New Neighbor, Shared Mission: Butler Founder’s College and the CTS Library 

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Consistent with our core values outlined in the CTS 2030: Project Transformation strategic plan, CTS continues to prioritize affirming God-given human dignity, working towards justice for all, and embracing diversity. Over the course of the 2024-2025 academic year, a committee consisting of staff, faculty, alum, trustee, and senior leadership stakeholders adopted the name Imago DEI and established the following theological commitments to its ongoing work even as the landscape of the work continues to shift.  

Image Dei Committee Commitments 

The gospel of Jesus Christ and the testimony of scripture compels us as a theological learning community to give witness to and act in ways that affirm God’s transformative love, restorative care, and life-affirming concern for all humans as divine image bearers: 

• As the work of the gospel, we create and support opportunities for all to flourish and live fully into their vocational call and potential. Difference is not a distraction but an opportunity for us to best serve the world God loves and the church God empowers. (Exodus 31:1-11, Ephesians 4:11-16)
• There is room for everyone. We are one body with many members. We take joy in fortifying our learning community through explicit practices of welcome, making sacred space for authentic self-expression, and encouraging transformative pedagogy. (Ezekiel 36:26, Romans 12:2)

Towards the goal of God’s shalom and the Beloved Community, we are committed to: 

• Seminary-wide learning about our theological vision of God’s presence in people of all ethnicities, races, and backgrounds and what that means for our shared life together as a community. (Joel 2:28-32, Acts 2:17)
• Clear expression of this theological orientation and commitment in our teaching, communal programs, and public theology. (Habakkuk 2:2, 1 Peter 2:9-12)
• Review of seminary policies and procedures to ensure alignment with this core theological conviction. (Lamentations 3:20, 2 Corinthians 13:5)

We celebrate the strides our community makes to affirm the Imago DEI in all. As stated in the President’s State of the Seminary address, we as a Seminary remain “clear eyed” around challenges and steadfast in our commitment to live our core values.  

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CTS has made significant strides to analyze what technology our classrooms need today and plan ahead for what they will need in the future. These efforts led to some major classroom upgrades for the 2022-2023 academic year. The CTS classrooms located below Faculty Row were all outfitted with identical equipment so that they all function the same way and have the same high-quality technology. To learn more about how the new technology will benefit students and faculty, CTS Content Producer Stephanie Seeger had an in depth conversation with CTS Education Technology Specialist Melissa Trahyn.

What does the new classroom technology look like in each room?

Melissa:  Each of the CTS classrooms under Faculty Row has a screen at the back of the room facing the instructor, 2 cameras (one with a view of the room and one with a view of the instructor), 5 microphones that pick up all sound, and a smart whiteboard at the front of the classroom.

The camera focused on the instructor follows the instructor around as they move, allowing faculty members the freedom to use their natural embodied movements in teaching. The screen in the back allows the instructors to feel like they can talk facing all students, whether they are physically in the room or attending online. Think of it like the last row in the class – that board is part of the classroom circle and conversation. It shows pictures and video feed of all the students attending class virtually.

This arrangement makes it more comfortable for all students – for example, when classes were fully in person, you would have students who choose to sit in the front row who regularly speak up and others who choose to sit further away and observe before they speak out. This new arrangement makes it feel much more like the students attending from home are part of the group, not individual students attending separately. The instructor doesn’t have to turn around to talk to their Zoom camera to address people not in the room – just by teaching facing the class, they are able to address those in person and those participating online.

How is this technology better than traditional Zoom meetings?

The new technology and room setup takes away from online distractions. For example, when people at home stand up, move around, or have a pet move past their camera, the people in the classroom aren’t seeing that. The teacher is able to be front and center and can engage all the students in the same manner.

The technology is called Zoom Room. The room itself hosts the meeting, runs the meeting, and captures all whiteboard notes, video, and audio so that it can be saved and posted to online class sessions. Classes can do interactive activities using the smart whiteboards. In the room, students can come up and take the stylus marker and write on the board. If they’re at home, students have the ability to annotate the white board notes and add their input. This way, we can have hybrid classes, but still have a strong feeling of participation. Professors don’t have to lose information when they erase the whiteboard; they can add a screen and do something else on the board, then pull previous whiteboard content back up. They can upload the whiteboard notes to the weekly class session in Populi or to the lesson for the week.

