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SFTS students use summertime for mission work at home and abroad
For students at any level of education, summertime typically offers a few months of relaxation and rejuvenation. But for many San Francisco Theological Seminary Master of Divinity students, time away from the classroom is an open door to pursue mission work both on the home front and abroad.
SFTS senior Evans Presley-McGowan is co-leading a volunteer-service trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He is going with a team from First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, where he has been serving as the adult ministries intern since August 2009.
The Berkeley contingent will support HEAL Africa, an exemplary hospital that is intimately engaged with the surrounding communities in order to help people recover from war, famine, disease, rape, natural disaster and other events damaging to their health. In addition to a hospital, HEAL Africa also has 28 women’s houses.
“Our team will use our abilities to address the finances and record-keeping of the hospital, re-engineer old and new water projects, advise in their developmental education and language programs, and provide assistance in their legal cases of rape victims,” Presley-McGowan said. “All of these projects are seen as partnerships with the Congolese who bring their own expertise and abilities.”
Presley-McGowan, who has previously been involved in mission work in Kenya, will help his team of volunteers with cultural and emotional adjustments. A prolific writer and frequent contributor to Chimes magazine, he will work with the communications team to ensure its stories are effectively shared.
“I will also be available to preach, pray and share the love of God as I am invited by the various Congolese congregations and communities,” he said. “This trip will be incredibly transforming for my ministry training, challenging my understanding of God, humanity and the world. It has been four years since I was a missionary for a year in Kenya, working with Church World Service under a partnership with the Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer program. I look forward to returning to Eastern and Central Africa, and seeing what God has in store for me in reuniting with old friends and faces, as well as establishing new connections and partnerships. I hope this experience will unite my current work at First Presbyterian Berkeley with my past service in Eastern Africa, in ways I have only begun to imagine.”
To read about this two-week trip from July 14-July 28, go to http://gomateam2010.blogspot.com/p/donations.html. The site is set up to accept financial contributions for Presley-McGowan and other team members.
Senior Talitha Phillips went on a road trip with the Presbyterian Hunger Program June 13-26 before she headed to Minneapolis for the 219th General Assembly in Minneapolis, where she was a guest speaker at the SFTS luncheon.
“The issue that inspired me to go on the road trip is the effort to solve local hunger problems and build local sustainability and resiliency through local agriculture,” Phillips explained. “My mind is being blown away in many ways, and my heart touched, and my energy greatly channeled into inspirations for the future.”
The Heaven on Earth Agrarian Road Trip (HEART) brought together 15 diverse individuals from farmers to seminarians to retirees. They explored local food and food justice initiatives in eight states.
“We are learning from local church, school and community efforts to rebuild regional food supplies that are more equitable, more just for farmers and farm workers, more secure, and more sustainable for the future,” Philips said.
To read about the eight-state agrarian road trip, check out the group blog at http://presbyterian.typepad.com/foodandfaith.
Senior Elizabeth Campbell is coordinating a service mission trip for her youth group at First Presbyterian Church of Alameda. The group will participate in a Youthworks trip to Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. (Youthworks is a Christian organization that specializes in developing short-term, transformational mission trips for teens). The group of six youth and three adults also includes SFTS middler Christopher Schilling.
Youth will learn about the distinct cultures of two Native American tribes: the Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes. The six-day service trip at the reservation includes light construction work and time for the youth to learn about Native American culture as well as serve at a craft camp for kids.
The trip, which takes place July 31- Aug. 8, includes a stop at Yellowstone National Park and overnights at the First Presbyterian Church of Elko, Nev., and the Community Protestant Church in Yellowstone.
“My hope for this trip is that it will be an opportunity for the youth to participate in the transformative impact of working with and learning from the Native American people and that all involved will experience the grace and hope-filled love of God,” Campbell said.
