Pictured at left is “Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet” by Luke Allsbrook. On the right is a montage of photos of members of the Perkins community involved in service projects. Photo by H. Jackson, SMU.
A newly installed art display in Prothro Hall offers visitors a chance to contemplate the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, inviting consideration of how the ancient biblical story speaks to the here and now.
The display centers on a painting by Luke Allsbrook, the artist whose modern nativity scene has been on display in Prothro Hall for the past year and a half. Titled “Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet,” the 2018 oil on canvas painting measures 68 inches by 80 inches and depicts the moving scene described in John 13. The piece is on loan from Allsbrook.
Next to the painting is a montage of photos of students, faculty and other members of the Perkins community involved in service projects in their churches and communities.
“The idea is to show the foot washing along with modern expressions of it, with photos of Perkins people actually engaged in acts of service, reflecting how that model is being lived out contemporaneously,” said Dean Craig Hill.
Hill added that he especially appreciates Allsbrook’s detailed depiction of the facial expressions of the disciples, who were dismayed and confused by Jesus’ actions.
“What readers of the Bible often miss about the story is its inherent scandal,” Hill said. “To wash someone’s feet was a public demonstration and confirmation of your low status, typically performed by the least important person in the household. Luke’s painting captures the disciples’ puzzlement and concern in a way that very few artists have. It is remarkably poignant and thought-provoking.”
Victoria Sun Esparza (M. Div. ’19) Photo courtesy of Sun-Esparza
When Victoria Sun Esparza graduates in May, she’ll earn two seemingly disparate degrees: a Master of Divinity from Perkins School of Theology, and a Master of Arts in Design and Innovation from SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering.
The two fields may seem different, but Sun Esparza already sees how they’ll come together for a career that makes her passionate.
“I’m fascinated by the intersection of design-thinking and solving problems that resist traditional solutions,” she said. Design-thinking, she says, is a methodology that can be applied to any field, to help understand a problem at a deeper level – and she thinks it can help churches and faith-based organizations.
Sun Esparza at White Rock United Methodist Church.
As a sort of laboratory for her dual areas of academic work, Sun Esparza is working as Director of Family Ministries at White Rock United Methodist Church. She is also a part of the team exploring new approaches to church through a second campus called Owenwood Farm and Neighbor Space (formerly known as Owenwood United Methodist Church). White Rock took ownership of Owenwood two years ago after the latter church closed. Instead of selling the 4.5-acre property, the North Texas Annual Conference supported White Rock’s desire to use the church building and land to serve the community. As a result, Owenwood is renting out space to nonprofits and community partners, including an after-school program, an urban farm, a diaper distribution program and other programs for young kids.
“We want to see our neighbors connected to God and to one another,” Sun Esparza said. “But first we need to help meet their basic needs.”
Sun Esparza’s background in design-thinking pushes her to focus on people more than solutions when it comes to solving problems. As a result, she has helped the staff at White Rock and Owenwood engage the community in creative ways to learn how the church might serve them better. Sun Esparza is teaching the staff how to develop deeper relationships with the community in untraditional ways, like doing laundry at local laundromats and hanging out at skate parks, to better understand the community’s normal, everyday lives.
Sun Esparza and her husband, Josh Esparza, campus pastor at Owenwood Farm and Neighbor Space.
One new approach being taken at Owenwood is Dinner Church. Instead of gathering for worship on Sunday mornings, neighbors gather over free meals for fellowship and conversation. Victoria is helping design the experience of Dinner Church along with her husband, Josh Esparza, the campus pastor at Owenwood. Because Owenwood’s neighborhood is a “food desert” – an urban area lacking grocery stores selling healthy food and produce – Dinner Church as well as the urban farm will continue growing to help meet basic needs while creating community.
Sun Esparza is also working with groups across the country as a design consultant, including the North Texas Annual Conference, to help bring design-thinking to churches as they search for fresh ideas for ministry.
“It’s helping churches to think more innovatively,” she said. “It’s taking a problem, thinking more deeply about it, going out to the community and starting to test and prototype new ideas.”
Candidly, Sun Esparza shared that she has at times vacillated between two choices – a career in design versus working in a church setting. Church work and ministry have proved frustrating at times. (Before coming to Perkins, she worked at CitySquare, an urban mission and community development program in Dallas.) But having one foot in each of those two different worlds, she believes, helps her think more creatively.
