Partnerships Archives - Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary

From Extraction to Reciprocity

Marketing and Communications — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 17:44:17 +0000

Nurturing decolonial partnership in Chile

Wendy Cordero Rugama

For centuries, Christian institutions in the United States initiated and sustained paternalistic relationships with Latin American communities that perpetuated colonial harm. In church contexts, these relationships might take the form of missionary trips where a group from the United States visits a community in Latin America to do something for them. This often involves a construction or renovation, a large investment that could have paid local workers instead. In the academy, these paternalistic relationships hinge on the notion that ideas coming from a U.S. context are universal and applicable to Latin America, while the ideas emerging from Latin America are only relevant in their context. As Garrett Seminary begins a new partnership with the Methodist Church in Chile, our collaboration is shaped by deep awareness of these dynamics’ history and repercussions, and a commitment to their dismantling.

In the Spring of 2025, Garrett inaugurated this partnership with a visit from Rev. Miguel Ulloa, director of the Methodist Seminary of Chile, who taught at Garrett’s Escuela de Ministerio, training pastors and lay leaders across the United Methodist North Central Jurisdiction. A few weeks later, a delegation from Garrett traveled to Chile to learn about the Methodist Church and its seminary’s work throughout the country. Dr. Emma Escobar, Director of Centro Raices Latinas at Garrett, describes this partnership as a project built on reciprocity and a model for the relationships the Centro Raices seeks to cultivate across the region. Both Rev. Miguel’s visit to Garrett and Garrett’s delegation to Chile disrupted the dominant dynamic that would frame Garrett as teacher and the Chilean church as student, denying the possibility of reciprocal learning and mutual enrichment. “As Methodists, we have a common language of theology and tradition that unites us and gives us an opportunity to expand what the dialogue between North and South America can look like,” reflects Rev. Miguel Ulloa. “Despite the differences of our contexts, we have shared concerns, and this dialogue allows us to learn from one another’s responses to those issues.”

The Methodist Church in Chile was founded by North American missionaries almost 150 years ago. Following the Wesleyan teachings of personal piety and social holiness, the church developed vibrant education, social care, and healthcare ministries. During their time in Chile, the Garrett delegation witnessed these ministries at work through visits to schools and clinics across the country. Reflecting on what she learned while visiting English immersion schools in the north of Chile, Dr. Escobar highlighted the way these schools contextualize their curriculum including, for example, an effort to begin teaching indigenous languages as part of the Chilean government’s project to reclaim Chilean indigeneity.

This conversation about indigeneity and Indigenous rights is one of the concerns that the Methodist Church in Chile and Garrett share. In the last few years, Chile has made important progress in advancing Indigenous rights, yet Rev. Ulloa believes that the church in Chile still has significant work to do in this area. He hopes that partnership with Garrett’s Center for Ecological Regeneration can help Methodist leaders in Chile access resources that will help them raise consciousness in congregations about Indigenous Chileans’ lived realities and Christianity’s historical complicity in their oppression.

As this partnership continues to develop and grow, both Garrett and the seminary in Chile will have opportunities to welcome students and faculty from each institution. In the near future, Garrett students will be able to complete their field education in Chile, and Chilean faculty will continue to support the Spanish-language programming at Garrett. “The ministry and programming of the Methodist Church in Chile will be a great resource for U.S. students and ministry leaders. We have much to learn from our Chilean siblings’ impactful and creative work,” comments Dr. Escobar. Likewise, Rev. Miguel says that “Chile has theological and ministerial riches that have not received the attention they deserve from the academy and the global church.” By welcoming students from Chile into our masters and doctoral programs, Garrett will be a resource for Chilean theologians and practitioners to disseminate their scholarship. These educational exchanges will strengthen the work each seminary is already doing and will nurture collaboration between scholars and practitioners from both institutions.

Dr. Escobar notes that as a U.S.-based institution, Garrett enters this partnership aware of the colonial impulse that has often guided relationships between institutions in the U.S. and the Global South. She reminds us that, “Chile has developed ministries with very few resources, and unlike what typically happens in the U.S., their conversations don’t start with questions about money or profit, but with a commitment to the mission. As we learn from their work, we must remember our responsibility for how we live in a capitalist world, and how our actions here in the U.S. affect people’s lives globally.” Dr. Escobar adds, “Ultimately, when we learn from the work the Methodist Church in Chile has done, we are not glorifying their struggles, but we are learning what it looks like to live out the mission in a way that uplifts the people and their needs above all else.”

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Building an Accessible and Affordable Seminary

Marketing and Communications — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 17:30:08 +0000

By Benjamin Perry

Fifty years ago, most students entering seminary were in their twenties. Predominantly male and overwhelmingly white, they often had strong affiliation with a denomination who helped them finance their studies, and for whom students could expect to work upon graduation. Reflecting these structural realities, those learners generally chose to study full-time as residential students. The church, however, has undergone dramatic change in the interceding half-century. With congregations across the United States shrinking, the amount of support most seminarians can expect to receive is likewise contracted. The promise that graduates will quickly find good-paying work has been similarly shaken. And yet, for much of this time, expectations for how students should study remained constant—to the detriment of both seminaries and people pursuing their call to ministry. Over the past four years, however, Garrett embarked on a radical shift in how we structure learning to be responsive to these changing realities. The results are in: This bold experiment in accessibility and affordability has steadily increased the vitality of our student body, enriched the seminary’s learning culture, and deepened our relationship to the institutional church—both in the United States and throughout the world.

To understand why this shift has been so successful, it’s crucial to recognize what kinds of students are now more inclined to pursue theological education. “Our learners tend to be increasingly bi- or multi-vocational. They already have jobs, they have families,” describes President Javier Viera. “We’re also experiencing a more diverse student body. We have more people of color, women, queer folks, many who come to us from around the world where the church is growing and thriving.” By adapting its academic models, spiritual formation, and community to cater to these students’ unique gifts and needs, as well as the busy schedules of people already serving churches, Garrett has attracted an abundance of learners at a time when seminary enrollments are shrinking across the country. “When we started to investigate what would attract students to theological education, we realized that every single strategy to reach new populations of students was rooted in us removing a barrier or obstacle to theological training,” explains Scott Ostlund, Vice President for Enrollment Management. “It could be a barrier like the availability of digital modalities because folks wanted to remain in their communities of accountability instead of uprooting themselves to a new learning environment, or it could be an affordability obstacle in the way we were pricing programs or requiring residential instruction. When we began to remove those obstacles, we immediately started to see our degree enrollment change.” In Fall of 2021, Garrett admitted 71 students. In Fall of 2025, that number is 119. A 59% increase isn’t chance, it reflects a structural shift.

