Leading With Love: A Campaign for Andover Newton Seminary

Landing Page Blurb:

Community and Education

Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School empowers leaders to bring healing to the world through God’s abundant love.

Students and faculty experience an academic community that serves the mind, heart, and soul. Embracing students in their wonderful diversity, Andover Newton is engaging in the conversations needed to address evolving trends in Christian life.

Today, Andover Newton is living into its mission to educate inspiring leaders for faith communities by committing to a $6 million campaign to endow a new faculty chair named in honor of Newton’s first African-American graduate George Washington Williams, grow endowed scholarships aimed at improving access to theological education and eliminating seminary debt, and funding a reimagined travel program called Emmaus Encounters: Building Community on the Road.

Building on Tradition, Shaping the Future

As part of Yale Divinity School, Andover Newton honors its history of innovation. In 2018, it designed and adopted a new educational model: a diploma program strategically tailored to fit the needs of Christian ministry today. This sustainable model offers the best of two worlds: a small seminary culture within a world-class university Divinity School. The curriculum forms students holistically for ministry in locally governed faith communities.

Unlike so many other settings of higher learning, even graduate theological schools, Andover Newton remains passionate about the church, which itself ministers in a world of evolving needs. People seek connection, community, and a sense of belonging. Churches can and are fulfilling this need. Leadership is essential to the church’s capacity to respond to the times.

Tuned into what ministers need to know…

The overlapping crises of political division, a catastrophic public health crisis, a reckoning with systemic racism, and widening economic disparities unearthed overwhelming, intergenerational pain. The specter of climate collapse due to global warming looms over all these crises, challenging our capacities for activism and hope. The world needs settings of theological reflection and moral reasoning. Just as it has so many times in the past, Andover Newton has stepped into the breech of preparing leaders to ensure such spaces’ continuity.

Leading with Love: A Campaign for Andover Newton Seminary

While Andover Newton is on dry ground now, the water is rising for all theological schools and the churches their graduates serve. Now is the time to strengthen the school’s foundation to ensure a vibrant future. Andover Newton is taking a bold stance of hope for faith communities’ ongoing relevance and potential. Philanthropic support will make this vision a reality. Investing in this campaign will make a difference immediately for students and will shift the landscape for students and churches of the future.

Yale University, in which Andover Newton is embedded, launched its “For Humanity” capital campaign in the fall of 2022, and its timing coincides with the Leading with Love campaign. As a seminary passionate about creating communities, your support for Andover Newton will be best understood as a gesture of love: for God, for the church (as it is, and as it can become), for humanity, and for all creation.

The George Washington Williams endowed faculty chair to honor the past and shape the future…

Andover Newton has two faculty positions under its direct purview at Yale Divinity School, and only one is currently endowed. The other will not only become endowed through this campaign, but it will be designated to focus on issues relevant to historically marginalized populations and churches. The church must play a role in addressing those issues in our nation, and our students must learn to do meaningful social justice ministry in their churches.

George Washington Williams was Newton Theological Institute’s first African-American graduate. He was a pastor, statesman, historian, and advocate for the freedom of all people. Learn more…

An open door through student financial support…

To assist in eliminating financial barriers for aspiring leaders, Andover Newton is collaborating with Yale Divinity School and Berkeley Divinity School (an Episcopal embedded partner) to provide robust student financial support. The support will allow any student who is qualified and called to enter the Andover Newton program and discern their callings without constant worry over seminary debt.

The extended Andover Newton community emphasized and supported this goal early on in Andover Newton’s time at Yale. Along with the named, endowed funds transferred from Massachusetts, Andover Newton raised an additional $1.25M in new endowed scholarship funds between FY ’20 and FY ’22. Learn more…

Emmaus Encounters: Building Community on the Road…

If one were to name a single ministerial competency most needed in the world of alienation and fragmentation, it would be building community. As a residential seminary community, Andover Newton is uniquely situated to create and share new knowledge on how community is built, and to enable its graduates to carry that knowledge out into the world.

Travel seminars provide the ideal educational model for teaching students to build relationships within groups and build partnerships beyond them. Andover Newton has employed travel seminars as a form of educating for three decades.