“Institutions exist to survive,” she said, “but innovation happens on the edge.”
As another example of her innovative thinking, Victoria practices an unusual form of spiritual formation: composting.
“I’m a big believer that it’s a really important spiritual practice for me,” she said. “It’s taking the waste and trash in my life and intentionally caring for it, so that it breaks down and turns into a place for new life to grow.”
Victoria is attending Perkins along with her husband, Josh – but that wasn’t exactly by design. The couple met when they were teens, while attending a Southern Baptist church; now they’re both United Methodists.
“We were both really looking for an education that would give us some space to learn together, to give us new language to think about God and the world and the role for the church, and to grow in that together,” she said. “As it happens, it made more financial sense for us to attend together rather than one at a time. It feels accidental, but I think this is what we are both supposed to be doing.”
Harold J. Recinos, Professor of Church and Society at Perkins. Photo by H. Jackson, SMU Photography.
Given all that he has accomplished, you might assume that Harold J. “Hal” Recinos came from a privileged background. He is a professor, a poet, an ordained United Methodist minister, an author, a long-distance runner, a champion martial artist, an activist and a humanitarian. But most of all, he is a man with a heart for the poor – because he was once homeless himself.
Recinos at a worship service in El Salvador with the Rev. Medardo Gomez, bishop of the Lutheran Church of El Salvador.
The child of destitute immigrant parents, Recinos spent four years on the streets of New York in his early teens, shooting dope and scrounging food from dumpsters. What eventually saved him was education and faith.
“The two most secure places for me were school and church,” he said. “I loved them both. Even while I was on the streets, I spent time in the library. It was warm and I could read.” Books taught him that life could get better.
At age 16, a Presbyterian minister took Recinos into his family’s home in the New York area, helping him overcome his addiction and encouraging him in his education. Eventually, Recinos went on to earn graduate degrees in theology as well as a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from American University.
While interning at a church working with the homeless in New York, Recinos discovered the Nuyorican Poets Café, a center for poetry, music, hip hop, video, visual arts, comedy and theatre on New York’s Lower East Side. (Nuyorican is a portmanteau of “New York” and “Puerto Rican.”) There, he met the late poet Miguel Piñero, who encouraged him to share some of his earliest poetry.
“I think of poetry as my way of doing graffiti on public culture and representing the edges of society – giving voice to the barrios, the communities rendered voiceless and invisible by the more established sectors,” he said.
This spring, he’ll publish his 14th book, and eighth volume of poetry, Stony the Road. It’s a collection of poetry focusing on themes such as racism, police brutality, anti-immigrant sentiment and the treatment of unaccompanied youth who cross into the U.S. at the southern border. Recinos’ previous books have been well-received; as reviewer Frederick Luis Aldama wrote, “With surgical precision, Recinos singles out just the right word and image that drop us deep into the pains, sorrows and joys of what it means to be Latinx in the United States today.” (See an example of his poetry in the sidebar.)
Recinos keeps his academic work grounded in the world through his work in Dallas-area urban communities and in El Salvador. He recently returned from an immersion trip in El Salvador, where he introduced Perkins students to Salvadoran human rights leaders.
Along with his wife, MariaJose Recinos, Recinos founded the Oscar Romero Center for Community Health & Education, a Dallas-based nonprofit with the mission “to positively impact the health, education and well-being of children and their families in the North Texas area, and in El Salvador.”
Doing this work in struggling and marginalized communities, Recinos said, “reminds me of the importance of living life by staying close to crucified people. Their lives matter to God, and they need to matter to the church.”
Book on the nightstand
The Letters That Never Came, by Mauricio Rosencof, an autobiographical novel, based on the life of Rosencof, a Uruguayan playwright, poet and journalist who was imprisoned and tortured by the government for 12 years.
Fantasy dinner party
“I’d invite Gabriel García Márquez, the Colombian novelist; Gustavo Gutiérrez, a Peruvian theologian and Dominican priest regarded as one of the founders of liberation theology; Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet; and Miguel Piñero, the Nuyorican poet. I would ask the question that Gutierrez poses to us: ‘So you say you love the poor. What are their names?’ I’d serve pupusas – it’s a Salvadoran staple, a thick corn tortilla stuffed with a savory filling like beans.”