What’s crucial to understand, however, is that this change simply would not have been possible if it had not been driven by Garrett’s academic vision. “The number one reason why Garrett has been able to pivot in a way that is different from our peers is that it was led by our faculty,” President Viera explains. “That’s not something you often hear from higher education administrations. Too often institutions change because the market tells them to — because recruiters or consultants say, ‘This is what’s trending.’ But in our case, it was the faculty themselves who said, ‘Something deeper needs to shift in how we teach if we’re going to shape the future of the church and those who will lead it.’ That conviction is what’s driving our transformation.” When Academic Dean Jennifer Harvey arrived two years ago, she was thrilled to find this deep, compelling vision for how Garrett can better resource Christian communities. “They joyfully adopted the mantle to be the educational community who prepares leaders from the very communities where the Church is growing quickly,” she says, “and to do so in a way that mitigates the likelihood that we are importing Western, Eurocentric, colonial education patterns.”

Garrett began this process by asking partners in the United Methodist Church and other partners in global Methodism how the seminary could empower those who feel called to ministry. These conversations yielded a more accurate picture of the ecclesial landscape. They heard from local ministers who would love to pursue graduate level education but did not want to leave the parish they already served. International partners described the high cost of studying in the United States, and students who didn’t want to remove themselves from their homeland’s learning context, even if they could afford residential education. Alums who served bi-vocationally as ministers and counselors expressed desires for a degree program that more specifically prepared students for that work.

After conducting listening circles, faculty and administration carefully responded with programs curated to meet these needs. “Partnership with the UMC helped us create pathways for people who are already serving local churches as pastors,” Ostlund explains. “We made a commitment that getting a visa to come to the US wasn’t going to be the only way an international student could study at Garrett—and that we weren’t going to create a two-tiered model between students who could study in Evanston and a second group who could only take classes online in a clunky user experience.” Garrett launched the Masters of Arts in Pastoral Care and Counseling degree, which has rapidly become our swiftest growing program.

These changes aren’t as simple as launching an online learning portal and opening the door to a new group of learners. “Even something as basic as when you offer your classes is something we have to consider from an access perspective,” Dean Harvey says. “So, we have lots of evening classes for students who work during the day, we think critically about time zones so students can complete their studies in Korea or Zimbabwe without having to always attend class in the middle of the night.” Garrett has also invested significantly in classroom technology and faculty training, to create hybrid pedagogies that deliver a robust experience whether students are sitting side-by-side in Evanston or half-way across the world. And still, opening the door widely isn’t enough. “Access isn’t just about being able to sign in online. Access is also about feeling like we belong,” she concludes. “We can improve affordability, offer more paths to the table, but it’s also how we create a spirit of relentless welcome because if someone doesn’t feel like they’ve been welcomed, that’s a barrier to whether you genuinely have access.”

To fulfill this deeper calling, Dean of Students Thehil Russelliah Singh has completely reimagined spiritual formation and extracurricular offerings to meet a wide array of learners’ needs. The seminary still hosts many opportunities for residential students to break bread and create informal connections, but these are paired with frequent events that foster hybrid community. “All of our student life events are now blended synchronous, so everything our in-person students have access to, our online students can attend as well,” she explains. “Whether that’s Let’s Talk Globally, weekly chapel services, a new series called Let’s Talk Careers, or any other chance to learn.” Students who primarily attend online notice the intentionality with which they are included. “We’re flipping the script by creating an engaging, dynamic experience online while still retaining a robust residential experience.”

Indeed, Garrett’s commitment to building vibrant learning environments for international students is far from finished. The seminary is also launching global hubs in Africa, East Asia, Latin America, and South Asia, the major georegions from which students are enrolling. “We have an opportunity for our African students to congregate at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe with two faculty members in Summer 2026,” Dean Singh says. “And we’re in the midst of creating similar cohorts across the globe.” These global hubs will offer students in-person formation experiences, while also strengthening ties across the global church. This commitment to transnational theological education will only deepen when the 91PORN officially launches this fall, offering low-cost theological resources and learning cohorts to communities on every continent.

Indeed, as much as affordability and accessibility are sometimes framed as mostly benefiting those students who would otherwise be unable to pursue theological higher education—and to schools who benefit from the diverse perspectives and tuition dollars students bring with them—it’s Garrett’s commitment to the church’s thriving that redoubles commitment to the present trajectory. “If we truly believe in the priesthood of all believers,” President Viera says, “then we have to reckon with the systems that have limited that calling. What would it mean for the church — and for theological education — to be restructured around that radical affirmation?” Garrett’s recently launched is another example of what it looks like to follow that theological commitment, creating an affordable pathway for people who are often asked to labor for local churches but are not often resourced by denominational infrastructure and finances. “We’re forming leaders wherever they’re called,” President Viera concludes. “That openness is reshaping Garrett — and it’s a gift to the church, to the world, and to ourselves.”

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Learning Beyond Borders

Marketing and Communications — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 19:54:17 +0000

How international students are shaping Garrett’s learning culture

“I come from a people whose histories have been officially recorded for over 2,300 years. Our students bring those long traditions that still influence how they see the world, different sets of knowledge that enrich the entire community.” Dr. Anne Joh’s eyes light up when she discusses international student’s impact on Garrett’s classrooms. In her role as the Harry R. Kendall Professor of Christian Theology and Postcolonial Studies, this passion isn’t just personal, it’s also her professional analysis for how institutions like Garrett can commit to decolonizing theological higher education—and why all students benefit from that work. “Our institutions still sustain the aftermath of colonialism. It wasn’t just the military, the academy also carried out these projects,” she says. “How can we participate in decolonization if the people whose lives are affected by these experiences aren’t in our classrooms? Having students from around the world helps us unlearn an US-centric perspective and reimagine what it means to be human together.” By committing to this ethic through structural and epistemological changes, Garrett is building an educational community that reflects the global church, nurtures collaborative work, and deepens all students’ learning.

When Academic Dean Jennifer Harvey arrived at Garrett two years ago, she was delighted to find this process already well-underway. “Faculty conducted an audit of the entire curriculum, engaging one another around questions of who is on the syllabi, who gets read, which narratives are central to our pedagogy,” she recalls. “It’s very common in higher education for folks to say, ‘We want to center marginalized voices,’ but often Eurocentric, white, male perspectives are still experienced as normative. That conversation is fundamentally different when you have a faculty whose ‘center’ is profoundly global.” Nearly half of Garrett’s professors grew up outside the United States, hailing from twelve different countries spanning four continents. Those experiences shape education, for students and their colleagues alike.

It has also attracted unprecedented international diversity among the seminary’s incoming classes, illuminating new opportunities for cross-cultural learning. Rev. Paola Márquez is a Ph.D. candidate in Christian education with a minor in Theological and Ethical studies, and they are quick to name how transnational conversations impact their work. Born and educated in Colombia, Rev. Márquez’s doctoral research focuses on complicating Latine notions of mestizaje and its liberatory potential. “Because my work is particularly concerned with mestizaje’s relationship to Blackness, my thought partners have primarily been African American students and students from the continent,” they share. “It’s fascinating to see people asking similar questions about race and theology in Northern Africa and helps me bring more textured questions to my own project.” This intercultural exchange also decentralizes expertise and wisdom. “It enables us to become teachers for one another,” Rev. Márquez observes. “We cannot become attached to ideas of absolute truth but instead understand what works in each of our communities. Particularly now, Indigenous, Black, and other immigrant communities have so many knowledges of care and resistance to authoritarianism.”

