Identity and Vocation
The stirrings of God’s Spirit embolden us In every generation God's spirit emboldens God's people to ask anew what Eastern Mennonite Seminary is we are called to become in this time ( and this place). . As Eastern Mennonite Seminary, we deepen our search with the following questions: What saving work is God initiating in the world that summons our wholehearted participation as a community of learning? How do our lives become an offering of praise in and gratitude for God’s gracious God's initiative toward us in Jesus Christ? How do we make known the goodness of God’s holistic God's salvation in a world burdened by personaleconomic, social, environmental and environmental personal degradation? In a world bedeviled Amidst cultures flooded by fear, what does it mean to call people to devote their primary allegiance to the God we know in Jesus Christ and the reign of God that transcends national boundaries, as revealed to us in Jesus Christ?
As we ponder these questions, a seminary embedded within a small Christian liberal arts university we also ask, “Who "Who are we?” " What is our basic identity as a learning community within this network of learning communities? What is our particular vocation in the world? What is our mission as a Mennonite seminary in the eastern United States—a residential community that connects with a network of learning communities around the world?
We believe that what we are and what we will become is made possible by God’s gracious initiative to save the world. It is because of Jesus’ cross and resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and new life in Christ—and only because of these that we can boldly claim that “with God all things are possible.” Jesus Christ reveals to us “the nature and will of God.” He is the Word of God made flesh in a particular man from Nazareth who embodied the character of God’s salvation.
As we respond to God’s gracious initiative by confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and giving him our primary allegiance, we discover the joy-filled liberation of obedience to Jesus. We are drawn into covenant communities of faithful discipleship, churches that model the peace and restoration that God desires for the whole world, churches that find their authoritative guidance for faith and life in the Bible. Within these communities of worship and mission, we cultivate an alternative consciousness. As we immerse ourselves in the Scriptures, celebrate and enact the saving power of the Gospel, we the broader university, within the Mennonite communities of the eastern United States, and among the various other denominations seeking to serve God's mission in our region?
As students and minister within communities of worship and mission beyond as well as within EMU, we cultivate perspectives that are life-giving and thought-provoking as we study and serve. We seek to model a way of being in the world that shows show forth God’s shalom. And the way in which we do God’s saving work in the world will be noteworthy because God's shalom. We desire that our life and work will be noteworthy because we are Christians who covenant together to live in righteousness and justiceproclaim that God is love, to live justly, to love our enemies, to tell the truth, and to care for creation and to proclaim that God is love.
We delight in the power of images to form and express our life as a seminary community. The prophet Jeremiah speaks of those who trust in the Lord: “They "They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its it roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit” fruit." (17:8). A tree with an extensive network of branches must have an equally large root system or the tree will collapse.Missional engagement
Engagement in God's mission is core to our identity and vocation as a seminary. Our capacity to engage and be fruitful within the diverse cultures of our world will grow as we attend to our root system. The roots nurture our ability to interpret the Bible, to discern our context, and to be strong yet tender grow as Christian disciples. They give us confidence to know that Jesus' promise is always with us as we “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I [Jesus] have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19).As a Mennonite seminary, we are deeply rooted within for us: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." (John 21:21)
In our time the Anabaptist stream of convictions and practices . This radical and living tradition provides has branched out in many directions. We engage core elements of this history, gladly sharing it with Christian siblings with other historical roots. The Anabaptist commitment to following Christ in life provides us with a continual source of renewal for our identity. In recent decades, many Christians from other denominational streams have come to appreciate the particular resources of the Anabaptist stream. Anabaptist perspectives on Christian faith have become an important inspiration for creative, prophetic engagement with our postmodern, pluralistic world. The unique strength of Eastern Mennonite Seminary is our rootedness in the riches of the Anabaptist heritage. The seminary’s vitality, however, will depend on the dynamic interactivity of those deep roots with the tree’s . We also give thanks to God that as our roots intertwine with those of other believers, our vitality as a seminary now experiences the dynamic generativity visible in the tree's broad branches and green vibrant leaves, . We commit to producing a fruitful, critical engagement with the church fruitful and critically engaged leaders in the churches and the world.