Alumni Ministry and Service Recognition
We recognize people currently in ministry as well as those whose lifetime reflects faithful service to God. Nominees must be AMBS, Goshen Biblical Seminary (GBS) or Mennonite Biblical Seminary (MBS) degree program graduates (bachelor’s or master’s degrees).
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With the Alumni Ministry and Service Recognition, AMBS celebrates alumni engaged in God’s reconciling mission.
Please consider nominating recent graduates with 10 or more years of service as well as graduates who have given a lifetime to ministry.
Nominate an alum
Recipients are named based on the following considerations:
- Effective and visionary leadership for the church, community and world
- Mission that integrates evangelism, peacemaking and justice
- Commitment to bringing Anabaptist theology in conversation with the wider church
- Efforts in ecological sustainability and care for God’s creation
- Dedication to justice, resisting oppression and reconciliation across social divisions
Our goal is to recognize alumni from a variety of backgrounds and ministry settings. Those who are selected are invited to come to the AMBS campus to share with students what inspires and sustains them in their ministry.
Do you know someone who should be considered for the Alumni Ministry and Service Recognition? Send your nomination to Janeen Bertsche Johnson, Alumni Director.
Recordings of annual Ministry and Service Recognition award ceremony
Each year, AMBS hosts a ceremony for the recipients of its Alumni Ministry and Service Recognition. Recordings of the events are available, starting in 2020.
2022 Ministry and Service Recognition Award Recipients
Gary Harder, DMin, of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; Mesach Krisetya, DMin, of Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia; and Sarah Nahar, MDiv, of Elkhart, Indiana (traditional land of the Potawatomi and Miami peoples); are the 2022 recipients of AMBS’s Alumni Ministry and Service Recognition. (Read more)
2021 Ministry and Service Recognition Award Recipients
2020 Ministry and Service Recognition Award Recipients
Past recipients
Below are alumni who have received the Alumni Ministry and Service Recognition since AMBS began awarding the honor in 2004.
- 2022: Gary Harder (Master of Divinity, 1972)
- 2022: Mesach Krisetya (Master of Divinity, 1973)
- 2022: Sarah Nahar (Master of Divinity, 2011)
- 2021: Frederick J. Speckeen (Bachelor of Divinity, from Goshen Biblical Seminary, 1956)
- 2021: Leonard Wiebe (Bachelor of Divinity, from Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 1960)
- 2020: Nancy Kauffmann (Master of Divinity in Pastoral Counseling, 1982)
- 2020: Anne Garber Kompaoré (Master of Arts: Theological Studies, 2004)
- 2019: Al-Fuertes (Master of Arts: Peace Studies, 1997)
- 2019: Cynthia and Roger Neufeld Smith (Master of Divinity, 1986 and 1989)
- 2018: Palmer Becker (Master of Religious Education, 1965)
- 2016: Linda Shelly (MAPS 1989)
- 2015: Obed Dashan (MDiv 1990) and Phena Dashan (MATS 1991)
- 2014: Wilma Ann Bailey (MDiv 1979)
- 2013: Kathy Bergen (MDiv 1982)
- 2013: Marty Troyer (MDiv 2008)
- 2012: Donald Klassen (MDiv 1970)
- 2011: David L. Habegger (BD 1949)
- 2010: Peter Wiebe (BD 1952)
- 2009: Millard Lind (BD 1947)
- 2008: Helen Kruger (MRE 1961, MDiv 1996)
- 2007: Ahmed Haile (MAPS 1989)
- 2007: Yorifumi Yaguchi (BD 1965)
- 2006: Marion Bontrager (BD 1963, MDiv 1996)
- 2006: Paul M. Lederach (ThB 1946)
- 2005: E. Stanley Bohn (BD 1955)
- 2005: Ann Gingrich (MATS 1987)
- 2004: Shantkumar Kunjam (MAPS 1982)
- 2004: John Neufeld (MDiv 1969)