The truth the community has uncovered is that the Christian values which shape flourishing faith communities also nurture a fertile, dynamic learning environment. “There’s already so much destruction in the world, we live it every minute,” Dr. Joh confesses. “More and more, I feel the Christian call to discipleship—to embody kindness and love our neighbor—has a powerful effect within the classroom, too. At the end of the day, when the world is on fire, what really matters is the life we create together.” Rev. Márquez is similarly quick to name the world’s impact, and how classrooms can incubate belonging to embolden students’ voices. “With so much fear, there is a level of anxiety and depression, especially when you are demanded to think and produce,” they share. “We need spaces that remind us we are supposed to follow our own calling, not let others decide what we can or cannot speak about.”

Ultimately, that deeper belonging is embodied in the journey many international students make to study on Garrett’s campus, and the gifts they bring with them. “We get the incredible opportunity as an educational community to prepare leaders from the very communities where the church is growing quickest,” Dean Harvey notes. “Expanding access for those learners contributes so much richness.” Indeed, as Dr. Joh observes, Garrett benefits not only from some of the world’s most prodigious students, but also from the entire communities investing in their vocation. “It’s not that we’re the benevolent nation to which these folks are coming, and they’re beneficiaries of our humanitarian educational goodness,” she laughs. “Students are multilingual, emerging from incredibly competitive educational systems, bringing their own rich histories. But they’re also sent by whole communities—aunts, uncles, cousins, and neighbors all pulling together to fund as well as pray for their being here.” As Garrett trains leaders to serve communities and bolster collective flourishing, these students’ stories are a living testimony to what people can accomplish through love and dedication. They’re an invitation to travel further together. “We all must work on the self-decolonial project to find the mental liberation that comes from that unlearning,” Dr. Joh concludes. “That process is always mutually enriching.”

Learn more about the International Student experiences

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Sacred Medicine

Marketing and Communications — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 16:02:52 +0000

How Garrett Seminary and Africa University can expand access to care

Health is a communal endeavor. From the moment you set foot on Africa University’s 1,500-acre campus in Mutare, Zimbabwe, you receive a comprehensive vision for how to nurture people’s body, mind, and spirit and the relationships that influence every aspect of that wellbeing. I was blessed to join a delegation of Garrett faculty and staff that visited AU this January as we explored collaboration between our institutions. Over and over, I heard the same question in different formulations, one central to Garrett’s own identity: What do we need for the Church to thrive and world to heal? AU’s campus does not resemble Garrett’s—the university houses, among other initiatives, a large working farm, a mock court, and a malaria research center—but beneath those surface differences lay a shared value: We are strongest when tethered closer together.

The university’s founding was foretold in the 1890s, as the story goes, when a Methodist bishop and a tribal elder gazed from nearby Mount Chiremba toward the valley below. The two leaders dreamed that one day children from across Africa would travel to Zimbabwe’s lush, rolling hills to study and strengthen the continent’s future. That vision is core to Garrett and AU’s current collaboration. Every year, the Mageto Fellows Program—named in honor of AU Vice Chancellor and Garrett alum, the Rev. Dr. Peter Mageto (G-ETS 2001 & 2004)—offers full scholarships for African students to study in Evanston. They also receive contextual education in Mutare, with the intention that they will return and serve the continent upon graduation. But dreams are expansive things: Throughout our stay and subsequent conversations, it is clear there’s much more Garrett and AU can learn from one another, ways we can partner on ministries that alleviate suffering.

One might expect the U.S.A. and Zimbabwe to have divergent needs, but the more time we spent at AU, the more we heard how our crises powerfully rhyme. Both countries grapple with a widening gap that separates urban and rural communities. In both, social media and disinformation have contributed to rising political corruption and eroding public trust. Climate change causes cascading harm on both sides of the Atlantic. And, in both African and American contexts, churches struggle to maintain relevance in swiftly secularizing cultures. The question of how we foster wise and compassionate pastoral leadership amid rapid change consumes each institution’s faculty, but all who gathered agreed that these problems create a striking opportunity to reinvigorate churches’ mission and connection with the communities they serve.

Public health has long been a focus for philanthropic work across Africa; interventions against malaria are a paradigmatic example. We, in fact, had opportunity to tour AU’s malaria research laboratory, speaking with scientists who breed mosquitos to study infected insects’ behavior patterns, and lab technicians who examine their DNA markers. However, as Vice Chancellor Mageto pointed out in a meeting, cancer is swiftly becoming the leading cause of death across Africa, but there are few oncology centers or treatment programs. “We have an opportunity to convene an international conference about cancer and theology,” Dr. Mageto said animatedly. “We can think about topics like indigenous therapies, and how to make treatment more accessible. This excites me, because God desires us to have abundant life.”

Two Garrett professors on the delegation—Rev. Dr. Esther Acolatse, Professor of Pastoral Theology and World Christianity, and Rev. Dr. Kenneth Ngwa, Donald J. Casper Professor of Hebrew Bible and African Biblical Hermeneutics and the Director of Garrett’s Religion and Global Health Forum—quickly seized on opportunities such a partnership could present. “If theological education is forming people who would create a healthy world, part of what we need to do is talk with scientists, medical professionals, and the environmentalists who are saying that we must care for ecosystems because communal health is so interconnected,” Dr. Ngwa explained. “The measuring standard for our success is how well take care of people’s bodies—how did you care for the body that was broken, hungry, or sick.” Pastoral care becomes a crucial part of helping connect people with necessary healthcare, particularly in underresourced areas. And that work is crucial for helping churches likewise grow vitality. “Leadership is a core part of discipleship,” Dr. Acolatse added. “Jesus called disciples, trained them, and formed them to go and do, not only to go and be. We have a chance to be intentional about that in a continent that needs it so much.”

In one meeting, Dr. Mageto named that millions of people across the African lived hours away from the nearest hospital, presenting a significant challenge to healthcare access. In addition, he explained, many people are suspicious of Western medicine and resist seeking treatment for cancer and other illnesses. However, while these communities may lack a medical complex, almost all have a church. He’s currently envisioning a program that would train pastors in how to provide pastoral guidance and factual information that help people discern the best choices for their bodies, and also connect them to lifesaving care that’s far from where they live. When he described these circumstances, Drs. Ngwa and Acolatse were quick to note that these are also common problems in the United States, particularly in rural areas. The closure of small community hospitals and widespread misinformation on social media has created health crises, with significant concentrations in the South and Midwest—coincidentally also the regions where people are most likely to have strong ties to local parishes.

We left Zimbabwe not just with deeper connections to staff and faculty at Africa University, but with great enthusiasm about how we can learn from African colleagues and collectively train pastors to serve as communal health ambassadors. As churches search for ways to knit deeper relationships, partnering to expand healthcare access sparks new connections by fulfilling the gospel’s call. Caring for the sick isn’t just a moral imperative, it can mend our fraying social fabric. “I must congratulate Garrett Seminary,” Dr. Mageto concluded at the end of our stay. “This institution is embracing a call to heal the world by partnering with a pan-African institution, grounded through our relationship in the United Methodist Church. Together, we dream for transformation.”

