Seminary Welcomes New Students

Bethel Seminary held its first-ever New Student Welcome event in mid-August, welcoming 46 students and guests from Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri who were joined by 12 faculty and staff members. The event was designed to give new incoming students a head start on building relationships with classmates and professors, while also providing undecided students with a chance to visit campus, meet other students and faculty, and ask questions. Students met at the seminary for a picnic, lawn games, prize drawings, and root beer floats. Then the group headed to Target Field to watch the Minnesota Twins take on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The welcome activity provided two positive aspects of a significant start at Bethel. First, it allowed students to create crucial relationships that will help form them into the “whole and holy” leaders that Bethel Seminary tries to cultivate. “As a seminary student, I can say that seminary is a journey that was never meant to be traveled alone,” says J.D. Larson, a recruitment intern in the seminary’s Office of Admissions and Recruitment. “The students who attended the welcome event have been given a head start in building the relationships that will support them through their seminary journeys and on through their ministry journeys.”

The welcome also allowed some new students who are still uncertain about seminary to experience an environment of acceptance, where they could “press into any lingering uncertainties by asking questions and talking with faculty and staff,” says Larson. “If there were students who were still undecided, this event was designed to help them make the best judgment about their next steps.”

Bethel Seminary’s various locations begin fall classes in late September. Bethel Seminary San Diego begins September 17; Bethel Seminary of the East starts September 20; and Bethel Seminary St. Paul kicks off September 24.