The conference, “Thriving in Ministry: Family Systems Theory as a Resource for Faith Communities,” was hosted by the seminary in partnership with The Bowen Center for the Study of the Family and supported by the Lilly Endowment Inc. and the Joe Carolin Memorial Fund.

Throughout the conference, participants explored family systems theory as a resource for understanding and strengthening relationships and congregational life. Ordained and lay leaders, along with others interested in family systems thinking, considered how Bowen theory and differentiation of self, along with their faith traditions, could guide reflection and cultivate thriving in ministry.

Keynote speakers Rev. Dr. Robert Creech and Dr. Dan Papero presented from their expertise in the fields of practical theology and psychotherapy, respectively. Over the two days of the conference, Dr. Creech shared keynote addresses about the intersection of language between systems thinking and Christian theology, as well as how the practice of differentiation of self enhances pastoral care. Dr. Papero spoke about the most recent neuroscientific research regarding the impact of stress on brain functioning. Both contributed to panel discussions with other presenters.  

Conference keynote speaker Dr. Dan Papero (left) has been a faculty member of The Bowen Center since 1982. He has written numerous articles and book chapters on various aspects of family systems theory and family psychotherapy. The Rev. Dr. Robert Creech (right), a former pastor and faculty member of Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, is the author of “Family Systems and Congregational Life” (2019) and co-author of “The Leader’s Journey” (2020), both with Baker Academic.  

Workshops and presentations included discussions on preaching, biblical studies, parenting, and tools to help participants thrive in ministry and daily life.

Among the goals of the Thriving in Ministry conference were to help participants:

• grow in their capacity to differentiate self through an increased understanding of the science of human relationships in families and congregations
• apply family systems theory to the work of faith leaders in pastoral care, preaching, youth work, religious education, and other ministry settings
• explore practical applications, including family diagrams, triangles, and other ways of shifting from an individual to a systems perspective

Other guest presenters included Chaplain Penny Driediger, the Rev. Melanie Lewis, Pastor Lana Miller, Janis Norton, the Rev. Dr. Emlyn A. Ott, the Rev. William Pyle, and the Rev. Chet Yoder. Faculty presenters included Dr. Kenton T. Derstine, Kathleen Cotter Cauley, the Rev. Randall Frost, Dr. Barbara Laymon, the Rev. Jennifer Long, and Amie Post.

For more information about the conference, visit .

“She had a presence and an authority that made her quiet words deeply significant wherever she spoke them,” said Professor Emerita Dorothy Jean Weaver, who taught Miller at Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS) and worked alongside her on faculty for 19 years. “In her own way, she was a giant. She had a huge impact wherever she was, and certainly here at EMS.”

Miller served the seminary from 1991 to 2010 in roles including campus pastor and assistant professor of spiritual formation. She was committed to helping people discover their story within “God’s great story,” establishing EMS’ spiritual formation program, and founding training programs for spiritual directors within Mennonite Church USA and The United Methodist Church.

At EMS, she led the Summer Institute for Spiritual Formation and developed “Soul Space,” an online guide for scripture reading and prayer. Many of her lasting contributions, through the gifts she shared and the lives she touched, endure today.

In addition to her two decades on seminary faculty, she was an ordained minister in Mennonite Church USA’s Virginia Conference and was a leading author. Among her writings, Invitation to Presence: A Guide to Spiritual Disciplines (Upper Room Books, 1995) was translated into several languages. She maintained a private spiritual direction practice until entering hospice care last summer.

Formerly of Broadway, Virginia, Miller was living in West Chicago, Illinois, when she passed away on Oct. 8, 2025. She was 87. A memorial service celebrating her life, held on Dec. 6, can be viewed on YouTube . A full obituary is available at .

Her husband and partner in ministry of 65 years, the Rev. Edmond F. Miller, died in October 2024.

‘Her imprint remains’

Because of Miller’s “gentle and steady efforts” beginning when she joined the seminary faculty in 1991, said the Rev. Dr. Sarah Ann Bixler, dean of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, EMS centered spiritual formation in its curriculum “long before theological schools in general and Anabaptist schools in particular caught on to the importance of tending the inner life of ministerial leaders.”