Nestled in the Valley of Hope, Africa University is a living testament to how dreams bear fruit. As the sun sets behind the mountain, gleaming rays illuminate a cross perched atop a nearby hill—holy witness to what seeds new life.

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From Awareness to Action

Marketing and Communications — Sat, 05 Apr 2025 05:07:28 +0000

Black Evanstonians testify about ecological harm and a blueprint for change

“It should not be this way, and it will not always be this way.” In a few words, the Minister Candace Simpson powerfully summarizes a theological proclamation regarding the Church Street Waste Transfer Station in Evanston that creates noise and air pollution for the city’s 5th and 2nd wards. For several weeks, the Garrett PhD student has been interviewing Black community members who live near the transfer station, asking how that proximity has affected their lives. “A place that’s handling waste near where humans breathe, drink water, play, or grow food impacts every system,” she says. “And it’s difficult to live where you’re watching your city treat people differently depending on where they lay their head at night.”

This research project was made possible by a generous grant from the , designed to gather community testimony about how the waste transfer station affects nearby residents. The grant application was co-authored by Dr. Kate Ott, the Jerre and Mary Joy Stead Professor of Christian Ethics, and the Rev. Dr. Andrew Wymer, Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship, who sought to both amplify neighbors’ voices and better quantify their experiences. Inspired by how citizen scientists “mattered” once-amorphous ills like car emissions into measurable data, the overarching grant pursues “Faith Mattering” to record the station’s longstanding effects. “By doing ecoautobiographies with folks who live in these communities, we are helping make sure their experiences of environmental injustice are ‘mattered’ concretely,” Ott says. “When we record how it affects them, how they think about this on a daily basis, it can guide us in how to respond.” This is particularly relevant for concerns like air pollution, where contamination is not as visible as it might be in an ocean or river. “Environmental racism expressed in molecules in the air isn’t something you can see,” Dr. Wymer explains. “The goal of this grant is to create a broader awareness to folks in these neighborhoods’ lived reality.”

A theme that repeatedly arises in Minister Simpson’s conversations is how racial politics guide who city planners decide should live near what other people throw away. “Every person I’ve spoken with has made the unprompted connection between race and where we put undesirable things,” she says. “I keep hearing the question, ‘why is this happening to us?’ followed by the admission that we know why it’s happening.” These feelings are intensified by the knowledge that Evanston isn’t even using the waste transfer station for its own garbage. “The fact that your city doesn’t care enough that you live in the vicinity of a transfer station where people come from outside to dump their trash is loudly heard by Black and brown Evanston communities,” Dr. Ott adds. “Years ago, the city did a study on air quality around the station and found that it’s causing problems, but not enough for them to claim that they must do something about it.”

The report in question in a way that can increase the likelihood of cancer and cardiovascular diseases like asthma. It’s a story Minister Simpson has heard as well. “I’ve heard a good number of folks talk about breathing problems,” she shares. “But even more talk about how quality of life is harmed by the smell and sound of big trucks coming down the block. We’re shaped by evolution to be disgusted by smells that aren’t good for us.” Despite these issues, however, she’s also heard a multitude of vibrant stories about why Black Evanstonians love their home. “There’s so much pride in the community and growing up here,” she says. “If it were as simple as ‘Well, I’ll just move elsewhere,’ then people would leave, but what I keep hearing it that it should not be this way for us or anybody else. For me, that’s integrity: To say this is not right, and maybe I could move but I’m not going to, because then what happens to this place?”

It’s why Minister Simpson also creates space so folks can share their visions for the city’s future. “A prophetic dream comes across in every interview,” she says. “There is a muscle being developed in speaking out, a deep passion for making our neighborhoods as God intended them to look.” Inspired by other places in Chicagoland that won hard-fought changes to public infrastructure, there’s fierce determination in the righteousness of this campaign. “Bearing witness to the physical, material disparities that shape people’s lives is a starting point,” notes Dr. Wymer. “Then it becomes a question of what are we going to do? How will we keep bearing witness in more loud and disruptive ways to try to move the needle and make change.”

It’s crucial work for Garrett as an institution with professed commitments to ecological justice, racial equity, and the city it calls home. “Institutions of higher education should invest in the material lives of those who live in the neighborhood,” Minister Simpson says. “Especially when it relates to choices that affect people’s short and long-term health, listen to tension between people’s pride in their town and the shame that it isn’t the way it could be. That shame isn’t theirs; it belongs to the people who made these decisions.” Garrett may not have been actively involved in the choice to build this waste transfer facility, but the institution is also embedded within the local community that has long been shaped by stark racial disparity and discrimination. This project reflects the efforts of Garrett community members to be aware of local history and join in the longstanding struggles for environmental justice in our community. Already, there are plans to expand the work this grant started. Dr. Ott reports, for example, that they also recently received a small grant from the Unitarian Church of Evanston to purchase air quality monitors, which will be made available through the library of things at the Evanston Public Library. “We’re hosting a training on April 5th for folks in the community,” she says. “We’re hoping to work directly with faith communities to make sure that there’s outdoor air quality monitors near the waste transfer station, but this willallow anyone in Evanston to collaborate for a citizen science approach to air quality monitoring.”

When waste transfer facility-sized problems feel intractable, storytelling can bring communal change closer. “The muscle of advocacy is so important,” Minister Simpson says. “There is a sense of frustration, but also a very strong determination to speak up about these things—an enthusiasm to testify, to say, ‘this is impacting my life, children’s lives.’” In this effort, theology can become a method for proclaiming what people deserve. “My hope is that people feel this struggle is not theirs alone,” she adds with reverence. “If God is good in the way we say She is, then She cares about who we are in the cosmic sense, but also what we see, what we smell, what we taste, feel, and hear.” That love for our humanity’s particularities is at the gospel’s beating heart, but it’s also a crucial component to nurture agency that leads to transformation. As Minister Simpson has heard from the community’s testimonies, this is what should determine the 5th and 2nd wards’ future: “We get to say what kind of life we want.”

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Via Crucis Belongs to the Community

Marketing and Communications — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 05:45:37 +0000

On Good Friday, join the 48th annual procession in Pilsen

For 48 years, Good Friday has brought thousands to Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood as the community celebrates Via Crucis—a reenactment of the fourteen stations of the cross, hosted right in the heart of 18th Street. It’s a gigantic labor of love: 70 to 80 people directly participate in staged portrayals of Jesus’ condemnation, crucifixion, and burial, with dozens more laboring behind the scenes. From musicians and folks providing food to the couple who arrives at dawn in Harrison Park and stays until after Jesus is crucified to dismantle the stage equipment, community members volunteer their time, expertise, and resources to build this public liturgy—a word that means quite literally, “the work of the people.” Nellie Quintana has been participating in Via Crucis since she was 10 years old; 36 years later, she’s now one of the principal organizers. And at this year’s procession—held in the shadow of a federal administration that has already begun mass deportations in Chicago and across the country—she knows something is different.

