The Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership offers an array of courses in theological and biblical study, open to students in the Training in Ministry and Education for Shared Ministry programs as well as pastors seeking continuing education, and interested laypeople. The academy is a ministry training partnership of the Church of the Brethren General Board and Bethany Theological Seminary.
Registration for each course costs $150. Each offers one academy-level credit for students or two continuing education credits for pastors.
Upcoming courses include:
–“Interpreting the Brethren,” June 10-14, at Bethany Seminary in Richmond, Ind. Instructor is Timothy Binkley, archivist of the Center for Evangelical United Brethren Heritage at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.
–“Worship,” Sept 22-24, taught by Andrew Murray, professor of Peace and Conflict Studies and Religion, and director of the Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa. This course is offered through the Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center.
–“Daniel,” Oct. 2-Nov. 11, an online course taught by Susan Jeffers, adjunct professor at Bethany and an academy instructor, is offered through the Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center.
–“Passions of Youth, Practices of Christ,” Oct. 12-15, a follow-up study to this summer’s National Youth Conference for youth leaders and others interested in the rising generation in the church. The course will be taught at Manchester Church of the Brethren in North Manchester, Ind., by Russell Haitch, Bethany’s assistant professor of Christian Education and director of the Institute for Ministry with Youth and Young Adults.
–“Leaders, Boards, and the Brethren,” Oct. 19-22, is centered on the experience of attending the fall meeting of the Church of the Brethren General Board in Elgin, Ill., taught by Brethren writer and historian James Lehman. The course introduces students to denominational structure and program, and current denominational leadership.
Academy offerings planned for 2007 include a January one-week intensive on church history with Jeff Bach, associate professor of Brethren and Historical Studies at Bethany; also in January “Church of the Brethren Polity” taught at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College by Warren Eshbach, retiring dean of Graduate Studies at the Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center; in the spring an online course on the New Testament books of Colossians and Philemon taught by Susan Jeffers; in the fall an online course “Now the Silence, Now the Songs: The Body of Christ at Worship” taught by Lee-Lani Wright, an ordained Brethren minister who has assisted with several hymnal-related projects of Brethren Press.
Travel courses in 2007 may include a May trip to Brazil to study church planting, led by academy director Jonathan Shively; and an October or November trip to Oman, Saudi Arabia, to learn about Muslim-Christian dialogue, led by Roger Schrock, pastor of Cabool (Mo.) Church of the Brethren and a former mission executive for the General Board.
Registration brochures are available from the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership at www.bethanyseminary.edu/academy or by calling 800-287-8822 ext. 1824. Register for the courses held through the Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center by contacting Mary Schiavoni, Program Administrator, Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center, Elizabethtown College, One Alpha Dr., Elizabethtown, PA 17022; 717-361-1450.