“Today, hundreds of EMS graduates have been sustained in their ministerial vocations because of the ‘invitation to presence’ Rev. Miller modeled and extended to them,” wrote Bixler. “Her imprint remains on the EMS curriculum, and students today cite the contemplative attentiveness cultivated by EMS as a distinctive and transformative aspect of their theological education. They are more compassionate, discerning, and resilient because of Rev. Miller’s influence.”

Her influence also lives on in the touches and traditions that have become part of the fabric of the seminary.

As reported in a in the Daily News-Record, Miller was “the driving force behind getting the (prayer) labyrinth installed” on the 91����Ƶ Hill above the Seminary Building. Dedicated in 2007, the labyrinth offers a unique way to connect with God.

Visitors to the Seminary Building might be familiar with the rectangular wooden “free table” just outside the second floor kitchen. It displays food and other items that people can leave or take. “That was Wendy’s idea,” said Weaver. “That’s how tangible and simple her ideas could be. She had a deep heart for the collective community.”

Another contribution she made to the seminary was the awareness that its faculty retreats should be held away from campus, Weaver said. For several decades, those retreats were held at Camp Overlook, a nearby United Methodist camp and retreat center. “She was someone who looked around and dreamed of things that could be,” Weaver said.

‘She saw potential in (us)’

One of Miller’s first students in the spiritual formation program, the Rev. Dr. Kevin Clark MA ’96 (church leadership) was trained and trusted to lead the program when she retired in 2010. “She was my teacher, my professor, my mentor, my friend, my spiritual director, and my colleague, all wrapped up in one relationship,” said Clark, a former campus pastor and retired assistant professor of spiritual formation at EMS.

“Wendy had this wisdom and insight into others that was unique,” he said. “Part of it was just rooted in who she was, as someone who paid attention to how God’s spirit was at work within others, and offering and evoking that in her quiet, questioning way. I was always amazed at how she would be in a classroom, we’d be in conversation, and she would have these wonderful little pauses, then come back with a question that was profound for a student to begin to think about. It opened up the whole classroom to a deeper understanding and awareness of their own spirituality.”

Les Horning ’86, MDiv ’98, director of admissions for EMS from 2012-18, also had Miller as a professor. He described her as “one of the most formative presences” of his MDiv experience.

“She saw potential in folks and would find ways to let them know,” he said. “Suddenly, you realized, Oh, she’s seeing my heart. I think that was one of her gifts, helping people dig beneath the surface and find out who they were.”

Horning graduated from 91����Ƶ with bachelor’s degrees in biology and chemistry and worked as a research chemist for five years before feeling a call for ministry and enrolling at EMS. “For me to come to seminary was a huge change and Wendy was a key part of helping me see that it was a good and right thing,” said Horning, pastor at Stephens City Mennonite Church. “She was very good at pulling out folks’ unique contributions to the community and making people feel valued and accepted and wanted.”

Along with Clark and Horning, Weaver traveled on an overnight train to Chicago last month to attend the memorial service. She remembers Miller for her love of Winnie the Pooh, her delightful laugh, and whimsical sense of humor. 

“She was a blessed woman who shared blessing with everyone she came in contact with,” Weaver said. “I consider it a major gift of my life to have been a friend of hers.”

She grew up in England

The following is from an obituary printed in the :

Born in 1938 in Westham, England, Miller was a child in London during World War II and later lived in Eastbourne, East Sussex. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1959, settling in Chicago with her husband. They served as missionaries in Frankfurt, Germany, and pastored churches including Woodland (Basye) Mennonite, as well as across the Midwest and eastern U.S. Following retirement, they lived in Virginia, Texas, and North Carolina before returning to Illinois.

Rev. Miller earned a bachelor’s degree from Iowa Wesleyan University, a master’s degree in church leadership with a concentration in pastoral care and counseling from EMS, and a master of sacred theology in spiritual theology and spiritual direction from General Theological Seminary in New York City.

She leaves five children, Paul (David Selmer) of Maine, David (Julie) of Georgia, Mark (Wendy) of Kansas, Scott (Laura) of Illinois, and Heidi (Gary MacDonald) of Georgia; 14 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren, three brothers, and four sisters-in-law.