“You walk around Pilsen right now and it’s empty,” she notes with sadness. “It’s not what it was a couple weeks ago, a month ago. We definitely want to incorporate into our stations of the cross and the prayers we recite a message of love, unity, and support to all of our brothers and sisters who are being crucified.” Particularly in this moment, when so many Latiné communities are threatened by the specter of federal violence, Quintana believes that Via Crucis’ message of unconditional love and solidarity is more important than ever. “God shows up on Good Friday in Pilsen,” she says, “More than any other year, this procession is our proclamation: We see you and we love you. Jesus loved us and died for us on the cross, the biggest expression of love shown to humankind.” When thousands gather on 18th Street this year, it is a physical embodiment of that incarnational promise: God with us, now and always. “Via Crucis isn’t just a Catholic Church thing,” Quintana elaborates. “It belongs to everybody. It belongs to the community.”

Tailoring the procession to address neighborhood life isn’t new, even if it has taken on renewed emphasis. “All 14 stations are hosted at different places in Pilsen,” she explains. “We always connect the stations to something that’s happening in our community, whether it’s education, immigration, or gun violence.” This public testimony holds deep resonance. In 2020, when the procession was held during COVID in a smaller form, Quintana remembers public workers stopping in their garbage truck and joined those gathered. “They parked, got off, kneeled and prayed while we were walking,” she recalls. “It was like a sign from God coming down to Earth, telling us that everything would be okay.” The procession also becomes a moment to highlight community members’ faith and service. “A few years ago, a young man played Jesus who was tattooed all the way up to his neck,” she shares. “People might say, ‘He can’t look like that and portray Jesus,’ but he’s a Chicago firefighter, comes to church every Sunday, and he had recently lost his brother—another firefighter—who drowned in the river trying to save someone’s life, lost his mother and father right after that, then lost a sister.” Walking through the procession, embodying the suffering Christ became a way for the neighborhood to rally around his own suffering. “We honored how he gives back to his community, praising God for the commitment he has made,” Quintana says. “We try to find where the uniqueness of God is intertwined with the world.”

Through faithful portrayal of how God shows up in one community’s particularities, Pilsen tells a broader, universal story about how God breaks into the world. “I get emotional when I tell people, ‘No matter who you are, come on Good Friday. It’s going to change your life,” Quintana shares. “People come and they fall in love. Some started coming when they were in their mothers’ wombs, continued year after year, and are now organizers for the event.” Even as the neighborhood changes, this portrayal of God’s steadfast love remains constant. “We keep coming back, keep bringing in new generations,” she observes. “I’m planting these seeds because one day I won’t be here, and these young adults, these young kids are going to keep it alive for as long as God desires.”

This year, on Friday April 18, the 91PORN is partnering with Via Crucis to provide an opportunity for folks to gather with the procession. Rev. abby mohaupt, Director of the 91PORN, is organizing a group to bear witness to this holy rite, and is also training participants on how to bear witness in the event that ICE arrives. “We know that there are people who participate and give their time who are undocumented,” Quintana says. “We’re going to do everything we can to keep people as safe as possible. Because people are still coming: You are given strength when you have God in your heart.” If you want to support this year’s Via Crucis processions, organizers meet in Pilsen every Friday and there are still opportunities to volunteer with the event. You can also and support this 100% community funded event. If you’d like to attend Via Crucis Pilsen with Garrett, and receive more information. “We are going to manifest this love for everyone in a world that needs it,” Quintana concludes. “Lives are touched and changed by this procession.”

The post Via Crucis Belongs to the Community appeared first on Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Intimate Community of Global Perspectives

Marketing and Communications — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 20:32:42 +0000

A Reflection on the Fall 2024 Let’s Talk Globally Sessions

Emotional proximity is one of seminary education’s hallmark features. The commitment to dialogue and rigorous ethical reflection, combined with small class sizes, create a learning environment where students become acutely familiar with each other’s thoughts and feelings. Together, the community collectively discerns both individual vocations and the work to which God calls the Church. One of the distinctive qualities of a Garrett education, however, is the way those same factors also offer nuanced perspectives on issues affecting people throughout the world and the ecumenical church. With faculty and students hailing from more than twenty countries across five continents, the global church is present in the room. This incredible blessing is particularly highlighted in the monthly “Let’s Talk Globally,” conversation series, when the community gathers for a meal as international students and faculty learn and teach about issues affecting their home country.

In too many educational institutions, international students’ experience is pushed to the periphery of communal life, subordinated beneath U.S. perspectives and concerns. This program flips that dynamic on its head, recognizing that international students bring a wealth of knowledge that can enrich all learners. Decolonizing theologies also demand decolonizing pedagogy; this series is one way Garrett lives into that commitment. But it’s also a recognition that transformation happens when we strengthen interpersonal relationships. That’s why the gathering always happens over food, to start a conversation that will continue after the event ends. It’s also a chance to correct media bias: As Dean of Students Thehil Russelliah Singh shared in opening this year’s first gathering, “Let’s Talk Globally helps international students—experts on their own context—share news with the wider community that may not get as much media attention in the U.S.”

In the September gathering, Ph.D. student Hannah Grace Injamuri offered a presentation about Dalit Christianity in Southern India, outlining both the caste system’s historic harms and why Christianity became a powerful and liberating faith for Dalit communities. “When Dalits converted to Christianity, they used scripture to advocate for their rights,” she said. “Using education, they began to blur social boundaries to move from being dehumanized to being considered children of God—a drastic change in how they were viewed by themselves and others.” Since Dalits were treated as untouchable within the caste system, Injamuri described how even the simple act of touching was a revolutionary change to affirm their humanity. But Injamuri also outlined the ways that Dalit Christians experience ongoing persecution from the Hindu nationalist government. “Dalit Christians face another layer of oppression being both outcaste and part of a minority religion,” she noted. “And Dalit women face triple oppression, often deprived of education, employment and justice . . . and much more likely to suffer from sexual violence.” While Injamuri named these painful realities, she also described the agency Christian faith has offered Dalit communities—exactly the type of nuanced presentation the “Let’s Talk Globally” format fosters.

In October, Ph.D. students Yichen Liang and Yongjiang (Cici) Zhou were joined by Dr. K. K. Yeo, Garrett’s Harry R. Kendall Professor of New Testament, to describe Chinese Christians’ historic and present struggles. Yichen began with descriptions about how the cultural revolution prohibited religious activities and persecuted clergy members, and the ways that shifted in subsequent years. “The 1982 Constitution provides a legal basis for broad changes to Chinese social and economic institutions, which reflects a new attitude towards religion,” she explained. “In this new relaxed climate for religion, Chinese churches started to grow rapidly.” Yongjiang complicated this optimistic picture, however, as she described the recent rise in state persecution. Starting in the mid-2010s, thousands of crosses affixed to churches were systematically removed and destroyed. “Many pastors were arrested and imprisoned because of their resistance,” she said. “Today, children under the age of 18 are forbidden from entering churches, no Christian teachings can be shared on social media, and churches and seminaries are required to spend time teaching patriotic education.” In conclusion, Dr. Yeo described the way these policies demand Chinese Christians to dedicate their primary loyalty to the Chinese government, not God—a clear violation of how the gospel calls Christians to live. “These are our brothers and sisters in Christ,” Dr. Yeo lamented, calling for solidarity.

