EMS alum Hendy Matahelemual (MA ’19) reflects on an Intentional Interim Minister training offered by the Shalom Collaboratory at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and the Center for Congregational Health. During a cold, snowy week, several pastors from Mosaic Mennonite Conference and Allegheny Mennonite Conference, representing diverse backgrounds, attended the Intentional Interim Minister training in Princeton, New Jersey.
Have you ever wondered about the spiral-looking maze on the hill above the EMU Seminary Building? The Daily News-Record highlighted EMU’s prayer labyrinth in a wonderful feature story last week, detailing how it’s used, how it was built and where the design came from. EMU senior Emma Nord, who was quoted in the article, had this to say: “I love the rhythm of the labyrinth, kind of focusing on God and the design. Once you get to the center, you’re not done. You then walk back the way you came in.”
The MC USA Executive Board unanimously affirmed the Leadership Discernment Committee’s nomination of Todd Lehman of Hesston, Kansas, as moderator-elect for the Delegate Assembly cycle beginning July 2025. Lehman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Culture, Religion and Missions from Eastern Mennonite University, and he has earned a certificate in Faith-based Peacebuilding from Eastern Mennonite Seminary.
Ministerial professionals looking to enhance their credentials now have a new option offered by a local university. Eastern Mennonite Seminary, which is a division of Eastern Mennonite University, is now accepting applications for its first doctoral program, The Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Peacemaking and Social Change. The program will offer its first course this August, said Jacob Cook, assistant professor of Christian ethics at the seminary, who will direct the program.
As the new director of KIPCOR at Bethel College, Eastern Mennonite Seminary alum Keren Kandel is living out the intersection of faith and justice. Through her time at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, she discovered how theology and conflict transformation are deeply intertwined.
What if small churches didn’t have to go it alone? Eastern Mennonite Seminary student Carmen Shenk is pioneering a new model for ministry—Riverside Anabaptist Collective, a network where small Anabaptist congregations can share resources, teaching, and worship while focusing on local ministry. “Small congregations have a superpower: creating belonging. When we belong, we are more open to believing.”
Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Central Committee Central States and Eastern Mennonite Seminary provided an in-person conflict transformation training to 17 participants on Sept. 26-28, 2024, in Akron, Pennsylvania. The training was a potential model for future training sessions that will be offered more widely in the next year or two. The training was led by Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, and Michelle Armster, with input from Rev. Dr. Jacob Alan Cook.
An icon created by Eastern Mennonite Seminary alumnus Derek Yoder ’23, M.Div., graces the cover of the latest issue of Anabaptist World magazine. Yoder designed the digital artwork, titled “Christ of the Wheelchair,” for his master’s of divinity capstone project in 2022.
Chrissie Muecke, current Master of Arts in Christian Leadership student at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, is a writer and editor of The Peace Table: A Storybook Bible, a new Bible inspired by Anabaptism specifically for children ages five to 11.
