UMC Delists Evangelical Seminary in Pennsylvania

Mark Tooley
November 12, 2010

The following article was originally posted on the Good News website and has been published with permission.

After controversially restoring funding to Claremont School of Theology despite its new interfaith identity, United Methodism’s seminary oversight agency has delisted an evangelical Wesleyan seminary popular with United Methodists.

Claremont, which began training Muslim and Jewish clergy at its California campus this fall, is one of the church’s official 13 seminaries and receives over $800,000 from the church annually. Evangelical Theological Seminary in Myerstown, Pennsylvania, has been one of about 40 non-United Methodist schools that United Methodist seminarians may attend. But this summer, the United Methodist University Senate informed Evangelical that United Methodist seminarians seeking ordination in their church may no longer attend the school, starting in July 2011.

“This decision was based on the continuing lack of ethnic inclusiveness of faculty and staff and the absence of full-time United Methodist faculty,” explained University Senate Secretary Wanda Bingham in a June 30 letter to Evangelical President Mike Sigman.

About 40-50 of Evangelical’s 175 or so students are United Methodist. And the school has more United Methodists than some official United Methodist seminaries. Unlike official seminaries, it receives no direct denominational funding from the Ministerial Education Fund. Official seminaries typically receive about $1 million annually from the church.

Evangelical Seminary, which has been at its current location since the 1890’s, is affiliated with The Evangelical Congregational Church, an originally German language Wesleyan body descending from Jacob Albright, the 18th century Pennsylvania German farmer converted in a Methodist class meeting.

In a letter to his faculty, Sigman noted that Evangelical has “enjoyed strong support” from East Pennsylvania Conference Bishop Peggy Johnson, who “has encouraged us to both appeal this decision and call upon our constituents to write letters of concern and support to the University Senate.” He said: “Together, we want Evangelical to continue to be a seminary option for United Methodists in this region and beyond.” Sigman set aside September 14 as a “day of prayer and fasting” for the seminary.

“We had 16 years of positive relationship with the United Methodist Church,” Sigman told a local newspaper. During its last review by the University in 2006, Evangelical was reapproved “with a very positive affirmation of our ministry,” he said. The 2010 letter was much more “abrupt” and left the seminary somewhat baffled. Evangelical has two part-time professors who are United Methodist, and two others who serve as adjunct faculty.

On September 29, Sigman appealed to Gerald Lord of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education for the University Senate to reconsider its delisting of Evangelical. He noted that the 2010 notification complained of a “continuing lack of ethnic inclusiveness,” when the 2006 approval had made no complaint. In its 2006 application, Evangelical explained that mostly rural Lebanon County, where it’s located, is 95 percent Caucasian.

The seminary pledged to work for racial diversity on the faculty while noting its current tenured professors could not be removed and it could not afford to create new professorates. In its 2010 application to the University Senate, Evangelical reported the hiring of a “gifted” Latino woman as an instructor in marriage and family counseling. Evangelical has also been invited to work with the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Latino Commission’s Hispanic/Latino theological training initiative.

Addressing “the absence of full- time United Methodist faculty,” Sigman’s appeal to the University Senate said Evangelical has two part-time United Methodist faculty members who are both elders in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. One is Director of United Methodist Studies and an Assistant Professor of United Methodist Studies. The other is Director of Field Education and Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry. Two other East Pennsylvania clergy serve as adjunct professors, one for United Methodist studies and the other for youth ministry.

Sigman emphasized that Evangelical “stands in the Wesleyan tradition of the Christian faith and this tradition is woven into the fabric of the school.” He pointed out that his school is the only Wesleyan seminary within the East Pennsylvania Conference. It also has strong ties to the Susquehanna Conference, hosts annual conference Board of Ordained Ministry meetings, and convenes an annual Wesley Forum. Sigman said the University Senate has not previously specified a requirement for full-time United Methodist faculty.

Observing that most United Methodist students at Evangelical live nearby, Sigman said they often have families and local ministerial appointments. Commuting several hours to United Methodist Drew Theological School in New Jersey or Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. would impose an unnecessary “hardship.” He also said many of these students specifically want an evangelical Wesleyan education. A liberal United Church of Christ school and a Moravian school in eastern Pennsylvania remain on the University Senate’s approved list.

Sigman cited a quote in Christianity Today magazine from University Senate Bishop William Willimon explaining the delisting of Evangelical: “It’s an encouragement for United Methodist students to go to United Methodist schools that need students.” That quote implied that the University Senate’s decision was guided by financial concerns for official United Methodist seminaries that are struggling for students as the church in the U.S. declines.

The University Senate also delisted evangelical Palmer Theological School in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, which is part of American Baptist affiliated Eastern University. Unlike Evangelical, Palmer was given no reason for its delisting. “We don’t understand why this has been done,” Palmer dean Christopher Hall told Christianity Today. “We were completely caught off-guard.” About 16 percent of Palmer’s 325 students are United Methodist, which means that it also has more United Methodists than do some official seminaries. Like Evangelical, Palmer is appealing the decision.

Bishop Peggy Johnson of Eastern Pennsylvania told United Methodist News Service, “For a lot of little churches, it was good to have a seminary nearby. It will certainly be an inconvenience and will color the availability of appointments for many of our churches.” She observed: “Evangelical has a great following of graduates and people in the area who have loved and supported them, and they are very disappointed. I have gotten many letters.”

The University Senate next meets in January 2011, when presumably it will consider the appeals from Evangelical and Palmer.