Heart & Mind
Practical.
That's the approach Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. takes to ministry.
It is evident throughout the church he pastors, First Baptist Church
of Glenarden, Md., one of the fastest growing churches in the country.
Since Jenkins came to First Baptist (FBCG) in 1989, it has expanded
from 500 to 6,000 members. Five Sunday services and more than 90
ministries help members mature in their faith and reach out to their
Washington, D.C., suburb.
Although FBCG is primarily African American in its membership, Jenkins and his leadership team intentionally chose to affiliate with the Baptist General Conference to promote interracial kingdom-building. That’s practical, too. And to him, it’s practical for his church to host the newest branch of Bethel Seminary.
“I have a passion and a heart to prepare and equip people for ministry,” Jenkins says. “Bethel Seminary is a part of fulfilling that. It’s great to have a structured and accredited institution here.”
Ministering to the real world
It was the seminary’s application of ministry to the real world that impressed Pastor Jenkins, who is also Bethel University’s newest trustee. As he considered additional ways to build leadership among those he shepherds, Jenkins approached Bethel Seminary about developing a location at his church.
The timing was right for Bethel Seminary of the East, too. It had four teaching centers along the northeast Atlantic seaboard-in New England, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. When it became necessary to close the Baltimore Center in the summer of 2003, the door opened to creating the Metro D.C. Center at FBCG.
And as some might say, the rest is history. The Metro D.C. Center opened for business in fall 2003 with more than 25 students.
“The D.C. area has a prolifery of seminaries, but most are liberal. They are not practically preparing students to do ministry,” Jenkins says. “Bethel doesn’t take you out of where you are and try to mold you to be a certain way. Bethel recognizes that what may work in one community may not work in another. Bethel teaches you how to apply what you learn in your culture. They teach practical principles.”
That’s precisely the goal. Doug Fombelle, dean of Seminary of the East, points to the school’s mission statement, which commits to “helping students reach their own cultures.”
At Bethel Seminary of the East and its sister campuses in St. Paul, Minn., and San Diego, a practical theological education is basic. The degree programs are designed to help students, who become pastors and Christian workers throughout the world, to think, be, and do Christian theology and ministry.
Two degree programs are offered at Seminary of the East’s four centers: the master of divinity and a certificate in theological studies. Other degree programs are offered in a collaborative effort among all three seminary locations, leading Fombelle to call the institution “transregional.”
The first course of study offered at the Metro D.C. Center was spiritual formation, which explores issues related to spirituality, call to ministry, and ministry preparedness. An integral part of the spiritual formation track is the unique work of mentoring in the ministry context. It is what Fombelle says makes the difference at Bethel: “Mentoring allows us to be culturally relevant without compromising theology.”
Every student is required to select two mentors, who are then approved by the faculty. It is a vital part of a student’s theological education, and it is what gives the student a “custom-built education,” Fombelle adds. As students interact with their mentors, they are better able to translate their academic knowledge into practical application and effective ministry in their cultures and communities.
The goal of FBCG-in fact, their mandate and active motto-is “Developing Dynamic Disciples through Discipleship, Discipline, and Duplication.” It makes a perfect hand-in-glove fit with the seminary.
Serving and learning
The Metro D.C. Center’s first students have been mostly members of FBCG. They serve as leaders in the church’s wide variety of ministries and also hold full-time jobs inside or outside the congregation. They are committed to the work of God in their lives and are looking for ways to improve their ministry work.
That’s what Deacon James Davis is doing.
Davis, a member of FBCG for 11 years, works full time as the church’s acting facility manager, supervising 27 people. A gifted teacher, he also serves as a deacon; and he and his wife, Julia, counsel and mentor couples in building godly, successful marriages. Somehow, though, he has carved out time through Bethel Seminary to study God’s Word more deeply and to develop his own spiritual life.
Bethel Seminary’s Metro D.C. Center allows Davis to do what he loves in his church while pursuing a theological education to help him do it better. He’s taking advantage of the master of divinity program available right on site.
