McCormick Seminary dean trains students to specifically apply learning to practice of ministry
The Rev. Jeffrey Japinga
Central to the call of the Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Japinga at McCormick Theological Seminary is his work to provide a bridge between the theological institution and the practice of ministry.
The goal is to help students “learn to dig deeply into the Bible and theology and practical issues of learning, but doing it in a way that can be very specifically applied to their place of ministry,” said Japinga, associate dean of doctor of ministry programs at the Chicago seminary.
“It is my responsibility to help form and craft and carry out the doctor of ministry programs that can live out the values of McCormick Seminary, and at the same time foster the spiritual and theological growth of our students.”
Japinga has endeavored to provide this bridge since he began serving at McCormick in 2008. Prior to that he spent 21 years on the denominational staff of the Reformed Church in America, through which he is ordained.
He earned a master of divinity degree from New Brunswick Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry degree from McCormick Seminary, and has served in a variety of leadership positions, including with the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators and the National Council of Churches.
Japinga said that McCormick’s desire in calling him was to draw on his administrative and church experience, and that part of his role is to design structures and program content that are clear, value-driven, and collaborative in ways that service the church.
For example, he said, every doctoral student writes a thesis. But the McCormick doctor of ministry thesis is only 40 pages long, which encourages students to zero in on a topic that will be truly helpful to ministry.
That thesis should not just be a hoop that a student jumps through, but “an opportunity for you to also become a teacher of the church,” Japinga said. Students should focus on subjects in their theses that may apply to others in other ministries, so “they can learn from your learning.”
Students become learners and teachers all at once, he said. “I want it to be the best 40 pages you have ever written in your whole life.”
In addition to Japinga’s work with doctor of ministry students, his duties have expanded over the last two years to include responsibilities related to nondegree educational programs that equip leaders in the church.
Last year McCormick started a program in executive leadership. The certificate program for pastors and church leaders was designed for participants to “look deeply into the skills needed for effective leadership,” he said. “We had 17 persons in our first cohort.”
“We are now looking at other certificate programs,” such as ones related to chaplaincy and pastoral care, Japinga said. This is one way McCormick said it can serve the church in a new way, he added.
Ultimately, Japinga said, the seminary hopes to develop change agents for the church. “I would hope that every student who graduates from the McCormick doctor of ministry program sees themselves as a transformational leader for the church,” he said.
The hope, he added, is that they will see themselves as “leaders who can apply Biblical-thinking skills, can read the culture around them … can provide the relational context with those with whom they work and can put those together with their own deep spiritual nature.”