J. Alfred Smith Sr. Inaugural Institute
Offers Prophetic Ministry Training
National Ministries and Palmer Theological Seminary are partnering to offer a five-day teaching and preaching event January 15-19, 2007, for people with a passion for justice. A two-credit January term course emphasizing the prophetic and pastoral ministry style of Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr. is central to the event to be held at the Seminary, located in Wynnewood, Pa. (on the edge of Philadelphia).
This institute seeks to embody the ministry of the Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr. in order to challenge, cultivate and equip a new generation of prophets who build their ministries with firm commitment to social justice. Speak Until Justice Wakes, the theme of the inaugural institute session, is also the name of Smith’s latest book published by Judson Press in 2006. Smith will be in attendance at the J-term to lecture and provide learning opportunities in informal settings, such as lunchtime conversations.
Faculty members from the seminary will offer courses that explore the lives and ministries of those engaged in prophetic ministry and give students opportunity to learn from those who have expertise in exegeting a community.
A visiting lecturer for the institute, Dr. Obery M. Hendricks Jr. has a new book out: The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted. He is professor of Biblical Interpretation at the New York Theological Seminary and an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Dr. Marvin McMickle, also a visiting lecturer, is a nationally known preacher and political activist, and one of the foremost scholars of African American history.
“This institute draws its inspiration and insight from J. Alfred Smith’s ministry, in both its congregational and community aspects,” said Dwight D. Lundgren, National Ministries’ coordinator for Intercultural Ministries and Reconciliation. “His compassionate, dynamic witness to the Gospel also makes it clear that socially prophetic leadership is essential to effective pastoral ministry.”
Smith is senior pastor of the historic Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, Calif., and Distinguished Professor of Christian Ministry and Preaching at the American Baptist Seminary of the West (ABSW) and the Graduate Theological Seminary in Berkeley. Whether in the academy or church, he champions the causes of the poor and downtrodden — “the left-outs and the left-behinds” — and gives voice to those who are rejected and treated with disdain.
As pastor of Allen Temple, Smith leads a church that has a rich heritage of social justice ministry to its community. And during his visionary leadership, Allen Temple has grown to a membership of 5,500, while continuing its legacy in holistic ministries focused on redeeming and transforming whole persons and communities.
In addition to his professorship at ABSW, Smith is visiting professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., and has served as acting dean of the American Baptist Seminary of the West. He is a past national president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention and past president of the American Baptist Churches of the West.
Ten colleges and universities and 16 seminaries and theological schools across the United States and Puerto Rico are related to American Baptist Churches USA through National Ministries, which awarded $315,000 in scholarships and financial aid to American Baptist undergraduate, graduate and seminary students last year.
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