, director and associate professor of contextual education. Hall taught the middler colloquium this fall along with Dr. Keith Russell, president and professor of pastoral theology, and Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr., professor of preaching and church ministries.

"The students are also very caring of each other, less isolated," Hall says. "A significant part of this is due to their having been together for a whole year prior to Middler Colloquium through the experiences of Junior Colloquium. I find their theological reflection papers, in general, are quickly engaging with, at a deeper level than before, the issues and challenges of pastoral life and leadership."

The students are not the only ones stretched by the new curriculum. The faculty is challenged to make connections across disciplines, Russell says. "I think we're learning as a faculty to teach these subjects interdisciplinary rather than in distinct pieces."

Bringing preaching and worship together with New Testament studies, as was done in the fall semester, is a departure for professors trained as specialists. Russell says teachers have to account for more things beyond their own areas of expertise. But the process of mixing disciplines and constantly moving between theory and praxis makes learning exciting, he says.

"On-the-job training has a greater emotional impact," he adds. "We're making connections between why we're doing the biblical/theological reflection and how it impacts ministry settings."

Interdisciplinary teaching is not easy, Hall admits. "We all knew that going into the new curriculum, but only after you have finished a semester of this format can you truly appreciate the hard work it takes, the risks it entails, and the joys it brings."

Hall says that teaching alongside Dr. Russell and Dr. Smith was one of those joys. "We've shared that at times this style of teaching is like playing jazz," she says. "The theme moves around among the musicians, with each player contributing from their own unique voice or instrument and experience."