We cannot be a global church without learning about the issues that affect our global neighbors. And we cannot be a learning community that welcomes international students without centering concerns they bring from their home countries. When we commit to this work, however, the entire seminary receives an incredible gift: an interconnectedness that mirrors God’s broader desire for humanity. In a world torn by ethnic struggles, religious conflict, persecution and war, we can model how dialogue seeds collaboration and belonging. Deeply entrenched problems do not have simple solutions, but all change begins with a commitment to one another’s flourishing, and initial steps to set us on that path.

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Nurturing Transformation

Marketing and Communications — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 20:36:08 +0000

The Creation Collective at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church enters its second year

By Benjamin Perry

“We believe that Christian communities are called to engage in deeper reflection and venture bolder action to support the just healing of creation for the flourishing of all. In partnership with Garrett Seminary and the Center for Ecological Regeneration, we’re committed to drawing on theological, ethical, scientific, and practical ecological resources as we seek to live into a hopeful vision of congregational and personal action in a climate changed world.”

These words open the Creation Collective’s mission statement. Last year, congregants at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis began meeting with Dr. Timothy Eberhart, Garrett Seminary’s Robert and Marilyn Degler McClean Associate Professor of Ecological Theology and Practice and Director of the Center for Ecological Regeneration. In a class called “Hope for Creation in a Climate Changed World,” they worked to discern how the church could root more deeply in theological reflection and ecological repair. “We focused on better understanding the range of environmental crises that we’re facing, along with some of the causes and unfolding implications,” Eberhart explains. “That includes understanding how Christian beliefs and spiritual practices have contributed to ecological harm, but also how we might recover and re-orient Christian spirituality, worship, discipleship formation, and missional action for the sake of planetary healing.”

Over the spring months, the class engaged a set of regenerative design principles to help members embrace Hennepin’s place in the local geography, its historical commitments to education and justice, and its unique assets as part of discerning a congregational vision for regenerative ministry. As a result of that process, the class claimed the following:

“Hennepin Avenue embraces its vocation as a ‘Cathedral for All Creation,’ bringing together and supporting various denominational, ecumenical/interfaith, and public efforts for the just healing of the world. As a meeting place of confluent social, cultural, and educational systems, in a region ripe with diverse environmental assets, wisdoms, and efforts, Hennepin is a model and catalyst for regenerative convergences that flow inward for deep congregational change and outward for widespread systemic transformation.”

In support of this vision for the congregation, the class proposed the formation of the Creation Collective, which is organized into six different “bee hives,” each dedicated to different aspects of regenerative ministry—buildings and energy, land use, food and agriculture, worship and spirituality, Christian education and formation, and political advocacy, organizing, and outreach. While this scope of this organization and incipient action is impressive, members are clear that this energy would not be possible without the theological reflection that preceded it. “We had been searching for a way to do creation care before the pandemic, had actually formed a green team that met a couple times, but it never got traction,” says Dan Dahm, a member of Hennepin since 1990 and one of the Collective’s initial organizers. “The approach our partnership with Garrett brought us was what we needed to lay the foundation.” Ginger Sisco, another decades-long Hennepin member, concurs with Dan’s assessment. “Churches can go for the shiny object for a year’s time and say, ‘Well, we’ve done that,’” she observes. “What our partnership with a seminary brings is the theological formation and grounding that keeps it alive and attracts others.”

Sandy Christie was surprised by how much this process enriched her understanding. A retired architect whose firm specialized in sustainable design, she was familiar with much of the science presented but found that the connections to her faith facilitated new understanding. “Talking through the theology and learning the history of nature-engaged Christianity was really enlightening for me,” she says. “It makes it feel more possible to nurture a different relationship to creation because that has happened in the past.” For Hennepin’s lead pastor, Rev. Elizabeth Macaulay, it was Dr. Eberhart’s process that helped the collective grow its own agency. “What I’ve really loved about the way that Tim has handled this is that he doesn’t push it, he lets it evolve ecologically,” she says. “He’s done good farming—trusting that what will take root will be what is indigenous to this time, this place, this church, this people.”

One blessing the Creation Collective has already bestowed on the Hennepin community is greater connectedness between its members. “My circle of people at church has easily doubled in size,” Dan says with joy. “We had 30-40 participants every week and, initially, I didn’t know a lot of these people beyond their faces and their names,” Sandy agrees. “Learning people’s background and what they bring to this work is such a great bonding process.” As connections within the class deepened, that spirit began to spread throughout the church community. “Yesterday, a woman was walking through the communal area where coffee is served in compostable cups and noticed that the church is not part of a system where compost gets picked up,” Ginger says. “So, she picked up the cups, saying, ‘Between church and home is a drop off place for compost.’ She’s not actively in any of our hives, but she’s been paying attention.” Last year was Rev. Macaulay’s first at Hennepin, and she is quick to name how the collective’s flourishing has aided her own transition. “Honest to Pete, any pastor who could walk into a new appointment with this group being nurtured—it feels like I must have done something good in life,” she laughs. “I actually came out of retirement to serve and had become a little jaded about church—not sure that I had the heart and passion to do this work anymore—for this to be born in the middle of my own sense of possibility has been such a gift.”

This use of theological scholarship to strengthen local churches is one of Garrett Seminary’s broader commitments. “If our work stops being connected to the life of real communities of faith, it becomes an academic exercise and we lose the spirit and lifeblood of why we exist,” says Garrett President Javier Viera. “We all know Tim to be a serious thinker and ethicist, but he’s also a serious leader who seeks to kindle justice, compassion, and hope in the world.” For Eberhart, this interplay between church and academy is what makes the Center for Ecological Regeneration’s work distinct. “There’s sometimes a faulty assumption within our seminaries, and in our churches, that rigorous theological and moral conversations aren’t of interest in congregational spaces,” he says. “What I have always found is that laity are eager, in many ways desperately longing, to engage the depth of theological, spiritual, and moral reflection that happens in a seminary context.”

In fact, Dan was so moved that he shared resources from the class with colleagues at the Science Museum of Minnesota. “I pulled together a group from our green team here at the museum to read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass,” he says. “The reaction was so positive! The resources Tim brought to us let me bring a part of myself to work that I had never been able to bring before.” For President Viera, this interplay between churches and their community is an integral part of revitalizing both congregations and our broader culture. “Too often, we still think about the church in a very specific way, as what happens within the walls on a particular hour, on a particular day of the week,” he says. “But when we also consider influencing leaders, civic organizations, and government to think more critically and ethically about the work they do—when we inspire greater moral seriousness—that’s the full work of the church.”