Seminary Extended is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. This initiative is designed to help theological schools across the United States and Canada as they prioritize and respond to the most pressing challenges they face as they prepare pastoral leaders for Christian congregations both now and into the future. The grant to Union Presbyterian Seminary, in support of the collaborative partnership with Eastern Mennonite Seminary and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, is one of 45 approved in this competitive round of funding to support theological schools as they lead large-scale collaborations with other seminaries, colleges and universities, and other church-related organizations.��

Seminary Extended: Strengthening Pastoral Leadership will equip Union Presbyterian Seminary, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary to provide pastors and congregations with practical, grounded support for ministry in a changing world. Through a shared Doctor of Ministry (DMin) in Adaptive Leadership, pastors will study with faculty from all three schools, join short in-person learning intensives, receive coaching, and walk alongside peers as they learn to lead through change, conflict, and trauma. At the same time, congregations will engage in yearlong cohorts where each church’s pastor and a small team of lay leaders learn together, with mentors helping them grow in Bible study, community engagement, trauma-aware care, and planning for future ministry. The goal is to make strong, theologically rooted leadership development more accessible and useful to local churches across many Protestant traditions.

• “The generous grant from Lilly Endowment for Seminary Extended will significantly increase UPSem’s capacity to strengthen pastoral leadership within and for the Church, thus enhancing congregational life more broadly. Our ability to engage this work is powered by our strong partnership with 91����Ƶ and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, each of which brings unique institutional gifts and expertise to our common mission of building up the Church. I am so excited to begin this journey of missional work with these terrific partners for the sake of the Church in the world that God loves so much,” said President Jacqueline E. Lapsley of Union Presbyterian Seminary.

• “This partnership is a powerful expression of what can happen when theological institutions lean into shared mission and imagination. With gratitude for Lilly Endowment, Seminary Extended: Strengthening Pastoral Leadership will allow our faculty, pastors, and congregations to learn alongside one another in ways that honor the realities of ministry today. This collaboration reflects our commitment to supporting leaders who can engage a complex and changing world with courage, compassion, and theological depth. This grant gives us the capacity to do that work together—stronger, more connected, and with greater impact,” said Dr. Tynisha Willingham, Provost at 91����Ƶ.

• “Partnerships like this strengthen our ability to be the Church in the world. By uniting and sharing resources for this congregationally focused project, our institutions are demonstrating the possibility of future collaborations between churches and seminaries across ecumenical and regional boundaries. I’m honored to participate in this project with such supportive partners at UPSem and 91����Ƶ,” said President Andrew D. Pomerville of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Lilly Endowment launched the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative in 2021. Since then, it has provided grants totaling more than $700 million to support 163 theological schools in efforts to strengthen their own educational and financial capacities and to assist 61 schools in developing large-scale collaborative endeavors.

91����Ƶ Lilly Endowment Inc.
is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. A principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of religion and lift up in fair, accurate and balanced ways the roles that people of all faiths and various religious communities play in the United States and around the globe.

91����Ƶ Union Presbyterian Seminary
Union Presbyterian Seminary is a community that is bound by the love of God, and united in bold Christian service for the church in the world. With campuses in Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, the seminary has prepared leaders for ministry since 1812 through rigorous theological education that is scholarly, pastoral, and engaged with contemporary life. Offering a range of degree programs, Union is home to distinguished faculty, a historic campus with one of the nation’s finest theological libraries, and a vibrant community of worship, service, and fellowship. Graduates serve as pastors, educators, chaplains, mission workers, and scholars, carrying forward the seminary’s long tradition of equipping leaders for the church and the world. Learn more at .