Most of the students are just like Davis: involved in the church and working full-time jobs. And the Seminary of the East Metro D.C. Center meets their needs to pursue God’s call in their lives.
Take Esther Gordon. She works full time directing the office support team at the U.S. Senate in nearby Washington, D.C. Gordon’s office facilitates the offices of the 100 U.S. senators as well as more than 30 senate committees and other departments.
At First Baptist Church of Glenarden, Gordon is the director of the multifaceted Education and Training Ministry, which includes programs, classes, and opportunities for everything from Sunday school and evangelism to health and fitness, cancer support, and hospice care. And now, she is the director of the Metro D.C. Center. If that is not enough, Gordon volunteered to coordinate and accompany the church’s mission trip to Ghana this past summer. Like Davis, she, too, is a student at the seminary.
A woman of grace and humility, Gordon knows she carries a lot of responsibility, but to her it is far from a heavy burden. It is an opportunity and a calling to serve and learn.
“I think more than anything else, I am impressed by the mission of Bethel Seminary,” Gordon says. “It is ministry-based. [The students] use their skills and knowledge right away. It is inspirational.” At FBCG, there are plenty of opportunities to apply new ministry skills and spiritual leadership.
Davis and Gordon are not just being busy for God. In fact, through Bethel’s spiritual formation class, Davis learned to be just the opposite.
“My heart’s prayer is to spend more time majoring in the majors,” Davis wrote in his final paper for his spiritual formation class. “My greatest need is to spend more time in prayer, reading, and meditating on Scripture and spending unhurried time with Christ.”
Class participation
Faculty member Dick Kantzer taught the spiritual formation class Davis and Gordon took. He said, “I love the current students,” whom he describes as professionals, service workers, government employees, and directors of departments. Some are even from a Muslim background and have now embraced Jesus Christ.
Kantzer, who has been teaching at Seminary of the East since the early 1990s, describes the class as a “dialogue.” In keeping with the culture of this African American congregation, students fervently express their agreements and praise to God throughout a sermon or lecture. When Kantzer began teaching at the Metro D.C. Center, he says the “dialogue” was something he welcomed but had to get used to.
Another faculty member, Ish Mudliar, noted that he has had to adjust his teaching style somewhat by slowing his lecture pace when he mentions a particular Scripture. Though the students are very familiar with the Bible, their deep desire to learn compels them to follow every reference. Without prompting, the students quickly page through their Bibles to the passage he is citing so they can read along with him-sometimes aloud.
The students know Scripture, Mudliar says. They come prepared in the basics of Christian principles and biblical literacy. Now, they are fitting it all together, historically and theologically.
“They don’t take it for granted,” Mudliar says. “I tell them that they are like the Berean Christians in Acts 17:11, which says: ‘Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.’”
The students, very much like the Bereans, demonstrate an eagerness to learn, a desire to work with others, and a commitment to become equipped to take the gospel message of love and redemption beyond the walls of their church.
As Mudliar says, the first fruits of what the Metro D.C. students learn in seminary will be harvested by First Baptist Church of Glenarden. But everyone expects the seminary will grow, others from area churches will become students, and the Metro D.C. area will ultimately benefit. Some of the current students will broaden their ministries, reaching out to coworkers and neighbors. Others will even start new churches.
“The seminary helps us equip people,” Jenkins says. “The most significant thing is that the people going through seminary are empowered to do ministry in a practical way. Bethel is great at that. I love that about Bethel.”
In four church-based teaching centers on the East coast-near Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, and Metro D.C.- Bethel Seminary of the East prepares men and women to bring the gospel to the world in culturally sensitive ways. And the world it is. More than 56 million people encompassing hundreds of different ethnic groups populate the region within driving distance of these four teaching centers. The most recent addition to Bethel Seminary of the East is a teaching location just east of the nation’s capital. Rebecca Cotton, who lives and works in D.C., observed this unique partnership in action.
Rebecca S. Cotton, former media relations director for Bethel University, is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.