Rebecca Slough installed as dean

Rebecca Slough received two gifts as she was installed as academic dean of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary on October 19, gifts that signify the combination of scholarship and worship that come together in her role and in her life.

First she was robed in an academic gown, representing the educational mission of AMBS as well as the scholarship she brings to the position. Second, she received several volumes of The Saint John’s Bible—a project to reproduce the Scriptures with hand lettering and illuminations commissioned by Saint John’s Abbey and University, Collegeville, Minn. These represent the centrality of the Bible at AMBS and the emphasis on worship and the arts which are the focus of Slough’s teaching.

Slough received these gifts after also receiving encouragement to let her work “circulate around the treasures of wisdom,” in the message from Willard M. Swartley, professor emeritus and former AMBS dean. He highlighted first the wisdom of sages from the ancient world and then Israel’s distinctive wisdom gained through fear of the Lord.

Surpassing both of these is the wisdom found in Jesus Christ, Swartley emphasized. The wisdom of God is a treasure both hidden and revealed in Jesus. “God is the source and giver of wisdom,” he said. “At its best, AMBS points us to God’s wisdom, calling us to be nurtured in her ways.”

Ray Friesen, chair of the AMBS board and co-pastor of Emmaus Mennonite Church, Wymark, Sask., gave the charge to Slough, noting her commitment to the church, God’s mission, scholarship and education, and how these work together in the mission of AMBS. “For me as a pastor, a great example of this is your work with and partnership in the writing of the book Preparing Sunday Dinner: A Collaborative Approach to Worship and Preaching,” Friesen said.

In her response, Slough noted needs in the church and the world for leaders who can draw people into the presence of God. “Our responsibility to prepare Christian leaders keeps our imaginations open to the wide variety of ministries our world needs,” she said, listing pastors, teachers, social workers, psychologists, community development workers, conflict mediators, business people and other vocations. To do this, she said, “I promise to listen to the church, especially to Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA, and with Mennonite churches around the world, to discern how leaders need to be shaped and what they need to know and be able to do in the range of contexts in which we serve.”

Within the congregation at the installation service were five previous AMBS academic deans, all the deans serving since 1964: Ross T. Bender, Jacob W. Elias, Gayle Gerber Koontz, Willard M. Swartley and Loren L. Johns.

Slough joined the AMBS faculty in 1998, teaching in the areas of church music, worship and the arts, in addition to serving as director of field education and director of Christian formation for portions of her tenure at the seminary.

Before coming to AMBS, Slough was assistant professor of ministry studies at Bethany Theological Seminary, Richmond, Ind., 1994–1998, and part-time pastor of First Mennonite Church of San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif., 1992–1994. From 1989 to 1992 she was managing editor of Hymnal: A Worship Book, published jointly by the Church of the Brethren, General Conference Mennonite Church and Mennonite Church of North America.

Slough earned a Ph.D. degree in liturgical studies with an interdisciplinary emphasis from Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Calif., in 1989. She also holds a master of arts in liturgical studies from the University Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind., and a master of divinity from AMBS. Her undergraduate degree is from Goshen College, Goshen, Ind.

AMBS is a seminary of Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA. It was formed in 1958 when Goshen Biblical Seminary, Goshen, Ind., and Mennonite Biblical Seminary, previously located in Chicago, Ill., began a cooperative program on the campus in Elkhart, Ind. AMBS is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the U.S. and Canada and the Commission on Institutions of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.