The Collective’s leaders treat planting hope beyond Hennepin’s walls as a core part of how the church can foster ecological repair. “If all we do is worry about the future and feel like we’re doomed, it’s almost impossible to move forward with any action,” Sandy reflects. “You have to believe you can make a difference.” As part of embodying this promise, the Collective planted a Three Sisters Garden outside the church. Drawing on Indigenous knowledge about environmental symbiosis, the corn, beans and squash represent the possibility of communities shaped by reciprocity and interdependence. “It’s a proclamation,” Rev. Macaulay says about the garden. “There are people who are church resistant, or church agnostic at best—unsure that the church can be trusted—who have become deeply engaged in this process because the Collective’s method fits its meaning.”

Indeed, one of the Center for Ecological Regeneration’s core convictions is that congregations can play a pivotal role in nurturing climate resiliency and ecological repair. “Our congregations contain spiritual resources that are uniquely fitted to dealing with hard realities – like injustice, pain, death, despair – while at the same time cultivating compassionate and restorative responses,” Eberhart says. “It’s not an accident that some within the scientific community are turning to the world’s religious and wisdom traditions at this moment, recognizing that we’re going to need the kind of moral clarity, spiritual commitment, and collective action that religious communities have often provided at moments of historical crisis.”

For members of the Collective, their experience reflects the fruit of this approach. “The excitement that I hear from people who want to dig in and start doing things is making me feel so optimistic,” Sandy confesses. For Ginger, it’s changed her relationship to the land. “Connecting this work to my spiritual life is really significant,” she says. “It’s a deeper appreciation of the way you’re raised and where you live.” Dan emphasizes the wonder he feels about life’s interconnectedness. “I’ve been spending time in my backyard watching the bumblebees, but it’s never just the bumblebees doing their thing. It’s the bees and the flowers growing over a season, the fungi that live in the soil and distribute fluids, the minerals moving from one plant to another,” he says. “The more time you spend with it, the more awesome it is.” The vitality of a congregation is intimately tied to the vitality of these pollinators, the vitality of a community inextricable from the vitality of the land. As the Center for Ecological Regeneration expands its work with congregations in the coming years, drawing on Garrett’s partnership with Hennepin, one can’t help but notice the reciprocal benefits. “We can always do more together than we can do alone,” Eberhart says. “We discover and generate hope in and through each other.”

This article first appeared in the Center for Ecological Regeneration’s Field Notes newsletter. For more reflections like this, subscribe below.

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AETH & Garrett Seminary Partner To Empower Latiné Theological Education in the U.S.

Marketing and Communications — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 14:32:09 +0000

In the U.S. and global Church, Latiné contributions are often overlooked, underfunded, or outright opposed. This not only robs well-deserved resources from Latiné communities—it impoverishes the Church as a whole and inhibits full understanding of how God moves through the world. A growing partnership is trying to change that.

“We want Garrett-Evangelical to reflect more fully Chicagoland, and the church we inhabit,” says President Javier Viera. “With the sizable Latiné community in Chicago, we need to be responsive in ways that historically the school has not been.” This year, Garrett has helped grow the formal partnership with (Asociación para la Educación Teológica Hispana, or in English, the Association for Hispanic Theological Education) to support AETH’s work expanding theological education for Latiné leaders in the U.S., through non-traditional degrees, research, mentorship, and bilingual conferences.

When I speak with her, AETH Executive Director Jessica Lugo speaks animatedly about the partnership from her home in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She’s impressed that the teams at both institutions are so committed to collaboration, not to advance their own organizations, but to promote Latiné leadership.

“That’s why I say the Church with a capital C. I’m not talking about the building and the congregation,” Lugo said. “I’m talking about the Church as the Body of Christ in all its representations. There’s people out there doing church in new, progressive ways that we probably don’t even think about yet.”

“In the Latin American and Latiné reality, there’s not many people going into full-time ministry, said Wendy Cordero Rugama, a first year seminarian at Garrett Seminary, originally from Costa Rica. “It’s important, finding avenues for people who have whole other careers to still get the resources they need to be pastors.”

AETH certifies Bible Institutes, often called Institutos in a Spanish-speaking context. Institutos help folks become church leaders without an onerous four-year degree followed by three years in seminary. By partnering with an accredited seminary like Garrett, there are more pathways for students to enter grad level programs without a bachelor’s degree. To remain accredited, Garrett Seminary must require bachelor’s degrees from most seminarians. But agreements like this allow the seminary to serve more students, and ensure church leaders can gain the education and recognition they deserve.

“It’s part of democratizing knowledge and resources—exactly the kind of thing I would expect Garrett to support,” Rugama says.

The partnership also lets Garrett serve as a fiscal sponsor for new programmatic funds. This year along, AETH and Garrett were awarded over $4.5 million in grants for Hispanic ministry from the .

Those funds support capacity building and staff at AETH and Garrett, including work to grow the 30-year-old Hispanic-Latiné Center on campus. There’s also subgrants to support certified Bible Institutes—funds that AETH can re-grant to support faculty and students at Institutos.

All staff interviewed for this article shared a vision of broader commitment to support Latiné students and leaders, both in the U.S. and globally. Garrett Seminary is on track to establish another global hub location in Chile in partnership with the local church. And the 91PORN, a new initiative for distributed learning, will include curriculum in Spanish and English attuned to the needs of Latiné communities.

Where do students like Cordero Rugama hope the partnership will lead?

“One of the big issues that AETH cares about is the US-born generation of Latiné people who are leaving Latiné churches. What does ministry for the next generation look like?” she asks. “Unless we address specifically the Queer Latiné community, we’re going to continue to struggle with people in my generation and older who don’t feel comfortable in church spaces.”

Wherever the partnership heads, one thing is certain: The journey will be walked together.

“It’s not like we’re taking what we’ve got and translating it. We’re in a relationship, asking what the community needs, and then we will offer that content together,” said President Viera. “That to me is how you decolonize not only our degree program curriculum, but all we offer.”

Viera described this initiative as a hopeful sign for the seminary. “It’s part of Garrett-Evangelical’s larger commitment to globalizing education and our partnerships, it’s the first of what will be more to come.”

The post AETH & Garrett Seminary Partner To Empower Latiné Theological Education in the U.S. appeared first on Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Planting Partnership with India

Katie Fahey — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 20:43:26 +0000

By Benjamin Perry

The history of the Methodist Church in India begins with a trip by American missionary William Butler in 1856. If you read Butler’s memoir about his work, however, you swiftly notice the colonial theology that shaped 19^thcentury global engagement. In From Boston to Bareilly, Butler describes the native people as “humanity fallen so low in its rampant and shameless vice, as openly to debase itself even unto hell,” construing their religious practices as “groveling before idols as preposterous as a monkey-god.” In words you can tell Butler believes are compassionate, he exclaims “Poor, deluded, misguided souls! how much they need our Christian pity.” The goals for a relationship are clear: Butler dreams of “rugged wills and lives not only ‘bent,’ but sweetly pliant,” to Western desires.