Family
Wife MariaJose, a therapist and SMU graduate; three grown children: Jesse, a computer analyst, Claire, a nursing student, and Samuel, a recent graduate of Emory School of Medicine in orthopedic residency; two children at home, Elijah Joshua, a sophomore at SMU, and Hannah Sophia, a fifth grader; and a dog named Zeb.
Hobbies
Recinos with his coach at an International Kung Fu Championship, where he picked up 15 medals (14 Gold, 1 Silver.)
Recinos is a three-time international tournament Grand Champion martial artist (2012, 2013, 2015). He teaches at the Hebei Chinese Martial Arts Institute for his coach, and the institute’s founder, Master Wuzhong Jia, and has won numerous medals at international competitions for Kung Fu and Chinese Martial Arts. Said Recinos: “I like the discipline of martial arts. It’s a way of learning how to discipline your own soul.”
Question he’d ask at the Pearly Gates
“We lost my brother, Rudy, to drug addiction on Easter Sunday in 1985. I had struggled with him, to get him off drugs and into a drug detox program, but he went back. So my first question will be, ‘Is Rudy here?’”
Personal spiritual practice
A lifelong distance runner, Recinos runs 8-10 miles every morning. “No matter where I go, my running shoes are with me,” he said.
Cooking specialty?
“None. I’m a terrible cook. It’s really problematic for my kids when Maria is traveling. The kids forbid me to cook.”
Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University has announced the appointment of Hugo Magallanes as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, effective June 2019.
Currently, Magallanes serves as director of Perkins’ Houston-Galveston Extension Program and is Associate Professor of Christianity and Cultures. In his new role, he will manage the curriculum of academic programs, support faculty development and provide for academic advising to students.
In the first years of his term, this work will also likely include helping to prepare for accreditation visits and supporting an expansion of the Perkins student population with the Houston-Galveston program, as well as a new Baptist House of Studies and Perkins’ unique Spanish-language Th.M. program.
“Hugo brings extensive administrative experience to the position of Associate Dean for Academic Affairs,” said Perkins Dean Craig Hill. “He will continue oversight of our growing Houston-Galveston program, working closely with Associate Director Dallas Gingles, and help us further integrate our curriculum between locations and modalities.”
Associate Dean Evelyn Parker added, “His deep familiarity and network among United Methodist and Latinx communities will help us to accelerate the growth and effectiveness of our academic programs during this time of rapid change in theological education.”
Magallanes, who joined the Perkins faculty 11-1/2 years ago, says he is gratified by the progress he has witnessed over the years, as Perkins continued to attract high-quality students, inspired excellent research and offered theological education that is relevant to more students.
“In this new role, it is my hope and prayer to serve the Perkins community with God’s grace and guidance,” Magallanes said. “I am looking forward to continuing the remarkable work established by Associate Dean Parker and supporting Dean Hill’s vision for Perkins.”
Parker, who is current Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, will continue as the Susanna Wesley Centennial Chair in Practical Theology and is preparing for a well-deserved research leave in the next academic year.
“Perkins School of Theology owes a significant debt of appreciation to Evelyn Parker,” Dean Hill said. “When appointed as dean, I asked her to extend her term by one additional year so that I could fully benefit from her wisdom and expertise. Indeed, Evelyn Parker has shaped me as a dean and been an absolute joy to work with as part of a close-knit leadership team.”
January in Moscow: Ted Campbell
Ted Campbell celebrated Christmas twice this year: first on December 25 with his family, and then in Moscow on January 7, when Russian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas Day.
But Campbell was among United Methodists, teaching a one-week intensive to students at the Moscow Theological Seminary of the United Methodist Church.
His visit is part of an ongoing connection that brings U.S.-based theology professors to the campus for the January term. Opened in 1995, the seminary trains pastors for the 115 United Methodist churches in Russia.
Campbell was there at the invitation of the school’s president, the Rev. Sergei Nikolaev, a PhD graduate of the Graduate Program in Religious Studies at SMU.
“Because Protestant Christian churches were outlawed for much of Russia’s history, there is a dearth of seminary-trained Methodist professors there,” said Campbell. “Sergei has developed courses in January and at other times of the year so they can be staffed by United Methodist faculty from the U.S.”
