{"id":21412,"date":"2014-09-03T09:35:15","date_gmt":"2014-09-03T13:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=21412"},"modified":"2016-11-10T10:50:41","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T15:50:41","slug":"four-students-explore-various-forms-of-ministry-in-summer-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/four-students-explore-various-forms-of-ministry-in-summer-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Four students explore various forms of ministry in summer program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When 20-year-old Hanna Heishman arrived at her assigned church this summer in Philadelphia, she wondered if she would have anything to offer the congregation. \u201cI was definitely intimidated,\u201d she said. \u201cWould I be accepted?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heishman, a junior majoring in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/applied-social-sciences\/peacebuilding\/\">peacebuilding and development<\/a> at Eastern Mennonite University, was part of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/bible\/ministry-inquiry\/\">Ministry Inquiry Program<\/a> of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mennoniteusa.org\/\">Mennonite Church USA<\/a>. She spent 11 weeks at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpmf.org\/\">West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship<\/a> in a stately old church shared by three congregations and numerous ministries. She got a taste of what it would be like to be a pastor by participating in the day-to-day activities of church ministry.<\/p>\n<p>Was Heishman still intimidated by the end of the summer? \u201cNo,\u201d she said, \u201cI was pleasantly surprised by how well we all got along.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHanna brought new energy to our church office,\u201d said Pastor Lorie Hershey. \u201cShe values self-awareness, listening and learning, and brought that into her tasks and responsibilities, such as facilitating a weekly women\u2019s group.\u201d Hershey, who is a 2005 graduate of EMU\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/seminary\/\">seminary<\/a>, said she enjoyed her many in-depth conversations with Heishman.<\/p>\n<p>Three other EMU students participated in the 2014 Ministry Inquiry Program:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nathanael Ressler<\/strong>, a junior <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/bible\/\">Bible and religion<\/a> major from Mount Vernon, Illinois, was a pastoral intern at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.silverwoodmc.org\/\">Silverwood Mennonite Church<\/a> in Goshen, Indiana. \u201cMy father is a pastor, so I had some idea of what to expect,\u201d he said. His duties included visitation, planning and leading worship, writing for the newsletter, attending meetings and even preaching. \u201cBut I found that the life of a pastor is filled with miscellaneous jobs as well,\u201d said Ressler, a transfer student from two-year <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hesston.edu\/\">Hesston College<\/a> in Kansas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chris Parks<\/strong>, a senior <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/theater\/\">theater<\/a> major from Philadelphia, was a pastoral intern at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hyattsvillemennonite.org\/\">Hyattsville Mennonite Church<\/a> in Maryland, just outside Washington D.C. He spent time with the youth in their various activities, led worship and singing, preached, worked at a soup kitchen and met individually with members. One day a week he volunteered at the <a href=\"http:\/\/intlguesthouse.mennonite.net\/\">International Guest House<\/a>. \u201cI learned that in order to truly follow God, I need to serve on my knees, live in God\u2019s abundant gifts and grace, and \u2018waste\u2019 my life for the Kingdom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Evan Knappenberger<\/strong>, a senior <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/bible\/majors\/#philosophy-theology\">philosophy and theology<\/a> major from Charlottesville, Virginia, had a different kind of experience. He interned with the peace education director of <a href=\"http:\/\/mcc.org\/\">Mennonite Central Committee<\/a> and the peace\/justice coordinator of Mennonite Church USA. He helped build a \u201cprayers for peace\u201d resource, worked on a Sunday school curriculum, wrote web content, and interviewed military veterans who are members of Mennonite Church USA or involved in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.veteransforpeace.org\/\">Veterans for Peace organization<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis summer project was interesting both from a veterans\u2019 community point-of-view and from a Mennonite point-of-view,\u201d said Knappenberger, an Iraq War veteran who is now a pacifist. \u201cMy long-term project is the founding of the field of veterans\u2019 studies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry Inquiry Program is typically funded by Mennonite Church USA, the participating colleges, area conferences, the students\u2019 home churches and the host congregations. Heishman, Ressler and Parks each received a $2,000 scholarship for application to their fall semester. Their host churches provided housing and a $500 allowance. Knappenberger\u2019s internship was funded differently, through Mennonite Central Committee, the peace office of Mennonite Church USA, and EMU.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough this program, students experience first hand what ministry is, and they test their gifts and sense of call,\u201d said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/personnel\/people\/show\/cjs946\">Carmen Schrock-Hurst<\/a>, the EMU coordinator of the program and instructor in the <a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/bible\">Bible and religion department<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When 20-year-old Hanna Heishman arrived at her assigned church this summer in Philadelphia, she wondered if she would have anything to offer the congregation. \u201cI was definitely intimidated,\u201d she said. <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/four-students-explore-various-forms-of-ministry-in-summer-program\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Four students explore various forms of ministry in summer program<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":21414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,5589,17571,5623],"tags":[8971,14606,14638,15984,7280,9379,15983],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-21412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-bible-and-religion","category-internship","category-special-programs","tag-carmen-schrock-hurst","tag-chris-parks","tag-evan-knappenberger","tag-hanna-heishman","tag-mennonite-church-usa","tag-ministry-inquiry-program","tag-nathanael-ressler"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - 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