In true hybrid classes, if Covid limits the number of students able to be physically together in one classroom, larger groups can still meet in person and online – in one classroom or in multiple classrooms. If there are more students in person than can safely meet in one room, Professors can link two rooms together. In person participants can be split between the two rooms and participate just as fully as if they were all together in person.

What are some of the challenges of implementing new technology?

Because the technology is new, there will be a learning curve as professors and students get used to using the classrooms and taking full advantage of the functional capabilities. We are working with professors to train them on not only how the technology works, but also brainstorming with them on how they can use the board to meet the needs of their different classes.

There are also some slight differences in technological setup between the CTS classrooms below Faculty Row and rooms shared with the Butler School of Education. All rooms still have updated technology, but faculty and students will have a slightly different classroom experience.

Faculty are redesigning how they teach for the hybrid classroom expereince. Although it will take time for faculty, students, and technology to be in perfect sync, the effort is definitely worth the reward. This is no longer a way to make sure classes meet during Covid and survive an urgent pandemic’s unique demands – we are now in a planned ahead, sustainable hybrid model that increases accessibility while still mainining high-quality student experience and academic rigor.

How does this new technology advance the mission, vision, and values of CTS?

This technology creates an equitable experience for students across different mediums. Students who don’t have the means or capability to travel to campus every class session can now participate just as fully as students who attend in person everyday. Faculty are now able and encouraged to apply universal design as they develop courses to maximize student engagement for all students, whether they attend in person or virtually. Sometimes it can feel like attending online is second best to attending in person; we’re saying that is no longer true. Attending online is an equally valuable alternative that we care about and are committed to making as high quality as attending in person.

What are you most excited about for students as they interact with this new technology?

I want them to know that CTS cares what they learn and how they learn. We are doing everything we can to make their experience a good one, to make their experience something they want to keep coming back to class for, something they can learn from whether they are physically in the classroom or attending online. It’s about living our core values and showing our students that we care and value them, no matter where they are.

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The 2022 grant recipients follow:

$5,000 to Marian Faith Community Nursing. Marian University’s Leighton School of Nursing will use its $5,000 grant for Marian Family and Community Nursing, an effort to provide ten $500 scholarships to neighborhood communities of faith so each can send one registered nurse to train as a Faith Community Nurse. A specialty nursing practice recognized by the American Nurses Association, Faith Community Nurses – also known as parish nurses – use their expertise to enhance health and wellness within their communities of faith. By equipping faith communities to support nurses in becoming Faith Community Nurses, Marian Family and Community Nursing aims to help congregations reduce health and wellness disparities and improve health outcomes.

$35,000 to Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Through its 4:8 Fund, Redeemer Presbyterian Church will use its $35,000 Faith & Action Grant to increase access to mental health services to people of color. Named for Philippians 4:8 (which encourages Christ followers to focus on things that are noble and right), the 4:8 Fund will use the grant to eliminate barriers to mental health services by providing scholarships to people of color seeking mental health services, facilitating sessions at places convenient to clients, pairing clients with counselors of color, and making the language and experience of counseling as accessible and comfortable as possible.

$25,000 to Shepherd Community Center. With its grant of $25,000, Shepherd Community Center will expand its collection and evaluation of data related to its poverty-alleviation work and improve its service-delivery systems. Shepherd is collaborating in a research project currently underway at IUPUI that will result in a replicable, evidence-based approach to place-based poverty alleviation. The expectation is that the research results will support real-time program-delivery decisions to maximize impact for families. In addition, the improved documentation of the effectiveness of Shepherd’s model and interventions will support the development of proven approaches to poverty alleviation that can be shared and scaled in other communities.

 $40,000 to Trusted Mentors. Trusted Mentors will use its $40,000 Faith & Action Grant to support and expand its mentoring program that helps adults and young adults avoid or emerge from homelessness. The funds will provide necessary staffing to recruit, train, and support mentors and maintain relationships with partnering agencies in an effort to help 80 participating adults and young adults end the cycle of poverty. By helping individuals enhance their networks of supportive relationships, the project seeks to support them in developing their gifts, overcoming challenges, and becoming stable and contributing members of the community.