91����Ƶ Eastern Mennonite Seminary
Eastern Mennonite Seminary is the graduate theological school of 91����Ƶ, founded in 1917 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. As early as 1918, courses at the college level were offered in advanced biblical training, and seminary master’s programs emerged in the late 1960s. The seminary is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools and offers continuing education, certificates, and master’s and doctoral degrees. 91����Ƶ is a world-renowned center for the study of peace, justice, and religion and an educational institution of Mennonite Church USA, serving students of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. 91����Ƶ confers undergraduate, graduate, and seminary degrees in the liberal arts, applied sciences, and professions. Learn more at .��

91����Ƶ Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Founded in 1853, Louisville Seminary offers an inclusive and diverse learning community, welcoming students from wide ecumenical backgrounds while maintaining its long, historic commitment to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). Louisville Seminary is led by the Holy Spirit to educate people to proclaim the Gospel, to care for all, and to work for justice in communities everywhere. It is distinguished by its nationally recognized marriage and family therapy and field education programs, its black church studies program, the scholarship and church service among its faculty, and a commitment to training people to participate in the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ. For more information, visit .

The Rev. Dr. Almeda Wright, associate professor of religious education at Yale Divinity School and author of Teaching to Live: Black Religion, Activist-Educators, and Radical Social Change (Oxford University Press, 2024), will present at 91����Ƶ’s annual Augsburger Lecture Series on Monday, Oct. 27, in the MainStage Theater (University Commons 170). The lecture starts at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a reception.

Her lecture will explore the lives and pedagogical genius of 20th century African American educators. 

“We will wrestle with the ways that teachers are often underacknowledged as exemplars of faith and social change,” states a description of her lecture. “We will focus on the lives of Anna Julia Cooper and Septima Clark, who, like many other 20th century African American women teachers, embodied an unwavering faith in God, in their cause, in their students, and in themselves that pushed them to continue working for justice despite efforts to thwart them.”

Wright’s research focuses on African American religion, adolescent spiritual development, and the intersections of religion and public life. Prior to her arrival at Yale, she served for four years as assistant professor of religion and youth ministry at Pfeiffer University and, before that, was an adjunct faculty member and teaching assistant at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. 

She is also the author of The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans (Oxford, 2017) and the co-editor of Children, Youth, and Spirituality in a Troubling World.��

Wright is an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches and has been on the ministerial staff of several churches, including Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Victory for the World United Church of Christ in Stone Mountain, Georgia. 

She holds a PhD from Emory University, an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, an MA in teaching from Simmons College, and a bachelor of science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Augsburger Lecture Series was founded in 1984 by Myron S. and Esther Augsburger to address “topics in the area of Christian evangelism and mission for the stimulation and development of a vision for evangelism and missions for the 91����Ƶ community.”

For more information, visit .

When Eastern Mennonite Seminary Professor David Evans set out to write his book about religious white progressives in the fight for Black freedom, he didn’t expect that his main thesis would flip by nearly 180 degrees.

“I thought I was going to be writing about white allies who could be exemplars for other white people in predominantly white institutions,” said Evans, professor of history and intercultural studies and associate dean of the seminary. “And then I stumbled onto some problems and thought, Maybe we should spend some time talking about where we’re going wrong.”

After seven years of research and writing, Damned Whiteness: How White Christian Allies Failed the Black Freedom Movement is just weeks away from publication. The book, published by The University of North Carolina Press and due out on Oct. 28, offers an unflinching history of white allies—namely Clarence Jordan, Dorothy Day, and Ralph Templin—and the fracturing relationships that followed when their strategies and philosophies didn’t align with Black leaders and communities.

“That’s what my book is trying to figure out: if both groups were willing to put in all this energy and risk their lives to end Jim Crow segregation, why couldn’t they work together?” Evans said. “I’m suggesting that part of it is a kind of arrogance, a haughtiness, that white folks believe they know better than Black people about what needs to be done.”

Damned Whiteness explores the work of three white allies: Jordan, founder of Koinonia Farm, an interracial Christian community in Americus, Georgia, and spiritual father of Habitat for Humanity; Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement; and Templin, a Christian missionary who studied nonviolence in Gandhi’s India. The 302-page book serves as both a warning and call to action, but also as a lament, reflecting on what went wrong and what could have been.

Rather than confronting the systems and economic structures that reinforced racial inequality, these white allies focused more narrowly on creating spaces to cultivate interracial friendships, Evans said. “Had they been able to come together with Black folks to really hear what they were saying, see what they were doing, and join in solidarity with them around freedom instead of just trying to be friends, I’m curious to see what could have happened.” 