For the one-week intensive, Campbell taught a class on “John Wesley: A Single Life in Community,” to a group of about 30 Russian, Ukrainian and Kyrgyzstani students. Each day’s schedule included four hour-and-a-half sessions as well as meals.
Teaching with the help of a translator, Campbell detailed how Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, was an extraordinary leader but a bit of a failure as a husband. After he married, he spent most of his time apart from his wife. By all accounts the marriage was an unhappy one.
“Wesley lived most of his life in communities that he’d helped set up, and he lived a very regimented, disciplined life,” Campbell said. “Many of the Moscow students found this idea challenging, because it sounded like monasticism, which they associate with the Orthodox church.”
Campbell says the intensive program is important because, due to the patchwork history of Methodism in Russia, many students are still learning what it means to be United Methodist. Most grew up with parents who were atheists and grandparents who were Orthodox, if only nominally.
Some United Methodist churches in Russia were originally founded by non-denominational evangelists who came to Russia in the 1990s. In later years, the government has required Protestant Christian churches to affiliate with a denomination; some non-denominational churches chose to connect with the United Methodist Church, without much understanding of Methodist ethos or theology.
“As first-generation Christians, most United Methodists in Russia and Eurasia did not learn what it means to be United Methodist from parents and grandparents,” he said. “Teaching in the Moscow Theological Seminary is one of the ways in which Perkins faculty extend the work of the School of Theology and also bring insights back to our students in Dallas and Houston.”
Rev. Carolyn Poling (M.Div. ’06) recently published Who Do You Say That I Am? Meeting Jesus Through the Eyes of Mark, a study guide for youth that helps readers “define who Jesus is to them, who he says he is in Scripture and how this impacts how we live our lives.” Poling is a deacon in the North Georgia Conference currently teaching in the Morgan County School System.
Alum Recognized as Trailblazer
Rev. Yvette R. Blair-Lavallais (M.T.S. ‘13)
Rev. Yvette R. Blair-Lavallais (M.T.S. ‘13) was recently featured in Voyage Dallas’ Trailblazer Series. Read the article here. “It is certainly a blessing for me to be able to share about my life’s work, and how God’s hand has been holding me through every phase of it,” said Blair-Lavallais, who is a Certified Spiritual Life Coach, writer, editor and public speaker living in the Dallas area.
Elizabeth Payne Honored
From left, Kim Gregory, Beta Beta president, Dr. Elizabeth Payne, Reba Greer, Beta Beta member and past Alpha Delta president. Photo provided.
The Beta Beta Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International recently honored Elizabeth Payne (M.T.S. ’67) with the Red Rose Award, given to an outstanding woman who has had a great impact on education and in her community. A recently retired faculty member at the University of Mississippi, Payne has in her varied career had stints as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., a teacher, a research assistant and a visiting assistant professor at several colleges. She is also a well-known author with numerous published articles and books. Read the story here.
Late December/early January is a time to look back and to look forward. This is certainly true for me in the midst of my third year as Dean at Perkins School of Theology.
They say it takes about three years to acclimate oneself to a new position and a new location. Indeed, it has begun to seem normal to look out my office window and see the sun shining on the columns of Perkins Chapel and on the trees ornamenting the exterior of Bridwell Library. There is comfort in such familiarity, to be sure, but also some danger: that one might begin to take good things for granted and that one might start to overlook new possibilities and perspectives.
There is much about Perkins that I want never to take for granted. Above all, it is the quality of the people who make up this school—faculty, staff, students, alumni, and other supporters together. Many years ago, I rowed in an “eight” (a boat with a crew of eight) for my college at Oxford University. It was not easy for us all to stay in sync. Too often, one of us (me, the unpracticed American, most of all) would “catch a crab,” which means that the blade of an oar was trapped in the water by the momentum of the boat, throwing off the rhythm of the entire crew and costing it precious time. On the other hand, there were days when it all came together beautifully, when we pulled as one and moved cleanly and powerfully through the water. Those were exhilarating moments.
I feel a similar exhilaration at Perkins when I witness good people pulling in the same direction, moving us forward with grace and speed. I can’t tell you how many meetings (yes, meetings!) at Perkins I have left with a sense of joy for being part of an excellent team that is working together in sync.