 “The organizations receiving 2022 Faith & Action Grant have recognized that we will eliminate poverty only by attacking its root cause, not by simply providing short-term relief,” said Faith & Action Director Lindsey Nell Rabinowitch. “Whether it’s through mental health services, personal-network development, mentoring, or other similar efforts, these organizations are offering replicable models for moving people from perpetual poverty to long-term stability.”

Launched in 2016, the Faith & Action Project at Christian Theological Seminary is supported by the Mike and Sue Smith Family Fund and Lumina Foundation as a multiyear effort to help reduce poverty in Indianapolis. In addition to providing grants, the Faith & Action Project holds communitywide events and attracts national poverty experts to Central Indiana.

The Faith & Action Project will continue its push for poverty mitigation with its Sept. 29 Faith & Action Fall Event, which this year features a keynote address by and moderated conversation with one of the nation’s leading voices in the fight for social justice, Poor People’s Campaign Co-Chair Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II.

About the Faith & Action Project

The Christian Theological Seminary Faith & Action Project is dedicated to helping to spark a revolution of hope by leveraging resources of communities of faith to connect, inspire and empower lasting solutions for people confronting poverty. Through annual public events and grants, the Faith & Action Project seeks to ignite a solution-oriented movement for inclusive well-being in our community.

About Christian Theological Seminary

Christian Theological Seminary (CTS) is a fully accredited ecumenical seminary, open to all, affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It offers nine graduate-level degree programs, including programs in theology, ministry and counseling, plus open-to-the-public classes and events. More than 30 denominations, including no denomination, are represented among CTS students and faculty. Additional information about CTS is available at www.cts.edu.

# # #

MEDIA CONTACT: Lindsey Rabinowitch, 317-931-2336

INTERVIEW SOURCES:

Faith & Action Project: Lindsey Rabinowitch, Director of the Faith & Action Project, 317-931-2336

Marian University: Lorie Hacker, 317-955-6148

Redeemer Presbyterian Church: Julianne Vastbinder, 317-238-5487 ext. 119

Shepherd Community Center: Andrew Green, 317-762-9391

Trusted Mentors: Jeri Warner, 317-985-5041, ext. 5

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During his opening remarks, program director Dr. Frank Thomas shared reflections on the PhD program: “In 2013, I put out a call for scribes and scholars to study African American preaching and teaching. Now this program has 21 students in 2 cohorts. This conference is a vision emerging out of the program itself. We believe the beauty of African American preaching and teaching can generate a preaching renaissance to revive Christianity in the 21^st century.” Dr. Thomas also shared a personal story about the powerful effect preaching had on his life when, as a young man, his friend died tragically. He attended the funeral and felt the fog of death was heavy on the air. He shared, “In the midst of the fog of death, the preacher and the preached word changed my outlook and perspective on death. Amazingly, and to my surprise, I felt better. I felt a sense of hope, and I wondered what he did and how he did it. I never forgot how that made me feel.” This ignited a passion in Dr. Thomas for the power and import of good preaching.

The Mixed Methods Preaching Conference focused on improving participants’ preaching through teaching clarity of method and practicing the art live with immediate feedback. Each day included a combination of plenary sessions, preaching lectures, panel discussions, moderated question and answer sessions, and preaching labs. Speakers highlighted topics like the intersection of public health and religion, HIV/AIDS and communities of color, developing a Black Queer hermeneutic, and addressing health and wellness in the faith community.

Although the conference was virtual, it had a highly interactive and communal feel. Worship music was led in person and broadcast live to participants. An entire section of the virtual hosting platform was dedicated to allowing participants to network with one another. One session featured an interactive candlelit centering moment from CTS PhD student Nicole McDonald: “This candle holds space for you. The inexhaustible love of God is a fire that never burns out.” In preaching labs led by CTS PhD students, conference participants were asked to write a sermon centered on this theme. Rather than simply turning it in for critique, participants were given the opportunity to workshop sermon development, preach the sermon virtually, and receive immediate feedback. Please join CTS in congratulating our PhD students for putting on a successful conference that promises to have an exponential impact on those who hear its preachers for years to come.

