Garth M. Rosell is Senior Research Professor of Church History at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, where he previously served as Dean of the Seminary and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Director of the Ockenga Institute, and chair of the Division of Christian Thought. Although he officially retired in 2015, after exactly fifty years of teaching and administration, he continues to delight in God's glorious creation, to do research, to write books and articles—among his previous publications are The Surprising Work of God, A Charge to Keep, Commending the Faith, Boston's Historic Park Street Church and Exploring New England's Spiritual Heritage—and to enjoy retired life with his wife Jane, their married son and daughter who live nearby and their four beautiful grandchildren.
Dr. Rosell, you enjoyed a long career teaching history at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Tell us about the Doctor of Ministry track which you developed there. How did that come to be, and what was the focus of that program?
Since helping to launch the seminary's Doctor of Ministry program way back in 1978 when I was Academic Dean, I have been privileged to teach a good number of doctoral-level cohorts throughout the intervening years. Although I have enjoyed each subject, I must admit that the track closest to my heart remains "Revival and Reform: Renewing Congregational Life." The reason I have enjoyed "Revival and Reform" so much, I think, is because it brought together two of the essential and interconnected aspects of our life in Christ—namely, (1) the necessity of personal and corporate spiritual renewal; and (2) the proclamation of the glorious Gospel through word and deed to every man, woman, girl and boy on the face of the planet.
"Revival and Reform" encompasses, after all, the two central features of Christ's Great Commandment: namely, our obligation to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22: 37-39). Spiritual revival and social reform belong together—indeed, neither is complete without the other.
I first discovered that important linkage as a student at Princeton Theological Seminary when one of my Church History professors, Lefferts A. Loetscher, recommended that I read Timothy L. Smith's brilliant publication, Revivalism and Social Reform. The experience literally changed my life. So much so, in fact, that I wrote to Professor Smith to ask if he would take me on as one of his doctoral students so that I could explore the historical and biblical links between revival and reform more deeply. That interest has never left me, and it eventually became the focus and theme of the "Revival and Reform" track. If the church is to be truly renewed, I am convinced, it must embrace both!
Gordon-Conwell celebrated your legacy with a special conference on spiritual renewal. The conference was named after one of your books, The Surprising Work of God: Harold John Ockenga, Billy Graham and the Rebirth of Evangelicalism. What do you see as the connection between renewal, revival, and reform movements in the church?
I was deeply touched when faculty colleagues, students, alumni and distinguished scholars gathered on our Hamilton campus in mid-October of 2015 to explore the important connections between revival, reform and spiritual renewal. Academic presentations by scholars like George Marsden, Adrian Weimer, Grant Wacker, Ed Stetzer and Jim Singleton and by seminary presidents like Tim Tennent and Walt Kaiser, were absolutely outstanding and the panel discussions by some of our own graduates were superb. What everyone seemed to be saying, although they all expressed it in delightfully unique ways, was that revival and reform are both foundational to a full understanding of congregational renewal. Many of us pray daily that Christian churches around the globe will receive a fresh touch from above—the kind of Christ-centered, Spirit-empowered and God-honoring revival that can once again touch a needy world. For this to happen, I am convinced, the people of God must commit themselves once again to focus on the three things that have been at the center of every genuine spiritual awakening in every era of Christian history: namely, repentance, united believing prayer, and the obedient study of the Bible. If we are sincerely interested in seeing spiritual renewal poured out on the church again, we don't need more programs or conferences or publications, as useful as all of these are. What we need is to fall on our faces in genuine repentance, to join hands with likeminded brothers and sisters in prayer and to commit ourselves anew to the careful study of, obedience to, and proclamation of the Bible. Those, I am convinced, are the three keys to unlocking God's amazing blessing!
The integration of church history and pastoral application is fascinating, and perhaps somewhat neglected. What do you feel is the practical value of studying history for ministry leaders?