Emmaus Encounters: Building Community on the Road will continue this tradition while creating (and sharing with others) new methods for forming leaders who can bring people together. Learn more…

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Welcome

Andover Newton, the oldest graduate school in the nation, formally affiliated with Yale Divinity School in 2017. All three institutions – Andover Seminary, Newton Theological Institute, and Yale Divinity School – emerged from the Second Great Awakening as schools focused on providing a learned clergy for faith communities. Over the centuries, these settings educated ministers who went on to serve locally governed churches, such as those that make up the United Church of Christ and the American Baptist Churches (USA). As an embedded institution within Yale Divinity School, Andover Newton offers the special benefits of a tradition-specific seminary alongside the unparalleled resources of a world-renowned university.

Andover Newton Seminary (ANS) at Yale Divinity School provides specific programs for those exploring or living into such a call, adds a ministry-loving flair to YDS, and creates new knowledge about the art and craft of congregational ministry. Staff and faculty employed by or affiliated with ANS offer their gifts to the seminary’s programs specifically, and they embody its values throughout Yale Divinity School.

Students enrolled at YDS through Andover Newton can earn a diploma certifying their preparation for ministry in addition to their Yale degree. Andover Newton funds faculty positions and educational programs through YDS and underwrites scholarships for ANS students. ANS and other YDS partners cover all demonstrated need for student tuition assistance. Applications to Andover Newton are administered through YDS, and ANS’s leaders engage with applicants at every phase of their discernment. Applicants interested in pursuing the program at Andover Newton Seminary should use a YDS application for admission, indicating their desire to enroll in the Andover Newton Seminary Program and they should simultaneously reach out to a member of the ANS staff.

Find answers to frequently asked questions by clicking here…

Photo credits: © 2021-2022 Mara Lavitt, Samara Sorce, Spencer Law

News feature:

The ministry of Rev. Randy Mayer (ANTS MDiv '94) recognized during PBS News Hour

Sarah Drummond and JaQuan Beachem publish article in the Wabash Journal on Teaching

Lisa Maria Andreoli Steinberg (ANTS MATS '12) begins new role with the Southern New England Conference, UCC

Additional content:

About & History

For over 200 years Andover Newton has educated clergy and other religious leaders dedicated to serving the church.

Education & Preparation

Andover Newton Seminary focuses on preparing religious leaders for service in locally-governed faith communities, including (but not limited to) United Church of Christ and American Baptist Churches (USA) congregations.

Resources

Andover Newton remains rooted in its faithful devotion to the study and practice of worship as it has been passed down through local congregational communities.

Announcement:

UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION.

For transcript requests, please visit Transcripts and Records.

Founding Dean Sarah B. Drummond blogs weekly about ministerial leadership. Follow her page on Medium.

Welcome

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News feature:

Andover Newton Seminary at Yale

Quote block:

My sense of vocation is to combine ordained ministry and academic teaching. You would be hard pressed to find an Episcopal seminary in America which would provide better preparation for such a dual vocation at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale

Eileen Norrington

Additional content:

About

For over 200 years Andover Newton has educated clergy and other religious leaders dedicated to serving the church.

Education & Preparation

Andover Newton Seminary focuses on preparing religious leaders for service in locally-governed faith communities, including (but not limited to) United Church of Christ and American Baptist Churches (USA) congregations.

Spirtual Community

Andover Newton integrates learning opportunities with spiritual growth for individuals and for the community. Worship and mission partnerships are integral to the growth of our students.

Announcement:

The deadline to apply to program is Friday, Decemeber 16th.

Giving

Landing Page Blurb:

Tuned in to what ministers need to know…

Unlike so many other settings of higher learning, even graduate theological schools, Andover Newton remains passionate about the church, which itself ministers in a world of evolving needs. People seek connection, community, and a sense of belonging. Churches can and are fulfilling this need. Leadership is essential to the church’s capacity to respond to the times.

The overlapping crises of political division, a catastrophic public health crisis, a reckoning with systemic racism, and widening economic disparities unearthed overwhelming, intergenerational pain. The specter of climate collapse due to global warming looms over all these crises, challenging our capacities for activism and hope. The world needs settings of theological reflection and moral reasoning. Just as it has so many times in the past, Andover Newton has stepped into the space of preparing leaders to insure such spaces’ continuity.

