Flipping the script on seminary study

In a world full of online options, the LIFE 631 program offers a uniquely residential — and communal — experience.

PROFILES IN LEARNING ICONAt 25, Lindsey Rowland’s ministry background is already vast and widespread.

As an undergrad at Otterbein University, she worked with Campus Crusade for Christ. She has also worked overseas, studying a foreign language and “learning what it looks like to live out your faith in a different context.”

The decision to depart from that context — and return to Ohio to a pursue a Master of Arts in Practical Theology in the LIFE 631 program at Ashland Theological Seminary — was a difficult one. What eased the transition was the highly communal atmosphere that awaited Rowland.

“After all, when I was overseas, I was living life very closely with friends and fellow westerners,” she recalls. “That tight-knit atmosphere was a fuel for me in my work, and now in my studies.”

Communal learning — and living

Herein lies one of the most compelling and unique aspects of Ashland’s LIFE 631 program: All students — whether MDiv or MAPT — must live on-campus (housing scholarship provided) and progress through the program in cohorts.

Today, when so many advanced-degree options are offered online or at satellite locations to accommodate busy pastors, it might seem like a counterintuitive approach … and that’s by design.

As someone returning home from a foreign country, Rowland admits she was tempted to go to class, head home after, and pursue her advanced degree that way. After processing and praying through that prospect, however, she happily chose “in-person, face-to-face, flesh-and-blood engagement.” She is now in her second semester with the LIFE 631 program.

Practically, of course, a housing scholarship was a big blessing. (“It’s really nice housing.”) But, the community Rowland now enjoys is a far more important benefit. She particularly enjoys living next door to her cohort members. “If we were just to go to class, and then our respective homes, and not always be near one another, I don’t think the roots would be nearly so deep,” she says. “I don’t think I would be growing as much as I have been — and hope to continue to — if I wasn’t deeply entrenched in community and feeling the body of Christ being right beside me.”

Getting out into the world

For Rowland, journey group sessions are a favorite. Held every other week, they are “a time for us to process life, to process where we are in school and in ministry,

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and to dig into the word together,” she explains.

Additionally, ministry incubators are conducted every other week, led by a field study professor. Here, students — as they work in their field placement assignments — process and troubleshoot ministry concepts, and share ideas and encouragement.

At the moment, one cohort member is working in a prison ministry. Others are ministering in assisted living environments. Rowland’s own field placement is in a local church. “The whole goal is to help us grow and ‘get our hands dirty’ in ministry,” she says.

Next summer, Rowland will travel to Israel with her cohort and some other students from Ashland University proper. “Obviously, that will be a wonderful adventure!”

Pre- and post-retreats … together, always

Rowland fondly recalls her first pre-retreat at Ashland. Held on a Friday night and most of Saturday, she says it gave her cohort time to get to know each another on a deeper level, right off the bat. “That was huge, and exactly what I hoped it would be,” she says.

As she anticipates her first post-retreat, she’s most excited for the reflection aspect. “Those times of escaping together [are vital],” she shares — in keeping, of course, with Mark 6:31, where Jesus invites the disciples away to a quiet place.

“The idea of retreating with my cohort members falls right in line with that,” she adds. “Those retreats a really life-giving experience.”

Life beyond LIFE 631

Rowland isn’t sure yet what her post-graduation life in ministry will look like.

She might consider pursuing more opportunities to live overseas. After all, she says, her time at Ashland has grown her “heart for the world” and helped her hone those gifts and passions.

And while Rowland doesn’t envision herself in an ordained leadership role at this point, she might want to stay on at Ashland for another year — with the same cohort — and pursue a Masters of Divinity. She believes this would equip her well for a ministry role in a church or parachurch setting.

“But, I’ve really enjoyed my classes here,” she adds. “So, I’m also discerning what it would look like to get my Ph.D., and maybe be a theology professor.”

Whatever path Rowland takes, one thing is clear: She won’t go it alone. “Personally, I feel very invested in a very tightly woven community; that’s glorifying and exciting,” she says. “It has been so awesome — everything I hoped it would be and more.

“I just pray that lots of others get to have the same experience.”

— Reporting by RaeAnn Slaybaugh

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