Tearing Down the Walls

Each month we ask a different person from the NEXT Church community to assemble a series of posts around a particular theme. This month, Lee Hinson-Hasty is curating a conversation around theological education. Have ideas or reflections to share? Offer your thoughts in comments, on our Facebook page, or contact us here.

by Ellie Roscher

wall copyA former student of mine works for an e-commerce start up company whose office is in an old church in Minneapolis. He shares the church office space with his co-workers – a priest who got into real estate to make ends meet and a man who started a grain-based veggie burger business. The church started renting its space out during the week to small businesses for the financial benefit of everyone. This worship space/business office collaboration makes sense. Being some of the biggest community spaces in the neighborhood, churches can engage in a ministry of shared space. Sharing becomes not only a creative, mutually symbiotic idea, but in some cases a financial necessity. Boundaries that used to separate church and life are blurring.

Seminaries are following suit by thinking of ways to get creative with space.

  • Can seminaries require our students to move their families to our campus for three years?
  • Can they afford to own all of these buildings?
  • How do seminaries get students out into the world?
  • Seminaries are exploring online classes and regional campuses.
  • They are experimenting with seminary intensives followed up with life-long continuing education.
  • They are considering inter-campus and inter-denominational collaboration, wider definitions of call and on-going internships during coursework.

This shift honors the financial need and a generational shift in thoughts about faith. Theological education is moving to the context of the entire world, not just within seminary buildings.

When walls come down, some people get scared. We get attached to the boundaries we build. Redefining space with fewer walls can, however, build community, enhance academic rigor and promote God’s love in the world.

A few decades ago, many people went to work from 9-5 Monday through Friday. Family time happened at night while church happened on Sunday mornings. The walls that used to separate worship time from the rest of our lives are dissolving. More people are working from home, telecommuting, or working multiple jobs and taking odd hours. Millennials, loosely people born between 1980 and 1996, are driving the change. They don’t want church boxed into Sundays, limited to a building, quarantined from our daily lives. They don’t want to see God’s call for our lives as only what we get paid to do, but our entire life’s work. They want to make a difference in their communities, and they see that as church. They want their church to be relevant in the world first.

In her Human Resource Magazine article “Mixing It Up,” Adrienne Fox reminds us that Millennials are optimistic. They love collaboration and consensus building. Some believe Millennials view power as organic – it grows when shared. Churches and seminaries are finding it challenging to connect with Millennials with their existing models. Millennials grew up watching religious extremism lead to 9-11. They watched sexual scandals covered up in multiple faiths and denominations, the co-opting of the religious right by republican politicians and infighting in mainline protestant denominations. Young people are skeptical of a church that stays locked up away from the world. Diana Butler Bass in Christianity After Religion tells us that young people want the old church order of believing, behaving, belonging to shift to the ancient approach of belonging, behaving, believing. They want churches to be counter-cultural prophetic voices relevant to the world. They want societal transformation. The networks are interconnected and dependent on each other. The walls are coming down.

I see this shift as more than just a choice to see opportunity instead of crisis. I see the shift as a reclaiming of the Gospel. Jesus’ ministry happened wherever and whenever it needed to happen. He did not only teach in the synagogue. He did not heal people just on Sabbath. Walls could not contain his ministry, his love. The early church that started worshipping Jesus met in homes, in small groups, and we are seeing a swing back to that model in our context. What’s coming in our seminaries is training our leaders to celebrate the dissolving of walls – training leaders to think collaboratively, share power to grow it, and get out into the communities and be part of the revolution.


Roscher Ellie pic2 copyEllie Roscher is the author of How Coffee Saved My Life, and Other Stories of Stumbling to Grace and has appeared multiple times in The Thoughtful Christian, Spirit Magazine, Alive Magazine and DAPS Zine. She also edited Keeping the Faith in Seminary and Keeping the Faith in Education for Avenida Books. Ellie holds a master’s degree in Theology from Luther Seminary and an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Find her writing at ellieroscher.com and  Keeping the Faith Today. Follow her @ellieroscher.  