Evans is set to present his book at George Mason University in November and has also been invited to appear on several podcasts to discuss it. 

Rev. Dr. Sarah Bixler, dean of the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences division, said the book is expected to make a splash after its release. “This book represents the kind of critical historical scholarship that we value at 91����Ƶ,” she said. “Thanks to our expert faculty’s commitment to researching and writing with integrity, Dr. Evans’ book will drive important conversations in religion and society deeper, and open new opportunities for our students to engage with this level of work.”

91����Ƶ the professor

Evans is co-editor of Between the World of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Christianity (Cascade, 2018). His teaching and research focus on the braided identity categories of race, religion, and nation.

He holds a master’s degree from Wesley Theological Seminary, in the history of Christianity, a second master’s from Drew University in historical studies, and a doctorate degree in historical studies from Drew University Graduate Division of Religion. In concert with his teaching and scholarship, Evans practices a local “eco-lutionary” lifestyle that promotes a sustainable future for the diverse people of the Shenandoah Valley Watershed.

In addition to the publisher’s website, the book is available to preorder at online booksellers including , , and .

AS ONE OF THE LEAD ORGANIZERS FOR CONGREGATE CHARLOTTESVILLE, BRITTANY CAINE-CONLEY MDIV ’14 (aka “Smash”) called for 1,000 clergy and faith leaders of all denominations to counter-protest a gathering of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. Her efforts denied white supremacists key locations that would have made their Unite the Right rally more visible, and later that year, she was honored by the National Council of Churches as a co-recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Faithful Leadership.��

Caine-Conley believes in the importance of connecting Christian communities with radical activists, using her pastoral presence as a bridge to form meaningful relationships between the church and social justice movements. She has been selected by 91����Ƶ’s Alumni Association as the 2025 Outstanding Young Alum. The award is given annually to an alum who, through professional achievement and/or Christ-like compassionate service, is making a significant contribution to the local, national or global community. 

“I feel honored,” said Caine-Conley. “As a queer, Christian woman called to serve in the clergy, the space hasn’t always been welcoming. This award feels like an acknowledgement of my work and an affirmation for other queer folks who are serving the church and the kin-dom of God.”

The space between 

Caine-Conley learned to bridge the gap between communities at Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS), where she earned a master of divinity degree. Professor David Evans’ Christianity through the Eyes of the American Outsider course impacted her deeply. Reading from the texts of enslaved people, Jewish individuals and queer Christians, she was able to explore the experiences of marginalized groups within Christianity.��

In another course, Formation in God’s Story with Dawn Monger, Caine-Conley’s small group was challenged to think about life journeys and how they intersect with God’s story.��

“Our group considered how many loops, intersections, roadblocks, obstacles, and reversals we experience in our individual paths. The conversation led us to one word: mangled.” 

The “mangled” moment stuck with Caine-Conley, as did the seminary experiences of discussing theology over beers at Billy Jack’s and sitting on the campus lawn learning about peacemaking from people across the globe. 

Caine-Conley graduated from EMS in 2014, the same year she married her wife, Lindsay. The two met while working on the leadership team for RISE United Methodist Faith Community in Harrisonburg. 

“My love for ministry was significantly shaped by RISE and its pastor, Amanda Miller Garber. There, I learned to yearn for beloved community, and now I seek to co-create such community wherever I go.” 

Baptism by fire

In the summer of 2017, co-creating community in Charlottesville meant undergoing “baptism by fire.” 

“Everyone remembers that night on August 12, but there’s so much that came before it… prayer and worship meetings, late-night strategizing, direct action training on nonviolence, even active shooter training. It was a lot,” said Caine-Conley. 

Through it all, she was focused on building bridges between communities that didn’t want to interact with each other, between people—particularly white, progressive Christians—who had different ideas about what it meant to resist, from peacefully protesting to doing nothing. 

To build greater understanding between progressive groups who desired change, Caine-Conley organized educational seminars and anti-racism training. She wrote various post-rally articles, and Congregate Charlottesville received national press coverage. 

