Dear HELM Community,
It has been a productive month since I last wrote to you. In early October the Association of Disciples for Theological Education (ADTD) met at Butler University in Indianapolis for theological discussions around the topics of: (1) Eva Gore-Booth with a presentation by Tish Duncan, of Texas Christian University. (2) The State of Brite Divinity School enrollment and the future of theological education by Michael Miller, and (3) A panel discussion on “Public Theology in a Divided Society.” Both Rick Lowery and Newell Williams were honored with an honorary retirement status with the group. President-elect Michael Miller will serve as President at next year’s October 6-8, 2023 meeting. Meeting dates were also selected for October 5-7, 2024. The group offered kudos to Scott Seay for his Presidential leadership of the ADTD over the past two years.
The HELM Fellows will be meeting in Washington, D.C., November 3-6, 2022. Nearly 40 individuals from all across the United States and Canada will meet to engage in conversations around environmental justice and public witness. Each of the four cohort groups (freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior) will meet with theological guides to explore the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jamaica Kincaid, and Parker Palmer. We will tour and meet at National City Christian Church and tour the National Museum of African American History and Culture. We offer thanks for the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Bruce Epperly, the Rev. Dr. Delores Carpenter, the Rev. Dr. Ken Brooker Langston, and President of Eco-America, Robert Perkowitz, for providing contextual content to our meeting. I also give thanks for our HELM Staff and Board leadership for making this gathering possible.
Plans are well underway for the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) meeting in January 2023, the Council of Theological Education (CTE) meeting in the Spring of 2023, and the HELM Global Awareness Trip for 3rd Year Leadership Fellows in May of 2023. Our Emerging Clergy Leadership Conference (formerly Seminarians Conference) is currently reaching out to our General Ministry leadership and Seminary/Graduate Schools of Theology leadership to identify dates to hold the Conference in 2023. Once dates are established, a program Committee will be appointed to plan the event. We are also making plans to have a presence at the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature gathering in Denver, CO, November 19-22, 2022. Our Disciples scholars and emerging scholars need to be supported by our whole church — congregations, regions, and general ministries.
I was privileged to attend the Beecher Lectures at Yale University Divinity School, October 12-15, 2022. Professor Enjoo Mary Kim of Vanderbilt University is the first Asian and female to ever deliver the Beecher Lectures over the past 155 years. Her lecture title was: “Preaching Jesus: Postcolonial Approaches.” The last time the name of Jesus was in the title of a Beecher lecture series was in 1945 when Reinhold Niebuhr delivered the lectures.
I am glad to serve as your Interim President and look forward to all we may accomplish together as the HELM Search Committee launches its search for a new President. This ministry is vital to the health and vitality of our church. The connection between congregations, regions, institutions of higher education, and YOU — each and every Disciple — is critical to our joint mission to develop leaders for church and society. If there was ever a need for leadership, it is NOW.
Interimly speaking,
Ron