Image: shutterstock.com/monbibi

Notes From the Field #1 – Community Church

At CPC we were proud to say about ourselves that “Community Presbyterian is a small church with a big heart.” At the outset of this revitalization work, our coaches have challenged us to see ourselves in a different context:

“Community Presbyterian Church, while having a self-identity of being a small church, is, in fact, a larger-than-normal sized church.  The perception is that in the heyday the church had 400-450 members, and now the membership stands at 143.  First, that 143 reflects a clean roll.  Good job!  Second, you are averaging 109 in worship.  That is an incredibly high ratio when compared nationally.  Again, a dramatic sign of good health.  Third, 5-6 new members joined recently, and another 6 are expected to join in before the end of the year.  That is a 7-8% increase in membership annualized – a healthy growth rate.”

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The fact that we are not considered a small church is a paradigm shift in our mindset.  Does it tell us what to do?  No, but it does cause us to think as we consider our role in the building of the kingdom of God in this community. Pastor Mike has referenced change and reform a lot in his recent sermons.  One statement was, “The world and our culture have changed and are changing radically – and we need to be open to the possibility that God is not threatened by that.”  Another crucial point Pastor Mike made recently: “God is still in charge!”

Change is not easy.  Retooling old programmatic efforts may not be the most effective approach for the future, but we think we have huge opportunity in our community and we need to explore that.  To that end, a Revitalization Team has been commissioned by Session to explore these opportunities, to engage all of us as a congregation, and to seek God’s will in this community.  Love, forgiveness, and community are why churches matter today.  We want to move forward to matter more!

Our Revitalization Team is a mix of long-term members, newer members, recent attendees and potential members and will look at opportunities with fresh eyes. Please pray for our work as we seek to see ourselves more clearly and be faithful to God’s vision for us in this day and place.

A Double Dose of Change

Each month we ask a different person from the NEXT Church community to assemble a series of posts around a particular theme. This month, Lee Hinson-Hasty is curating a conversation around theological education. Have ideas or reflections to share? Offer your thoughts in comments, on our Facebook page, or contact us here.

By Daniel Aleshire

two faces copyTheological schools are two-faced, on purpose, as it should be. One face is toward the church with its mission to nurture lives of faith and bring healing to the world’s brokenness.  Another face is toward higher education, with its responsibility to teach what is known and discover new knowledge.

This moment in North America finds both the church and higher education in significant, even transformational, change. Patterns of congregational life and religious participation are changing in substantive ways, and every practice and convention in higher education that has not changed is being considered for change. Because theological schools are “two-faced,” they are encountering a double dose of change. Change is hard on congregations that shift patterns of worship to meet the needs of people they want to reach, and change is hard for higher education with its long legacy of teaching and advancing knowledge in particular ways. Change is hard for theological schools as well, but they are mission-driven institutions, and their mission makes them as responsible for pressing new needs as for remembering the long tradition of communities of faith. Seminaries are changing in ways both large and small. Here are three of the big ones.

  1. Some schools are broadening their educational reach beyond educating students for leadership in congregations. While congregational leadership remains a centerpiece of seminary programs, an increasing number of theological schools have begun educational programs in counseling, Christian social ministry, leadership studies, or justice ministries. These programs provide education for religious leaders that extend the witness and ministry of the church in settings related to churches and in settings that do the work of the church but are not directly connected to ecclesial bodies.
  2. Other schools are broadening their educational reach to persons who work part-time or bi-vocationally in ministry settings. These people have been unable to take advantage of the educational resources of theological schools because they were not near a school or because the school’s course offerings did not meet these ministers’ needs. Seminaries have been busy developing extension sites and distance learning programs that make theological education more accessible than it has ever been. They are reinventing their educational programs so that pastors and other religious leaders who work at one job for their living and at another for their vocation have access to the kind of education that can support their vocations.
  3. Still other schools are reinventing their economic models. At one time, theological schools were largely funded by denominations or church bodies, and graduates accepted calls after graduation with limited or no debt to repay. The church funding of theological education has declined across the past fifty years. Schools have been hard at work finding individual donors who will support the schools, but tuition has also had to increase. Schools most recently have been hard at work to help students monitor their educational borrowing, help students find ways to pay for theological education without taking on debt, and find ever more donors who will support the costs of theological education so that students do not need to bear a disproportionate share of the cost through tuition.