I also hope never to take for granted those who worked and sacrificed to create, grow and sustain this institution over so many years. I recently attended the December SMU Commencement. It reminded me of my older sister’s SMU graduation decades ago, which I attended while still in high school. It suddenly occurred to me that Dean Joseph Quillian, whom I had known only from his picture in Kirby Hall and the Grimes and Allen histories, almost certainly was also there, sitting on the platform just as I was now. I must have seen him myself, a thought that touched me and gave me a new appreciation for the ties that bind us all across the years.
But appreciation for the past and familiarity with the present should not cause us to miss opportunities to respond to current and future needs or to improve in other ways. As you read this and further issues of Perspective, you’ll see that Perkins is growing and adapting while holding true to its core identity and mission. Doubtless, this always has—and I hope, always will be—true. I hope that a future Dean, perhaps someone currently in high school, will look back with appreciation on those of us who support Perkins today, and will look forward in anticipation to what God will next do at and through our school.
The Financial Literacy Program hosted an event in December on celebrating Christmas on a budget, with a chef demonstration, inexpensive gift ideas and tips for DIY gift wrapping. Pictured at right is Jean Nixon, Financial Literacy Coordinator. Photo by B. Anderson, SMU Perkins.
Helping Theology Students Become Financially Savvy
Nobody goes into ministry for the money. Most students choose to pursue a seminary education out of a sense of calling. But when theology school students graduate with heavy debt loads, that can weigh heavily on their ministries.
According to a 2014 study by the Center for the Study of Theological Education at Auburn Theological Seminary, more than a quarter of students graduating in 2011 with a Master of Divinity degree had more than $40,000 in debt. Some 5 percent were more than $80,000 in the red.
At Perkins, the Financial Literacy Program aims to ease that burden.
“Our goal is to help our students at Perkins to become financially savvy, and to make it fun and informative,” said Jean Nixon, Financial Literacy Coordinator.
The program is funded through a $250,000 grant as part of Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Theological School Initiative to Address Economic Issues Facing Future Ministers. Perkins was one of 67 theological schools across the U.S. and Canada to receive grant funding.
Burdensome Debt
After graduation, debt becomes more than a source of worry and a financial strain. Many seminary grads are forced to moonlight, or even to choose another job instead of ministry, to pay the bills. Personal financial pressures may severely limit the ability of seminary graduates to accept calls to Christian ministry and undermine their effectiveness.
“Even though Perkins does a good job of giving financial aid to most students, it’s still very expensive to attend graduate school,” Nixon said. “And most students are going into jobs that might pay little or that will only be part-time, which makes it really hard to pay off that debt.”
Perkins’ Financial Literacy program aims to better prepare students, primarily through a series of monthly educational gatherings. Each event features financial experts and other speakers, a free lunch and opportunities for individual counseling for those students who desire it.
The program kicked off in the fall semester, starting in September with a session on student debt titled “The Elephant in the Room.” The October program, “Lipstick on the Pig,” focused on budgeting, and the November program, “Feed My Sheep,” offered a Q&A with Perkins alumni.
In December, some 50 attendees came to the Literacy Program’s session on celebrating the holidays on a budget, with a chef demonstration on frugal cooking, tips for finding gifts at the Dollar Store and ideas for low-cost DIY gift wrapping.
“The whole idea was that you can still have a great holiday without breaking the bank,” Nixon said.
Pres Ida del Rosario Pimentel, an M.A.M. student in Pastoral Care at Perkins, attended all the sessions this fall and expressed gratitude for the program.
“To continue to meet the call of serving people, we need to take care of ourselves,” she said. “Just as God provided Sabbath, I think of financial literacy as self-care.”
Pimentel added that she has shared some of the information she’s learned with church workers in the Philippines.
“My calling is working with clergy, deaconesses and church workers, equipping them and providing tools for their ministry,” she said. “Most of the church workers who leave the ministry do so because of finances.”
Changing the Culture
A key aspect of the program is educating students on how to choose loans wisely and to limit the amount borrowed where possible. The program also aims to combat a common perception that equates loans with “free money.”
“We’re trying to change the financial culture of seminary students based on the fact that it’s not the highest paid profession,” said Nixon.
