This article appeared in the Chattanooga Times Free Press the first Saturday we were in town:
Saturday, January 06, 2007
A Ministry Education
Wesley Theological Seminary students learning urban ministry at St. Andrews Center
By Clint Cooper Staff Writer
Eight students from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., are in Chattanooga trying to soak up the how-tos of cross-cultural urban ministry.
The urban immersion is a requirement of students seeking a Master of Divinity degree at the school, but the two-week local placement is new, according to the Rev. Mike Feely, director of St. Andrews Center.
"It’s not as much learning about a place as it is about cooperative models of ministry," he said. "We’re not as big as Atlanta or D.C., but it’s a place to sink your teeth into."
St. Andrews Center, a former Highland Park United Methodist Church that is now an urban community center, hosts 16 ecumenical ministries and people who speak more than 20 language groups.
More than 700 people worship in the center and more than 1,200 come through it in a given week, Mr. Feely said.
The students in the urban immersion program range in age from 24 to 53, come from various faith traditions and have a variety of post-degree career plans. The seminarians are learning "how to have the church work outside itself," said Lory Cantin, 53, pastor of Solomons United Methodist Church in Solomons Island, Md.
"We’re being intentional about working with other ministries, about learning how to partner," said Yvette L. Twiggs, who is working with the start-up Temple of Healing Waters Church in Herndon, Va.
During their time in Chattanooga, the students are spending time with the core congregations who worship at St. Andrews Center; participating in discussions and reflections with urban ministers, planners and visionaries ; meeting neighboring black and Hispanic families; and observing and investigating social-service providers and others who provide services or make decisions in the urban area.
They are learning how to relate urban ministry to, among other things, grant writing, foundational giving, economic development, storytelling and the arts.
Mr. Feely, a graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary, said St. Andrews Center has hosted individual pastors and interns from Sewanee Theological Seminary and Tennessee Wesleyan University who wanted to learn more about urban ministry, respectively, but has never provided a program such as the immersion.
Other Wesley Seminary students may take immersions in areas such as South Africa, Korea and Arizona, or they may design their own, the seminarians said.
All of the immersions allow the students "to look at a realworld range of models" and give them "some different ideas how to reach out and work with people," Mr. Feely said.
On the last day of their stay, the Chattanooga guests will visit the Upper Sand Mountain Parish, a United Methodist cooperative rural ministry in northeast Alabama.
A rural area, with often dwindling congregations, crumbling buildings and a lack of funds, can be quite similar to an urban setting, Mr. Feely said.
"They have some real commonalities," he said.
The program participants said they value the experiences they’re getting.
Linda Morton, 44, an intern at Arlington United Methodist Church in Arlington, Va., said too often in ministry people get put in boxes.
"The focus should be on Jesus, not on denominations," she said.
Mark Erhlichmann, 49, an intern at Christ Lutheran Church of the Deaf in Silver Spring, Md., said he hoped to gain "the ability to improve understanding" in urban ministry and the importance of finding a common theme.
While pulling together the ministry immersion program was more difficult than he expected, Mr. Feely said he hoped it will continue in the coming years.
"It reflects St. Andrews’ real ecumenical spirit," he said.
E-mail Clint Cooper at ccooper@timesfreepress.com
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