Alshire, Dan PicDan Aleshire is Executive Director of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS), a membership organization of more than 260 graduate schools. ATS conducts post-baccalaureate professional and academic degree programs to educate persons for the practice of ministry and for teaching and research in the theological disciplines.  Aleshire has written extensively on issues of ministry, theological education, Christian spirituality and Christian education. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Belmont College, the Master of Divinity degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in psychology from George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, Tenn.

Are You In?

medium_5389032557By MaryAnn McKibben Dana

People who read my blog know that I call the church I serve “Tiny Church.” Idylwood is indeed small—about 85 on the rolls, 40-50 in worship. Our budget is lean; I serve part-time. Our members are generous to give their time and resources, such that we are mighty beyond our numbers. But we are not sitting on mountains of cash. And yet we joyfully support NEXT Church with our mission dollars.

We gave this year, and intend to make NEXT a regular part of our mission giving, because we believe in the vision that NEXT is helping the church cultivate. We believe “the church that is becoming” needs to be flexible, creative, and risk-taking. We are seeking to live this out at Idylwood, even as we know that we need help in this task. Shifting a church’s culture is not easy. We need the expertise, inspiration and support that NEXT provides, whether it’s through resources on NEXT’s website or Facebook page, regional gatherings, or the national gathering, which we hope to have ruling elders attend for the first time next year.

As co-chair of NEXT, I know there are churches that have generously given thousands of dollars to NEXT. Idylwood cannot afford to do that. But I can tell you that among the leadership of NEXT, there was just as much rejoicing over our relatively modest gift as there was over the large givers.

What we’re seeking is commitment from as many congregations as possible. That’s the basis of our movement. The conversation is growing and deepening. Are you in?

Like Idylwood’s, NEXT’s budget is lean, with just one paid staff person who helps shepherd our national gathering, numerous regional gatherings, online conversations and resources, the Paracletos Project, and more. If your congregation has unspent funds in 2013, consider giving them to NEXT. Whatever your church’s size and ability to give, we seek your participation.

To give today, mail a check made out to Village Presbyterian Church (with NEXT in the memo line) to:

Village Presbyterian Church
6641 Mission Road
Prairie Village, KS 66208

OR simply click here to give online.


mamdMaryAnn McKibben Dana is pastor of Idylwood Presbyterian Church, and co-chair of NEXT Church.

“wordle” photo credit: jnshaumeyer via photopin cc

What is Coming and Becoming in the Theological Education?

Each month we ask a different person from the NEXT Church community to assemble a series of posts around a particular theme. This month, Lee Hinson-Hasty is curating a conversation around theological education. Have ideas or reflections to share? Offer your thoughts in comments, on our Facebook page, or contact us here.

By Lee Hinson-Hasty

Advent 1Advent is a paradox between what has come before and what, by God, is becoming now. An opening to the Christmas cycle of the Christian Year, Advent calls the Church to look back and look forward; to remember, reflect, and live in expectation and hope.

A decade ago an Advent banner of the expecting mothers that hangs at Highland Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky drew me in as soon as I entered the sanctuary.  Elizabeth and I were visiting Louisville for the holidays and it enlivened my imagination that day and still does.  The banner was created by Ann-Stewart Anderson and was inspired, I am told, by the five mothers cited in the genealogy that begins the Gospel according to Matthew.  The mothers (Tamar, Rehab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary) are depicted as overlapping and supporting one another visually and symbolically. Each from their own biblical circumstance and story, in a way, foreshadows the others.  Yesterday also marked the beginning of a new Lectionary Year (A), that features Matthew’s Gospel.  All of this makes me wonder:

What is being foreshadowed this Advent?  What will be born?  Specifically, what is coming and becoming, being born and foreshadowed in theological education today? 