Heather Grantham, the 2010-11 moderator of the SFTS Student Association Council, attended the 219th General Assembly in Minneapolis as the SFTS Theological Student Advisory Delegate (TSAD). The self-proclaimed Presbyterian nerd embraced the opportunity to see the national church at work.
“Seeing the Holy Spirit breathe through our human interactions as we try desperately to discern God’s will is the highlight of most General Assemblies,” Grantham said. “I also love the new connections that are forged and the old connections that are renewed. For me, Presbyterianism at its best is connection with God, with one another and with creation. Part of this connection was found at the SFTS luncheon where I got to mingle with alumni, faculty, staff, administration and others who are friends of SFTS.”
Other SFTS students who attended the General Assembly included Charles Wei, Barbara England, Luke Williams, Natasha Hicks, Matthias Peterson-Brandt and Talitha Phillips.
Grantham will attend the PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer orientation next month in Stony Point, N.Y., as vice moderator. YAV offers exciting opportunities in Christian service and learning for young adults 19 to 30 years of age. The Young Adult Volunteer Program has 16 sites in the United States and abroad and requires a commitment of one academic year. Young Adult Volunteers serve in communities of need. Grantham was a YAV in the Philippines from 2004-05.
“My life was dramatically changed,” said Grantham, who will represent SFTS at the Seminary Fair. “I am now an advocate for the YAV Program because I believe all folks should seek to see the world through another’s eyes as well as walk hand in hand with those in need.”
Rev. Charolyn Jones, Southern California M.Div. student, has been preparing for the first free legal clinic at Ward African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Los Angeles on Saturday, Aug. 21, in the Margaret Murray Fellowship Hall at Ward AME Church. The purpose of the free legal clinic is to provide legal services to thousands of low-income residents in the greater Los Angeles area on a nondiscriminatory basis, helping families by providing the same level of professional, quality services as residents of affluent communities.
The Ward free legal clinic will provide much needed resources of legal information and legal assistance to residents who might not otherwise have ready access to such services. The panel of volunteer professionals will provide advice on such topics as expunging criminal records, landlord and tenant disputes, employment, real estate, family, divorce, child custody, civil, criminal, probate, social security and personal injury.
“This will be our first endeavor at this and our hope is to make it a monthly service to the community at large,” Jones said.
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Doctor of Ministry Program helps missionary renew ministry
Many a child has become intrigued with mission work during Sunday school. But few actually hear and follow that call, and give up life as they know it to spread the Gospel in a foreign land.
Shinhwan Kim became interested in being a missionary back in 1977 when he learned about outreach in Africa by Dr. David Livingstone. That moment had such an impact on his life that Kim, a Korean native, was led to ministry in the same town where Livingstone passed away.
“My teacher’s preaching made me surrender to God’s mission,” said Kim, whose classmates call him Peter. “Since that time, I never stopped praying to be a missionary and go to where Livingstone worked.”
After 11 years in Uganda, Kim has been renewing his ministry at San Francisco Theological Seminary as a Doctor of Ministry candidate. He and his family arrived on the SFTS Northern California campus in San Anselmo last August just before the start of the 2009-10 academic year and they will return to Uganda Aug. 19.
“Peter is a wonderful example of the kind of students our D.Min. program attracts,” says R. Scott Sullender, PhD, new interim director of the SFTS Advanced Pastoral Studies Program. “He represents the transnational flavor of our student body, where we learn from one another across cultures and across denominational lines.”
Kim’s year at SFTS has been a wonderful experience for him personally as well as for his wife, 14- and 5-year-old daughters, and 12-year-old son.
“In Uganda, there were no other Korean families,” Kim says. “We felt loneliness. But on the seminary campus, all students approached us with much regard, especially the Korean community. All the students, staff and faculty welcomed us as a family.”
In Uganda, Kim often travels to remote villages with his wife and children to provide an example of how a Christian family lives. He also teaches African Christians how to pray, how to apply the Bible to their lives and how to manage a church.