Gatherings in 2019 will focus on good financial habits and taxes for clergy persons. Special one-on-one counseling will be offered in the spring to assist senior students in managing student loans after graduation.
Nixon’s office also publishes a Financial Literacy News newsletter for Perkins and posts weekly Bible quotes relating to wise financial management on screens in the hallways of Perkins campus buildings. Plans are underway to create a web page connected directly to Perkins’ financial aid page.
Pimentel sums up what she’s learned so far: “Live simply, find ways to reduce debt, and if you have to take out a loan, shop around for the best option of repayment. It’s not shameful to be in debt and most of all, there are programs such as the Perkins Financial Literacy as resources.”
Members of the first cohort of Perkins Scholars. Pictured from left to right, Madison Garcia, Benjamin McCoy, Anna Bundy, Chase Burns, Nick McRae, Kristina Roth and Ashley Smith. Photo by K. Gaddis, SMU.
This fall, Perkins welcomed a second cohort of Perkins Scholars. The Perkins Scholar designation is given to students who have distinguished themselves in their previous studies. Ten Master of Divinity (M.Div.) students from each entering class make up each year’s cohort. Each Perkins Scholar receives a scholarship totaling $21,000, spread over three years, in addition to any other scholarship awards.
In the spring of 2017, the Perkins Executive Board took up the challenge to put this project in motion. Members of the Executive Board, an advisory board to the Dean, care deeply about Perkins School of Theology and the student body. A goal of 10 Perkins Scholars a year was created. Several members have pledged more than one scholarship!
Members of the first cohort of Perkins Scholars (pictured) completed their initial year of M.Div. studies, and are currently enrolled for the second year. The second cohort of Perkins Scholars began M.Div. studies this fall, and have acclimated to life at Perkins. The students in the second cohort of Perkins Scholars are Paul Bussert, Jessica Hallett, Steven James, Shayla Jordan, Shandon Klein, Adam Lubbers, Margo Moore, Kelly Rose, Matthew Schroeder and Vicki Wood.
Perkins is now raising funds for the third cohort of Perkins Scholars who will be chosen to enter M.Div. studies in the fall of 2019. At that time, there will be 30 Perkins Scholars in Dallas and Houston combined, ten in each class. Collectively, they will receive a total of $630,000 in Perkins Scholar awards by graduation!
Welcome to this outstanding group of M.Div. students. A special thanks to the generous donors who have contributed to this scholarship program! If you or your church would like to participate in the Perkins Scholar program please let me know.
With a thankful heart,
John A. Martin
Director of Development
Perkins School of Theology
Representatives from a range of institutions committed to global theological education in the Methodist tradition gathered Nov. 27-28, 2018 at Perkins to discuss development of educational resources of and for the global church. Photo by B. Anderson, SMU Perkins.
The book of Acts calls on believers to witness “to the ends of the earth.” With a new digital platform, Perkins aims to go even further: bringing that witness to and from the ends of the earth.
With the Global Theological Education Virtual Visiting Professor project, Perkins is helping create a fully accessible and continually growing library of short classes coming from scholars world-wide and available across the globe.
“It’s creating resources from the entire world, to be available to the entire world for theological education, not only in seminaries but also in Sunday school classes and other groups,” said Robert Hunt, a faculty member and Director of Global Theological Education (GTE) at Perkins.
To make these resources available to teachers and students worldwide, including those in remote areas, the GTE program will use both the internet and custom-built intra-net devices that require no Internet access. This will not only strengthen theological education globally but will give scholars in the global south the opportunity to share their unique insights and wisdom.
Additionally, modules and materials developed through this program will be made available to the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church’s Course of Study and Regional Hubs dedicated to Global Theological Education.
Rev. Dr. Kim Cape (Photo Credit: GBHEM)
“We at GBHEM welcome Perkins’ bold new initiative to better serve the global education and ministry needs of the United Methodist Church,” said Rev. Kim Cape, General Secretary of the denomination’s leadership development agency. “With Perkins we are committed to providing access to quality theological education world-wide.”
The project aims to meet a need for theological education outside the U.S., particularly in Africa, where church membership is growing rapidly and the pipeline for educating pastors can’t keep pace, said Andrew Harper, a Perkins alum (M.T.S., ’16) and head of Global Partnerships at Cliff College—one of the project’s partner organizations.