Join in this Advent feast throughout December of thoughtful writers, church and academy leaders, and genuinely gifted group of ecumenical friends in the faith from the U.S. and Canada who will reflect with me on this last question about theological education from where they sit, from their own circumstance. Some know the others, but many do not. Each is writing without having heard the other respond to the question. Each looks back and each looks forward. Most of all, each lives in expectation and hope.

Here’s who you can look forward to reading as they each bring their own recipe to the Advent table to share:

  • Daniel O. Aleshire, Executive Director of the Association of Theological Schools is widely considered a leading scholar on theological education in North America and writer of Earthen Vessels: Hopeful Reflections on the Work and Future of Theological Schools, released in 2008.
  • Ellie Roscher, a graduate of Luther Seminary, holds a MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and is a former ELCA volunteer in mission in Uruguay.  Ellie, still a young adult, has authored and edited number of books including How Coffee Saved My Life and Keeping the Faith in Seminary.
  • Neal Presa, Moderator of the 220th General Assembly, ecumenist, liturgical theologian, part time seminary professor, and full time teaching elder and parish minister.  Neal has degrees from two of our Presbyterian Seminaries (SFTS, MDiv & Princeton, ThM) not to mention a PhD from Drew University.
  • Susan Fox, the Director of Supervised Ministry and Vocational Planning and Professor of Supervised Ministry at Union Presbyterian Seminary.
  • Jonathan Strandjord, Longtime lead staff person for Theological Education in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), systematic theologian, and champion of ending debt for seminarians.
  • Wendy Fletcher, Chair of the Fund for Theological Education and Professor of the History of Christianity at Vancouver School of Theology.  Wendy formerly served as a seminary principal (president) has published widely in the areas of women and Christianity, spirituality and religion and ethnicity, including work on First Nations Education.
  • Kathy Wolf Reed is the current chair of the PCUSA Committee on Theological Education, the youngest ever being elected in her 20’s. Kathy is a Teaching Elder in her first call in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a frequent keynoter, a writer for the Thoughtful Christian among other things, and a graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary.
  • Paul Timothy Roberts, President/Dean of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, a PCUSA teaching elder with a business background and pastoral experience.  Smith is part of the Interdenominational Theological Center, an institution ahead of it’s time.
  • Edwin Aponte, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Christianity and Culture at Christian Theological Seminary (DOC) in Indianapolis, Indiana.  A PCUSA Teaching Elder, Aponte has done significant research in Latina/o and Latin American Christianity and specializes in the intersection of religious faith, cultures, and religions Hispanic/Latino, African American, North American, and congregational studies.
  • Jeff Japinga, Associate Dean for Doctor of Ministry Programs at McCormick Theological Seminary since 2008, Jeff convenes PCUSA Seminary DMin Directors for collaboration and mutual learning.  Ordained as a Reformed Church in America minister, Jeff formerly served on the national staff for the RCA as editor of the RCA denominational magazine as well as other leading roles.

I look forward to hearing from you through your comments as we join at this Advent table, make new friends, become captivated by what God is midwifing into what’s next in theological education, and find ways to overlap and support our mutual concerns in the circumstances where we each follow God’s call.

Advent peace,

Lee in Louisville


Lee H2 copyLee Hinson-Hasty is coordinator for Theological Education and Seminary Relations and a lead staff person for the Committee on Theological Education of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Ordained in 1995, he has served as a campus minister and pastor in Virginia and as director of church relations at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in North Carolina.  Hinson-Hasty actively engages in dialogue, study and initiatives that foster relationships and leadership development in the church and academy including on his the blog, “A More Expansive View: Encounters with Presbyterians and our Seminaries.”  A graduate of Wake Forest University (BA-History), Louisville Seminary (MDiv), and McCormick Theological Seminary (DMin), Hinson-Hasty is interested in leadership in a multicultural world, serves as Vice Chair of the Fund for Theological Education, is a member of Lectio Jubilate, and is married to the Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty.  Elizabeth and Lee are parents of Garrison (13), Emme (7), and a four month old puppy, Basci.