Hope and Resilience: Reflections from our learning community

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.

Daniel Grimes video still

In this last video of AMBS’s 2019–20 fiscal year, Daniel Grimes, M.P.A....

Daniel S. Schipani, DrPsy, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Care and Counseling. (Credit: Peter Ringenberg)

Daniel Schipani, Dr.Psy., Ph.D., reminds us that the original Greek meaning of "pandemic" is "of or belonging to all the people." How does this relate to the church's call?

Presenters show examples of visuals during the Good Friday and Easter planning webinar (clockwise from top left): Michelle Curtis (M.Div. 2018); Rebecca Slough, Ph.D., AMBS academic dean emerita and professor emerita of worship and the arts; and current M

A Christian ritual course sparked the creation of a conference workshop and then — in response to the pandemic — a webinar on planning online worship services.

Safwat Marzouk, Ph.D., associate professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, speaks at Pastors and Leaders 2018. (Credit: Jason Bryant)

Experiencing the pandemic as a global learning community presents opportunities to experiment with and model leadership in a time of crisis.

Beverly Lapp, Ed.D. (Credit: Peter Ringenberg)

Vice President and Academic Dean Beverly Lapp, Ed.D., reflects on how AMBS is adapting to COVID-19 in preparing leaders for ministry and service.

Nekeisha Alayna Alexis leads a half-day workshop on intercultural competence and intersectionality for incoming students in the 2017 Leadership Education in Anabaptist Perspective course. Credit: Peter Ringenberg

In this time of upheaval, Nekeisha Alayna Alexis, MA, sees unique opportunities to act for justice.

Beverly Lapp. (Credit: Peter Ringenberg)

Beverly Lapp, Vice President and Academic Dean, reflects on the recent growth in the canon of art, scholarship, theology, humor, worship and care-giving resources.

AMBS President, David Boshart (Credit: Jason Bryant)

In this video message, AMBS president David Boshart shares the ways our learning community continues to live into our God-given vocation in this unprecedented time.

Students from the 2017 Christian Rituals course at AMBS have created a free webinar to plan engaging worship in a time of physical distancing.

Snow in the AMBS courtyard, spring 2007.

Not Knowing

March 24, 2020

President David Boshart, Ph.D., reflects on this year's Lenten journey as a time marked by many unknowns. However, the test of our faith is found in the affirmation of our hope.

David Boshart, Ph.D., AMBS President. (Credit: Jason Bryant)

President David Boshart, Ph.D., suggests that the church use this time of upheaval to encourage people to be still and know that God is very present.

Members of the AMBS community held their regular Tuesday chapel service outdoors instead of indoors on March 17. (Credit: Beverly Lapp)

Teaching Faculty member Rachel Miller Jacobs, D.Min., offers encouragement for staying connected and “trying softer” rather than “harder.”