Vocation and community 

Caine-Conley is now bringing her experience to the classroom at Denver’s Iliff School of Theology where she is a PhD student in religious studies and adjunct instructor of Identity, Power, and Vocation in Community. A theme of the yearlong course is understanding how individuals are shaped by histories, structures, systems, practices, and memories. She aims to create a “disruptive,” yet caring, environment to help students become better ministers, leaders, and caregivers.��

“I am inspired every day by people who allow the spirit to shake their assumptions, trajectories, and long-held orientations,” said Caine-Conley. “It takes so much courage to allow the spirit to truly move us in new directions.” 

Caine-Conley will share her story at 91����Ƶ TenTalks, held on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 1:30 p.m. in Martin Chapel during Homecoming 2025. For a full schedule of Homecoming events and activities, visit emu.edu/homecoming.

An icon created by Eastern Mennonite Seminary alumnus Derek Yoder ’23, M.Div., graces the cover of the of Anabaptist World magazine. Yoder designed the digital artwork, titled “Christ of the Wheelchair,” for his master’s of divinity capstone project in 2022.

For his project, Yoder searched through Scripture, art and ecclesial history for symbols that display the image of God revealed in persons with intellectual disabilities, people who are central to his ministry. In the absence of such symbols, he developed an icon that serves as a “celebration of and blessing for my community, who bear the image of God.”

“When you meet someone with intellectual or developmental disabilities, do you recognize the image of God?” Yoder asks in an article in the issue. “‘Christ of the Wheelchair’ is a prayer for me, my community and the church. It emerged from the recognition that the church rarely considers people in my community when it contemplates the Image of Dei (image of God). Yet, in my community I encounter Jesus every day.”

Read the “Christ of the Wheelchair” article online .

Anabaptist World began as a print magazine in 2020 from the merger of The Mennonite and Mennonite World Review, starting with a circulation of 8,200 paying subscribers. It seeks to be “the flagship Anabaptist publication, in print and online — the place where a diverse community comes together to explore and strengthen Anabaptist values and encourage one another to follow Christ faithfully,” its website states.

In addition to the cover image, another article in the magazine issue mentions Yoder and Faith & Light, an inclusive worship gathering he leads for people with intellectual disabilities. The article follows the process of baptizing someone with an intellectual disability and the work that goes into ensuring it’s done in a way that reflects their relationship with God.

Read the article, “A baptism just a bit unpredictable,” online .

“I am glad that Anabaptist World’s most recent issue celebrates the gifts and contributions of persons with disabilities in the Church,” Yoder said. “In my communities (at Pleasant View and Faith & Light in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County), my friends with intellectual disabilities constantly lead me to Christ. I’m grateful that Eastern Mennonite Seminary provided the chance to deepen my ministry in those communities.”

Yoder lives in Harrisonburg, Virginia, with his wife Laurie, a chemistry professor at 91����Ƶ. He is the pastor at Pleasant View, an organization that supports people with intellectual disabilities in living out their goals for meaningful work, relationships and spiritual development. Pleasant View is a conference-endorsed ministry of Virginia Mennonite Conference. He worships at Shenandoah Valley Faith & Light and Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg.

The trip, called, will begin in Antalya, Turkey, on May 13, 2012, and end 18 days later. Using small sailboats, the class will cruise along the southern coast of Turkey, exploring remote, beautiful impressive sites such as Andriake harbor, Patara, and other key historical sites. From Ephesus, the group will take ferries to the island of Samos, Greece, then across the Aegean to Athens where the seminar ends.

Besides experiencing the Roman Empire from the sea, students will engage in intensive reading and discussion of the culture, politics, religion, and economics of the first century world. They will also learn to work together as sailors, said Stutzman.

Experiences change thinking about New Testament

Michael Swartzentruber, a first-year seminary student who traveled with Stutzman in 2011, said: “There is no better way to study the early church than on a boat, taking whatever the sea throws at you. Living that experience forever changed the way I read Paul and Acts.”

Betsy Fisher Rhodes and her husband Philip had just concluded their year in Nazareth, Israel, when they took this trip. “This course was a real highlight of my year abroad and will continue to influence my thinking of the church in the first-century as well as the church today,” Betsy said.

