AMBS News and Stories

Frederick Speckeen, PhD (at left), and Leonard Wiebe, MST (at right), are the 2021 recipients of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary’s Alumni Ministry and Service Recognition. (Speckeen: photo provided / Wiebe: credit: Annette Brill Bergstresser)

Frederick J. Speckeen, PhD, of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, and Leonard Wiebe, MST, of Goshen, Indiana, are the 2021 recipients of AMBS’s Alumni Ministry and Service Recognition.

Sherri Martin-Carman in 2010, during her years on staff at AMBS as Admissions Counselor and Development Associate (2007–12). (AMBS photo)

Sherri Martin-Carman (MDiv 1998) of Elmira, Ontario, died Oct. 30. She served AMBS as a board member and as an Admissions Counselor and Development Associate.

Jamie Pitts, PhD (at right), Director of the Institute of Mennonite Studies, converses with Alle Hoekema, PhD (on screen), as part of presenting Hoekema’s new book, Hardship, Resistance, Collaboration: Essays on Dutch Mennonites during World War II and It

The new book — Hardship, Resistance, Collaboration: Essays on Dutch Mennonites during World War II and Its Aftermath — tells stories of Dutch Mennonites' responses to German occupation in the 1940s.

Susannah Larry, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at AMBS, is author of Leaving Silence: Sexualized Violence, the Bible and Standing with Survivors. (Credit: Annette Brill Bergstresser)

Leaving silence

November 16, 2021

AMBS professor’s book reclaims the Bible as a source of hope and healing for survivors of sexualized violence.

Ed and Gay Kauffman of Elkhart, Indiana, are in their fourth year as Volunteer Coordinators at AMBS. They attend Hively Avenue Mennonite Church in Elkhart. (Credit: Jason Bryant)

Striking gold at Poustinia

November 10, 2021

Volunteer Coordinator Ed Kauffman makes an unexpected discovery.

Debbie Bledsoe (third from right) of Raleigh, North Carolina, an AMBS Master of Divinity student who is co-chair of the AMBS Garden Committee, speaks during a Rooted and Grounded Conference workshop entitled, “Community Gardens as a Place of Encounter and

Healing and restoring our broken connections to the land — as individuals and communities — was the focus of the fifth Rooted and Grounded Conference on Land and Christian Discipleship, held Oct. 14–16 at AMBS.

New students who participated in the campus version of AMBS’s orientation course, Leadership Education in Anabaptist Perspective (LEAP), in August 2021 (Credit: Jason Bryant)

AMBS's number of degree/certificate-seeking graduate students rose from 92 to 116 , and graduate-level course enrollments are at their highest level in seven years.

Rev. Femi Fatunmbi, an incoming Master of Divinity Connect student from Los Angeles, asks Susannah Larry, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, to sign a copy of her new book, Leaving Silence: Sexualized Violence, the Bible, and Standing with Surv

Assistant Professor Susannah Larry, PhD, wrote Leaving Silence to help individuals and congregations explore and understand stories of sexualized violence in the Bible from a survivor-centered approach.

Wilbert R. Shenk, PhD (1935–2021), served as Director of the Mission Training Center and Associate Professor of Missions at AMBS from 1990 to 1995. (Credit: Howard Zehr/AMBS)

Remembering Wilbert Shenk

August 26, 2021

Wilbert Shenk, PhD, missiologist, author and educator, served as Director of the Mission Training Center and Associate Professor of Missions at AMBS from 1990 to 1995.

Ron Ringenberg, MBA, MS, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, is retiring from AMBS in August 2021 after 18 years of service. (Credit: Jason Bryant)

Ron Ringenberg, MBA, MS, VP for Administration and Chief Financial Officer, will retire in August 2021.

AMBS logo

AMBS is offering eight distance-friendly courses as well as 14 in-person courses on campus in Semester One. Courses meeting in person will follow COVID-safe protocols.

Rooted and Grounded emblem

The three-day conference — on the theme of “Land: Loss, Connection and Imagination” — will weave together worship, theology, biblical study and praxis.

Safwat Marzouk, PhD, has served AMBS as Associate Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible since July 2011. (Credit: Jason Bryant)

In July, Safwat Marzouk, PhD, concluded his roles as Associate Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and Bible Department Chair at AMBS after 10 years of service

Anabaptist Mennonite Scholars Network graphic

AMBS and the Institute of Mennonite Studies are proud to be a part of the relaunched Anabaptist Mennonite Scholars Network!

Book covers: What is God’s Mission in the World and How Do We Join It?;  Tongue-Tied: Learning the Lost Art of Talking about Faith

Join the AMBS Library and Bookstore team on Zoom on June 21–22 as we interview authors of recently published books: Juan Francisco Martínez, Jamie Pitts and Sara Wenger Shenk.

Deanna Risser, M.B.A. (Credit: Brian Yoder Schlabach/Goshen College)

Deanna A. Risser, M.B.A., of Goshen, Indiana, will begin in her new role on Aug. 1, succeeding Ron Ringenberg, M.B.A., M.S., who will retire in August.

Rachel Miller Jacobs (circled in blue) with her Bethany soccer teammates and coach. (BCS photo)

"Girls can do this, too" — Teaching Faculty member Rachel Miller Jacobs reflects on choosing to be her high school's first female soccer player in 1978.

The AMBS community gathered in person on May 12 for the annual Book Celebration of the Institute of Mennonite Studies, AMBS’s research agency. Teaching and Administrative faculty members who were involved with publishing efforts in the 2020–21 academic ye

On May 12, the Institute of Mennonite Studies and Dean’s Office hosted their 39th annual Book Celebration, recognizing publications from the 2020–21 academic year.

AMBS employees honored in May 2021 for their service to the seminary include Jeff Marshall, Allan Rudy-Froese, Safwat Marzouk, Jewel Gingerich Longenecker, Barb Gamble and Ron Ringenberg.

AMBS employees gathered on May 6 to recognize employment milestones for six faculty and staff members.

AMBS employees wearing masks, carrying food and getting ready to eat

Students in the Christian Worship: Theory and Practice class created new rituals specific to this moment in the COVID-19 pandemic: eating indoors with people from other households for the first time since the pandemic began, and reopening a building shuttered since the beginning of the pandemic.

AMBS's Class of 2021

AMBS's May 1 commencement service honored 21 graduates. Around 60 people attended the service in person at AMBS; people on more than 100 devices around the world viewed the event via livestream.

Cyneatha Millsaps, M.Div.

AMBS's livestreamed 2021 commencement service will honor 21 candidates for graduation who are completing degrees and certificates. Cyneatha Millsaps (MDiv 2008) of Elkhart will bring the commencement address

grapes on vine

AMBS was part of a Feb. 17 videoconference conversation among Mennonite-related organizations on addressing climate change and environmental degradation.

Top row (l. to r.): Teaching session presenters at Pastors and Leaders 2021: Cynthia L. Hale, D.Min.; James Nelson Gingerich, M.D.; Marvin Lorenzana, D.Min. Bottom row (l. to r.): Preache

Planners of AMBS's first fully online Pastors and Leaders conference sought to give leaders an opportunity to “get away” and recharge after a year of living through COVID-19.

AMBS students (l. to r.) Sibonokuhle Ncube, Marcos Acosta, Salomé Haldemann, Andios Santoso and Quinn Brenneke sing "Jesus, we are here."

Worship materials for congregational use for the Sunday after Easter are now available online.