Eastern Mennonite Seminary frequently hosts international students for study on campus, but now, EMS is taking some of its seminary courses overseas.
Twenty-nine students are taking seminary classes from EMS professors this summer at Meserete Kristos College (MK College) in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia.
Several years ago, Meserete Kristos College asked EMS to consider creating a seminary training program for pastors of the Meserete Kristos church, the Mennonite denomination in Ethiopia.
This summer, three EMS faculty are traveling to Ethiopia to teach graduate level courses at MK College. The program is designed so that in three summers pastors will receive 29 seminary credits, which will help significantly toward receiving a degree, either in the United States or at a seminary in Africa.
“It’s a tremendous sacrifice for pastors in Ethiopia to travel to the United States for three years of study,” said seminary dean Ervin R. Stutzman. “They must leave their families as well as their leadership roles. This is an opportunity for them to get excellent instruction in their local context.”
“The Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia is growing at the rate of 10 percent or more per year,” Dr. Stutzman noted. “They desperately need trained leaders, and we believe that God is calling us to work with the church in Ethiopia in training these leaders,” he added.
EMS faculty will travel to Debre Zeit for this special program over the next three summers. They will teach courses that range from Anabaptist theology, to biblical studies, to peacebuilding and conflict transformation.
This summer, James R. (Jim) Engle, professor of Old Testament, is teaching “Old Testament: Text in Context, N. Gerald Shenk, professor of church and society, is teaching “Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation” and Lawrence M. Yoder, professor of missiology, is teaching “Anabaptist History and Theology.”
All three professors have extensive experience teaching in overseas settings. Dr. Engle returned in January from a semester teaching at MK College. Dr. Shenk spent eight years teaching and studying in Yugoslavia, and Dr. Yoder spent nine years teaching in Indonesia before coming to EMS.
Before leaving for Ethiopia, Shenk said, “I look forward to learning much from these gifted and motivated leaders from the texture and resonance they will bring to the biblical text from their settings.”
“I know, from many years of teaching in the Balkans where students arrived from a dozen different ethnic groups, how delightful learning can become when we bring our rich diversity of experience to biblical and theological studies,” he added.
This program is funded by several generous donors. MK College is providing some administrative support, and Sara Wenger Shenk, assistant seminary dean, is also in Ethiopia working on agreements with another Ethiopian seminary to allow students to transfer their credits and continue studies.
For more information on this project or other programs of Eastern Mennonite Seminary contact Don Yoder, office of seminary admissions, 540.432.4257 or email: [email protected].
– Story by Laura Lehman Amstutz
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