Stutzman is a veteran of sailing on the Mediterranean and following the journeys of Paul. In 2004-05 he and his wife Janet spent 16 months visiting every port linked to Paul’s travels in Acts. The journey is detailed in Linford’s book “Sailing Acts,” published by Good Books.

Students from will join graduate students from Jerusalem University College for this trip. It costs $2,825, including three semester hours of tuition and all expenses for the three weeks in the Mediterranean. It does not include international travel to Antalya and from Athens, passports, or visas for Turkey. Final costs are subject to adjustment, depending on exchange rates or tax increases.

Contact Linford Stutzman, director of the program of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, for further information and reservations.

The class is offered in conjunction with , an EMS program that provides pastors and lay leaders with an opportunity to learn preaching skills. It will be offered on campus Tuesdays, Jan. 9 to April 23, 8-10:40 a.m.

Topics will include sermon forms; preaching without notes; preaching and the cross; preaching Paul; special occasion sermons, and the use of technology and visual arts in preaching. Students will also articulate their own theology of preaching.

This course will help lay-leaders who preach occasionally and would like to improve their skills, seasoned preachers who would like to stretch their preaching or add to their repertoire, and associate pastors who may be looking to improve their skills in preparation for moving into a lead pastorate

“The sermon has the potential to empower and transform lives from the inside out as preacher and listeners engage with scripture and the realities of our world,” said Joni Sancken, who has a doctorate in homiletics and teaches preaching and practical theology.

“The past 10 years have been challenging ones for institutional religion: September 11, clergy abuse scandals, economic challenges, and declining membership,” Sancken said. “Congregations are seeking fresh ways to encounter God and experience renewal in these challenging times. Preaching is part of this renewal.”

The discounted rate is available to those who take the class on an audit basis. Students who want seminary credit would pay the full tuition price. The typical participation audit fee is $690, but due to coordination with the , EMS is able to offer the course at an attractively discounted rate.

To learn more about the class visit or call the office of seminary admissions at 540-432-4257. December 20 is the deadline for inquiries on the special rate.

Dr. Steinke, author of nine books including “Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach,” has done work on the cutting edge of a perspective that recognizes congregations as “emotional systems.” He uses “systems theory” to understand the emotional reactions people have to one another when they come together in congregational settings.

In his presentation, Steinke will explore how the increasing anxiety in society affects these emotional reactions and how these responses in turn affect a congregation’s capacity for mission.

During his career, Steinke has started a new congregation in Virginia, a home for emotionally disturbed youth in North Carolina, the Interfaith Pastoral Counseling Center in Illinois, and a clergy care program in Texas.
More recently, in addition to developing the Healthy Congregations Workshops, he initiated the Bridgebuilder Ministry, a training program for churches in conflict.

Steinke is conducting a Mar. 1-3 “Healthy Congregations Facilitator Training” workshop at EMS, designed to help persons conduct similar workshops in congregations of all sizes.

Steinke’s appearances here are co-sponsored by Eastern Mennonite Seminary, the Harrisonburg District of the United Methodist Church and Lancaster (PA) Mennonite Conference. Admission to the Mar. 2 public program is free.

For more information, contact Kenton T. Derstine, director of the Clinical Pastoral Education Program at EMS, 540-432-4565.

The 15 pilot congregations from Franconia, Lancaster, Ohio, and Virginia conferences of Mennonite Church USA have committed themselves to identifying and calling persons to ministry, including pastoral ministry, over the next three years.

Resource person Wendy Miller, assistant professor of spiritual formation at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, addressed the gathering on spiritual discernment and mentoring, using Jesus from the Gospel of Mark as a model. Each conference then held two sessions to discuss strategies for calling and mentoring pastors in the ministry. Participants also heard the story of congregational discernment and calling of Karl Steffy, pastor of East Petersburg Mennonite Church, Lancaster Conference.

Miller encouraged pastors and church leaders to reflect on their calling to ministry and think about who mentored them. She asked them to consider where pastors come from and to reflect on what kind of mentor they are.

Using Paul Versluis