The Mixed Methods Preaching Conference is one of the ways in which the PhD Program lives out its mission: “to teach and expose the genius, depth, beauty, history, power, and imagination of the Black preaching tradition in order to generate a preaching renaissance to revive American Christianity in the 21st century.” Learn more about CTS’s PhD Program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric here.

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The baccalaureate ceremony on Friday, May 20, offered the opportunity to gather for a worship service, which included a sermon by Prof. Courtney Buggs, that honored the academic class of 2022. Part of the ceremony included the recognition of this year’s academic award winners:

• Biblical Studies Award: Janai Downs
• History of Global Christianity Award: Kalra Jo Elliot
• The Reverend William R. “Bill” Duffy Theology Prize: Cassidy S. Hall
• Christianity and Culture Award: Theodore T. Jones III
• Pastoral Theology and Psychology Awards: Iann Matlock, Kaitlyn Joy Ferry
• Christian Ministries Award: Martin Tapia
• Perseverance Award: Simoné A. Walls
• Promise of Excellence in Ministry Award: Michael Aric Thomas Jefferson, II, Carmen Ann Daugherty
• Stone-Campbell Promising Scholars Award: Chance McMullin
• Hoyt Hickman Award for Outstanding Liturgical Scholarship and Practice: Grace Kathleen Kozak
• Trustee Award to Graduating Student for High Academic Achievement: Jill Frame

Along with the celebrating the class of 2022, this year’s commencement ceremony included the conferral of honorary degrees to Rev. Dr. Emilie M. Townes, Rev. Dr. Harold Keith Watkins, and Rev. Dr. John Richard Foulkes, Sr. President David M. Mellott celebrated these recipients for “their profound contributions to the church and the academy. We are proud to call them friends of CTS.”

Townes, the Dean and Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society and Vanderbilt University Divinity School, was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and gave the commencement address entitled “The Theology of Somehow.” She spoke about the need for a theology that “gives hope to the hopeless in the midst of the struggle… a theology that hangs tough, defies the odds, majors in hope and minors in despair.

“Graduates,” she said, “you come from a long line of asking ‘how?’ We are like the blind man who sat on the side of the road and cried, ‘Oh Lord, save me. Let me see again.’ And my only response to you is God’s somehow. It is God’s act of faithfulness… Somehow you must go forth and provide or continue to provide leadership for religious communities, society, and the world that refuses to bend to bigotry and prejudice and violent shenanigans.”

“We have a word to say to the nations. You have a gospel to be preached. You have a witness to share. You have a lesson to be taught,” Townes encouraged the graduates. “We need a religion, and a church, that understands that its mission statement is not to make us all feel good. Rather, it is to guide us into robust and endless faithfulness. So let’s stand with the righteous who are standing with the least of these… Somehow, no matter what the world hands you, give back love. Stand for goodness. Live your faith. Live with integrity. Live God’s grace large.”

After Townes’s address, Ted Waggoner, Chair of the CTS Board of Trustees, introduced the inaugural recipient of the Presidential Award of Excellence, Rev. Dr. Sue Webb Cardwell.

“Rev. Dr. Sue Webb Cardwell lived her life as a trailblazer, as a female seminary student, the first female staff member, and our first full-time female faculty member. She paved the way for CTS to develop our counseling degree program and counseling center. She was a pioneer promoter for using psychological testing to prepare people for ministry,” Waggoner said. “Rev. Dr. Cardwell, for 104 years you have burst through barriers, you have inspired us to follow your path and empowered us to blaze trails of our own.”

Finally, the ceremony included the conferral of degrees for members of the class of 2022. This year’s graduating class included 9 recipients of the Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy; 7 recipients of the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling; 2 recipients of the Master of Theological Studies; 21 recipients of the Master of Divinity; and 6 recipients of the Doctor of Ministry.

