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2010-06-01 issue:

Vision statement calls AMBS to be more accessible and welcoming

A web exclusive

by Mary E. Klassen

Print Article

Making theological education more accessible and welcoming are the foci of a new vision statement which will guide Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., for the next decade.

The statement, adopted by the AMBS board at their late April meetings, declares:
"AMBS will become an Anabaptist learning community that makes theological education accessible to and welcoming of Christians of increasingly diverse traditions, ethnicities and races to reflect more fully God's purposes of unity and justice."

The May 21 commissioning service for AMBS graduates and others reflected the diversity AMBS is striving to continue building within its community. The group included Eunjung Kim, Hatoko Inoue, Raimonda Balciuniene, Ginny Martin, Otonos Balciunas, Barbara Devereaux, Rolando Sosa Granados and Joseph Vallejos. Photo by Mary E. Klassen.

An alternative version of the statement is written as a prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to reshape AMBS "to welcome Christians of all tribes, tongues, peoples and nations to engage in Anabaptist theological education ..."

In the work toward this vision statement, there were two challenges at play, George R. Brunk III, interim president, explained. First is the challenge to make theological education more accessible across the geographical spread of the church in both Canada and the United States. Second is the challenge to reach out to the full range of ethnic and racial groups in the church.

These two challenges emerged from a major consultation AMBS hosted in May 2008 in which leaders of Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Church Canada, racial and ethnic groups in the church, and representatives of congregations across the continent gathered to give counsel to AMBS. Among the outcomes were clear calls to make seminary resources more accessible and to increase diversity of the seminary community to better reflect the Mennonite church.

A third emphasis also is reflected, Brunk noted, as the statement calls on AMBS to be more welcoming of people who are not Mennonite. AMBS recognizes a growing interest in the Anabaptist-Mennonite faith and anticipates there will be mutual benefits as students from more diverse backgrounds together explore the distinctives of the Mennonite-Anabaptist faith. 

"The vision statement is a succinct way of calling us to the ecumenical vision and antiracism vision we are working on," Nekeisha Alexis-Baker, member of the committee that drafted the statement, said.

Alexis-Baker also noted that she values the prayer version of the statement. "The work we are doing is not up to our own strength or our own creation," Alexis-Baker explained. "We are part of God's work and holding these emphases together is part of the reconciling work God is calling us to."

This vision statement will give clear direction to planning and priorities for the seminary, supplementing the mission statement which defines what AMBS is and does over a longer period of time. "We can't say concretely what this will mean several years from now," Brunk said, "But it keeps us on focus."

To see the complete prayer version of the AMBS vision statement and the AMBS mission statement and core values, see www.ambs.edu/about/mission-values

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