Strengthening Andover Newton’s foundation…

While Andover Newton is flourishing now, the water is rising for all theological schools and the churches their graduates serve. Now is the time to strengthen the school’s foundation to ensure a vibrant future. Andover Newton is taking a bold stance of hope for faith communities’ ongoing relevance and potential. Bold philanthropic support will make this vision a reality. Investing in this insitution will make a difference immediately for students and will shift the landscape for students and churches of the future.

We envision a better future with abiding hope and great anticipation. Andover Newton is positioned to effect change through the students it educates, the faith communities for whom it prepares leaders, and the knowledge it shares freely with the wider church. To live into this moment, will you help us to lead with love into a brighter future?

The Andover Newton Office of Institutional Advancement is committed to…

Adopting a Faithful Devotion to Gratitude.
Nurturing Transformational Relationships, not Transactional Relationships.
Embracing Our Vulnerability as a Symbol of Sacred Humility.
Making Accessibility a Form of Outreach.
Communicating Clearly About Need.

Link to the Donor Bill of Rights

Are you ready to make your gift? Visit the Ways to Give page, where you can choose a method of giving that is right for you.

Ethical Investing Policies:

Contributions made to endowment funds for Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School are managed by the Yale Corporation for the exclusive benefit of Andover Newton. Gifts made to the Annual Fund or those current use restricted gifts are held in short-term accounts, and support the annual operating needs of Andover Newton.

Andover Newton Seminary has the same commitment to ethical investing as it did when it was an independent free-standing seminary. Alumni/ae and partners will be pleased to know that Yale University was one of the first universities to formally address the ethical responsibilities of institutional investors in 1972.

More information on Yale’s ethical investment policies can be found on the Ethical Investment Policy site for Yale University.

Specific information on Yale’s policies regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion can be found by visiting the Diversity and Inclusion page on their Investments Office site.

The Impact of Endowing Scholarships…

I gave to Andover Newton Seminary because I’m excited about the future of our beloved school. We all know that we’re living during a time of seismic changes in the Church. Andover Newton is responding to these changes head-on, ensuring that our donations help provide a quality education for future clergy. Giving back to the Seminary that formed me so well for ministry is an honor.” Lauren Lorincz (MDiv ’10), pastor of Colchester Federated Church, Colchester, CT

Featured Pages:

The Impact of Your Giving

Ways to Give

Scholarships

Alumni/ae

Landing Page Blurb:

Since its founding, Andover Newton has seen alumni/ae make an impact throughout the world. Our current alumni/ae are no different. They serve churches, work for justice, run non-profits, wear uniforms, and sit in court rooms. Every single day we give thanks to God that we have alumni/ae who respond to God’s unceasing Call for peace and reconciliation in our world.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “The Kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you” (NRSV). Andover Newton alumni/ae have always recognized the need to do “Kingdom work” – the extraordinary work of building a Kingdom here on Earth, as we hope it is in Heaven.

Andover Newton alumni/ae can stay connected to the seminary and to each other by following us on social media and reading “News From the Hill” - a monthly email blast. If you have a milestone you would like to share with your colleagues, please email Ned Allyn Parker (ned.parker@yale.edu).

Not finding what you’re looking for? Take a look at our “FAQ” page!

Featured Pages:

Convocation

Alumni/ae Profiles

Alumni/ae Community

Spirit of the Hill Award

Resources

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As has been true for generations, Andover Newton’s commitment to teaching and learning extends far beyond the classroom. The Seminary seeks to provide nourishing opportunities and resources for head and heart. While the majority of these resources are offered to benefit anyone interested in the church, some of the resources also strive to offer new knowledge to those interested in ministerial leadership.

Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School will be a source of new, leading-edge knowledge.

• Develop research capacity to increase knowledge and to expand the scope of our impact

• Create leading edge knowledge on the church and its ministry that is valued by those in the academy and in congregations

To that end, we are developing this Resources pages where lectures, worship prompts, new devotional materials, publications, and workbooks can be housed.

Featured Pages:

Devotional Series

Lectures

Lifelong Learning

Worship Resources in Response to Recent Mass Shootings

Education & Preparation

Landing Page Blurb:

Andover Newton Seminary focuses on preparing religious leaders for service in locally-governed faith communities, including (but not limited to) United Church of Christ and American Baptist Churches (USA) congregations. Andover Newton promotes love for congregations in the entire YDS community, provides specific programs for those exploring or living into such a call, and creates new knowledge about the art and craft of congregational ministry.