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The PhD program was accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in 2016 and welcomed its first two cohorts of students in January 2017 and January 2019, respectively. The program aims to develop practitioner-scholars connected to the church and the academy with critical awareness of the history of African American preaching and other forms of sacred rhetoric in the United States, the theologies informing this history and practice, the signature skills involved in the practice of African American preaching and sacred rhetoric, and the gifts these traditions can offer the wider, global church.

“The PhD program has been like a rain shower in a parched desert. In diving into the fields of rhetoric and homiletics, my categories and methodologies have been expanded, my preaching has been enchanted, and my mind continues to be engaged,” said PhD student Rev. Watson Jones. Rev. R. Janae Pitts-Murdock, also a member of the program’s first cohort, explained that, “The unrelenting intensity of intellectual inquiry is consistently matched by the authentic collegiality of my cohort, the contagious vision of Dr. Frank A. Thomas, and the vital contribution that our research will make to entities well beyond the Church and the Academy. I am simultaneously humbled and energized at every turn.”

The PhD program grew out of the visionary leadership of Rev. Dr. Frank A. Thomas, Founding Director and the Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Th. Miller Professor of Homiletics at Christian Theological Seminary, and the unwavering support of the Christian Theological Seminary Faculty and Board of Trustees. Thomas serves as the Director of the program, and Rev. Dr. Courtney Buggs, Assistant Professor of Homiletics, serves as the Assistant Director.

More information about the PhD program, including how to apply, can be found here.

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In its programming for the spring, CTS has continued to deepen its work on this front by hosting four events pertaining to mental health. CTS President David Mellott explained that “Mental health education is a priority of CTS. Training counselors and mental health professionals is a vital part of our mission to serve the church and the world. We’re inspired to continue thinking about innovative ways for CTS to offer our strengths and capacity around mental health education and advocacy in service to our life in common.”

• On March 9, the Faith & Action Project at CTS hosted its annual Spring Conference. This year’s theme was “Poverty and Mental Health: Examining Connections.” The conference featured a keynote address by Schroeder Stribling, President and CEO of Mental Health America, panel discussions with leaders in the field, and breakout sessions with conference panelists and CTS counseling faculty members. Read a recap of the conference.
• On April 1-2, CTS hosted its 24th annual Spirituality and Psychotherapy Conference online. This year’s conference featured Katie Asmus, therapist, coach, and Founder of Somatic Wilderness Therapy Institute. The theme was “Weaving the Strands of Body, Earth, and Soul: Relationship with Nature for Self-Care, Consciousness, and Connection.”
• CTS will host a Mental Health Symposium on May 18 on the theme, “Mindfulness, Self-Care, and Spiritual Repair.” The symposium, hosted by the Recruiting and Admissions Office at CTS, will include a panel discussion with CTS faculty, alumni, and mental health professionals. This event is free and open to the public. More information and registration to come!
• In order to help bridge the gap between faith communities and mental health needs, CTS is providing free Mental Health First Aid training to a group of local faith leaders. Participants will receive a certification after completing a 2-hour online class and a 4.5-hour training at CTS. Along with the others, this particular event is an embodiment of CTS’s core strategy of “serving the public through serving the church.”

Learn more about CTS’s counseling programs here.

Learn more about CTS’s Counseling Center here.

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The 2022 Day of Giving was the second in what is now an annual tradition, building on the success of last year’s inaugural event and the support of CTS alumni and friends far and wide. This year CTS secured 127 individual gifts, including 31 first time gifts, equaling $28,747. This represents a 53% increase in donors over last year’s inaugural event.

Throughout the day, CTS staff, faculty, alumni, friends, and students gathered in person and online to support the seminary. For much of the afternoon, members of the community gathered in the Common Room for fellowship and community building around their shared gratitude for CTS. Students enjoyed an opportunity to connect with members of the Alumni Board and reached out to benefactors to express gratitude for their financial support.

Kristin Champa, Vice President for Advancement, said that the outpouring of support from so many is reflective of “a vibrant culture of gratitude and generosity around CTS’s mission and enthusiasm for its future.” “We are incredibly grateful for the gifts received on our Day of Giving and the investment, by so many, in CTS as an academic learning community that gives witness to God’s liberative, restorative, and life-affirming message.”

You can support CTS here.

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