What a great question for a church historian! I am aware, of course, that there are always some students—perhaps more today than in some earlier periods—who for various reasons harbor sincere suspicions that the study of church history is either irrelevant or perhaps even pernicious. I have always loved having these honest doubters in my classes, not only because their questions always seem to make the class discussions more lively, but also, quite frankly, because I relish the opportunity of trying to persuade them of the remarkable power of history to inspire us, to inform us, to enrich our lives, and to help us to make the best possible decisions, large and small, that we are required to make each day. While I have not been successful in convincing all of the thousands of students that I have taught, many of my students (according to the course evaluations) seem to have discovered for themselves just how helpful (both by positive and negative example) history can be.
As part of that effort, for example, I have always throughout my teaching career designed my exams with the specific purpose of linking the past with the present. One such exam question, for example, read as follows: "As the pastor of a newly planted church north of Boston, you have been asked to lead the church board on a year-long study of how best to organize the congregation for leadership, worship, discipline, and evangelism. Drawing exclusively upon materials from the first two centuries of the Christian church, how might you design a course of study and what materials from that era would you ask you board members to read?"
Why did you choose to employ a cohort model for the D.Min. track? What are the strengths of such a model?
For many years now, all of our Doctor of Ministry tracks have been cohort based. Primarily, of course, our seminary has chosen to use a cohort model since it was the primary method that was used by Jesus Christ to train his disciples during his earthly ministry. "He appointed twelve," we read in the Gospel of Mark (3:14), "that they might be with him and that he might send them out."
In our experience, the three-year cohort-based model has brought us at least five important benefits: (1) The cohorts have built deep friendships; (2) the cohorts have become communities of learning; (3) the cohorts have created ongoing support networks; (4) the cohorts have become communities of accountability; and (5) the cohorts have become communities on mission in the world. I would be more than happy to enlarge on each of these benefits, but perhaps a few comments on one example will be sufficient to illustrate what I am trying to express.
With respect to the development of deep friendships, the first of the benefits I mentioned, it is virtually a given that pastoral ministry can be an exceptionally lonely place. The development of friendships within the church is often difficult. We all know of examples of congregations in which the pastor is harshly criticized by one group for seeming to choose favorites from within another; or when the pastor is perceived to favor friendships within a particular age group or with a particular level of education; or when they are seen to be identifying too closely with members from a particular social class or career path. The cohorts, on the other hand, provide pastors with a community in which they are free to develop deep and often lifelong friendships. Such friendships rarely take root right away. Indeed, some are not established until the second or even the third residency. But they almost always take root! And for desperately lonely pastors, they almost always become a lifeline of support, prayer, encouragement, and joy.
How do you think COVID-19 might change the landscape of theological education? How do you think a cohort-based model might uniquely be positioned to respond to the post-coronavirus world?
While it is impossible to predict what the long-term impact of the pandemic will have on theological education around the world, it has certainly prompted a reevaluation of educational delivery systems. Those who see distance education as the future of theological education will, I suspect, cite the pandemic as a major turning point in that direction. Those of us who see the future of theological education as primarily residential, on the other hand, tend to see distance education as an important (but not dominant) part of what must primarily remain face-to-face training. After all, as President Garfield famously suggested many years ago, the essence of a good education is a dedicated teacher on one end of a log and a bright, hard-working student on the other!
In that connection, I personally find the design for the William Tennent School of Theology especially fascinating since with its cohort-based modules, it seems to combine the strengths of traditional face-to-face education and the flexibility of distance education with the benefits of cohort communities! It seems amazing to me that the "Log College," founded in 1727 as the first theological seminary serving Presbyterians here in North America, will (in a sense) be reborn in fresh and faithful ways. I will be watching your progress with great interest and much prayer.
You did a phenomenal job of cultivating community in your cohorts, among students from many different states, traditions, and ministry contexts. How did you do it? What advice would you give Tennent as we strive to develop rich relationships?
The credit for these remarkable communities of learning, friendship, and faith, of course, belongs solely, absolutely and completely to God. Such developments, if they are genuine, are always the work of the Holy Spirit and "they are marvelous in our eyes."
What we can do, by God's grace, is to remain available—so that God has full access to the ministering gifts he has given to each of us by the Holy Spirit. We are, quite simply and joyfully, the Master's servants. Our task, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is to be faithful to what God has called and equipped us to do.