Page 10 - CBFK SUMMER Newsletter 2020 flip

by David Cassady, President, Baptist Seminary of Kentucky
I am learning that this community of learning is ready and willing to be cre- ative and generative in ways that help churches and leaders respond in this season.
In spite of moving staff and faculty to working from home, and shifting our courses to Zoom online sessions, BSK is busier than ever.
Seminaries are communities of learning. We understand that learning is a “prac- tice” of growth that we engage through- out our lives. Rather than viewing sem- inary as a place to which persons retreat to spend a few years learning (and then are finished), we understand our work to be forming persons to learn across a lifetime.
As this pandemic reveals, life is unpre- dictable and presents unique situations
sources and research to help others and ourselves learn and serve during the pandemic.
David Grady, who graduated this May with his M.Div., began a series of ar- ticles and videos on Facebook that addressed theological issues raised by COVID-19.
Our “Flourish Center for Congregation- al Imagination” responded by rapidly developing a series of workshops de- signed to support quality pastoral care in a season of great need. Forty-seven persons are participating in the work- shops, including ministers, chaplains, first responders and missionaries. Led by Dr. Wade Rowatt and Dr. Dartanya Hill, working with Dr. David Adams, the series explores responses to loneli- ness depress, anxiety, and more during a time of pandemic.
BSK’s Associate Professor of Church History, Dr. John Inscore Essick, is con-
part of the research, helping gather and preserve information for future church historians.
BSK also participated in the devel- opment of a “Coronavirus and the Church Toolkit” with the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. (NBCA).
The pandemic is reshaping churches and our society in ways that are still unfolding. The BSK community is paying attention, and is here to support thriving current and future ministries, whatever their shape.
BSK’s readiness to be flexible in this season continues for the coming fall se- mester. Multiple new initiatives reveal our commitment to lifelong learning, including our new 75 hour M.Div., our new graduate certificates in Rural Min- istry or Pastoral Care, and additional Flourish Center workshops – all of these will be available using our relational ap- proach to online learning.
I hope you and your congregation will see BSK as your seminary – your learning community. Together, we will follow God’s call to share love, heal- ing and hope in a time of trauma and change.
What I’m Learning About
Seminary Education
During Our Pandemic
and needs. Seminaries are communities of learning, and this time of pandemic challenges us to find creative ways to help churches, ministers, caregivers and leaders navigate a season full of needs.
The BSK community has thus respond- ed by being generative – creating re-
ducting research about how churches are adapting and serving during this unique time. Two surveys are available now, focusing on working and pastoral care, with more coming in the weeks ahead (you can participate at flourish. bsk.edu). An area for sharing resourc- es, letters, and ministry ideas is also