Featured Pages:

Curriculum

Professional Networking

Professional Development

Andover Newton Fellows

Admissions & Aid

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What’s to Love about the Master of Divinity Program?

A reflection by Sarah B. Drummond, Founding Dean

Decades ago, when I was making plans for my own theological education, I remember talking with a mentor about the question, “Should I pursue the MDiv (Master of Divinity) or the MAR (Master of Arts in Religion)?” I thought that the biggest difference between the two degree programs was their durations, where, for full-time students, the MDiv is three years and the MAR two. My mentor set me straight. The MDiv, she said, integrates lived experience into divinity school’s intellectual formation. Something about her enthusiasm for living the questions captured my imagination, and the MDiv it was.

I now know that the experiences woven into the MDiv – supervised ministry internships, Clinical Pastoral Education, nonprofit agency placements – are not add-ons to the “real” curriculum in the theological school classroom. On the contrary, they are what breathes life into learning, changing our attitudes and behaviors while imparting skills and practical knowledge. Learning experiences outside the classroom even deepen our understanding of what we learn in the classroom. We remember our Bible better from having preached on it, our ethics from having to act ethically in ministry, our theology from asking “Where is God in all this?”

The embedded seminary at Yale Divinity School I serve as dean, Andover Newton, focuses on preparing students for ministerial leadership. The way in which we educate students reflects a congregational ecclesiology and polity, which is a fancy way of saying that our program’s underlying assumptions include (1) the local matters; (2) no human beings – including clergy – have all the answers, so communities have to rely on each other; and (3) the best leadership is shared leadership.

Sometimes, students hear “congregational” and think Andover Newton educates students exclusively for service in churches. Hey, we love churches! We also know that in all contexts, including churches, God is doing something new. We therefore provide our students with great breadth in their preparation; they have to be ready to go where God sends them to use their gifts. We need our graduates to know how to engage in reflective practice on the quickly changing field that is ministry, no matter the setting, so they are ready to grow and change as the world changes, too. We seek to educate our students to take part in bringing to life that which God envisions for creation.

The MAR is a wonderful program that, for many, is exactly right when it comes to answering their callings. What I love about the MDiv is the way it gets students thinking about the iterative nature of the study of faith: we learn, we live, we learn some more. That iterative approach prepares students to attend to what God is doing, wherever God is doing it, and partner with God in the future’s unfolding.

Want an insider’s perspective on what it’s like to be an Andover Newton Seminary student? Check out our Instagram feed (@andover_newton), where you’ll find a series of student takeovers. These students reflect on everything from their faith journies, to life in New Haven, to classes and community…

Featured Pages:

Admissions

Diploma

Financial Aid

Faculty & Staff

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Page Blurb:

Andover Newton Seminary’s programs and missional distinctiveness rely on faculty and staff who embrace the seminary’s commitment to educating clergy for pastoral leadership in locally-governed congregations. Staff and faculty employed by or affiliated with Andover Newton Seminary offer their gifts to the Seminary’s programs specifically, and they embody its values throughout Yale Divinity School.

Faculty and Staff list:

Staff

Sarah B. Drummond

Founding Dean

(203) 436-9954

sarah.drummond@yale.edu

Sarah B. Drummond's Bio

Ned Allyn Parker

Associate Dean for Institutional Advancement

(203) 464-2287

ned.parker@yale.edu

Ned Allyn Parker's Bio

JaQuan Beachem

Director of Community Development & Spiritual Formation

(203) 432-4663

jaquan.beachem@yale.edu

JaQuan Beachem's Bio

Anna-Liisa Lubbert

Senior Executive Assistant

(203) 436-9970

anna-liisa.lubbert@yale.edu

Anna-Liisa Lubbert's Bio

Affiliate Faculty

Benjamin Rolin Doolittle, MD, MA Div

Associate Professor of Medicine (General Medicine) and of Pediatrics; Director, Int Med-Pediatrics Residency Program; Associate Professor, Religion and Health, Yale Divinity School

203.785.7941

benjamin.doolittle@yale.edu

Benjamin Rolin Doolittle's Bio