While the ensuing centuries softened some of this blunt paternalism, the underlying ethos has too often remained sadly unchanged. The Indian people have been treated, at best, as an object for charity, not as equals with whom we can partner. Even today, as decolonial theology becomes a fixture in many mainline classrooms, that shift doesn’t always translate to structural changes in seminary education. Amid this broader context, Garrett-Evangelical sent a delegation in January to explore how we can build truly reciprocal partnerships with Indian institutions—to create exciting new education initiatives and strengthen the global church.

“There’s a trend within U.S. theological education: a decrease in U.S. applications and an increase in global applications,” President Javier Viera explains, “And many of these institutions are saying, ‘We’re just going to maximize our recruitment in these regions—specifically Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, without any thought about the extractive nature of that approach.” This desire for global tuition dollars does not often correlate, however, to a commitment that ensures students have what they need to thrive. “I’m not comfortable recruiting without deep meaningful in-country relationships,” Viera says, “We must ask, “Is this the healthiest, most appropriate, holistically formative experience for these students?”

So, after seeing a substantial increase in Indian students, Thehil Russelliah Singh, Director of International Student Recruitment and Engagement organized a trip to meet with Indian peer institutions and think together about how we can work for mutual benefit and best serve Indian students’ needs. This approach was a distinct shift from how U.S. institutions have previously approached the country. “Given my experiences in the past in India, where Americans were perceived as piggy banks,” laughs Russelliah Singh, “I was very proud of how this shifted toward ‘How can we build mutually beneficial partnerships?’” In the past, American foreign aid often came with American expectations for how that money would be used—our outreach is trying to modify that understanding.

This was such a dramatic change, says Vice President for Enrollment Management Scott Ostlund, that at first it was sometimes difficult to move away from transactional modes of thinking. “Communities are not used to U.S. institutions coming with humility,” he says, “They would say, ‘Tell us what you want and then we’ll tell you if we can do that,’ and we would have to push back and tell them, ‘We’re not coming in with a menu of options, but a desire to learn about the needs, gifts, talents, and scholarship that is already here.” Once the group was able to push past this initial hurdle, however, it became clear that there are a multitude of opportunities.

One potential site for collaboration is Leonard Theological College, a Methodist seminary in Jabalpur. “They were really interested in faculty and student exchanges,” Thehil Russelliah Singh says, “where we can learn together and be in community with one another.” Ostlund adds that these partnerships could assume a variety of forms, from traditional models to short-term intensives. “A yearlong or three-year program is not always the most accessible model for students on either side,” he says, “How rich would it be if our students could take a class on Hinduism or Liberation and Dalit Theology for a three-week intensive in India? Or for their students to complete short courses in the U.S.?”

Joe Patro—a second year M.A. student at Garrett-Evangelical and Ambassador for Indian Student Recruitment, who traveled with the delegation—thinks we’ll continue to see a rise in traditional M.Div. applicants. “A degree program in the U.S. holds high value for Indian students,” he says, “American theological education has a strong reputation.” That said, in meeting with Indian students, he also heard practical questions about affordability for this kind of study. “Students expressed concern about the cost,” he explains, “asking about possibilities for employment during and after the program, as well as visa procedures.” Innovative thinking around new educational models that are based in partnership, could help students choose the program that’s best for them.

The 91PORN, a new initiative that will host virtual micro-courses and micro-credentials offers even more possibilities. “We met with a Bishop Yesurathnam, Bishop of Chennai Episcopal Area who oversees all the clergy development in India, and he described a deep need in resources for rural leaders who cannot attend traditional theological education,” Ostlund says, “We talked about co-creating some of that content, along with our faculty, to equip these leaders with tools to build the church—at a price they can afford.”

Whatever forms these collaborations take, what’s clear is that there is rich overlap in subject matter, and chances for each geographic context to inform the other. “There’s much that the U.S. can learn from India about interreligious dialogue,” Singh offers as an example, “India is so diverse religiously. Hinduism is, of course, the big religion, but there are so many gods, so many ways of being a Hindu. And Indian Christians, because they’re a religious minority, are forced to focus much more on building interreligious partnerships than Christians are in America.” The son of Christian leaders in India, Patro concurs. “It changes your lens and how you think when you’re a religious minority,” he says. One particularly apparent manifestation of this is the response to Prime Minister Modi’s right-wing government, which has birthed renewed solidarity between Indian Christians, Muslims and progressive Hindus—a model we would be wise to emulate.

Likewise, Garrett-Evangelical’s emphasis on justice across sexuality and gender could offer a growing edge for Indian colleagues. LGBTQIA+ inclusivity is not as much a part of the conversation in Indian churches and institutions, where it’s often still swept under the carpet. Singh says, “We could also be helpful thinking through questions about gender equality.” Patro remembers this as one of the differences he noticed on the tour. “In many seminaries, the women faculty were not as vocal as the men,” he notes. The vibrant explosion of Dalit theology is one place where we can already see the fruits of how Indian communities have embraced liberation theologies from the Americas. “After being told for centuries that you have no place on the deity’s body,” Singh explains, “it’s such a redeeming theology to be told you are part of the body of Christ.”

While liberative learning across difference is an essential goal for any cultural exchange, Patro shares his admiration for how Garrett-Evangelical is focused on staying true to our values without violating other people’s religious and cultural autonomy—a delicate line to walk. “We are bringing a fresh perspective to Indian seminaries,” he says, “but the ethical challenge in this approach is to not repeat what our forefathers did.”

The persistent focus on reciprocal exchange is one way to push back against colonial ethos, keeping focus where it’s rightly deserved—the joys of learning in community. “You can read as much as you want,” Patro says, “but when you live with folks from different countries and listen to their cultural frame, it totally changes your perspective.” We cannot be a global church without learning from how our global neighbors think. “The way I read a text is different from how someone who’s from Kansas reads it,” he observes, “The beauty of an intercultural classroom is how lived experiences shape the ways we learn. You can’t buy that.”

Garrett-Evangelical’s responsibility moving forward, says Ostlund, is to transform institutional structures to match the ethics of our academic commitments. “How can the business model create benefits for both Indian institutions and ourselves?” he asks, “How can we invest money into services and support for international students? How can we think beyond building a tuition revenue stream from India to nurturing an integrated relationship with the rich scholarship that’s already happening there?” It’s incredible that Garrett-Evangelical’s faculty has leading experts in decolonial theology, he says, “but a genuine decolonial commitment must change our financial aid policy. It has to change how we read applications, how we launch new programs, and how we build curricula.”

The hope, President Viera explains, is that this trip will blossom—driven by our collective needs, gifts and passions—into forms we cannot expect, as has already happened elsewhere in the world. “Whenever we see admissions energy in a new global context, our question is now, ‘How we can build investment there as much as they’re investing in us with students?” Viera says with a grin, “We went to Africa University in Zimbabwe because of a similar trend, and just received a co-authored grant that will launch a contextual program that will allow for contextual theological formation with possible collaboration between our faculty and theirs.” It’s too early to say where our Indian partnerships are headed, but one thing we know for certain: that growth will be guided by deep mutuality and respect.

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