“In Africa, education is very expensive, there’s a shortage of funding and a lack of expertise in particular areas, such as pastoral care and counseling,” he said. “The church in Africa is seeing a great need to equip their pastors and theology students, but the expertise has been largely centralized in the global north. We have an immense opportunity to provide a platform to share that knowledge.”
The project began with a conversation between Perkins and leaders of the Endowment Fund for Theological Education in the Central Conferences of the United Methodist Church, which includes Africa, the Philippines and Europe, as well as representatives of the denomination’s General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM). That led to a commitment by Perkins to help develop resources to benefit theological schools in the Central Conferences.
“We would want to develop resources that come from outside the U.S., from scholars in Africa, the Philippines and Latin America, and make them available on a platform that will be available to everyone, and we have moved quickly in that direction,” Hunt said.
To date, the project has created a model for online learning and a pilot website featuring Ted Campbell’s existing online course in Early Methodism. (To see the pilot course, visit GTEPilot.com. Short videos on the history of Methodism in other countries are also posted there.) Currently, seminary leaders in Africa, the Philippines and Latin America have reviewed the pilot website and provided feedback on the approach.
Robert Hunt with Flor Miranda (Head of Wesley University Manila) and Agnes Nuestro (Cavite State University) after speaking at the Global Forum on Education, in Manila. July 2018.
As important, in 2019 the program will begin to record and produce courses led by scholars at United Methodist institutions in the Philippines, Africa and Latin America. Hunt traveled to the Philippines in July and December, and South Africa in November, and has confirmed plans for the first resource creation seminar in May of 2019. By partnering with the Philippines Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities, the program will create as many as a dozen short courses in a week’s time. Similar resource creation seminars, structured to meet local needs and to take advantage of unique opportunities, will be held in Africa and Latin America later in the year.
The program is also partnering with the American Society of Missiology and the International Association of Mission Studies to produce short “master classes” with important missiological thinkers from around the globe. And it hopes to take advantage of upcoming meetings of women in theological leadership to integrate their perspectives into the available resources.
“Immediately, the plan is to have 15 to 25 short courses on the website and the intra-net devices by end of 2019,” Hunt said. “As we move forward, we will work with local institutions to develop appropriate methods of resource creation. Our seminars will train leaders in online pedagogical methods so that they can adapt available technology to continue to produce new courses from scholars in those countries.” The program will also partner with the Hunt Institute of Engineering and the Humanities at SMU to develop courses for pastors related to leadership in community development.
In developing the online platform, Hunt drew on expertise in online teaching from SMU’s Annette Simmons School of Education & Human Development. A typical course will feature multiple modules, each with a video lecture of 8-12 minutes in length, as well as assigned readings and accompanying materials (such as illustrations, charts, and data), discussion questions, and an online discussion forum. To adapt Campbell’s online course as a pilot, his hour-long lectures were divided into shorter “chunks” for easier viewing from a small device such as a mobile phone.
“Typical online courses based on hour-long video lectures are neither pedagogically effective nor technologically advisable,” Hunt said. “The lectures take too long to download and can rarely keep a student’s interest.”
Each course will have clear learning objectives and criteria for measuring how each student meets those objectives. “This is important so that, regardless of where the student is, the course can meet their accreditation requirements,” Hunt said.
Robert Hunt with Andrew Harper, (Head of Cliff Global, Cliff College, England,) and Kennedy Gondongwu, (Principal of the United Theological College of Zimbabwe.) Oxford Institute, August 2018.
One challenge of the project will be to ensure that teachers aren’t isolated from fellow scholars, and students don’t study in isolation – that they have access to other students and to professors for discussion and dialogue. So, in addition to internet enabled discussion groups, project leaders are working with SMU’s engineering and computer science faculty to identify the best technology to extend online discussion possibilities to remote areas.
“Broadband is sparse in Africa, but almost every person in Africa has a mobile phone,” Harper said. “We are working on finding the best ways to bring people together digitally.”
Ultimately, each Central Conference theological school will determine how the online resources are used – whether for distance learning, as part of a hybrid curriculum, or as material for classroom teaching, or as homework assignments. Because the courses are presented in short segments, the material will also be ideal for Sunday School classes and other informal learning settings.
