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J. Nelson Kraybill
President
- B.A., Goshen College, 1978
- M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary, 1983
- Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary (Virginia), 1992
Email: nkraybill@ambs.edu
Phone: 574 296-6244
To download a print-quality photo, click on the small photo at right.
In September 2008, Nelson Kraybill announced his intent to step down as president of AMBS in summer 2009. Read more.
J. Nelson Kraybill brings to AMBS broad ecumenical experience and deep commitment to the life and mission of the church. Before coming to AMBS in 1997, he served as a missionary in England, a pastor in Vermont, and a high school teacher in Puerto Rico. He and Ellen, his wife, have taken short-term teaching or mission assignments in Uruguay, Mexico, Ireland, and Spain. These experiences inspired conviction that Anabaptists have both much to learn and to contribute in ecumenical settings.
From 1991 to 1997, he served as Programme Director at the London (England) Mennonite Centre and was a member of the leadership team of Wood Green Mennonite Church. He has keen interest in seeing the church live out a discipleship to Jesus Christ that includes both evangelism and peacemaking. He has experience as a mediator in church conflict; has taught widely on issues of mission, allegiance, early church, and the book of Revelation; and relaxes with woodworking and sailing.
"I am a Christian because there is no joy greater than knowing and following Jesus. My life work has been in the church because it is the setting in which salvation becomes tangible and mission becomes possible.
"I promote theological education because the tasks of evangelism, church leadership, and peacemaking demand the best training and resources available. A new generation of church leaders-surprised by the freshness of biblical teaching, inspired by the insights of believers throughout church history, nurtured by a life of prayer and worship-will speak hope into a world God works to redeem."
Scholarship
- "Power and Authority: Helping the Church Face Problems and Adapt to Change" in The Heart of the Matter: Pastoral Ministry in Anabaptist Perspective (Cascadia, 2004)
- "Apocalypse Now" in Christianity Today (October 1999)
- On the Pilgrim's Way: Conversations on Christian Discipleship During a Twelve-Day Walk Across England (Herald, 1998)
- Imperial Cult and Commerce in John's Apocalypse (Sheffield Academic, 1996)
- Miscarriage: A Quiet Grief (Herald, 1990), co-author
Speakers Bureau Presentations
- Politics of worship in the Book of Revelation (illustrated)
- Missional church in an age of doubt
- Anabaptism: the missional core of radical renewal
- Anabaptist, evangelical and ecumenical
- Living as exiles: 1 Peter's message of living hope
- Leadership, power and authority issues for men and women
(co-led with Janeen Bertsche Johnson)
