Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
Encyclopedia
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) is an accredited Christian seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
in Elkhart, Indiana
Elkhart, Indiana
Elkhart is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located east of South Bend, northwest of Fort Wayne, east of Chicago, and north of Indianapolis...
, affiliated with Mennonite Church Canada
Mennonite Church Canada
Mennonite Church Canada is the conference of Mennonites in Canada, with head offices in Winnipeg, Manitoba.The first Mennonites in Canada arrived from Pennsylvania in 1786. The majority of the Mennonites that migrated to Canada over the next 150 years came directly from Europe...
and Mennonite Church USA
Mennonite Church USA
The Mennonite Church USA, or MCUSA, is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the United States. Although the organization is a recent 2002 merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, the body has roots in the Radical Reformation of the 16th century...
.
The seminary offers a three-year Master of Divinity
Master of Divinity
In the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America...
program or two-year Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degrees in areas such as Christian spirituality, mission and evangelism, pastoral care & counseling, pastoral ministry, peace and justice studies, worship and youth ministry.
AMBS is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada
Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada
The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada is an organization of seminaries and other graduate schools of theology. ATS has its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has more than 250 member institutions...
and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools , also known as the North Central Association, is a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states, that is engaged in educational accreditation...
.
History
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary has roots in two former Mennonite seminaries: Goshen Biblical Seminary of the Mennonite Church and Mennonite Biblical Seminary of the General Conference Mennonite ChurchGeneral Conference Mennonite Church
The General Conference Mennonite Church was an association of Mennonite congregations based in North America from 1860 to 2002. The conference was formed in 1860 when congregations in Iowa invited North American Mennonites to join together in order to pursue common goals such as higher education...
.
Goshen Biblical Seminary
Goshen Biblical Seminary at Goshen CollegeGoshen College
Goshen College, is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana, USA with an enrollment of around 1,000 students. The college is accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities...
, a Mennonite Church school in Goshen, Indiana, was one of two institutions that joined to form AMBS. Goshen College began as Elkhart Institute in 1894.
Mennonite Biblical Seminary
Mennonite Biblical Seminary (MBS), a General Conference Mennonite Church institution in Chicago, Illinois, was the second school that became part of AMBS. The General Conference Mennonites had a history of educating pastors and church leaders which started with Wadsworth InstituteWadsworth Institute
Wadsworth Institute was a Mennonite seminary in Wadsworth, Ohio, from 1868 to 1878. Officially named Christian Educational Institution of the Mennonite Denomination, it accepted men aged 18 to 35 for a three-year program centering around biblical studies and other topics relevant to training...
(1868–1878), then Halstead Seminary (1883) the forerunner of Bethel College
Bethel College (Kansas)
Bethel College is a private college affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. The college is located on the edge of the Flint Hills and the vast wheat fields of south central Kansas in the town of North Newton...
and Witmarsum Theological Seminary (1914–1931), part of Bluffton College.
The Witmarsum school closed in 1931 for what was assumed to be a year or two during which a better location could be found and an association with an older seminary arranged. This would last until 1945 when a Chicago, Illinois, site was selected and an affiliation with Bethany Biblical Seminary
Bethany Theological Seminary
Bethany Theological Seminary is the graduate school and academy for theological education for the Church of the Brethren. Bethany, located in Richmond, Indiana, is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada and the Higher Learning Commission of the North...
was established.
Mennonite Biblical Seminary was opened in September 1945 and used available space at Bethany for classes and student housing. By the fall of 1946 the seminary purchased property on the 4600 block of Woodlawn Avenue as it prepared for more students who were expected with the end of Civilian Public Service
Civilian Public Service
The Civilian Public Service provided conscientious objectors in the United States an alternative to military service during World War II...
. Over the next six years most of the property on that block would become part of the Seminary.
The school operated with five full time faculty and two part time administrative staff members. After the startup years, student enrollment averaged about 40 with about nine degrees granted each year. Each year about a dozen Mennonite students who were attending other Chicago schools were allowed to use Seminary apartments.
In 1953, MBS worked together with Goshen Biblical Seminary to create a joint summer school for the following year. As this friendly exchange progressed throughout the next several years a desire for a larger inter-Mennonite seminary developed. This process was culminated in 1958 by which time the Chicago property had been sold and the Seminary moved to a new joint campus in Indiana.
Association
After the success of the 1954 cooperative summer school, the Goshen and Chicago seminaries started seriously exploring closer cooperation. Other Mennonite denominations were invited to explore what was hoped to be a larger inter-Mennonite school. Although the Evangelical Mennonite Church, Mennonite Brethren, Evangelical Mennonite Brethren and Brethren in Christ all showed initial interest, each of these bodies ultimately opted not to pursue this type of partnership.A plan was devised where each school would operate independently at a single site, sharing a library, a few joint courses, joint chapel services once a week and joint use of certain facilities. It was felt that the two denominations' respective constituencies would support this new venture only if the schools remained independent. This arrangement of two parallel schools is evident in the school's original plural name: Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries.
The largest sticking point in the negotiations was selecting a suitable location. Although Bethel College in Kansas offered a site, this option was never seriously considered. The Goshen group wanted the seminary to be located on their existing campus at Goshen College in Indiana, believing their church members would not support a move. The General Conference Mennonites rejected this site for fear of being swallowed up by the larger group. Eventually an Elkhart, Indiana, site was chosen as a neutral location between the two schools.
Ground breaking at the Elkhart property took place on September 3, 1957 and was essentially completed by the next August. A chapel was added and dedicated in June 1965.
The Goshen Seminary received Association of Theological Schools accreditation in 1958 and Mennonite Biblical Seminary followed with accreditation in 1964.
Over the years closer cooperation eventually eliminated the distinction between the two schools. By 2002 the two Mennonite denominations themselves had joined to form a common structure, in which decades of cooperation between the two groups at AMBS played role.
Institute of Mennonite Studies
The Institute of Mennonite Studies (IMS) is the research and publishing arm of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries. The Institute has fostered inter-Mennonite connections and scholarship advances in the areas of Anabaptist theologyTheology of Anabaptism
Anabaptists are Christians of the Radical Reformation.-Overview:The leading elements of Anabaptist theology are:...
and history since 1958. Key Mennonite leaders such as theologian John Howard Yoder
John Howard Yoder
John Howard Yoder was a Christian theologian, ethicist, and Biblical scholar best known for his radical Christian pacifism, his mentoring of future theologians such as Stanley Hauerwas, his loyalty to his Mennonite faith, and his 1972 magnum opus, The Politics of Jesus.-Life:Yoder earned his...
have been associated with IMS.
Library
In 2007, AMBS completed a new building to house the library and bookstore. This building was the first theological library registered with the United States Green Building CouncilUnited States Green Building Council
The U.S. Green Building Council , co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a non-profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built, and operated...
for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. The building received a LEED Gold rating in 2009.
The library collection includes approximately 115,000 books and more than 500 journal subscriptions, forming one of the most comprehensive collections of Anabaptist materials for theological study and ministry preparation.