“Initial funding for these efforts comes from the Perkins School of Theology Global Theological Education Fund, a grant from the Association of Boards in Theological Education’s In-Trust Center for Theological Schools, and the Woodworth Estate in Oklahoma,” said John A. Martin, Director of Development and External Affairs. “And we’re currently seeking funding to extend the project after 2019.”
Harper notes that sending an African student to the U.K. to obtain a theology degree at Cliff College costs about $75,000; for that cost, an online program could deliver 33 Master’s degrees to students in Africa.
“If we want to talk about good stewardship of Christian money, that’s just huge,” he said.
Ultimately, the project will give western theology students and scholars access to the perspectives of scholars in Africa and other developing nations. Harper cited examples of African church leaders who have done cutting-edge work in evangelism and reconciliation, developing that expertise through “unspeakable” challenges faced in those countries, but whose expertise has not yet been shared widely.
“I see this whole project as highly anti-colonial,” Harper said. “It is a decentralization of theological education, and it will be a disruptive force.”
“By gathering resources from around the globe for use around the globe we hope to create a truly global theological education for students around the world,” said Hunt. “An education for students anywhere, accessible both in the classroom and beyond.”
Participants in feature photo at top (from left): Rev. Shannon Conklin-Miller, Assistant General Secretary for Clergy Formation, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, The United Methodist Church; Dean Craig C. Hill, Perkins School of Theology; Dr. Robert Hunt, Director, Global Theological Education Program, Perkins; Rev. Connie Nelson, Director of Public Affairs and Alumni/ae Relations, Perkins; Dr. Andrew Harper, head of Global Theological Education, Cliff College, UK; Bishop Patrick Streiff, resident bishop of Central and Southern Europe Area and chair of the Endowment Fund for Theological Education in the Central Conferences; Mark Greim, Business Manager, Perkins; Dr. Evelyn Parker, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Perkins; Dr. John Martin, Director of Development, Perkins; Dr. David Field, Academic Coordinator of Methodist E-Academy; and Dr. Andrew Keck, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives, Perkins.
The annual Houston Lay School of Theology will take place on Saturday, February 16 at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston. The program, “Praying with the Desert Fathers and Mothers,” will be led by Tamara Lewis, Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity, Perkins School of Theology.
The day-long course invites participants to travel back in time to rediscover the spiritual riches of the ascetic mothers and fathers of the desert, who left mainstream society to devote themselves to worship, prayer and contemplation of Christ in the deserts of Egypt and Syria. In this harsh physical environment, these early believers risked all to achieve what they believed were the essential mental, spiritual, and physical purifications towards greater unity with God.
Participants will have the chance to reflect on their writings and learn from their prayer practices.
“For the patriarchs, and the prophets, and the mothers, and disciples, yes even for Christ, the desert was a place that refined one’s strength,” said Lewis. “The desert is the place of suffering, but also deepens one’s sense of dependence on God.”
For a long time, Lewis noted, some scholars denied that the Desert Mothers even existed. They claimed no women went out to the desert, only the men – that women stayed at home, not daring to venture out into the realm of the abyss, to the underworld, to the place of dry bones. Now the tradition of the Desert Mothers is generally accepted. Historical writings and the texts reveal that in early Christianity, women often wore male habits in order to enter monasteries or survive in the desert.
The writings and experiences of the Desert Fathers and Mothers speak to anyone who seeks a deeper experience of faith, Lewis added.
“The desert invites us to ask ourselves, ‘Are we willing to die in those places that need to die?’ she said. “Jesus said let the dead bury their own dead. Will we? What are we holding onto that needs to die?”
Sponsored by Perkins, the Houston Lay School meets each February and August, offering an opportunity for laity and others to explore issues of spirituality, theology, religion and church leadership with faculty from Perkins and guest speakers. The program is made possible in part by the Howard-Holbert Endowment at SMU. To register, click here.
A newly installed art display in Prothro Hall offers visitors a chance to contemplate the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, inviting consideration of how the ancient biblical story speaks to the here and now.
“The idea is to show the foot washing along with modern expressions of it, with photos of Perkins people actually engaged in acts of service, reflecting how that model is being lived out contemporaneously,” said Dean Craig Hill.
