Higher education 46
men and women have gone through the program. Church leaders use the term “emerging ministries” to describe those outside the traditional Christian com- munities of European descent. Penumaka and TEEM literature apply it to ministry in an ethnic-specific, multi- cultural, deaf, or underserved urban or rural setting.
In practice, what really seems to set TEEM apart from the norms of the past couple of centuries is the bottom up, community-based nature of the process. To begin with, TEEM isn’t the traditional master’s program that leads to ordination. Usually the largest group of candidates attend seminary after college, or within a few years, and complete the program in four years. But the typical TEEM candidate is in his or her 40s or older, works or has worked in a secular career, has been an active ELCA member for at least a year and, to paraphrase Shakespeare, is about to have “greatness forced upon him [her].” Research-based studies and prior experiences have
taught that great leaders are nurtured from within a com- munity. That is a basic tenet for candidates identified and recommended by their synod bishops for TEEM. Villalon said TEEM candidates can experience the interdependent partnership that exists between a congre- gation, synod, churchwide and an ELCA seminary from the beginning of their candidacy process to ordination and beyond. “One of the strengths of the program is that the TEEM candidates immediately begin to learn and ‘do’ mission in a program that contextualizes all of their theological education,” he said. Data from ELCA Research and Evaluation shows that
as candidates study and learn in context, the ministry to which they’ve been assigned by their bishop also grows because parishioners also participate in the students’ learning.
Over three years, TEEM candidates continue to live, work and study in their assigned ministry sites with the help of a local pastor and a mentor selected and nor- mally trained by the synod and seminary. Students work through their courses with their mentors. They also meet with seminary professors on campus three times a year for a week at a time. Their 15-course load is designed to meet their indi-
vidual needs and goals as they prepare for God’s mis- sion, Villalon said. Also included in their formation program are two electives, four workshops, an internship and pastoral care education. Since the congregation is as much a part of the pro- gram as the candidate, the curriculum is designed with that in mind, Penumaka added. “This is an apprentice- ship model, and when a TEEM candidate comes to
48 The Lutheran •
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seminary, the whole congregation comes to seminary,” he said. “TEEM is a great model to train and educate leaders for our church.”
Like Emmaus journey Javier (Jay) Alanis and Eliseo Perez, who work with TEEM candidates at the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest, Austin, Texas, describe the approach as an accompaniment model, which they relate to the jour- ney to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Most of the Austin students are engaged in ministry in Hispanic communities spanning both sides of the Rio Grande. Alanis said at some point they must conduct worship in a language other than their native tongue. “Most of them find that quite a revealing experience,” he said. “It opens aspects of worship, ministry and commu- nity that are very unfamiliar to them.” Since emerging ministries involve immigrant com-
munities from Africa, Asia and Latin America, language and bilingualism or multilingualism are an important component of TEEM, and one of those issues tailored to the needs of the candidate and host community. Another benefit: in many TEEM programs candidates
can complete their academic and practical requirements at a lower cost than those in the traditional route. At PLTS and Luther, for example, the low cost of the TEEM program is a great help for candidates with families and limited or no financial support because they have left their former employment to follow God’s call to mission.
Candidates normally complete their TEEM require- ments in three years and are called as ordained ELCA pastors by the ministry sites that have served as their laboratory for the contextualization of their theological education.
Craig Nessan, who works with TEEM candidates at
Wartburg in Dubuque, Iowa, is hopeful that in the future TEEM will train some as mission developers, starting congregations even while still in the program. Today the ELCA has 196 candidates from the
church’s multicultural and ethnic-specific communities preparing for ordination. Of those candidates, 54 are enrolled in the TEEM program. Villalon concluded: “Today the ELCA continues to be a welcoming community where people of all colors and all races are welcome. Our multicultural and ethnic- specific communities—and the leaders they’ve gifted this church with—will hold hands with the whole ELCA as we walk together into the future, participating in God’s mission in the world.”
Elliott is a freelance writer in Chicago.
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