Kim has three primary projects as a missionary with the Anglican Church of Uganda. He teaches church history and pastoral counseling at Reformed Theological College in Kampala, he’s part of the Theological Education by Extension (TEE) program operated in the rural Mbarara district and works for Campus Crusade for Christ, which is affiliated with the Church of Uganda.
In his role as college professor, Kim was encouraged to attend an English-speaking seminary to earn a Doctor of Ministry degree. He majored in public administration at Korea University and attended Chongshin Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian seminary in Seoul.
At SFTS, Kim has embraced the need to reach out to minority populations, including ethnic groups and the disabled. “When I came here, God awoke me,” Kim said. “Jesus Christ wants us to take care of minorities. Before I came here I never thought about those kinds of topics.”
Kim plans to complete his dissertation project in Uganda to earn his degree. As much as he has enjoyed his time on the SFTS campus, Kim is eager to return to Uganda to continue his mission work.
“We have to go with a burning heart and make a fire,” Kim said.
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Sullender named interim director of Advanced Pastoral Studies
 With a place in his heart for pastors in need of renewal, R. Scott Sullender, PhD, has taken over as interim director of the San Francisco Theological Seminary Advanced Pastoral Studies Program, which administers the Doctor of Ministry degree.
Sullender serves as associate professor of pastoral counseling and is director of the Lloyd Counseling Program. He replaces Dr. Lewis Rambo, APS interim director since January 2009 and former Tulley Professor of Psychology and Religion for 32 years.
“Scott brings years of experience in pastoral psychology and counseling, and a big heart for ministers and preparation for ministry,” said Dr. Elizabeth Liebert, SFTS dean, vice president for academic affairs and professor of spiritual life. “His years of administering counseling centers and his leadership in the Pastoral Care and Counseling Doctor of Ministry emphasis prepare him admirably for leading the APS program in this crucial transition.”
For more than 50 years, the Advanced Pastoral Studies Program has been providing dynamic scholarship to enrich and expand the quality of a variety of ministries. Areas of emphasis include Multidisciplinary, Pastoral Care and Counseling, Spiritual Direction, Pastor as Spiritual Leader and Urban Ministry/Black Church Studies.
“I have always been impressed by the dual foci of the Doctor of Ministry degree, which emphasizes scholarship and also the application of that scholarship to the practical needs of the church today,” Sullender said. “The interplay of theory and practice, theology and ministry is at the heart of the D.Min. experience.”
Raised in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Sullender received Master of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary. After serving a congregation in Pennsylvania, he returned to Southern California, where he earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Theology and Personality: Pastoral Counseling at the School of Theology at Claremont.
For 35 years Sullender has specialized in pastoral counseling and psychotherapy. He has studied with two of the pioneers of the pastoral counseling movement, Seward Hiltner at Princeton and Howard Clinebell at Claremont.
Sullender is active in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and twice received the Pacific Region's Distinguished Service Award. He holds the rank of Diplomate in AAPC, which qualifies him to supervise and train pastors and pastoral counselors.
He is licensed as a psychologist, and prior to that, as a marriage, family therapist, providing psychological assessment work and personal therapy for ministers for a variety of Protestant denominations. Among his numerous published works, Sullender wrote Losses in Later Life, which established him as an authority on aging and spirituality.
D.Min. groups forming now
Sullender encourages pastors to apply for admission to the SFTS Doctor of Ministry Program. Classes begin Sept. 20 in San Anselmo and Pasadena, where collegium groups are now forming.
Participants will take the foundational course sequence--Pastor as Person, Theology of Ministry, and Culture and Mission--on Mondays during the upcoming academic year. This exciting program offers pastoral renewal, spiritual revitalization and academic excellence designed to enrich your practice of ministry.
Please apply as soon as possible or indicate your interest by contacting the Advanced Pastoral Studies office at 415-451-2865 or 800-447-8820 x865.
>>More information
>>Click here for application
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